what you deserve (SNU & DAC, spring 2088)

Sierra Nova University and Dresden Arts College

Spring, 2088

*** warnings: abortion vs. pro-lifers


It was weird, Melissa now realized, how little she actually worried about the possibility of this happening. Melissa was a good girl, mostly. Daydreamy and whimsical, sure, but always headed in the right direction. She didn’t sleep around that much. She took her birth control pills. She asked her partners to wear condoms, too. And still?

It seemed wrong. It seemed unfair. It seemed like her pills had a manufacturing error or an incompatibility with some rogue herbal tea. It seemed like it should be absolutely anything but the biggest mistake of her life. 

Because, oops? Just like that? Oops, there went her plans. Like, oops, she dropped her phone in the toilet. That’s an oops. This was more than an oops. 

postcards from your next major crisis

February & March 2088.

*** content warnings: miscarriage, blood

#1: Cora Lawrence is doing just fine, thank you very much


Her life is complete, Cora tells herself. She doesn’t need a man. Especially not one like Luis-Fucking-Talbot. She is twenty-seven years old. Her biological clock is set to silent mode and folded away in her sock drawer. She owns prime real estate in downtown Sierra Nova and an investment portfolio that would impress most people twice her age. She buys fancy coffee and drinks it in silence after doing an hour of yoga at sunrise. This is going to be an incredible day, and Luis Fucking Talbot can go screw half his college campus if he wants to. Cora is filling her cup with zen, and it tastes just fine.

He probably has loads of STDs anyway.

a short break from reality, #2: get lost

March 2088. Liza Hathe is 19, Robbie McCullough is 18.

* picture heavy! try refreshing the page if they don’t all load


It was easy for Robbie and Liza to get used to the exciting new sights and tastes of the jungle.

But it took a little more effort for them to get used to their new crew. This is a group with strong and awkward personalities.  

a short break from reality, #1: bugs

March 2088. Justin Kim is 27, Stephanie Nova is 28, Willow and Lily are 6, Benji is 19 months. 

* briefly NSFW

“Bugs,” his landlord said. 

The whole street in the plaza where Justin had just set up his brand new shop was infested. They closed up everything to fumigate for bugs. [SCCO mod removal error.] Unfortunately, for a worker-bee like Justin, there was no time to move his workbenches and equipment back home. No time to drape his works in progress. No opportunity to back up his files for remote work.

“It’s temporary,” his landlord offered. “I won’t be charging you rent for the weeks we’re closed down.”

“Well, I certainly hope not!” Justin said. “But what about my items? Are those sprays toxic to fabrics? Are people expected to bring those pieces into their homes?”

Martha rolled her eyes. “What exactly do you expect me to do about it? There’s bugs, so we fumigate. That’s what they said to do, so that’s what we’re doing.”

the breath before

March 2088. Dakota and Delphie Deppiesse are 17, Shannon Brett is 16, Eric Powell is 16, Jacob Collins is 15.

soundtrack: “Closer” by Tegan and Sara

previously: Delphie and Dakota's last story on the LH blog // Shannon and Jake flirt in church

Shannon was bored of being Shannon. Good little southern belle, made of sweet tea and peaches, singing in the church choir, basically betrothed to the preacher’s grandson since she was two. Sometimes she wanted to strip off and step into an entirely different life.

For now, a little makeover would have to do.

terrible love

February 2088. Gwen Palmer is 35, Andreas Tsoukalos is 33, Luisa is 21 months.

* warnings: domestic/psychological abuse

soundtrack: "Terrible Love" by The National

previously: when Luisa was conceived 

last night…

postcards from your Valentine

February 2088.

* briefly NSFW

Here’s what a few special couples are doing on this romantic day.

—

Vale & Vicky, together 6 weeks – officially moving in together


“So it looks like your neighbor didn’t water the plants then,” he said.

say it

February 2088. Vicky Garth is 23, Vale Akiyama is 27.

Even though they’re in the same time zone now, Vicky still can’t compete with Vale’s super late nights. If she thinks he’ll make it home by midnight, she might try to wait up. But more often she’s out cold when he tiptoes into the bedroom at 3am, tie still on, ears still ringing, buzzing with adrenaline and caffeine, and cuddles up behind her. “You awake?”

She turns her face to him, eyes closed, voice soft and dreamy, and says, “Not very.”

Which makes him smile, because he always loved that dreamy, sleepy voice, remembering her on the phone for all those months. Now she’s here in his arms.

She’s listening, and there’s nothing more he loves than ending his night telling her every scandalous and exciting moment of his gig. Her sleepy fingers pull at his tie, shirt buttons, and belt buckle as he tells her everything while she slowly strips him down. It’s more intimate than erotic. 

“Marc Hall was being a total attention whore. Everyone was pissed. The food was awful—I was too busy to eat anything, but everyone said the ceviche was rancid. Gonna be a lot of people puking in toilets tomorrow morning. Poppy said she was disappointed you didn’t come, she wants to hang out sometime. And Asher told me that Shaina told him that Drew Bradshaw was there, and he totally raved about the music, and he might write about me in his arts column in the newspaper.”

Love Bites, premiere reception and after party

February 2088. Summer Phoenix is 22, Ryanne is 16, Elias Kirkpatrick is 21, Lindsay Slough is 19, Marc Hall is 43, Vale Akiyama is 27.

Summer is earning more money than she’s ever earned in her whole life. Meanwhile, she’s still living in a tiny, dirty, noisy, mouse-infested apartment with two other girls (and a couple of occasional boyfriends). She’s feeling a little amused as the glitz and glamour of her stardom begins to materialize, and she hardly knows what to do with it. But she bought a new gown for the premiere reception and launch party of her movie. She’s never been much of a shopaholic, apart from splurging on the occasional flashy haircut or a pair of nice running shoes. 

film premiere: Love Bites

Love Bites, international release

Halston House Pictures

written & directed by Shaina Halston

produced by Asher Halston

genre: campy vampire fantasy/action

starring:

- Summer Phoenix as “the feisty Princess Anya Sophia”

- Marc Hall as “the entrancing Count Ferdinand Von Windenburg”

- Lindsay Slough as “Brittany, friend/sister”

- Elias Kirkpatrick as “Leo, friend/detective”

***

INT. CASTLE, DAY. 1804. 

Act I, Synopsis: Princess Anya Sophia, a feisty young heiress cries in distress over her unfortunate position. She is propositioned by the dashing Count Ferdinand Von Windenburg who offers to help her escape this dreadful politically arranged marriage. For a price. She accepts the offer and seals her fate.  

postcards from your wildest dreams

January 2088

#1: welcome baby Eris

The Deppiesse family welcomes another little girl, Eris Lenore, to the family. This little one seems to have inherited almost everything from her beautiful mother, Lucy. 

gameplay: Eris’s birth roll, and it looks like she’s destined to inherit a couple of unfortunate traits! She might not be the little sweetheart that Cassie is. Sounds like a fun sisterly dynamic to write about, lol! 

another little side note: Eris was actually born years ago in my game, before the timeline rewind. I went back far enough that Cassie hadn’t even been born yet, and so Eris had to wait a long time in limbo to become part of the story again. She’s just been hanging out off-camera as a toddler this whole time, the same actual sim who was born all that time ago. Note that we have not actually seen Lucy in story since her honeymoon, so fake pregnancy happened off-camera, too. 

For the record: Dallas and Lucy don’t have any other secret babies hanging out off camera. Only on-camera babies from now on, lol!

let’s go

January 2088. Liza Hathe and Robbie McCullough are 18. 

“I’m gonna miss you,” Robbie said.

Liza went to school forty-five minutes away. It was the fairest compromise she thought she could make. But it couldn’t have actually been worse, because if the school had been any further, she wouldn’t have gone for a second. And then she also wouldn’t be miserable. The four months of her first semester at Dresden had been excruciating. And now winter break was finished and school was starting again for both of them. She was supposed to head back to campus in the morning. 

“Oh, but you don’t need to miss me,” she said. “I’m not going back.”

schools 2087/88, new kindy class and senior skills testing

Spotlight on this year’s newest little scholars, and also our seniors as they prepare to enter life and work in adulthood. 

—

Delilah Gibson - daughter of Bella & Cameron Gibson (social) likes nail polish and dance class

Blaine Quick - son of Kennedy Quick and Edmund Acosta (social) likes boy scouts and sleepovers

walk of shame on new year’s morning

January 2088. Melissa Fortney is 20. Hudson Lawrence is 28.

previously: Melissa is weird, but in a cute way // Hudson is just weird

*briefly NSFW

Melissa has been intrigued by sex since she was thirteen years old and it was all any of her older friends could talk about. Who was having it, who wasn’t having it, who dreamed of having it. Until she met Hudson, she just assumed all men simply wanted it as quickly and easily as possible. Angelo Shaw wanted it before he’d even entered puberty. The Parisian boys she studied with in her second year of uni wanted it and weren’t bashful about letting her know. Even her first, sweet, gentle boyfriend, Elijah, wanted it (for sure!) before they parted ways for college. 

And Melissa—if it wasn’t unbecoming to say of a young lady—really wanted it, too. 

But Hudson Lawrence was a mystery. Where other women had grown impatient with this gentlemanly lumberjack, Melissa was undeterred.

happy new year, 2088!

Happy New Year, 2088! Vicky Garth is 23, Vale Akiyama is 27. Shaina Halston is 29, Asher is 27, Poppy Grimes is 25.

previously: sweeties got sick // Melissa met Hudson // who are Asher and Poppy?

The performer’s lounge at the Subterranean Flare was calm, while a frenzy of party goers gathered downstairs. In twenty minutes, Vale would go on stage to begin his New Year’s Eve show, and he wouldn’t finish until long after midnight. “But hang around close by at midnight,” he asked Vicky, “and I’ll try to sneak you a kiss.”

A consolation prize, she thought. Vicky had a VIP ticket to the hottest party of the night. Shame she wouldn’t get to spend it with her boyfriend.

“It better be a great kiss,” she said. 

While she and Vale would technically be in the same room together, Vicky was preparing herself to spend the evening alone. She had hoped that April and Beau might come out, but they couldn’t make the trip happen on such short notice. Tyler and Maya might show up, they said, but Vicky wasn’t great friends with them either. George and Blossom, Blair and Amy, Vale’s parents, her old roommate, her plants, everybody she knew was back out east. The only other person Vicky knew in this entire half of the country was Summer-fucking-Phoenix. Suddenly, Vicky felt very alone out here.

better tragedies

December 2087. Vicky Garth is 23, Vale Akiyama is 27.

previously: thank you, part 4

* warnings: briefly NSFW, gratuitous cuddling! *

In their first thirty-six hours as a couple, Vale and Vicky didn’t leave the apartment as much as they could have.

thank you, part 4

December 2087. Vicky Garth is 23, Vale Akiyama is 27.

previously: thank you part 1 // part 2 // part 3 // part 3.5

*** warnings: very long, NSFW, deliciously gratuitous kissing! ***

Vicky got on the train right away. She apologized profusely to Beau that she needed to take some time out to go to California to see about a boy. 

“How long?” 

“I don’t know,” she said. “Three, ten, twenty days?”

“Hmmm,” Beau mumbled, sounding like she was the biggest flake alive. He was probably already writing up a want ad for her job.

She called her neighbor and asked her to water her plants. Again, this question, “For how long?”

The plants were so dead. May they rest in peace.

There was a sense of urgency. Since Vale was on the verge of begging, she guessed that he felt it, too. All these questions that needed to be answered now and not later. 

The ride was long, but he booked her tickets in the first class car. It had big, spacious windows, personal TVs, and cushy leather recliner seats that still smelled new and not like old sweat and spilled soda. He said, “Can’t have my girl riding in economy.” 

My girl, he called her. It was so sweet that she didn’t dare snark back at him. It had been a really long time since she was anyone’s girl, so if he insisted, she figured she should probably try. 

2087, Lind family Christmas (picspam)

December 2087. Nathan Lind is 38, Ally is 33, Bianca is 10, Julia is 8, Topher is 2. Brady Lind is 73, Meadow is 72. Aurora Harris is 42, Zach is 9, Rebecca is 4.

previously: return to dust, part 2 // part 3

It’s winter break, and the Lind girls enjoy the beautiful snowy countryside at home in Copper Hill, Michigan.

thank you, part 3.5

December 2087. Vicky Garth is 23, Vale Akiyama is 27.

previously: thank you part 1 // part 2 // part 3

It wasn’t that Vale slept peacefully. No, in fact, he got into bed and lay there, listening to angsty music and thinking about things. He needed to make a decision. If she didn’t want anything from him, what should he do next? So, yes, he slept finally, heavy and rock-like, for maybe six hours. He woke up early—early for Vale—at the bright and hazy hour of nine a.m. And he did expect to find something from Vicky on his phone in the morning—an angry apology, probably, or an excuse. But he never expected a song.

He had to listen to it a few times. 

thank you, part 3

December 2087. Vicky Garth is 23, April Hutchins is 24.

previously: thank you part 1 // part 2

Vicky slept badly—there were no dreams, just fits of darkness between tossing and turning. Finally, there was daylight and the chirping of birds. Her alarm hadn’t gone off yet. She tried to focus her ragged eyes on the time, but she found a troublesome cell phone on the nightstand instead. How unassuming it seemed now, but what havoc had it wreaked last night? 

Please tell me you didn’t really sing a whole song into his voicemail. Please, just don’t let that be real.

thank you, part 2

December 2087. Vale Akiyama is 27, Vicky Garth is 23.

previously: throwaway girl // real music, part 3 // Thanksgiving // the worst show ever

The show was the worst. Vale was booked on a Thursday night, the week before Christmas, playing a holiday party for an investment firm. Old, stuffy financial people. Young brown-nosing financial wannabes. He couldn’t say no, because the bank manager was the wife of his club manager, who basically pimped him out for the night. 

A paycheck is a paycheck, right? Well, maybe not always. 

"Can't you play more Christmas music? Can't you make it a little more festive? No, not that Christmas music... No, that’s too loud... No, that’s too fast... Can you just, like, put this album on?"

The lights were garish, and the decor was nauseating. They asked him to wear red and silver. Vale hated wearing red. He was pretty sure he hated Christmas forever now, too. 

the life of Vicky—an island in the sun

I could have sworn I did a history/backstory post for Vicky, but it seems I did not. I can’t find it anywhere if I did. But Vicky is a character that I’ve been writing about since 2008, and she has a lot of history between many blogs and game versions. It feels important to collect it all, especially since some of her future stories will begin to draw on her experiences a lot more. I can even see the possibility that her birth parents might come into the story a little bit down the line.

Her backstory was always “her parents were rich and couldn’t be bothered with her.” 

Well, okay, but family drama is never really that simple. That was a fine enough backstory for a townie ex-girlfriend whom we didn’t think we’d see again. But here we are, thirteen years and three game versions later, and Vicky has earned a little more detail to her backstory than that.

postcards from the worst office holiday party ever

December 2087. Erin Close is 43. Vale Akiyama is 27. Cora Lawrence is 26. Luis Talbot is 24. Amelia Bradshaw is 32. Tyler Jackson is 24. Hudson Lawrence is 28. Melissa Fortney is 20. 

The markets have been dismal this year, and Erin hoped that this year’s Close Mutual office holiday party would lift everyone’s spirits. 

The party was held at her partner's nightclub, The Subterranean Flare, but decked out with lots of holiday decor. She also rented what she thought was the snazziest ensemble for the DJ to wear—a red sequined jacket with a pair of shiny white leather pants that hugged his tight butt in a spectacular way. 

adventure honeymoon (gameplay/picspam)

December 2087. Tyler Jackson is 24, Maya is 26.

previously: the cavern of love

Tyler and Maya eloped about eight months ago. But Tyler needed to focus through the summer on his training certification and the family’s new adventure theme park, so they’re only just now getting away for their much anticipated winter honeymoon. An adventure honeymoon for a very adventurous couple! They couldn't have asked for a better location!

postcards from (probably not) your biggest mistake

November - December 2087.

#1: you're not my husband  

Aurora Harris met Clark Beech, as romantic as this sounds, when he stopped by to talk to her about her taxes. 

She wasn't aiming for a romance, of course. 

Joel has been gone for a little over two years now. Sometimes she still imagines herself waiting for him to come home from deployment, when in fact the war is long over and everyone has been home from even the furthest reaches for years. Two years for a grieving widow is not that much time, she reminds herself. But when Clark asked her out on a date, she felt compelled to give him a shot. As friends, to start. She’d like to go out with him as a very handsome friend. 

And, ugh, admitting that she found him so handsome made her feel like a cheating trollop. She would have to get used to that feeling eventually, unless she wanted to be alone for the rest of her years. At barely 42 years old, that could end up being a long time.  

thank you, part 1

November 2087. Blossom McCarthy is 28, George is 33, Abe is 9 months. Vicky Garth is 23. Amy Jones is 21, Blair is 20. Nobuo Akiyama is 55, Mayumi is 53, Vale is 27. 

previously: the dirty French song // what would you do with it if it happened?

Thanksgiving for the McCarthy and Akiyama families was a cheerful time. This was Blossom’s first year hosting the holiday as a mother—baby Abe’s first Thanksgiving. They couldn’t be more thankful. Both sides of the family were expected in full attendance. The feast would be delicious. Blossom’s mother was the star chef today, although Vicky and Amy helped, too. Blossom wasn’t much of a cook, so she put herself in charge of refilling drinks and lifting spirits. 

This blend of blood-family and friend-family had grown together so beautifully. Blossom's parents loved George and his siblings. The McCarthy clan all adored Blossom's parents and even her unruly little brother, Vale. In-laws became friends. Friends became family.  

And there were three vegetarians in one family, so it was decidedly a convincing tofu roast on their menu. The meat-eaters didn't dare complain. 

The day couldn’t have been more perfect. 

anywhere but here (DAC, Fall 2087)

October 2087. Amy Jones is 21, Josie Booth is 20, Ariel Beech is 19, Drake Cannon is 19, Marcus Sylvester is 19, Liza Hathe is 18. 

previously: Liza didn't want to go to SNU // last year at DAC // Drake & Josie make it work and Ariel's boyfriend is a dud // the festival got rained out

Liza didn’t want to admit to her mother that this quiet arts college had been a bad choice. Who ever wanted to tell their mother that she was right? But the truth was, the reputable science college would have been a bad choice as well. So would the modern tech college, the historic ivy league college, and even the local community college. Liza did not want to attend college at all.

How absurd, right? Liza was so smart. Of course she would go to college. That was what everyone expected of her. What else would she do? Certainly not pocket all of her scholarship money and buy two plane tickets to anywhere. Crazy idea—Robbie was still in high school for eight more months.

Campus was busy and full of strangers. She was a country girl, a forest girl, a long babbling creek girl. All these loud, smelly, strange young people made her feel anxious. 

the best you can do

October 2087, Laney Thompson is 28, Ingrid and Ian Thompson are 24, Wesley Grant is 30, Odin Grant is 27, Evie Bachman is 23, Jessica Pendleton is 25.

*previously: when Ian and Ingrid got kicked out // when Laney met Andreas // where Andreas went // Jessica's disappointing birthday

Laney was finally ready to date. She had spent two prime years of her life longing for an impossibility. She had built up Andreas in her mind as her ideal, her one and only, when in reality, they were only close for a couple of months. It sounded so silly when she thought about it that way. 

So she would try to date. She'd already struck out with the local dating pool, which was full of married men and eighteen-year-old college students. No thanks. Next step, online dating.  

Laney made herself a profile and sent it out into the world. She discovered that even a moderately attractive, bumbling woman would be flooded with responses within minutes. At first she was flattered until she read some of the messages and soon became annoyed. Ranging from the mildly lame, "Damn, you fine! Hit me up girl!" to a very detailed account of what exactly some Romeo would like to slide between her milky jugs. 

Beyond that, Laney found three eligible bachelors. Ronnie messaged her first, but she thought him too forward and a bit smarmy. Darwin sounded nice, but came with a dead wife and nine-year-old daughter—Laney felt guilty for passing. Wesley was educated, well spoken, career-minded, and interesting, if maybe a little snobbish. Laney would rather deal with snobbish than vulgar. 

So she wrote back to Wesley. 

September/October birthdays

September-October 2087

The Pendleton sisters are delightful young ladies, treasures to anyone who ever knew them. They are charming, generous, and friendly with everyone. But their closest friends and favorite bar buddies would have to be the Thompson siblings.

Who are, unfortunately, not as universally delightful. Each has their strong points, mind you. And as friends, they make a solid pack. Laney is a reliable, compassionate, good listener. Ingrid is daring and fun, up for anything at any time. Ian is very clever, and can hold his own in conversation about most any topic. Beyond friendship, though, these three are a hot hot mess. Jamie knows better than to mix friendship and romance. And Jessica would be wise to steer her efforts elsewhere.