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.

happy new year, 2087!

Happy New Year, 2087! Keri Riley is 25, Tyler Jackson is 23, Janie Trudgen is 45, Pamela Collins is 38, Madison Riley is 62, Marc Hall is 42, Levi Bachman is 52, Bentley Booth is 24.

*Warnings: Grab a cup of tea, this one is long! Both in words and pictures! (If the pictures don't all load the first time, try refreshing the page. I don't know how it is on your end, but the pictures have been wonky for me when there's a lot of them.) 

** Also NSFW!


On New Year's Eve, Keri finally had a reason to wear this gown. It had been her mother's gown, although Madison never had a chance to wear it while it still fit. Then in time Madison felt too old for it, with its deep scooping back and bare arms, so she finally passed it over. Keri and her mother were never the same size at the same age, but where Madison filled out in curves, Keri filled out in muscle. So the gown fit.

"But don't get too bulky," her mother told her. "Men like their women a bit softer, you know. How will you ever find someone again if your arms are stronger than his?"

"Only date athletes?" Keri quipped. At least Tyler's arms were reliably stronger than hers. Maybe she could consider it, though. Another check to add to her long list of impossible traits a man should have: doting, but not smothering, independent, passionate, ambitious, likes his own space, won't nag for children, won't ask her to be a housewife, and has strong arms?

Keri was never under the impression that Tyler checked all of those boxes, although he certainly managed to check a few of them.

Drown #12.5: the scientist

July 2086. Madison Riley is 63, Keri is 25, Dominique Beech is 27, Tyler Jackson is 22.

* NSFW 


So it was all decided then? Keri would jet off into the great unknown, and the fabric of what little family Madison had left would disperse like stardust. The blood and cells and DNA that made up Madison’s existence would stop right here in this old, aging body. There would be no more grandchildren and no great grandchildren, and the Riley family name was dead, too.

Bryson wasn’t as upset as he should have been, Madison thought.

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.

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 #6: homecoming, part 1

October 2084, Keri Riley is 23. Justin Kim and Stephanie Day are 24. Jeremiah Day is 27. Willow is 2, Lily is 18 months.

* immediately prior to this chapter in the timeline would be Keri’s flashback story, “change my world”:  (never mind that I think I wrote that Madison had been up once before in April already—that piece had to be moved in the timeline a bit in revisions.)


Before he left with Keri's family to pick her up at the landing site in South Carolina, Stephanie told him, "I shouldn’t be there. It’ll be weird. It’ll be weird enough for you already."

She was right. It was weird. Medical staff were looking over the newly arrived earthlings, checking vitals, giving them juice to drink out of sippy pouches. The ones who had been up there a year took the longest to check out. They could have one family member present until they were cleared. Keri chose her mom, so Justin waited with Lily and Bryson.

Seeing his wife in the flesh left Justin feeling stumped. She looked exactly the same as when she’d left last year, yet he knew she’d become so much different. There were tiny scraps of some kind of feeling when he first saw her at landing—a thousand feelings battling for his mind and heart. He thought of what Stephanie said to him, “What took you so long?” What ever had him so enamored with Keri that he couldn’t see Stephanie standing right in front of him his whole life? Stephanie hadn’t been the kind of girl a typical teenage boy notices—she was reserved, tall and boxy, hidden under sweatshirts and baggy pants—and maybe he’d been entirely typical to fall for Keri who had sex written on her forehead. Well now he’d grown up and Stephanie had grown up, and he knew that what was hidden underneath all of those sweatshirts and baggy pants was wonderful. Now that she was married to someone else, and so was he. To think it could all be decided and over with before he even turned twenty. That wasn’t fair.

Drown #5: everlong, part 1

April 2084 — Stephanie Day and Justin Kim are 24. Keri Riley is 23. Jeremiah Day is 27.

*soundtrack: "Everlong" by Foo Fighters


Justin woke up before Stephanie did. He hadn't slept so well in a very long time. He watched Stephanie's face change as she dreamed, and perhaps he'd never done that before. If he had, it hadn't been since they were children. He couldn't remember seeing the way her mouth pinched in and out of a frown and her brow furrowed with worry. He touched her arm. She breathed deeply once, exhaled, and then the furrow faded.

He wouldn’t kiss her again because he was angry. Stephanie should never be kissed out of anger.

Drown #4: these bones

April 2084 — Stephanie Day and Justin Kim are 24. Keri Riley is 23. Jeremiah Day is 27.

* soundtrack: “See These Bones” by Nada Surf
** briefly NSFW


Stephanie opened her email and froze when she saw Jeremiah's name. He was already back on Europa after his patrol duty, and she'd forgotten to write to him the whole time he was out. She felt like a monster.

She opened the message.

Dear Steph,

I guess I know now why they called up the coast guard reserves. We’re just out here sitting in ships, waiting for something to happen. Most of the time, nothing happens. Some day something’s going to happen and I wonder if we’ll know what to do.

Why aren’t you writing? I’ve been out for weeks and come back to nothing? That really sucks, when all the other guys have something to read and I have nothing. A guy’s gotta have something to look forward to, you know? To make it all worthwhile. Don’t you miss me? I sure as hell miss you. Write me or something. Send a pic of Willow.

I love you,
Jeremiah

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.

nothing's gonna change my world

September 2084. The International Lunar Station. Keri Riley was 23. 

soundtrack: Across the Universe, by The Beatles


Keri had fooled herself to think that she could ever be a warrior. She was a spoiled trust fund baby and pampered princess. She never got good grades in school, she was mediocre at sports, and she wasn’t exceptionally talented at anything except spending her daddy’s money. And later, her husband’s money, too.

Justin told her that he would support her, but he didn’t believe in her, either. She could tell. Nobody really believed in her. She’d never been any farther outside the reach of planet Earth than the moon’s orbit. She’d flown in one launch, and now she was here in these long gray rooms with fabricated air and gravity that was 83% wrong and dizzying at first. She wasn't allowed to zoom around the solar system in a little jet. It wasn’t her job to build systems or repair rockets. They would never let her mine ore or quarry rock. Keri’s job was to sit a small gray cubicle, look at a smaller gray monitor, and relay what information she was told to relay into a tiny gray headset wrapped around her ears.

Why couldn’t the headset be colored, at least? Emerald green, like the forests.

“It’s standard issue,” they said. “It just has to get the job done.”

Keri missed emerald green.

Madison

Spring 2084 — age 61

Madison Claire (Bradshaw) Riley

story tag
simblr tag
 

born: January 24, 2023 — Aquarius

parents: Mirabelle and Charles Bradshaw

siblings: Cody and Andrew Bradshaw

children: Mariah Riley, Keri Riley

education:
- Lakeside Heights High School, class of 2040
- Sim State University, class of 2044, Political Science
- Lake City University, class of 2048, J.D. Law

career:
- retired? 

career history:
- Governor, State of Michigan (politics, level 10), 2079-2087

- Mayor of Lake City, 2070-2078
- Lake City Council, 2060-2070
- Junior Partner, Law Associate, 2048-2060

skilled at:

child aspiration: social, achieved
aspiration 1: popularity, leader—complete!
aspiration 2: fortune, mansion—75%
aspiration 3: (not yet decided)
traits: gregarious, socially gifted, snob, boring, frigid, natural leader, connections, outgoing, self-assured, morning sim
loves: dinner parties, wine
hates:

orientation: straight
IFS: 2
romance:
- Bryson Riley: 2036-2039 (high school), broke up for 5 years (college), engaged 2052, married 2054
romantic history: none

friendships:
enemies:

DNA:
weight:
fitness:
health history: 

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