it's your day: Riley (and Patrick)

November 29, 2086. Riley Hathe and Patrick Nova are 36. (Chad is 35, Lara is 33, Liza is 17, Shaun is 9, Raine is 8, Skye is 4.)


The move out west for the Hathe and Phoenix families came quicker than any of them were ready for. Chad and Hayden had a meeting with their lawyer in Catalina to claim that legendary business grant, and to establish their new gaming start-up partnership. It was a good thing these two have been best buddies since they were sixteen—they were about to marry two entire family net worths into this business. They both had property to sell back home in Lakeside Heights, and they co-signed on a business loan to cover what the grant left over.

At least they were taking it seriously. Maybe more seriously than they'd ever taken anything in their lives, including their combined three marriages and six children.

Fall Festival at Coolidge House Country Inn

October 2086. 


Here is where the girls went while the boys were left home alone. Sharon asked Stephanie and Maria to bring their kids into work today—they have a very important job to do. They need to brainstorm ideas for the fall festival. Sharon doesn't have any kids of her own, so she needs to borrow her employees' children for this task.

postcards from Copper County

September 2086.


Even though Stephanie has only been on maternity leave for two months, Sharon is itching to get her back to work again. Slow to start, she promised. "Can I just borrow you for a couple of meetings?"

Sharon renovated part of the second floor to make a dedicated meeting room so that she wouldn't need to clutter the dining room with magazines and calendars every time she meets with a new client.

Today, they entertain Adam Thompson from the Great Lakes Historical Preservation Society.

(He's Justin's boss, Stephanie notes—or soon to be ex-boss, as the story goes—and feels a bit awkward about it. They have never met before, but she recognizes his name and title right away. Justin talks about him all the time! She decides not to put him or Justin or Sharon on the spot by making that connection right now. Instead, she just sits there quietly until asked a question about the butternut squash bisque, feeling nervous and weird—about the meeting, not the soup. The bisque is excellent!)

Adam hopes to contract Sharon and her fine kitchen staff to supply food for the gift shop cafe he plans to open in Ironwood Bay. Sharon is excited about the deal. This would be the first time she supplied catering to a retail setting. Adam promised that her business would be well advertised in the store.

Drown #14: we go on, part 3

September 2086. Stephanie and Justin are 26. Willow is 5, Lily is 4, Benji is 3 weeks old. George McCarthy is 32.


Stephanie was terrified when Cynthia suggested that they take the girls out for the day. "Willow needs the distraction. She needs to feel like things are normal again."

But was that wise? Jeremiah could be anywhere. That was how this all happened. They let their guard down for just a moment and he showed up and tried to destroy everything.

"But you can’t lock yourself inside a hospital for the rest of your life," Cynthia said.

"I guess you're right," Stephanie agreed.

So the girls went out with their grandparents and they had a nice day.

Drown #14: we go on, part 2

September 2086. Stephanie and Justin are 26. Willow is 5, Lily is 4, Benji is 3 weeks old. Robert is 52. Jeremy is 70. Bryson is 64.  


Stephanie spent hours going through a cycle of hope and disappointment and hope again. She called out to his nurses, "I think he blinked!" But it wasn’t a blink so much as a muscle spasm of the eyeball or maybe even a burst of REM dreaming. Then she thought she saw him move his finger. A twitch. The nurse wouldn’t say yes or no, just, "It could be." Then she went on with her work. Stephanie wasn't sure whether she was hearing grunts or exhales or perhaps just a tummy rumble.

"Do you think he's hungry? How can he be getting enough nutrients through that little tube for this many days?"

She was driving herself a little bit crazy.

Her mother demanded that she step outside to watch the sunset. "Come get some air with me, sweetheart. If it was a blink, then he’ll still be doing it when you get back."

Drown #14: we go on, part 1

September 2086. Stephanie Nova and Justin Kim are 26. Cynthia Kim is 50, Robert Kim is 52. Keri Riley is 25. Alice Nova is 65. Willow is 5, Lily is 4. 


I don't want to hear it. This isn't happening. 

"Swelling on his brain due to repeated blows..."

Remember when we were kids, when we used to camp out behind my house in the summer?

"... induced the coma to give his brain a chance to rest..."

You said if we slept with our backs to each other we could see in all the directions and the monsters could never get us.

little love

August 2086. Stephanie Nova and Justin Kim are 26. Willow is 5, Lily is 4. Welcome, baby Benji. 


In Stephanie's condition, a natural birth would be more taxing on her body than a c-section, but Stephanie insisted that she wanted to try. Her doctor wouldn't have let her do it if she didn't stand a good chance. So they did it. Her doctor ordered the induction at 38 weeks, estimating the baby's weight at a healthy seven pounds. Stephanie's blood pressure remained stable throughout the labor and her spirits were strong.

the baby shower

July 2086. 

* half commentary style just because I didn't want to spend an eternity on this. But I did give Stephanie a baby shower in my game, so I thought I'd share the pics and chatter here. 

The baby shower event is thanks to this mod by BrittPinkieSims. 


At thirty-six weeks, Stephanie's nesting instinct kicks in. Justin and the girls are fast asleep, but she's on a mad cleaning spree.

Drown #12: hand in my pocket, part 3

June 4, 2086. 12:00 pm


"ID's please," the reception attendant said. "We have you in courtroom 1B at twelve o'clock for session one, and one-thirty for session two. The judge will be with you shortly. Please have your paperwork ready."

pool day picspam

March 2086.


Keri's parents were eager to spend some time with her now that she's on the ground, and Stephanie's parents came up north to visit as well. They all decided to make a day of it at the community pool in the city.

We'll imagine that this is a very well heated pool, for everyone being able to get in the water in Northern Michigan in March!

Drown #10: the mouse, part 4

January 2086. Stephanie Nova is 26, Justin Kim is 25. Willow is 4, Lily is 3. Jeremiah Day is 29.

* sensitive content advisory for Drown #10: the mouse, parts 3, 4, & 5


Justin said not to even think about the messages, but Stephanie thought about them all night. She felt weak in her heart and they'd hurt her there. She should have been stronger. She tried, but she wasn't stronger.

happy new year, 2086!

Happy New Year, 2086! Stephanie is 26, Justin is 25, Jeremiah is 28, Willow and Lily are 3. Alice is 64, Jeremy is 69, Bryson is 64. 


It's New Year's Eve and Stephanie feels terrible. She won't be able to drink anything tonight and she doubts that she'll even make it to midnight before she passes out.

Does Justin feel a little bit guilty? Maybe. Proud, too? Probably.

Drown #9: the best laid plans, part 5

December 2085. Stephanie Nova is 26, Justin Kim is 25. George McCarthy is 31.  

* sensitive content advisory for Drown #9: the best laid plans, parts 1-5



Christmas morning, Alice wanted everyone home for the holidays. So Stephanie came home, leaving their things between several houses and cars. She felt displaced and homeless, even in her own childhood home. Stephanie had no idea where Jeremiah had to go. He didn’t say where he went, just that he’d be back to see Willow as soon as he got some things in order. He had no family here. Maybe Sheila and Ronnie took him in. They were nice people, Stephanie thought. She hoped that Jeremiah was good to them.

Jeremiah could have been anywhere. She didn't feel far enough away. It all felt like too little, too fragile, too temporary. Jeremiah was smarter than they gave him credit for. She couldn't wait for February first to come when he would be military bound to be in South Carolina.

Drown #9: the best laid plans, part 4

December 2085. Justin Kim is 25, Stephanie Nova is 26, Alice Nova is 64, Jeremiah Day is 28.  


In Stephanie's dream, she and Jeremiah stood in a mountain lodge in Three Lakes and he was trying to put a gift shop ring on her finger. It was neon green and made of plastic. Justin was about to fall off of the mountain, but he wasn't falling yet. He was suspended by nothing, just toppled back at forty-five degrees, his arms flailing. She was scared for him.

I need to help him, he's gonna die.  
You can't. We're getting married now. 
I don't want to. 
But you do want to, you said so. I heard you say it and you can't take it back.

The green plastic ring had jagged edges and hurt her finger. Once it was on, it melted into her skin and became part of her flesh. Inextricable.

Would you be scared if I fell off that mountain?
Yes. 
Don't lie to me, babe. 
I'm not lying. 
I want to see how scared you are. Show me your face.

But she was still watching Justin, afraid that if she glanced away for even a second the magic would break and he would start to fall.

I don't believe you. You're a liar. You weren't supposed to be a liar. You were the good one. 

Drown #8: reclamation day, part 2

December 2085. Justin Kim is 25, Stephanie Nova is 26, Willow is 3. 

* NSFW


So, just like that, the world wasn’t going to end.

Stephanie drank some carrot juice from her new juicer and lamented that while she might get to do a lot of things in her lifetime, she would never get to be an Olympic figure skater. It all seemed so silly and inconsequential, and normal.

Things she might get to do: see her daughter grow up, get divorced and married again, have a twenty-sixth birthday, see Europe and maybe Africa. Go to the moon. She would get to worry about the mundane kinds of things that people did, like what on earth would the holidays look like with two divorced couples and three sets of parents who didn’t get along?

Drown #7.6: origin stories

July 2085. Stephanie Nova and Justin Kim are 25, Jeremiah Day is 28. Lucy Harris is 19, Violet Deppiesse is 55.


In this full house, Stephanie's bedroom was one rare place where she and Justin could steal a moment of quiet together. Only a moment, probably, before one of the girls came bursting in or her parents came knocking. They had about an hour once he was home from work on Tuesdays and Thursdays before he had to leave again for guard duty at the road. Each family in the neighborhood took two six-hour shifts each week, and since Justin was the only member of their household that wasn't a child or elderly, pregnant or half-blind or minding a thousand children, it usually fell on him. He didn't mind, though. It was boring most of the time, but their neighborhood was one of the safest places in town because of it.

Then, just as they thought they might mess around for a few minutes before he had to go, Stephanie's phone rang. She didn’t answer it, but they both knew who it was. Since she lived with almost everyone she knew and all of her daycare kids had stopped being dropped off, she didn't get phone calls from that many people anymore.

"He’ll be mad," Justin said.

"Not as long as I call him back before he tries a second time," she said.

"Yeah, well, what is that? Like five minutes from now?"

Drown #7.1: the preparations

February 2085. Stephanie Day is 25, Justin Kim is 24. Alice Nova is 63, Jeremy Nova is 69. 

* briefly NSFW


Stephanie couldn't stop thinking about her wedding ring. She wondered what purpose it even served, since it clearly wasn't a magical force field that would protect her marriage. Justin took off his wedding ring three months ago, he cried for a minute or two, and he hasn't mentioned it since. He didn't seem the least bit bothered by it anymore, although she caught him sometimes staring at her ring and resigning himself to it with a soft sigh. She looked at her ring now, doubtfully, regretfully, and then she slipped it off her finger in one smooth motion. It came off as haphazardly as it went on in the first place.

It felt weird at first, although not entirely different. She slipped it back on, and then off again. She didn't own a jewelry box, so she tucked it into her sock drawer with what few pieces of jewelry she kept in a tiny wooden pillbox.

Drown #3: teach me how to dance

* you’ll have to excuse the stingy lack of toddler pictures, for obvious reasons. I photoshopped one for this chapter, and just that one took me a couple of hours, so that's all you get! :p

** soundtrack: “Fireflies” by Owl City


February 2084. Stephanie Day is 24, Willow is 2. Justin Kim is 23, Lily is 15 months.


"We can't make it by today," Stephanie's parents would say on those rare days that neither of them could make the twenty-minute errand out to Lakeside Heights to make sure Stephanie was still alive. They acted like they'd left a small child at home and not a grown woman. "Do you have enough grocery money? Did you pay the electricity bill? Have you showered? Have you left the house this week at all?"

"I'm fine," Stephanie assured them.

"Maybe we'll send Aunt Sophie over to check on you."

"You don’t need to," Stephanie insisted. "I’m fine."

Although Stephanie had some doubts, they were mostly about color—buttercup or coral? She'd never decorated a room in her life, and she hadn't asked permission to decorate this one. Justin’s mother took the girls for the afternoon so that Stephanie wouldn’t have them crawling around the living room. It was cold outside, but she opened the windows and aired the room of paint fumes. She picked a brighter color. Her mother would probably hate it, but Stephanie wasn’t asking. It just felt like something that needed to be done, so she would do it. She would paint the living room yellow.

Alice

age 62

Alice Jasmine (Reed) Nova

age: 66
born: September 4, 2021 — Virgo
parents:
siblings: none local
children: Stephanie Nova, Patrick Nova (step), Riley Hathe (step)

education:
career: retired
career history:
- Lake County Board of Education President
- LCU, college senior professor
- Lakeside Heights Public Schools; high school, arts

child aspiration:
aspiration 1: knowledge, renaissance sim
aspiration 2:
traits: quick learner, old-fashioned, neat, snob, workaholic
loves:
hates:

orientation: straight
IFS:
romance:
- Jeremy Nova, together 2057, married 2057
romantic history:
- none local

friendships:
enemies:

DNA:
weight:
fitness:
health history: