Tag Archive | jordan

7.44 One last time

Learning to ride was filled with embarrassing moments. Fortunately Neptune was the only one to witness most of them, and he kept his secrets.

Even though Jonah knew next to nothing about horses when he adopted Neptune, he was devoted from the start. Neptune basked in Jonah’s awkward but earnest attention, and in return he treated Jonah gently.

Soon, Jonah was riding with confidence, albeit slowly.

His first winter on land was also an awkward adjustment. The cold did not hit as hard in the open sea. When the beach was covered in inches of snow, Jonah’s regular swims in the sea just weren’t practical.

A merman isn’t intended to be away from the sea for very long. After a while, his skin felt dry and chafed, and he was dragged down by fatigue.

Frustrated, he tried to satisfy himself with tap water in a tiny landwalker bathtub.

It wasn’t awful. It would get old after a while, but it was only for the coldest part of winter.

What he lost in space to swim, he gained in temperature control. Soaking in hot water turned out to be a lot more fun than he’d expected.

They boys were active and cute and exhausting. They only stopped moving when they were asleep.

This pregnancy seemed much more awkward and uncomfortable than the last two, even with Jonah’s constant attention.

To occupy her mind as she got bigger and more immobile, Vickie experimented with some kelp and fish recipes that were more appropriate to Jonah’s palate.

Jonah loved seaweed salad and miso soup, but Vickie didn’t enjoy the cooking nearly as much as she’d hoped. If he wanted more, he’d have to learn to cook himself.

[Read: Vickie’s cooking ability got glitched. She was doing each animation in the cooking process about a dozen times each, and it would take her most of a day to finish cooking something. I have no idea, but it doesn’t affect anybody else, so that’s the end of her cooking hobby.]

With a lot of the performances spaces outdoors, Winston had fewer gigs. He spent the extra time trying out winter sports with Emilie.

She had one heck of a throwing arm.

They challenged each other to try out snowboarding.

Winston’s performance was less than stellar.

Jonah was able to cajole Vickie outside for some more modest winter fun.

He never let her forget how lovely and desirable he found her.

Vickie appreciated Jonah in more ways than one. There was no question she’d landed an attractive partner. But even physical contact was starting to feel gross. She was ready for this baby to come out.

Then at last labor hit.

Jonah proudly drove her to the hospital this time.

Winston looked after the boys while they were gone. Caspian and Jordan were having their last night in the nursery. They would shortly be moving into a new room with bigger boy beds.

Labor was long and exhausting, and by the end it was no surprise that there were two! Victoria had twins — Ross (front) and Serena (rear).

“This is it,” Victoria said as she laid little Ross in the crib that used to be Caspian’s. “Assuming nothing weird happens… this is the endpin to our family.”

“Four kids is a good family,” Jonah said, gazing tenderly into Serena’s sleeping face.

Then they fell into bed to get what sleep they could before the first kid woke up.

7.43 Like the wind

In his quest to learn all things landwalker, Jonah decided to take driving lessons. When he was ready to drive on his own, he bought a classic car and spent evenings driving around town.

He insisted on driving with the top down, even as it snowed.

Then he would come home shivering, unbundle himself from his winter wraps, and read to Caspian.

The attention was a good thing for Caspian. When he didn’t get enough of it, he found new ways to make trouble.

Jordan’s birthday rolled around.

The household had another little merman.

Caspian now had a playmate. In fact, he might have met his match. He and Travis were immediately joined at the hip.

They did everything together, and not just because they were stuck in the same nursery. They were both expressive kids who couldn’t get enough attention. Now there was always someone around with attention to give.

(Complete with photobomb by diver gnome…)

The Sample household was now essentially all chaos all the time.

The snowdrifts didn’t slow down Winston’s performance schedule. With all the fire and exercise, he didn’t even feel the cold.

He gave himself enough time to shower after a top-rated tent-raiser at the Duke of Bows before he met Emilie for dinner and a movie.

He hadn’t been the luckiest in love, and now that things seemed to be going so well, he didn’t want to give Emilie a chance to slip away.

Uncle Chaim found them outside the theater. “Looking good, my boy!” he called out. “I think she’s a keeper!” Winston tried not to cringe. Emilie laughed.

“If it isn’t my baby cousin,” came a voice from across the plaza.

“Gamora?” Winston said. “Is this a family reunion or something?”

“He’s my uncle too, you know,” Gamora said. “Should I check with you next time we want to meet for coffee?”

“Love you too, cuz,” Winston said.

“Ha ha,” Gamora replied. “Check out my kid. He’s walking and talking and photosynthesizing these days.”

“I like dirt,” Fenton announced and dissolved into giggles.

“That’s basically potty humor for plantsims,” Gamora explained. “You get used to it.”

Winston looked sheepishly at Emilie. “My family is all like this,” he said.

Emilie winked at him. “I already figured that out, she said.”

Jonah Waves Sample should have had everything he wanted in life, but he was starting to feel like he was missing something important.

When his mind wandered, wild horses galloped through his fantasies. They were the most captivating creatures he’d ever seen.

He’d spent enough time around the herd that some of the horses would let him approach them. That was gratifying, but he wanted more.

It hadn’t even occurred to him that there were domesticated horses too. When he discovered Avalon’s equestrian center, the last piece of his life fell into place.

He named his new equine friend Neptune. The stallion was full of energy and motion. It took Jonah’s breath away.

But Neptune would stand still for Jonah to awkwardly pull himself into the saddle.

There. Jonah had completed the first step. That wasn’t too bad.

Then Neptune started to run.


I really wanted our wild spirited, equestrian merman to tame a wild horse and learn to ride with it, but I didn’t realize that you can’t tame a wild horse until you already have a riding skill at Level 5. Jonah spent a lot of time befriending the horses in the wild herd before I discovered this. In retrospect, I probably should have just rolled with it and used Mastercontroller to add the horse to the household. That’s not the way way I rolled though, and Neptune is a fine companion.

I think there should be a mod to remove the riding skill requirement, honestly. It would make civilization-building challenges work better. That could be a really easy mod or a stupidly hard one.

7.42 Chill

The next few days were difficult. Vickie and her brothers had lost both their parents now. Everywhere she looked, Vickie saw her mom.

Even cooking was difficult. Especially cooking.

Winston’s sense of loss hit him in the moments he was least prepared for it.

Fortunately he never hurt himself badly.

They took comfort in their family.

Caspian was a growing toddler filled with laughter.

He was always out to be the center of attention, and if he wasn’t, he figured out how to get there.

And then there was another one on the way. Vickie had a lot more cravings with this pregnancy than the last one. Ice cream and pickles at midnight it was.

Jonah couldn’t stop looking at her with those adoring eyes. Vickie had never seen anyone so happy to be a father.

Vickie was checking the mail when she realized it was time again.

This time, she was feeling a bit more fae than usual, so she flew herself to the hospital and told Jonah to catch up with her there. Winston stayed kept an eye on Caspian.

They brought home their second son, Travis Sample.

The parenting routine began again, this time in stereo.

 

 

 

On Snowflake day, they decided to have a gift exchange. Vickie, Jonah, and Winston sent out a long list of invitations, and most friends and family attended.

With an extra surprise who wasn’t on anyone’s invitation list.

In fact, most people didn’t recognize him or guess why he was there. Gamora’s face lit up when she saw him, though. “Uncle Forest! How are the creatures of the night these days?”

Maya Ocean dropped in, as well as Uncle Chaim and his son Hans.

Edmund showed up with a twinkle in his eye. Vickie drew him aside and applied some sisterly pressure, and he admitted that he’d met someone. “It’s just been two dates,” he said. “It might not be anything. Don’t spread any gossip yet.”

“My lips are sealed,” Vickie said. “But you should see your face! Those must have been two great dates.”

“She’s captivating,” Edmund said. “I look forward to introducing her to you…. assuming things continue apace.”

And then there was Joyelle Waves. She came, as inappropriately dressed as ever, and just as oblivious to the cold.

But the chill in the looks she exchanged with Jonah was unmistakable. Reconciliation was clearly not going well.

Everyone gathered around the gift pile, talking and squealing over their gifts.

Caspian turned up the charm to pull attention back to him.

Travis slept in his baby swing.

Joyelle and Gamora struck up an unexpected friendship.

Unfortunately, it mostly seemed to be built around complaining about humans in voices loud enough that everyone could hear.

“Are you all right?” Vickie asked Jonah.

“I’m managing,” he said, but the ache in his heart was clear on his face.

To make things even more tense, Forest waved Jonah over after he’d opened his gift. He wanted to discuss the, um, lavish financial circumstances of the Sample family, and what a bad idea it would be for a penniless interloper to try to get a piece of that wealth by romancing an heiress. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

Jonah had seen better parties. He was ready to send everyone home.

When the party was finally over, Emilie didn’t go home at all. She and Winston slipped up to the attic rec room with their own plans for the evening.

Jonah escorted his mother to the beach behind the house. He returned after Vickie had said the rest of the goodbyes. His expression was bleak.

“What happened?” Vickie asked. “What did she do?”

Jonah looked past her and stared out at the snow swirling beyond the window. “My mother and had a long talk,” he said. “She won’t be attending any more gatherings. I can consider myself in dispersal from my pod. She is not going to accept my choice of life on land.”

“Oh Jonah,” Vickie breathed. “You didn’t have to do this. I don’t know why you–”

Jonah cut her off with a wave of his hand. “I don’t regret a moment. I want to be here. It was my mother’s choice whether to accept me, and she did not. I’m sad she made that decision, but I don’t want to change how I live… or who I live it with.”

“Can you really be happy? With me? Away from the sea?”

Jonah turned back to face her, and this time his eyes were smiling. “I’m so far from the sea I can watch the surf from our bedroom window,” he said. “And as for you–” He pulled her close and kissed her, then kissed again more hungrily. And for a while there was nothing more to say.


I can’t find the screenshots, but Jonah and Joyelle had a nasty argument in front of the house after this party. I’m grumpy that the screenshots are missing.

Stupid snowfall inside the house. I try to mitigate it, but it’s everywhere.

This is not my most inspired post, but it moves time along and introduces their second kid. It was pretty entertaining to see Forest crash the Snowflake Day party.