postcards from grad school

September, October 2088. Justin Nova is 28, Calvin Banks is 21, Amy Jones is 22, Natalia Deppiesse is 23, Andre Sylvester is 23. Cynthia Kim is 52. Selena Sosa is 25. April Hutchins is 25, Beau Jackson is 24.

#1: welcome to grad school

Grad school is happening at Magnolia Graduate College. 

Leading our group is Dr. Heather Thompson, Dean of Students. She specializes in biology. (Hi, Ingrid’s mom!)

Our students this year: 

Andre, Calvin, and Steven are all working on their medical degrees. 

The others are non-medical graduate programs. Justin (architecture), Amy (nursing), and Natty, (teaching).

my sweetheart #8: honeymoon

September 2088. Justin and Stephanie Nova are 28. 

The day after their wedding, Justin and Stephanie headed off for their honeymoon in Sulani. The brochure promised a private, secluded beach hut and the thrill of living off the island.

Stephanie especially looked forward to some time unplugged with her new hubby. But when they arrived, they found that the Wi-Fi connection was full strength, outlets powered up to charge their devices, and there was running water and a gas stove.

What’s the first thing they should do here? Skinny dipping in the waterfall? Sandcastles? Snorkeling?

my sweetheart #6: carve our names in a heart on a tree

August 2088. Stephanie Nova and Justin Kim are 28. 

wedding song: “Ho Hey,” by The Lumineers

my sweetheart #1: it wasn’t funny after all

May 2088. Cynthia Kim is 52, Robert is 54, Justin is 28, Stephanie is 28. 

* this chapter takes place simultaneously with “why are you here? #2: little sparks catch fire” but from the Kim family's point of view

It was an ordinary summer morning. The children poured themselves some cereal. Probably most of it ended up on the floor, but who cared?

“Fine, have cookies. Fine, have ice cream. Dog food? What dog food? We don’t have a dog. Just be good. We’ll be out in a minute. Mommy and Daddy are just wrestling.”

It was a slow and sweet summer morning. Their wedding was imminent, finally, after all this time, and everyone was feeling playful and light. Both of them had to work today. Justin would pop over to the workshop for a few hours—he loved being his own boss and making his own hours—then Steph had dinner to serve tonight at the inn.

It was a charming summer morning that was about to take a terrible turn.

a short break from reality, #1: bugs

March 2088. Justin Kim is 27, Stephanie Nova is 28, Willow and Lily are 6, Benji is 19 months. 

* briefly NSFW

“Bugs,” his landlord said. 

The whole street in the plaza where Justin had just set up his brand new shop was infested. They closed up everything to fumigate for bugs. [SCCO mod removal error.] Unfortunately, for a worker-bee like Justin, there was no time to move his workbenches and equipment back home. No time to drape his works in progress. No opportunity to back up his files for remote work.

“It’s temporary,” his landlord offered. “I won’t be charging you rent for the weeks we’re closed down.”

“Well, I certainly hope not!” Justin said. “But what about my items? Are those sprays toxic to fabrics? Are people expected to bring those pieces into their homes?”

Martha rolled her eyes. “What exactly do you expect me to do about it? There’s bugs, so we fumigate. That’s what they said to do, so that’s what we’re doing.”

postcards from your Valentine

February 2088.

* briefly NSFW

Here’s what a few special couples are doing on this romantic day.

—

Vale & Vicky, together 6 weeks – officially moving in together


“So it looks like your neighbor didn’t water the plants then,” he said.

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.  

empire

February - July 2087. Justin Kim is 27, Stephanie Nova is 27, Willow is 5, Lily is 5, Benji is 11 months. 

previously: the damage, part 1 // the damage, part 2 // there you are // his parents moved up north

Justin wanted to believe that he might look back on this time, years from now, and recognize it as the launching point of the best part of his life. Doesn't every great success story have an absolute low from which a person can only rise? In twenty years, when he’d made himself a successful career as CEO of several companies and holdings, when he gazed out over the landscape of his success—a warm and spacious home, happy children, spoiled wife, a yacht, a vintage Ferrari 250 convertible in red, and another one in yellow just for good measure—he’d look back on this moment and feel humbled and proud that he made it so far. So much treasure built with his own two hands. That moment, if it ever happened, felt so very far away right now. 

Justin sat in front of his former boss, uneasy about the look of remorse on his face. “I’m so glad to hear that you’ve recovered,” Adam said. “But I’m so sorry to say, the job you had before doesn’t exist anymore.” 

it's your day: Jack & Nessa

April 24, 2087. Happy 10th wedding anniversary to Jack and Nessa Phoenix! 

digging through the old family photo albums, from April 24, 2077

(click for bigger)

 

—

there you are

November 4, 2086. Justin Kim and Stephanie Nova are 26. Willow is 5, Lily is 4, Benji is three months old. (Ally Lind is 32, Bianca is 9, Julia is 7.)

* NSFW

the damage, part 2

November 2, 2086. Justin Kim and Stephanie Nova are 26. Willow is 5, Lily is 4, Benji is three months old.



Justin had been out of work now for over two months, and the most riveting part of his day was being judge and jury to sibling rivalries. They couldn't be sure whether it was because of the new baby or everything else the family had been through, but both girls had been acting out in different ways. Willow had become bombastic and sometimes prickly, challenging rules and boundaries with great ambition. She would dart out of the house without telling anyone, or run the hot water without being supervised, or open up the chat box on the computer and talk to strangers. Then Lily became ornery and ruthless about catching her sister's bad behavior. She followed Willow around, waiting to tattle on anything she did wrong.

when you grow up...

October 2086. Justin Kim is 26, Benji is 7 weeks old. 

five in the bed and the little one said...

September 2086. Stephanie Nova and Justin Kim are 26. Willow is 5, Lily is 4, Benji is six weeks old.

the damage, part 1

September 2086. Stephanie Nova and Justin Kim are 26. Willow is 5, Lily is 4, Benji is six weeks old.


After a few weeks, Justin returned to see his doctor for a checkup. His ribs were healing as expected and the pain had gone away almost completely. The pain in his ribs had gone, at least. On a couple of occasions, however, he'd been hammered with a sudden and excruciating headache, worse than he'd ever experienced before. He was outside in the bright sunshine when it happened and he felt like throwing up and dying all at once.

"It sounds like you've had your first migraine," his doctor said.

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.

gameplay notes on injury damage

notes for inflicting gameplay upon story characters: 

This is sort of like the reverse of writing a story based on gameplay—here, I want to inflict gameplay upon my sims for something that happened in the story. Because otherwise, you know they'd walk around all smiley and happy and sim-like, even though something terrible just happened. TS4 sims don't have memories like TS2 sims do, so once their bad moodlets wear off, they completely forget that anything bad ever happened to them. No matter what it was.

And the moodlets are ridiculously short, most of the time. This brand new mod looks promising to help them last a little bit longer.

In game, the fight moodlet only lasts four hours, so that was kind of useless to me. I did let Justin and Jeremiah actually brawl in game, and yes, Justin loses every time against Jeremiah, lol! It must have to do with either their traits (Jeremiah's are much meaner) or their muscle strength (Jeremiah is stronger), because I think they're about matched on their fitness skill.

Anyway, this was more than just a little brawl, so I'll use several mods and cheats to inflict some lingering physical and psychological damages for these sims. (I am a cruel, cruel pixel-god, lol!)

Drown #13: the story we tell, part 5.5

August 2086. Justin Kim is 26. Willow Nova is 5. Jeremiah Day is 29. 

* content advisory for Drown #13: the story we tell, parts 5.4-5.5: violence/gore


The little voice inside Willow’s watch said, "Keep talking to me, Willow. Can you crouch down on the floor and cover your face?"

"I can't. Justin needs help," Willow said.

"We're coming to help. We'll be there in three minutes. We can count together. Do you like to count? But first, I need you to stay safe. Can you get away from the glass?"

Willow couldn't do that. She saw was Justin’s arm fall limp to the ground, and in the pit of her stomach she felt a panic rise up inside her. She knew she wasn’t allowed to touch the door locks, but there was no question about it. She had to unlock that door. She got out of the car and burst across the concrete.

Drown #13: the story we tell, part 5.4

August 2086. Justin Kim is 26. Willow Nova is 5. Jeremiah Day is 29. 

* content advisory for Drown #13: the story we tell, parts 5.4-5.5: violence/gore

Justin stopped for coffee somewhere halfway home, in the wilderness north of Milwaukee, where the speedway ended and he had to drive manual. The day had been long, and he needed to wake up.

"Willow?"