better tragedies

December 2087. Vicky Garth is 23, Vale Akiyama is 27.

previously: thank you, part 4

* warnings: briefly NSFW, gratuitous cuddling! *

In their first thirty-six hours as a couple, Vale and Vicky didn’t leave the apartment as much as they could have.

thank you, part 4

December 2087. Vicky Garth is 23, Vale Akiyama is 27.

previously: thank you part 1 // part 2 // part 3 // part 3.5

*** warnings: very long, NSFW, deliciously gratuitous kissing! ***

Vicky got on the train right away. She apologized profusely to Beau that she needed to take some time out to go to California to see about a boy. 

“How long?” 

“I don’t know,” she said. “Three, ten, twenty days?”

“Hmmm,” Beau mumbled, sounding like she was the biggest flake alive. He was probably already writing up a want ad for her job.

She called her neighbor and asked her to water her plants. Again, this question, “For how long?”

The plants were so dead. May they rest in peace.

There was a sense of urgency. Since Vale was on the verge of begging, she guessed that he felt it, too. All these questions that needed to be answered now and not later. 

The ride was long, but he booked her tickets in the first class car. It had big, spacious windows, personal TVs, and cushy leather recliner seats that still smelled new and not like old sweat and spilled soda. He said, “Can’t have my girl riding in economy.” 

My girl, he called her. It was so sweet that she didn’t dare snark back at him. It had been a really long time since she was anyone’s girl, so if he insisted, she figured she should probably try. 

2087, Lind family Christmas (picspam)

December 2087. Nathan Lind is 38, Ally is 33, Bianca is 10, Julia is 8, Topher is 2. Brady Lind is 73, Meadow is 72. Aurora Harris is 42, Zach is 9, Rebecca is 4.

previously: return to dust, part 2 // part 3

It’s winter break, and the Lind girls enjoy the beautiful snowy countryside at home in Copper Hill, Michigan.

thank you, part 3.5

December 2087. Vicky Garth is 23, Vale Akiyama is 27.

previously: thank you part 1 // part 2 // part 3

It wasn’t that Vale slept peacefully. No, in fact, he got into bed and lay there, listening to angsty music and thinking about things. He needed to make a decision. If she didn’t want anything from him, what should he do next? So, yes, he slept finally, heavy and rock-like, for maybe six hours. He woke up early—early for Vale—at the bright and hazy hour of nine a.m. And he did expect to find something from Vicky on his phone in the morning—an angry apology, probably, or an excuse. But he never expected a song.

He had to listen to it a few times. 

thank you, part 3

December 2087. Vicky Garth is 23, April Hutchins is 24.

previously: thank you part 1 // part 2

Vicky slept badly—there were no dreams, just fits of darkness between tossing and turning. Finally, there was daylight and the chirping of birds. Her alarm hadn’t gone off yet. She tried to focus her ragged eyes on the time, but she found a troublesome cell phone on the nightstand instead. How unassuming it seemed now, but what havoc had it wreaked last night? 

Please tell me you didn’t really sing a whole song into his voicemail. Please, just don’t let that be real.

thank you, part 2

December 2087. Vale Akiyama is 27, Vicky Garth is 23.

previously: throwaway girl // real music, part 3 // Thanksgiving // the worst show ever

The show was the worst. Vale was booked on a Thursday night, the week before Christmas, playing a holiday party for an investment firm. Old, stuffy financial people. Young brown-nosing financial wannabes. He couldn’t say no, because the bank manager was the wife of his club manager, who basically pimped him out for the night. 

A paycheck is a paycheck, right? Well, maybe not always. 

"Can't you play more Christmas music? Can't you make it a little more festive? No, not that Christmas music... No, that’s too loud... No, that’s too fast... Can you just, like, put this album on?"

The lights were garish, and the decor was nauseating. They asked him to wear red and silver. Vale hated wearing red. He was pretty sure he hated Christmas forever now, too. 

the life of Vicky—an island in the sun

I could have sworn I did a history/backstory post for Vicky, but it seems I did not. I can’t find it anywhere if I did. But Vicky is a character that I’ve been writing about since 2008, and she has a lot of history between many blogs and game versions. It feels important to collect it all, especially since some of her future stories will begin to draw on her experiences a lot more. I can even see the possibility that her birth parents might come into the story a little bit down the line.

Her backstory was always “her parents were rich and couldn’t be bothered with her.” 

Well, okay, but family drama is never really that simple. That was a fine enough backstory for a townie ex-girlfriend whom we didn’t think we’d see again. But here we are, thirteen years and three game versions later, and Vicky has earned a little more detail to her backstory than that.