why are you here? #1: birthday cake (1/2)

January 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26.

warnings: gross? 🤮

The day was gray and sloshy, that icy, sleety rain that might have been snow if it were only a couple degrees colder. Maria sat beside Jordan in his parked his truck on the sodden gravel driveway of the farm where they were sent to source some free range duck eggs that were supposed to be the best in the state. They waited silently for a full minute for the scene to change.

It didn’t change.
Maria’s brown curls were already frizzing up around her face in a puffy mess. And she wore brand new suede boots, too tight and stiff on her feet and she’d only been sitting in a truck so far. He said to wear boots, so she wore boots.

These were not the kind of boots he meant.

why are you here? a short prequel story

This has been going on for a couple weeks on Tumblr already, but I wanted to explain a little here, too, before we dive in. 

So, it’s not supposed to be a secret that I’m doing a novel version of this story, too. It won’t differ from the blog version. It will be just slightly beefier and without the sims pictures, of course. (But, man, if I could do drawings! Or if I had money to hire an illustrator... I’m not ruling that out, even though it would be a terrible financial decision, lol!)

Anyway, so I’ve been revising the chapters that would make up book 1, and there are some new scenes I’ve written that never got to be part of this blog story. They’re such good additions! And there are also some things that were part of old gameplay stories that I’ve turned into real narrative scenes, that I want to expand and take new pictures for.

So, I really really do want to move forward into Colette’s chapter #5.3, like we were supposed to, but I also want to freshen up these beginning chapters, too. 

In my head, I’m like: Don’t redo old stories… don’t redo old stories… don’t redo old stories!!!

Except I kind of want to go back and redo old stories. 😂🤣😂🤣😵

I guess I’m a bit of a completionist. I know the blog version can't include everything from the novels—it could never—but it should include the important things. The things that develop characters and explain motives and maybe just a little bit of the absolutely precious fluff that deserves to be illustrated with sims, just because.

And I do intend to leave the blog version up when the novel version is published (because I’m an indie author and I do what I want!), so I want them both to be as full as they can be for their format.

Because, at the end of the day, this sims story version is here to please me, and please you guys, and it serves no other purpose than that, really. So, it would make me happy to go back and redo some of those earlier pre-story sections, like before even “My Sweetheart.” So I think I will.

Because I really do want to get back to Colette in #5.3 and she really does need to get laid! But funny enough, after her shock in #5.2 pt 10, then drafting Colette in #5.3, I felt like she was wanting to dig so much into her history of that time and the failure of that relationship. So I’ve been spending a lot of time in that era anyway.

So, a quick flashback story first??? (I said quick, but I didn’t say little. It’s not really very little. But with the writing done and grabbing a few select pictures, I think I can post it pretty quick.)

The flashback story begins almost one year ago in story time, on Maria’s birthday. It’s an expansion/retelling of this gameplay post, which was their first real story on the blog (not as supporting characters), with Maria and Jordan in their flirty coworkers era, and Jordan and Colette in the last months of their quickly deteriorating togetherness. Then it also fills in the gaps in and around “my sweetheart #2” and what drove Jordan to decide to ultimately blow up his life.

As it stands, it’s about 12,000 words (I’m so so sorry! I promise they’re good ones? 😬😬😬) and will be split into 4 chapters of 4-6 parts each.

And then we’ll hop straight back to Colette in #5.3. 

So, current readers will experience this as a prequel story, but after it’s all done, I will backdate the posts to the beginning and it will also serve as a new beginning for new readers. 

boxes and squares #5.2: come down from the clouds (2/2)

November 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26, Johanna is 4, Felix and Milo are 9, Nessa Phoenix is 38, Colette Marin is 31.

previously: climb club family // the plain-looking plucky friend // the blonde photographer // the boys always know first // they made vows

warnings: little bit saucy, additional spice linked elsewhere

Jordan had been distracted since Maria and JoJo came to join his adventure. He had skipped more climbing sessions than he wanted to admit. But now that they were settled, it was time to pick up the slack. “Go climb, my love,” Maria told him. “You’re not quitting this thing on my behalf. Isn’t it the whole reason we’re here?”

Another bonus was the free family passes to the park, already bought and paid for as part of his climbing package.

“So you guys check out the park. Nessa will show you everything, and I’ll meet up with you later for dinner.”

Jordan was quite proud of the skewers he’d grilled for the group tonight. It was his turn to make dinner for climb club after hours.

boxes and squares #5.2: come down from the clouds (1/2)

November 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26, Johanna is 4, Felix and Milo are 9, Lou Corelli is 29, Dom is 58, Judith is 54.

previously: a freeloading loser // that money is not for spending on your boyfriend // this beach is for dancing





Go ahead and live this fairytale for just a little bit longer.

You could almost fool yourself that it could last forever, like you can just forget that fairytales aren’t real.

boxes and squares #5.1: live the fairytale

November 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26, Johanna is 4. (Flashback Jordan is 24, Colette is 27.)

* grab yourself a steamy beverage and a cozy chair, this one is long! 5100 words and 65 pictures!

** warnings: briefly NSFW.




What are you going to do in Nevada? Not stay there, Maria would soon find out, because Jordan mentioned the wild horses in Arizona and Johanna lost her little mind over the idea. So now they were in Arizona, scouting the canyons for wild horses. Among this and many other things she never would have guessed her life could include, there was the sound of yodeling on the canyon walls. Back and forth, a booming manly echo answered by sprightly little girl song, growing closer and mixed with laughter. He taught her to yodel. Maria never would have guessed that he knew how to yodel, but so he did, and now they both did.

Long after their sound gave them away, Maria saw them emerge around the bend of the trail, carrying back their sacks full of treasure. Would it be rocks, pine cones, sticks shaped like swords?

“Did you see any horses?” 

“No, we found bugs! We’re gonna eat them!” Johanna’s face was bright with the idea. 

“Oh, God, no! You can’t eat a bug!”

“Jordan said we can!”

She gaped at him in horror. He shrugged with a sheepish grin. “How’s it different from eating any other animal?”

Maria was prepared for there to be bugs on this wild adventure, but she never imagined they were going to eat them!

look how they shine

* collected gameplay and mini-stories from the Akiyama/McCarthy families

Fall 2088. Vale Akiyama is 28, Vicky Garth is 24. Blossom McCarthy is 29, George is 34, Abe is nearly 2. And welcome baby Abigail.

content warnings: childbirth, and... menstrual blood, I guess?

previously: Vale and Vicky get engaged // Blossom is the golden child in this family




🎶 Look at the stars

Look how they shine for you 🎶

—

In September, Vale and Vicky finished the last tour stop of their whirlwind musical summer. Being home again now, they were quite happy to settle into a cocoon of warmth and rest while they daydreamed of what might come next for them.

As for their wedding, they were both in agreement about one thing—it would be intimate but lavish. And if they kept the invite list small, they could spring for a destination wedding. Think of a swanky hotel on a tropical island, a long flight to somewhere they’ve never been before, sparkling waters and sandy beaches.

But that was all just talk for now, so they let the talk be as fantastical as they wished. No date set, no deposits paid. They’ve been too busy and too tired to make anything official. For now, they’re just enjoying their engagement and their raging musical success.

boxes and squares #4.5: home is wherever you are, part 3

October 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26, Johanna is 4, Lou Corelli is 29. Stephanie Nova is 28.

previously: Is anyone else going to grad school or to climb mountains that I should know about? Maria?

Maria felt tender and deflated about her sister’s underwhelming reaction to her news, and she didn’t know what to do about that, so she just took her sorry butt to work. For the last time, perhaps. If she was going to move her whole life into her boyfriend’s camper in a few days’ time, quitting this job was a necessary first step.

She had been so excited to tell Lou. But maybe that was dumb—Lou was always going to be Lou, too practical and grounded and allergic to joy. But if not Lou, Maria wondered who else would possibly be happy for her and this huge moment in her life?

Not her parents, for sure. Not her boss. Not her co-workers.

Thankfully, Maria could delay any more announcements until the end of their shift. It was all hands on deck tonight. Tonight was the reason she could only visit Jordan for twenty-four hours, so that she could make it back to help with this big lunch catering order they had due on Tuesday morning. And didn’t that feel silly now, knowing that she was going to quit and run straight back to him? If she didn’t have JoJo to come back for, she might have just blown them all off.




But, no, she couldn’t do that to Stephanie. Stephanie was a sweetheart and she didn’t deserve to lose the sous chef she’d poured so much energy and knowledge into. If Maria had learned anything at all about cooking, she’d learned it from Stephanie.

When Maria came here two years ago, it was just a lowly kitchen job. It was just something to fill her time and pad her budget as a widowed single mom. Who could have guessed that the people she met here would change her whole life so much?

boxes and squares #4.5: home is wherever you are, part 2

October 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Felix and Milo are 9, Colette Marin is 31, Maria Boone is 26, Johanna is 4, Lou Corelli is 29.



With Maria on the train and dashing back to her daughter, Jordan had a date to keep of his own. He told the boys he’d be a little late for their usual 4:00 chat.

“Hey guys, I’m here now.” In the background of their image, the normally sterile counters were cluttered with pans and bowls. “Oh, hey, did your mom cook?”



“She tried to make mac and cheese,” Milo said. “But the water kept bubbling over and she almost burnt the kitchen down, so she got really mad and dumped it all down the sink. But then it clogged the drain, and now she has to call a plumber. You should have seen the veins in her head.”

“Oh, no. So what did you eat for dinner?”

“Pizza again,” Milo said. “It’s okay, we like pizza.”

“Ok. Well, sorry I was late. I had a visit from a friend. She just got on the train.”

“Was it Maria?”

boxes and squares #4.5: home is wherever you are, part 1

October 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26.

PG-13, but some links are NSFW

previously: who wants all that baggage?

Good morning, lovers.

boxes and squares #4.4: now know the answer

October 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26.

warnings: gratuitous kissing, nudity, excessive swoon, NSFW 😍

previously: Maria vs the bugs // why would she want to keep you? // the revenge dress 

“Have a good booty call,” Lou joked as she dropped Maria off at the train station. For as serious and ornery as Lou could be, she was also very immature sometimes. This wasn’t just a very expensive booty call. This visit was pivotal. This visit would make or break everything, whether the rest of them understood that or not. Maria understood that, and that’s why she was scared before she ever agreed to come. 

But she only had herself to blame. She had to remember, this was all her doing. She kissed him in the kitchen at work when he already decided he was leaving. She invited him home to her bed before he was ready to stay. And now here they were in this mess. She told him she would be okay with this, and she promised him she wasn’t giving up. She really had no right to feel impatient, even if she was sometimes. She was only human, and her human heart had needs. Her human heart cried out for more. 

Scraps, please just throw me some scraps, just enough to keep believing a little longer.

But sometimes when she begged for scraps, every so often, he delivered her a feast.

boxes and squares #4.3: then fall in love

October 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Jack Phoenix is 39, Nessa is 38, Maria Boone is 26.

previously: Micah Phoenix dies

Don’t worry about what Jack is doing, or how well, or how fast. Except that Jack just graduated onto the medium wall today, and his first attempt was going flawlessly. Jack was spritely, dexterous, and precise. He was actually ready for the medium wall weeks ago but probably didn’t want to make everyone else feel bad.

Envy never helped anyone, Jordan told himself. He hated to be like this. It made him feel ugly and unfair. So instead, he told himself that he was making progress, too. Slow, sure progress. Today, for example, he hadn’t eaten dirt all day.

Not yet, anyway.

Jack’s wife, Nessa, came to their evening climb session sometimes. They let their kids run wild around the water park, and Nessa came to check out Jack’s progress.

That damn envy again, as much as he wished it away. Jordan wanted his own kids to be here, running wild around the water park. They would love it here so much.

Nessa stood at the bottom of the cliff face and gaped in horror. Jack jumped up to the next hold, all hands and toes in the air. Jordan had seen Jack do that many times before, but this was a fresh nightmare for his wife.

boxes and squares #4.2: then have some faith

October 2088. Maria Boone is 26, Johanna is 4, Lou Corelli is 29, Jordan Graham is 28, Milo is 9. 

previously: Jordan is the neighborhood dad // the retired pond swans are Maria’s spirit animals

The community arts center in Evergreen Harbor was a popular destination in the neighborhood, but Maria had never found the time to go. There was always some excuse to claim for why she was too busy. She worked four days a week, and she obviously had Johanna to care for all on her own. Nobody could claim that she wasn’t busy. But her sister suggested that she should experiment with some new hobbies and try to find something more than work and motherhood (and pining over her man) to do with herself. 

So they went to the arts center one morning. There was a children’s program for Johanna, and Maria browsed through some of the adult offerings.



She really had high hopes for the wine-making class. Wine was delightful, and Maria had Italian heritage and culinary inclinations. Surely this should be a good fit!

But then she remembered that she was also squeamish. Somehow she never thought very deeply about how wine was made. But now, flat on her ass in a barrel of sloppy fruit, she didn’t think she’d ever see wine the same way again.



She finished making the bottle. It was terrible—her butt was in it, after all—but at least she could say that she tried something new.