September/October birthdays

September-October 2087

The Pendleton sisters are delightful young ladies, treasures to anyone who ever knew them. They are charming, generous, and friendly with everyone. But some of their closest friends and favorite bar buddies would have to be the Thompson siblings.

Who are, unfortunately, not as universally delightful. Each has their strong points, mind you. And as friends, they make a solid pack. Laney is a reliable, compassionate, good listener. Ingrid is daring and fun, up for anything at any time. Ian is very clever, and can hold his own in conversation about most any topic. Beyond friendship, though, these three are a hot hot mess. Jamie knows better than to mix friendship and romance, after being on and off for over a decade with her ex. She tried to warn Jessica that she would be wise to steer her efforts elsewhere.

elections 2086

A quickie history on TS4 world building: 

In America of my imagined future, there are six districts. We are following three of them in this story—Mid-Atlantic (states bordering the Atlantic from about DC to South Carolina), Lakes (states bordering the Great Lakes, particularly Lake Superior and Lake Michigan), and Pacific (states bordering the Pacific, as you might guess). The districts we are not following are New England, Gulf, and Mountain. (You can sort of see on my map how my played towns are clustered in the south-west, north, and south-east.)

I set it up this way because of, in part, the way TS4 is designed with towns that are pre-designed and not editable. If they ship me a world that looks like South Carolina or Arizona, there is very little I can do to change that. So they are what they look like, and that's that. That was the main reason that my story was written at first between two regions—Fort Palmetto and Sierra Nova—working from the first two towns we had, Willow Creek and Oasis Springs. Then they shipped me Windenburg that looked like Europe and I had no freaking idea how to fit it into my story. I ended up knocking down some mountains and opening up the water, and now it's become Copper County, my third region. As best it can be without world editing tools, anyway.

TS4 is still being developed and they're still making new worlds for us. That's great, because we desperately need the space! But it means that my game is still constantly changing, so new areas come along all the time that I need to figure out what to do with. I have decided that three districts is well enough for me to keep track of (since each district needs its own schools, communities, leadership, and economy), while having some variety and space for my towns. The three areas that I chose are differentiated enough in climate and landscape that I think I should be able to find a good fit within for whatever kind of world they give us next. (The world from the new Pets EP will fit nicely in Wisconsin for me!)

We will imagine the other US states of 2086 are doing just fine and carrying on off-camera. Just, none of my sims will ever be allowed to move to Florida or Colorado or Maine, lol!

Anyway.

obituary: Joel Harris

Commemorating the first anniversary of his death. 

Joel Harris: December 14, 2041 to September 19, 2085. He was 43 years old. 

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.

Drown #11.5: to infinity and beyond

April 2086. Keri Riley is 25. Madison Riley is 63, Cabe Deppiesse is 44. 


When Keri said goodbye this time, there were only smiles, hugs, and pictures. No tears. No fights.

Drown #7.5: welcome home

June 2085 — Stephanie Nova and Justin Kim are 25, Jeremiah Day is 28, Willow is 3, Lily is 2. Keri Riley is 24. Lucy Harris is 19, Violet Deppiesse is 55.

* I am done photoshopping toddlers, but I still need the girls to be part of this story if I'm going to finish it. You'll all just have to imagine that the girls are smaller than they look.

Jeremiah's next call came in the morning. In the daylight now, everything seemed lighter and less scary. The girls were awake and running between rooms in the hallway, singing and laughing. Maybe it was just the dark that made things scarier, all the shadows, all the unknown. Or Jeremiah seemed happier today, at least.

"You thought I was mad at you last night? Not at all. You’re being dramatic, Stephanie. You’re always such a downer, always picking out the worst in everything, mountains out of molehills."

You didn't see what you thought you saw. 

"I don’t do that," Stephanie said.