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.

boxes and squares #4.1: first fall apart

October 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Colette Marin is 31, Felix and Milo are 9, Maria Boone is 26.

previously: wouldn’t we be the sweetest thing to ever not work out?

Okay, maybe it was for the best that you didn’t fall in love with this. There were a whole lot of people back in Wisconsin who would prefer that this didn’t work out.

The first week of classes, Jordan might have easily said to hell with it. He was ready to call it quits and crawl back to his family in utter shame, because this wasn’t working. It was harder than he thought it would be. His arms felt like jello. He felt his muscles burn in places where he didn’t know muscles existed. His fingers gripped rock after rock until they could only tremble. To top it all off, he looked like such a shrimp next to these other beefy guys.



“But let me tell you a secret,” Maya told him, “We have less body weight to pull up. Just focus on your technique. Newbies always slip a few times. That’s why we have you on the short wall.”

Jordan and Colette: a history

This timeline was meant to be a little freewrite for my own purposes, but since it’s written, I thought I would share. This is what inspired “the boys“ flashback story. And it also inspired another adorable little flashback drabble that I posted on Tumblr. There’s not much shockingly new information here—most of this has been mentioned or discussed in one place or another, but some of it may have been easily overlooked or lost in the mess. Maybe somebody might find it interesting to read?  

Can you even imagine a time when Colette was carefree and happy? They were such babies. 💔

boxes and squares #4.0: the boys

July 2079 (flashback, almost ten years ago). Mick Graham is 54, Jordan is 19, Colette Marin is 22.

Colette came over to drop the boys off with Jordan at his dad’s place. Jordan stared at the babies like they were alien creatures. They were still wrinkly and pink and curled up like raisins. When she told him that he would need to take them sometimes, he imagined they might be many months older before that happened. 

“Their formula is in the bag,” Colette said. “It’s already mixed, but it needs to go in the fridge. That’s important, did you hear? In the fridge. But they like it warm, just don’t microwave it. Tell me you’re listening?”

postcards from grad school

September, October 2088. Justin Nova is 28, Calvin Banks is 21, Amy Jones is 22, Natalia Deppiesse is 23, Andre Sylvester is 23. Cynthia Kim is 52. Selena Sosa is 25. April Hutchins is 25, Beau Jackson is 24.

#1: welcome to grad school

Grad school is happening at Magnolia Graduate College. 

Leading our group is Dr. Heather Thompson, Dean of Students. She specializes in biology. (Hi, Ingrid’s mom!)

Our students this year: 

Andre, Calvin, and Steven are all working on their medical degrees. 

The others are non-medical graduate programs. Justin (architecture), Amy (nursing), and Natty, (teaching).