*** content warnings: miscarriage, blood
Perhaps there’s something in the Sierra Nova municipal water supply?
Inara should probably know better, since she is a practicing OB/GYN and also chosen as guest lecturer in Biology at SNU this spring. Biology 101: How are babies made?
This is not the best timing for Inara at all. In addition to her working and teaching, she spent the first four weeks of her pregnancy freaking out since her partner Marcelo, was off tomb raiding on an expedition in Selvadorada. But he’s home now and it’s time to have a serious conversation.
Marcelo is equally as surprised as Inara was, but they come through the conversation promising to tackle this together. Whether Marcelo goes on another Selvadorada expedition this summer is another discussion for another time.
February & March birthdays and anniversaries:
No pictures for the lot events this time. The plumbing at Cabe’s house I didn’t do, because Cabe doesn’t have a house, lol! I’ll have to update that in the list. The dog hangout I did at the Sizemore apartments, but no dogs showed up on the lot during the play session. *shrugs*
#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.
(Hang in there, girl. Only three more years…)
Maria’s daughter, Johanna, got a makeover for her 4th birthday. She’ll age up to child next year, but for now, she’ll start preschool with a fun-looking school overhaul mod I just downloaded!
But he wasn’t being dramatic. Vale was always the wild card in their family. He was silly when they were serious, creative when they were logical, scattered when they were focused. They didn’t understand his music or understand why anyone would want to pay him money for it.
Blossom did everything she was supposed to—perfect grades, university scholarships, spent a year studying eastern religions in Japan, married a lawyer, lovely suburban home with a yard, two kids before thirty, and counting.
There might not be a “baby Vale” coming any time soon, but Vale tries to get his dad hyped about the new album and the upcoming tour, but his father only half gets it. “So the music is doing well, then? Is that reliable? Can you support a family with that?”
Yup, there it is. Vale is glad his family likes Vicky. They like her a lot, in fact, and they’ll be pleased to hear that he wants to marry her. But Vale loves Vicky precisely because she doesn’t intend to settle him down. He and Vicky are thankfully on the same page about kids. Not many, and not soon. They have too much to do first.
“It can support Vicky’s notebook habit,” Vale says. “For real, she has a whole shelf of the things she keeps buying because the covers are pretty, but she never writes in them.”
gameplay notes: Vale tried to “enthuse about new album” with his dad, and Nobuo rejected it. :(
Blossom isn’t the only one hit with the preggy bug recently.
Melissa is in a state of utter shock when she’s not busy puking. Somehow, this wasn’t even on her radar. This wasn’t even a blip of worry in the back of her mind. She’s only twenty-one, in college, living in dorms, and her relationship with the baby daddy is sketchy at best. There’s a whole lot to process here.
Mostly she’s trying to process how this even happened, and she’s wondering, “Do condoms not work in a hot tub?”
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.
(Hang in there, girl. Only three more years…)
—
#2: the notorious Maxwell Shaw
It’s been a minute (or a few years decade), so let’s do a little recap/profile:
The Shaw family’s most recent update on this blog.
Max was born in Lakeside Heights to Nina Ramirez and Toby Shaw. His father was killed in a gang altercation when Max was three, and he and his sister Anjali were raised by their single mother. He then lost his dear baby sister to leukemia when she was seventeen.
Max was a wandering (but also sporadically devoted) husband to Valerie, and proud father to Angelo and Devon.
Last we heard from Max, he was feeling uneasy about his place in the organization, like someone was setting him up for a fall. His feeling was valid. Soon after, he was arrested for money laundering as part of a larger crime syndicate in Chicago.
Max was better known in Lake City for his nightclubs. A dance club and brothel called After Midnight, and a gambling den called Lucky’s Card Bar. He was also known for his philandering, both short-term (April Hutchins, among many others) and long (Heather Huffington). He has a special weakness for blondes but was rarely known to turn away any beautiful woman. Roguish as he may sound, he was generous to his friends, family, and employees, and was overwhelmingly well-liked in his community.
He has now served seven of a twenty-year sentence in federal prison.
His son, Angelo, became a lawyer because he wanted to help his dad. Of course, at the time, he was far too young and inexperienced to help in such a high-profile case. But he hopes to strengthen his legal knowledge and networks to help with his father’s parole hearing in a few years.
Max is no saint, even Angelo would admit, but hey, he never killed anybody.
Probably.
—
Still hanging out in ghost form, as I noted in this old old post. This method still works great for my prison.
Poor Max was not sentenced to solitary confinement, but I haven’t managed to put any other criminals in there with him. I should scrounge some up. Hmmm, who’s going to jail? lol!
—
#3: promises, promises
After twenty-six years of marriage, Valerie Shaw has finally taken a lover on the side. If fair is fair, she probably should have done so much sooner.
His name is Bradley. He’s a surgeon. And damn if you’d have told twenty-something Trailer Trash Val that she could have landed a surgeon someday, she would have called you fucking crazy. He’s a business owner (all legal, we should say), property owner (charming apartments, not brothels or gambling dens, we should say). He’s also six years her junior and built like a twenty-five-year-old.
But she won’t take him to meet her children, and he’s not asking her to leave her husband. And that’s okay because he’s not her boyfriend, he’s her lover. He’s also not a back-alley screw, or a fuck for hire, or a skanky twenty-year-old with daddy issues, or any of the other sleazy side pieces Max had. They’re lovers. He makes her feel classy and desirable.
But Valerie and Max have been married for 26 years. They have children together. He kept her in a cushy living for half her life until he had it all repossessed. Maybe that means something?
She visits Max on special occasions. She brings pictures of his baby granddaughter that he won’t get to hold until she’s too old for holding. She brings pictures of their youngest, Devon, who was a little girl when he went in and will be a woman when he gets out.
Because Max has another five years in the slammer before he’s eligible for parole, and he’s as smooth-talking and full of promises as he ever was.
Valerie imagines that by the time he returns to her, finally too old for all the women and the sketchy businesses and the crime, they’ll finally have a quiet life together, maybe something like the life she imagined all those years ago when she was pure with youth, love, and hope.
Happy 26th anniversary to Valerie and Max.
—
A photoshoot for Angelo’s adorable little family, for no occasion other than Sienna turning 9 months old, which is when I finally start playing my babies as toddlers in game.
Many more pictures here.
—
#4: happy birthday, dear Johanna
Maria’s daughter, Johanna, got a makeover for her 4th birthday. She’ll age up to child next year, but for now, she’ll start preschool with a fun-looking school overhaul mod I just downloaded!
Johanna is independent, opinionated, and enjoys dancing with her momma.
—
#5: baby’s first birthday
Rest up, mama. You’re about to have two under two!
Baby McCarthy #2 is due in the fall of 2088.
And the family gathers around to wish a happy first birthday to baby Abe!
Vale is having a small moment of crisis, surrounded by his nephew’s first birthday party decorations and the news that his sister is pregnant. Again.
“Whoa, slow down, sis! You’re making me look bad.”
Vale is having a small moment of crisis, surrounded by his nephew’s first birthday party decorations and the news that his sister is pregnant. Again.
“Whoa, slow down, sis! You’re making me look bad.”
“What?” Blossom said. “How do you look bad? You’re super famous, and I just got pregnant a couple times.”
But he wasn’t being dramatic. Vale was always the wild card in their family. He was silly when they were serious, creative when they were logical, scattered when they were focused. They didn’t understand his music or understand why anyone would want to pay him money for it.
Blossom did everything she was supposed to—perfect grades, university scholarships, spent a year studying eastern religions in Japan, married a lawyer, lovely suburban home with a yard, two kids before thirty, and counting.
There might not be a “baby Vale” coming any time soon, but Vale tries to get his dad hyped about the new album and the upcoming tour, but his father only half gets it. “So the music is doing well, then? Is that reliable? Can you support a family with that?”
Yup, there it is. Vale is glad his family likes Vicky. They like her a lot, in fact, and they’ll be pleased to hear that he wants to marry her. But Vale loves Vicky precisely because she doesn’t intend to settle him down. He and Vicky are thankfully on the same page about kids. Not many, and not soon. They have too much to do first.
“It can support Vicky’s notebook habit,” Vale says. “For real, she has a whole shelf of the things she keeps buying because the covers are pretty, but she never writes in them.”
gameplay notes: Vale tried to “enthuse about new album” with his dad, and Nobuo rejected it. :(
Notable, maybe, that I actually named Nobuo after my favorite composer of Final Fantasy music, Nobuo Uematsu, but my Nobuo hates music, lol!
Time for presents! Thanks to some fun new downloads, Abe enjoys a fantastic toy haul—a rocking horse, stacking rings, and a train set.
Time for presents! Thanks to some fun new downloads, Abe enjoys a fantastic toy haul—a rocking horse, stacking rings, and a train set.
—
#6: look out for Mr. Stork
Melissa is in a state of utter shock when she’s not busy puking. Somehow, this wasn’t even on her radar. This wasn’t even a blip of worry in the back of her mind. She’s only twenty-one, in college, living in dorms, and her relationship with the baby daddy is sketchy at best. There’s a whole lot to process here.
Mostly she’s trying to process how this even happened, and she’s wondering, “Do condoms not work in a hot tub?”
—
Perhaps there’s something in the Sierra Nova municipal water supply?
Inara should probably know better, since she is a practicing OB/GYN and also chosen as guest lecturer in Biology at SNU this spring. Biology 101: How are babies made?
This is not the best timing for Inara at all. In addition to her working and teaching, she spent the first four weeks of her pregnancy freaking out since her partner Marcelo, was off tomb raiding on an expedition in Selvadorada. But he’s home now and it’s time to have a serious conversation.
Marcelo is equally as surprised as Inara was, but they come through the conversation promising to tackle this together. Whether Marcelo goes on another Selvadorada expedition this summer is another discussion for another time.
—
Gwen had attributed a slight pull in her tummy to a bad egg salad sandwich, but then she noticed the blood dripping down her leg in the shower.
No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. This pregnancy had to be saved. There was so much relying on it. But she knew better than to rely on wishful thinking in this kind of situation.
She made an appointment at the women’s clinic right away.
Gwen should have been about ten weeks pregnant now.
“Are you sure ten weeks?” the doctor asked, scrutinizing the images, making the most grave of faces at the unmistakable shrimp-like shape of what should be Gwen’s second baby.
“I’m terribly sorry, Ms. Palmer, but there’s no heartbeat here.”
Gwen couldn’t stop staring at the ultrasound, her uterus with this tiny thing still inside. She remembered seeing Luisa, even this small, waving little stump arms and doing rolls. Maybe this one was sleeping? Poor, tired little shrimp.
“Maybe it’s sleeping?”
“I’m so sorry,” the doctor said again. “This pregnancy is not going to be viable. It should finish passing in a day or two on its own. Is your partner in the waiting room? Is there someone you’d like to call?”
Oh, no. Certainly not. Andreas was not here, and Gwen couldn’t let him find out about this. He would leave her so fast. He’d leave her like a house on fire.
gameplay: Gwen’s 8-week pregnancy scan was unkind to her plans. (whispers: karma?)
—
February:
2: Naomi Gibson is 5
3: Lilian Riley-Kim is 6
4: Hope Phoenix is 1
7: Ronnie Steele is 31
7: Samuel Harris is 17
8: Hudson Lawrence is 29
12: Rose Turner is 12
16: Johanna Boone is 4
16: Wesley Grant is 31
18: Deidre Sylvester is 58
19: Juliette Martin is 13
20: Cynthia Kim is 52
21: Melissa Fortney is 21
22: Drew Bradshaw is 32
25: Nessa Phoenix is 38
25: Kayla Hall is 12
27: Blair Jones is 21
27: Shiloh Morgan is 22
28: Abraham McCarthy is 1
February anniversaries:
2/18/2062: Maxwell & Valerie Shaw, 26 years
March:
2: Dallas Deppiesse is 23
2: Skye Nova is 6
5: Amber Jackson is 2
6: Nobuo Akiyama is 57
7: Fallon Pickett 47
8: Nehemiah Pendleton is 59
8: Chase Murphy is 26
9: Carlos Sanchez is 32
11: Eliana Bradshaw is 1
11: Grace Bradshaw is 1
12: Breanna Hubbard is 5
13: Ophelia Gibson is 4
14: Emaline Pickett is 13
17: Natalia Deppiesse is 23
18: Magdalena Fontenot is 14
22: Jennifer Beech is 55
22: Valerie Shaw is 53
24: Zachary Harris is 10
25: Courtney Bachman is 28
29: Shannon Brett is 17
March anniversaries:
3/14/2084: Drew & Amelia Bradshaw, 4 years
This is strike #3 for 68-year-old Matthias (Jake & Susie’s grandfather), and strike #1 for 35-year-old Edmund (Blaine’s father/Payton’s stepfather).
Poor Gwen. :(
ReplyDeleteAnd wow, what a shock to see Max again after so long (in real time and blog time)!
Johanna is killing me with her cuteness!
It is such a long time Max has been away. I put gray in his beard and hair, lol! He’s coming up on 50 now. But considering how long I’ve been writing about him, it’s probably about right.
DeleteI can’t wait to see Johanna as a child on her next birthday!
Thank you for reading!