postcards from an ill-timed supernova

June, July, August 2088.

#1: sunshine girls

Summer of 2088 in Copper Hill, Michigan. The sun is hot. The local swimming hole is murky and nobody knows what hides in its depths.

“Dead bodies,” Bianca teases.

“Nuh uh,” Julia cries. “Stop it, I’m telling Dad!”

“Leeches.” Lily giggles, her fingers tickling up Willow’s shoulder.

“Seaweed,” Willow shouts, grabbing a clump. Throw, splat. Squeals, splashing, laughter.



The days are long and sweaty and sweet. In twenty years, when four little girls have become women swamped with jobs and family and life, when they think back on their childhood, this will be what they remember.  

—

#2: she had it coming

Even if this boy has no other redeeming qualities, nobody will ever be able to claim that Reid Morton is not loyal. And he is also quite fond of those disaster thrillers where it’s the good-for-nothing shady hacker that saves the day. Maybe he isn’t saving the world right now, but Shannon Brett broke his best friend’s heart, so he broke into her phone and swiped a few unflattering and embarrassing selfies. She had this coming. 

—

#3: sweet sixteen

Jake always loved everything about Fireworks Day. Summer is in full swing, and it’s his birthday. But this year it’s kind of a bummer. Susie went to hang out with Maggie, his mom was off doing whatever (or whoever?), so it was just Jake, his dad, and Reid. And that’s totally fine. He doesn’t want to talk about the incident, and neither of them try, which he appreciates. Reid sucks at fishing, so he mostly waves his rod around like a sword and tells jokes in a pirate voice. He gets them all laughing so hard that Jake almost forgets he’s supposed to be heartbroken. Good thing his dad catches some fish to grill, because neither he or Reid caught anything edible. 

And it was okay. He has a life outside her. Eventually, someday, there won’t be a Shannon-shaped hole in his heart.  

—

#4: the remnants of a supernova

The loyalty lines were drawn in the war of Jake versus Shannon, and Reid Morton was not on their side. 

He somehow got his hands on several unflattering pictures of Shannon and drew devil horns on them, then posted them all over the internet.

“Oh no,” Devon said. “She wants to be a model, that is gonna be so bad for her.” 

“Yikes.” 

“Do you have unflattering pictures of me?”

“No way, baby, you’re beautiful in every one. Even the ones where you’re snoring with your mouth hung open.” 

“You better never, mister!”

As the war broke into factions, Devon and Aldous were happiest to hide out in their safe little bubble of coupledom. Despite everyone’s doubts, maybe they could make it last. Some people do. 

But even if they never intended to pick sides, senior class stuck together. It was the summer before their last year of high school for Aldous and Shannon, and Dakota would head off to college in a couple weeks. They hadn’t thrown enough parties, which was a tragedy since their building had a pool. So this would be the summer of pool parties. 

Small ones, it seemed. Half of their friend group had burst into flames. Aldous had been friends with Reid, but Shannon ruined that. Aldous had also been friends with Eric, but Dakota blew that friendship into smithereens, too. So Aldous would leave the women folk to themselves and chill out on this inflatable while he thought about how he’d find some new friends. 

“Poor Aldous,” Devon said. “You two scared off all his dude friends.” 

“Oh, he’ll get over it,” Dakota said. “And anyway, I’ll be gone in six weeks. You guys can hang out with whoever you want.”  

Aldous wasn’t the only one feeling how much this sucked. Shannon helped cause this mess, and what would she be left with exactly? Dakota would skate off to college and leave her carrying the rubble.

Delphie showed up later, and Aldous’s dad came out to make sure nobody was smoking or drinking or getting up to anything they shouldn’t be. 

“Cool tunes,” he said and started dancing. 

“Go, Mr. Jones!” Shannon cheered. 

“No, Dad,” Aldous said, cringing. 

—

#5: you’re not my mom





It’s been half a decade since Ryanne and Piper blew up their family living room and laid out the boundaries of their delicate new step relationship. They seem to have found a good fit now. They’re often spotted in a Saturday afternoon doing some window shopping on the Del Sol strip, wearing matching overalls together. Not mother and daughter, but something like friends. 

—

#6: what are Charlie and Natty up to?

Life for Charlie and Natty is a little calmer these days. You can blame Natty for their previous chaos, probably. She’s been kind of wishy-washy over the years. Indecisive in every aspect of her life, although, thankfully, she’s at least sorted out her relationship worries. Very much so. They’ve been engaged since forever, but Natty now knows that she is very certain she wants to be married to Charlie Roseland for the rest of her life. 

Too bad the wedding planner has a waitlist that’s years long. 

But they’ve waited all this time already, and they’re only 23, so she’ll wait her turn. 

So Natty has just been lounging around the apartment, lazing beside their sunny pool, working part-time as a bartender at a nightclub, dreaming about weddings, enjoying a “gap year” = she was supposed to be starting med school, but now she kind of doesn’t want to be a doctor anymore. And she doesn’t want to tell her mom that she maybe wasted all that tuition money if all she really wants is to get married and have some babies. 

As a sim, didn’t she tell us all along that was what she wanted? When she was twelve, she rolled the LTW to “graduate two children.” In TS4 terms, she is “successful lineage” and “renaissance sim” aspirations. Neither lend well to 12 years of intensely focused study. So why did she ever imagine she’d make a good doctor? She hates bugs, getting dirty, blood,  and gore. That rules out many areas of science: medicine, biology, geology. How about physics? Physics is good and clean, with lots of math and formulas and theories that aren’t dirty.  

She has always felt like a very curious character with a wide range of interests. Also, a little scattered, fleeting, wanting to know about everything and focus on nothing. And she loves kids. Considering everything, I think she’d probably make a great middle school science teacher. 

And hey, she already has a degree in biology. She just needs a teaching certificate now. 

So there, we just figured out her whole life for her. 

“Thank you,” Natty says. 

“You’re welcome,” we say. 

So she’ll still go to graduate school in the fall, but she will study for her teacher training to become a middle school science teacher. And the Department of Education is enthusiastically recruiting new teachers, so she can even start right away while she finishes her certification.

Meanwhile, Charlie would gladly get married whenever and wherever—he’s leaving all of the planning up to Natty— but what he dreams about most is a junkyard like he had back in Sunrise Shores!!!

Living in Sierra Nova. Charlie would love to spend more time in Moonwood Mill, which really suits him, but it’s not Natty’s style. He’s close enough to visit, though, and take Natty out for a wild time. 

Who else would take their fianceé on a date to a junkyard? 

—

#7: the baby boomies of 2077 turn tween!

Eleven years ago, in the summer of 2077, there was a baby boom in Lakeside Heights. This year, those babies are turning into tweenagers! Happy 11th birthday and welcome to middle school!

I took pictures of many of them with their families, because I was so pleased to see how small I managed to make some of them look, considering TS4 teenagers by default look giant! Others got their pictures taken on their own because I couldn’t be bothered anymore, lol!



Bianca Lind, daughter of Ally and Nathan Lind. 



Eliott Miller, son of Blake and Clarice Miller. 



Shaun Hathe, son of Riley and Chad Hathe, little brother to Liza. 



Conner McCullough, son of Brooke and Phin McCullough, little brother to Fiona and Robbie. He looks so much like Robbie, but trust me, he’s an asshole like Fiona!




Plus Liberty Blair, daughter of Tyrell and Lorena Blair. Liberty actually had her birthday back in May, before I decided to try the preteens mod, so she gets to have her age-up now.



Extra picspam of Liberty, because I think I’m gonna love her style and attitude as a tweenager.

—

#8: welcome baby Charlotte

A little early, but not worryingly so. Marlie Levin’s water broke at 5:30pm. She and her husband Daniel prepared to spend a long night in the hospital. It felt like starting all over again for Marlie. She had her son, Harry, fourteen years ago, when she was still a teenager herself, and her memories of that birth were long faded now. 




* Mod talk: First experience with the realistic childbirth mod. I think there’s probably been an update or two since I tried it. I like that it makes the hospital of more use (since, as is, it’s basically useless, lol!), and that you get to spend some actual time there. She checked in at 4pm, and her labor took about 18 hours, and that was moving the progress along. That’s a little long to spend on one labor, even in real-life terms. Twice as long for a sim in sim time.

But the moment finally came.






The animations are very realistic and super precious. I feel like this mod is a very nice addition to the game. 

Little Charlotte was born a little after noon on August 2, 2088.

Then the hospital sends the baby immediately back home. So we’ll recover at home, I guess.   




Back at home now and mother and baby are both doing great. Charlotte will remain a newborn for one game month, then (yay!!! finally!!!) grow up into a real infant!



Big brother, Harry, is being surprisingly sweet through this big change in their family. 

—

Summer birthdays and anniversaries: 

June birthdays:

1: Felix Graham is 9

1: Milo Graham is 9

2: Sienna Sylvester is 1

3: Jackson Phoenix is 39

3: Hayden Phoenix is 39

4: Isabelle Gibson is 32

6: Aldous Jones is 17

9: Janie Trudgen is 48

12: Josie Booth is 21

12: Andreas Tsoukalos is 34

13: Ariel Beech is 20

15: Ethan Hubbard is 3

18: Maxwell Shaw is 49

21: Summer Phoenix is 23

23: Delphie Deppiesse is 18 — age up

23: Dakota Deppiesse is 18 — age up

27: Mayumi Akiyama is 54

27: Piper Phoenix is 34

25: Harry Alonso is 15

28: Lisa Sanchez is 31

28: Andre Sylvester is 23

28: Cyd Roseland is 50

29: Samir Peroit is 33

June anniversaries: 

6/8/2078: Angel & Fallon Pickett, 10 years

6/19/2077: Patrick & Lara Nova, 11 years

6/22/2086: Blair & Amy Jones, 2 years

July birthdays: 

1: Harper Phoenix is 2

2: Bianca Lind is 11 — age up

6: Angel Pickett is 44

6: Clarice Miller is 42

7: Jacob Collins is 16

7: Phin McCullough is 49

8: Kai Kapule is 15

10: Vale Akiyama is 28

11: Topher Lind is 3

15: Sheldon Morton is 43

15: Connor McCullough is 11 — age up

22: Lex Fontenot is 50

23: Elliot Miller is 11 — age up

24: Cecil Martin is 51

27: Blake Miller is 43

28: Maya Jackson is 27

31: Shaun Hathe is 11 — age up

July anniversaries: 

7/15/2058: Helen & Gregory Bunch, 30 years

August birthdays: 

1: Sharon Coolidge is 34

4: Selena Sosa is 25

5: Willow Nova is 7

6: Susie Collins is 14

7: Cleo Morgan is 26

8: Raymond Sylvester is 61

8: Sheldon Fortney is 56

12: Raine Nova is 10

15: Benji Nova is 2

16: Angelo Shaw is 26

17: Odin Grant is 28

19: Cassie Deppiesse is 3

20: Asher Halston is 28

24: Julian Sanchez is 3

24: James Porter is 31

26: Amy Jones is 22

27: Cabe Deppiesse is 48

27: Brooke McCullough is 48

29: Scott Turner is 46

30: Violet Deppiesse is 54

30: Laney Thompson is 29

31: Adam Thompson is 55

August anniversaries: 

8/28/2083: Cameron & Isabelle Gibson, 5 years

8/27/2061: Cyd and Audrey Roseland, 27 years

health strikes: 

June: Laney Thompson, current strikes: 1

July: Pamela Collins, current strikes: 0

August: Alice Nova, current strikes: 2

lot deterioration rolls: 

June: homeless encampment, in the public space near Cora Lawrence’s apartment building in Sierra Nova

July: large floor damage, at Powell’s Finery antique store in Magnolia Park

August: water leak plus medium water damage, at Wesley Grant’s apartment in San Myshuno

^ no pictures of the lot deteriorations because I am super behind in completing these rolls in my game, lol!