* 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.
After a small rest, it doesn’t take long for Vale to get that itch to return to his studio for some deep work. He is now on the post-production and marketing end of the tour. Video editing has never been his favorite chore. Melissa was a big help over the summer, but now she has returned to university, and there are a few edits left for him to do himself. He wants to keep the hype of the summer going, while also planning his next big moves.
He will return to weekends at his old haunt, The Subterranean Flare in Sierra Nova, even if that venue feels a little beneath him now. He’s not trying to get too big for his britches, but he’s been on tour. He feels—or at least, wants to feel—too large for a college town nightclub. He wants to book gigs in the biggest clubs on the planet.
But he’ll hang onto the job at least until he has a steady stream of bigger and better things. Which he doesn’t quite have yet. It’s only September, but they already want confirmation on whether he’ll play New Year’s Eve again. He doesn’t have any other offers. He’s considering it, although he has vowed to never do another lame Christmas party again.
And Vicky? She really wants a kitchen remodel, because this little kitchen with its vomit-colored cabinets is pretty awful. (And she wouldn’t hate a yacht, either, to be honest, but that may be stretching the bank balance just a bit.)
And she wonders if he’s going to ask for a prenup. She wonders how she would feel about it if he did. It wouldn’t be completely unreasonable.
She also, occasionally, still wonders if he’ll realize his newfound wealth and fame and reconsider his options completely. The old doubts are hard to shake.
His success in the past year has come so strong and so fast, they don’t really know how to talk about the money end of things. Not like they’re able to talk about which parties to attend, cities to travel to, and the music—always the music. And about how her eggplant parmesan is actually not bad—he can hardly taste the vegetables in it at all!
If she brings anything of value to this man’s life, perhaps she will make it her mission to make sure he doesn’t die of an early heart attack.
—
Moving to the other half of the Akiyama family, Blossom is throwing a little celebration with family to prepare for baby #2, and it’s going to be a girl this time! Blossom and George are both enjoying their last moments with little Abraham as an only child.
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Del Sol Valley, California is buzzing this evening with talk of the annual Starlight Music Awards, and the name on everyone’s breath is Vale Akiyama. After his exciting summer music tour, his song, “Crushing” is an earworm in everybody’s head. The song has since shot up the charts, even falling into a bidding war to be used in a television commercial. Vale’s electronic musical genius will be set as the backbeat for some capitalistic money grab, and who will the winner be? Men’s body spray, a flashy car, or a credit card? Vale hopes not to be the poster boy for a douchy body spray, but he probably wouldn’t turn the deal down.
Vicky is still obscure, at best, in the songwriting arena. She’s a voice in his music, his arm candy, his lovely new fiancé. So she’ll play that part tonight. This is his night, not hers.
She’s really not trying to make this about her, she swears! It’s just that her period is starting, right freaking now, in this ivory dress, on this red carpet with flashbulbs lighting up like fireworks around them. And she doesn’t have a tampon. She knew she should have shoved a few more things into her bra, but she was already packing her ID, a credit card, and some lipstick in there. Heaven forbid her breasts should appear lumpy on the red carpet!
Okay, well, better smile for the cameras and get this over with.
Vale whispers, “Hey, why are you smiling so weird? Are you nervous?”
“Err, yeah,” she whispers back. “Super nervous. Can we go inside now?”
Luckily, Vale has plenty of music industry people to schmooze with, so Vicky runs straight for the bathroom, hoping a fancy place like this might have some feminine products stashed somewhere in the ladies’ room.
But no, the fancy ruffled basket on the sink edge only contains paper towels.
A girl’s gotta do what she’s gotta do. She grabs a handful of them, sits down on that gold-plated toilet, and shoves them into her underwear. Vicky is about as non-theistic as they come, but she may have also prayed a little.
Then she went back to the star-studded event to watch her man win the night.
* True story: apparently sometimes sims have the option to ask another female sim for a tampon, but I couldn’t find that interaction on anyone. She had no option to buy them on her phone (and that always takes too long anyway). I went into buy mode to buy a box, but because she doesn’t own this lot, she couldn’t unpack and use them. So she decided to just power through the event and hope for the best. Lucky girl, she never got the second “soaked clothes” moodlet. Vale accepted his award, and they went home early. Whew!
—
We’re in the final days now before baby McCarthy #2. Maybe even the final hours. Blossom is pissing like a sieve. She might as well camp out in the bathroom. Baby Abe is clamoring for attention. And George is nesting hard.
Amy is George’s sister-in-law, and she’ll be here to help in a big way. She’s doing her nursing clinicals right now, and she’s specializing in neonatal care. So she’s qualified to serve as a nurse midwife for Blossom’s home birth.
* I was like, what?!? She’s in like level 1 of the doctor career, but the mod says “Sure, that’s totally fine!” and so here we go, lol!
Mama’s here for the birth, too.
Blossom is confident that this home birth will be the most natural and rewarding way to go for this baby. She isn’t very worried about skipping the hospital trip this time, but it’s a big relief to have her mama here to help.
Time for George to change out of that suit and call in his paternity leave because Blossom is beginning to feel her first real contractions. Progress is slow, but coming along steadily.
And Amy is gaining some valuable midwifery experience. Although, she has to wonder if it’s going to weird when holiday season comes along and she remembers that she’s had her entire hand up her sister-in-law’s hoo-ha.
The contractions are starting to get very painful now, and for some reason Blossom finds her mom’s obsession with that clay incredibly annoying!
It’s a girl! Abigail Estelle McCarthy was born safely at home at 9pm on Saturday, November 7th, 2088.
And Mayumi played with that damn clay ball the entire time her daughter labored with this precious baby.
A+ mothering, Mayumi!
* I assumed the “parent visit” event might be helpful during the chaos of a home birth, especially with a toddler running around, but it was really not. Out of my control, she didn’t do anything useful for the family. No cooking or cleaning, and hardly paid any attention to the toddler. Like, why are you even here?
Here is baby Abby in her obligatory object newborn phase which we will be skipping as quickly as possible.
That onesie is cute, though!
Abe is not happy. Why are these sim toddlers never happy about their siblings? 😂
—
Fast forward one month, as we do. Abigail is an infant now. She is a sunny baby, and a feeding tinkler.
She’s happy and full of smiles.
Another photo at a different angle to show her features better.
I am just amused at how it seems like Abraham is a perfect clone of Blossom, and Abigail is a perfect clone of George, lol! Nose shape, eye color, hair color, chin even, maybe? I kind of can’t wait to see George’s very strong features on a girl as she grows up.
Motherhood is when you drink a cup of coffee to wake up, but you end up taking a nap with your kiddos anyway. 🙃
George is happy to spend his paternity leave cleaning. I forgot to notice whether he also loves cleaning up poopy blowouts? Neat sims, lol!
Abe was unhappy to have a new sibling when she first arrived, but for Abby it was love at first sight. And I think she’s starting to grow on him, too.
So here we’ll leave off with the McCarthy family for a bit. Abe turns 2 in February, so we’ll return for his birthday. And Abby will be about 3 months old then, and the timing will be great for her to start working on some milestones.
—
When he booked his summer music tour, Vale had to give up his regular Thursday and Saturday night shows at the Subterranean Flare. Now the summer is over. Now the rush of awards and rave reviews have faltered. Now he’s only halfway through his next album and the last album is the oldest of news. And now he’s back at his old haunt to check out the competition. Someone had to take his place when he left, but he secretly hoped that person would never be able to fill his shoes.
“Do you think she’s better than me?”
“No way, babe! She’s trash,” Vicky said.
But, like, she’s obviously not total trash. Not the worst ever. And everybody’s loving the vibe. The music is pumping and bodies are moving and lights are flashing. Nobody’s even trying to get Vale’s autograph anymore, except maybe that one weird guy who keeps glaring at him through the crowd, and Vale isn’t sure if that guy wants an autograph or to rough him up in an alley. He doesn’t really want to find out, either.
Better stick to the original plan. There’s no going back. It’s super stardom or bust.
* It'll be our secret that Vicky actually liked the music!
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