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.  

labor day

August 2087. Madison Riley is 64, Bryson is 65, Keri is 26, Willow is 6, Lily is 5. 

previously: the adoption // which Madison does not support // Keri goes alone // Madison's new house

 

Madison was disappointed in her retirement. She hated the way her body had changed. She hated having all this time and no hobbies to fill it with. She hated that her daughter was gone constantly, and would soon be gone for years. She hated that her husband was still working, because it reminded her that she was not. She hated that her only granddaughter had a new "mother" now. There was a lot to be disappointed in. 

Keri was stationed out in Washington now, deep in the snowy mountain forests on some military base. No cell signal, but she returned Madison's calls a couple times a week. She made a trip back home whenever she could, while she still could. But Madison might as well get used to her being gone. The big mission across the cosmos was always looming out there on the horizon, two or three years away. Like a mother given her child’s terminal diagnosis. 

No, it wasn't that dramatic. Keri would be home alive again some day. Probably—an adventure like that was far from risk-free. She could only hope that she and Bryson were still alive to meet her when she came back. Five years was a long time at their age. 

Madison just received the sad news that Micah Phoenix was dying—they went to high school and college together, they were in each other’s weddings. It was apparently that season of their lives now that their close friends would start to die off. Meanwhile, Madison's doctor told her that she was healthy as a horse—You have the heart and joints of a 25-year-old, you’ll outlive them all. 

Sometimes that felt like a curse. So much time. What would she even do with it all? 

it's your day: Madison

January 24, 2087. Madison Riley is 64. 


Birthdays are just not as exciting after you reach a certain age, and Madison Riley is pretty sure she reached that certain age many birthdays ago. Being told that she looks incredible for a woman of sixty-four is no consolation, knowing that her charmed genetics will falter eventually—maybe even this year. She is not special. She has not discovered any fountain of youth.

In the first months of her official semi-retirement, Madison wishes for many things, but she asks for only one gift: a real house. She is tired of travel, tired of hotels, tired of luxury apartment suites with shared walls and busy city traffic. Luckily, Madison's real estate tycoon husband is happy to oblige her.

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.

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."

Drown #12: hand in my pocket, part 2

May 2086. Keri Riley is 25. Bryson is 64, Madison is 63. Cabe Deppiesse is 45, Orion is 53, Dallas is 21.

Soundtrack, "Hand in my Pocket," by Alanis Morissette


Back on Earth, Keri's work looked a lot like most people's jobs looked. Notebooks on long tables, cups of coffee, colleagues talking over each other. But it wasn't everyone's job to meet with Earth's only known resident alien family. It was funny that Keri had never thought to ask Cabe before why he decided to pursue a job in astronautics. She had assumed he was like everyone else who just wanted to fly rocket ships and explore space. But knowing now that his brother was half alien, the reasons became clear. There was so much he wanted to learn about our universe and how it all worked.

They had two orders of business to start. First, they needed to make sense of the engineering notes that Lampyridae had left them. Second, they had to find a way to communicate with the Cassiopeians on a more reliable basis, which would also be the way they could communicate back home once they had embarked on the mission. Although their engineering specs could make it possible to travel faster than light, only those physical things that traveled with them in their ship would come along for the ride. To send messages that way would mean to harness the power of their warp drive each and every time, and that was just not practical.

"But let's think about this another way," Cabe suggested. "How did the Cassiopeians know that we needed help here? They didn't send a message on a warp drive, and they didn't use a wormhole. They spoke with the baby. They communicated with their minds."

"You’re not using my baby," Dallas said.

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!

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.