Tag Archive | veronica

4.24 Spirited

Three toddlers were a lot of work. Veronica had never been a woman to do things by half measures, and parenting was no exception. She threw herself into it with abandon.

In their waterfall hideaway, it was easy for her to go weeks without making the trek into town. Veronica almost missed her appointment with Shanni to get her hair done.

When she made it to the salon, she was in for a rude surprise.

“You!” It was Sandi Church, Shanni’s stylist trainee. “I saw you in the Daily Gossip! What’s it like to woohoo with a ghost man?” Veronica threw her hands up in front of her face just as the woman snapped a photo with her phone. “My friends won’t believe this!” she crowed.

“Damn you!” Veronica shouted. She made a lunge for Sandi, but the other woman was too far away, and the whole thing was pointless.

Veronica had taken herself away from the harassment, but the harassment was still there waiting for them. She’d fought the system in the courts and lost. Was there really nothing more to be done than hiding away in the mountains and hoping the problem would go away? Someday, her children would be in school, and Sky was just as ghostly as her father.

One morning, Veronica was up before the babies, and she found herself sharing the kitchen with Zahra as she went through her morning ritual before work. They hadn’t broached the subject of the newspaper articles since the disastrous court case. Veronica was reluctant to bring it up now. Still, the old scientist WAS Charles’s mother, and she cared for him in her own way.

Veronica took a deep breath and tried to bridge the silence.

That night at the dinner table, she had an announcement to make. “I think I’m ready to go back to work,” she said. “Zahra has referred me to an open research position at the Science Center, and I’m going to take it.”

“That’s great,” Charles said. “You haven’t seemed completely happy at home as a full-time mom. Mad Science seems like a great place for your talents.”

“Well… this is kind of a side project of theirs,” Veronica admitted. “It’s in, um, spirit research.”

Charles blinked. “You’re researching ghosts?”

That’s right. Veronica was going to be a field worker, collecting ghost specimens for research at the science center.

Her first jobs were dealing with complaints of howling noises from around the town. The white, green, and purple flickering lights she’d often caught in the night mists turned out to be more interesting than she thought.

And there was the VERY BIG GUN. Who wouldn’t love that?

The work was heart pumping. The, um, research was something she had to hope would come later. Right?

“I’m confused,” Charles said. “I’m part ghost. Your daughter’s part ghost. How does catching ghosts and keeping them in traps help us?”

“I don’t know yet,” Veronica admitted. “I won’t let any harm come to these creatures until I understand them better. But we know so little about where you come from. I don’t see how we can fight the bigotry of the town if we don’t know anything ourselves. Can you trust me on this?”

Charles took a deep breath. “You’re your own person. I’ll try.”

———

So, mapping out the pictures for six posts in advance has had limited utility. Now I’m rewriting the posts and going back to find different pictures. Argh! Sometimes I just can’t help myself.

In one of the shots at the spa, you can see Latrice Hodgins (Trixi’s child with Xander) hanging out talking with her stepdad Jess Ursine-Hodgins. Glad to see they’re getting along so well.

4.20 Strategic Retreat

May15

The next few days were a blur of out-of-sync feeding schedules and catnaps in between. Everyone pitched in to help, but three infants was still a staggering amount of work.

Finally, a bit of a rhythm began to develop to life, and there were small segments of time to do something other than feed babies, cuddle babies, change babies, and sleep.

At which point, Veronica looked out the window to watch her parents-in-law and saw red.

She ran out of the house shrieking. “You crazy trespassing bastard! Get out of my house! Get off my lawn!”

The paparazzi was so taken by surprise that he dropped his camera and ran. Veronica ground the expensive equipment under her heel and glared at Fabian, Zahra, and a shocked Charles standing in the doorway.

“That’s it,” she said. “We’re moving.”

Nobody saw fit to protest. “It’s nice to be on the beach,” Charles said haltingly, “but this place is awfully close to downtown. It would be nice to live a bit closer to nature.”

“Close to nature we’ll have,” Veronica agreed. “Someplace nice, secluded, and private. Let’s go hunting.”

While Veronica and Charles looked for a new place to live, Fabian and Zahra picked up the slack. They scheduled movers and packed up the car in between baby feedings.

They really outdid themselves. 57 Waterfall Way was an old park that had been converted into private property. It was private, secluded, and breathtakingly beautiful while still within an acceptable drive of town.

The house itself was rustic and cozy.

With a few incredibly luxurious features.

And best of all, it was on the shores of a private lake stocked with fish.

With some of the most beautiful fishing views to be found anywhere.

There was a perfect nursery with space for three cribs.

A downstairs bedroom that would be perfect for Fabian and Zahra just as soon as Fabian took down all the decorations and replaced them with Ada’s paintings.

There was a cozy little bedroom with just enough space for Ada’s bed and writing desk.

And an upstairs master bedroom right next to the nursery with a back deck just the right size for Veronica’s chemistry gear.

“Thank you for rolling with me on this, Veronica told Charles as they retired, exhausted from the move.

“I think you could make it up to me,” Charles suggested with a raised eyebrow.

And she did.

Meanwhile, Zahra reinterred Cyclone’s ashes in the newly-relocated family graveyard.

“It’s time,” she confided in his headstone. “You’ve been sitting beside my bed for most of my adult life. I miss you. I hope there’s something for us to find in the Netherworld. But I’m ready for just the living to sleep inside my house.”

Veronica took breakfast at the new breakfast bar, gazing out over the beautiful scenery that was now theirs.”

“All right, you bastards,” she said under her breath. “This place is my castle. If you cross me here, you’ll regret it.”

———

The story timing was good, but the truth is that I got completely fed up with the English Country Estate. It was a lovely home, but it was clearly not well playtested and was filled with things that looked pretty but didn’t work. There were navigation issues in the house. Something was rotting in the kitchen/dining area that the maid never cleaned up and I couldn’t find, so whenever anyone walked into that area, they took something like a -40 hit for being in a disgusting environment. The stairs in the landscaped yard never worked — the sims would take forever to walk way around them on the grass.

And then the final blow was that I added the garden improperly to the concrete patio. The sprinklers dumped huge amounts of water onto the patio, and the water couldn’t be cleaned up due to routing issues. I wanted to add a fence around the garden to keep the water in, but you can’t put fencing on top of water puddles, and the water puddles couldn’t be cleaned up because of routing problems ARGH!

On the contrary, THIS house is the best house I have EVER played in the game, hands down.

Waterfall Way Estate.

It had a couple of weird minor issues, like the bathroom had no wall covering and gave an “unfinished” moodlet. That was easy to fix. And it had almost no lighting. But it’s very attractively decorated and has perfect routing. And it’s just a friggin gorgeous lot. It’s such a delight to play in that it is affecting my decision to move to Elfland soon. I think I may have to try to move the lot too, even though it doesn’t fit the style of the Harry Potter world very well. And I’ll lose the water fall because that is part of the worldscape. Ah, well.

In best news of all, I have gotten to play!

4.19 Too Much of a Good Thing

May11

By the end, pregnancy wasn’t sitting so well with Veronica anymore. She got huge. She couldn’t sleep. She had to eat in tiny snacks and spent half her days in the bathroom.

“Please,” she moaned to Charles in a fit of weakness, “just bring back the morning sickness. That part was grand.”

Charles was beside himself trying to be supportive. He massaged her shoulders, fetched her breakfast in bed, and hovered around until she kicked him out of the house to get some space.

“At least try to do something comfortable for yourself,” he said almost pleadingly. “You don’t have to suck it up. Take a day at the spa or something.”

Veronica thought about it. “All right, I will.” She pulled 1000 simoleons out of their joint bank account and bought herself a day of the royal treatment.

And, she had to admit, it worked. She left the spa feeling like a million bucks even with indigestion and a baby stomping on her bladder.

In fact, she felt so great that when she got home and found that Fabian had broken the shower before leaving for work and just left it that way, she had to do something about it.

Didn’t that make a perfect moment for the baby to come?

Charles was at the dojo. She called him on her cell phone, lay out plastic on the seat of her car, and drove herself to the hospital. She could have waited for Charles to teleport home and drive her, but the thought didn’t occur in the haze of contractions.

Charles was there with her by the time she got to the hospital, though, and he never left her side through the long labor.

“AAAAAUGH! Well, THAT was the hardest thing I have done in my entire life!”

It’s a boy! Forest Sample was born at 6:29 AM.

“No! Not again! There can’t be another one in there!”

And another boy! Hunter Sample was born at 6:33 AM.

“YOU! YOU DID THIS TO ME! You have some kind of twisted occult ghost fertility!”

And a girl! Sky Sample was born at 6:37 AM.

Babies are all doing fine.

Mother is doing fine, but it may be a while before she speaks to the father.

When it became clear just how much bigger their bundle of joy was going to be than they expected, Charles called his mother in a panic.

By the time they made it home from the hospital, Zahra and Fabian had turned Lance and Layla’s old room into a fine triplet-sized nursery.

This really was going to take a village.

Charles had spent Veronica’s entire pregnancy worrying about what he would do if his child turned out to be like him. When Forest and Hunter were born with totally normal, squalling, mocha-skinned faces, he was delighted.

But the third child, Sky, realized his fears. Life has a half-ghost, an “occult” according the newspaper, had been no easy road for Charles. How could he wish that on his only daughter?

When he looked back on his isolated, lonely life, though, he had trouble convincing himself that it had been either isolated or lonely. Even beyond his supportive family was Jabari, Zhan Wu, and now dozens of students who looked to him as a Sim Fu master.

There was no use trying to fight Sky’s battles before he even knew what they were.

Veronica fed little Forest and lay him gently in his crib. For a brief moment, all three babies were sleeping.

She drew Charles into her arms. “I’m sorry for being a monster,” she said.

He relaxed against her. “Childbirth is monstrous,” he said. “I’m sorry you had to do it alone.”

“Our children are beautiful,” she said. “I love you with all my heart.”

“And I you,” he replied huskily.

“I also want you to know that I’m calling the doctor tomorrow and getting my tubes tied. If you want any more kids, you can goddamn have them yourself.”

———-

Surprise three times over! Gotta get posts out while I have the time. Plus I know all you really want to do is see the babies 🙂 🙂 :).

In case you didn’t catch it, the naming theme is nature words. What else would an eco-hippie name his kids? (Sure, Veronica named them too, but Charles is still the patron dangit.)

The multiples thing wasn’t an accident. I gave Charles Fertility Treatment, and I managed to get enough Happiness Points to give it to Veronica too by their wedding night. In Gen 2, I had given just Layla Fertility Treatment, and she didn’t get twins until her second pregnancy. I wasn’t sure what the probability of multiples was, and I didn’t want to take any chances. Once the honeymoon vacation and maternity leave were up, Veronica was going to be a full adult before she even got to start her new job as a Ghost Hunter, and she has a career LTW. I didn’t want her to take the career hit for multiple pregnancies and run the risk of not making her wish.

And I knew triplets were a possibility, but I thought, “Hey great! Three’s a charm!”

I had no idea how hard it would be to skill three toddlers before their child birthday. The whole five-adult household has been skilling in shifts and dropping almost all their personal wishes for the whole life stage, and it still will be a near thing. Charles and Veronica spent about a week with an unfulfilled wish to Woohoo sitting in their queues. Ah, that is perhaps too close to what new parenthood is really like :).

Veronica got a wish to spend 1000 simoleons at the spa, and she got a huge mood bonus for a WEEK! Don’t say the spa never did anything for you. It got her through a whole lot of the grind of starting a new job and endless endless toddler skilling.

Oh, and sorry about the crappy unfinished state of the nursery. The house had routing problems in that room, and I had to restructure the wall just a little bit. I THOUGHT I had repainted everything properly in the inside, but man was I wrong! And the roof doesn’t even connect property to the half wall! I’d’ve paused everything and gone into Build Mode to fix it, but I’d already had to reload twice at that point and just want to save and GET OUT.

I’m not entirely sure what I want to do with Sky. On one hand, I’m glad one kid turned out to be a ghost. OTOH, Charles’s aging is completely borked and I’m just aging him up using Twallan’s mods when Veronica has a birthday because they are exactly the same age. Cyclone got so borked that I had to annihilate him. It just seems like there are real game issues with playable ghosts, and I’m not sure I want to risk it again. I have been boosting Charles’s fishing and Fabian’s cooking with the thought of feeding her ambrosia before her YA birthday. She can still be a ghost child for story purposes, but unless I can find some fix for the aging trouble, I think enough ghosts is enough for one game.

(Oh, and I have to say that I thought Veronica’s game-generated maternity wear was adorable. It’s the first time I think I’ve liked any of the maternity wear.)

4.18 Occultism

May10

Pregnacy sat well on Veronica in the beginning. She got back to her chemicals as fast as she could.

“If I can come up with a cure for morning sickness, we’ll make millions!” she confided in Charles. He just smiled and nodded. He left that science stuff to his mom and wife.

Along the same vein, Zahra was up to her own experiments at the bistro, but they didn’t go quite as well.

When she’d exhausted her inspiration, Veronica headed to the porch step to pick up the paper. She waved to the mail lady and was met with a pair of squinted, suspicious eyes.

“What’s up her butt?” Veronica asked, scowling out the window as she joined Charles in the sitting room.

“Her?” Charles said. “I don’t really know. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to the mail man. Fabian handles the stuff that involves, you know, people.”

“Maybe she has PMS,” Veronica said. “At any rate, it’s not my problem. Let’s see who’s being stupid to whom in the news.”

A moment later she jumped to her feet and threw the paper on the floor. “What the hell is THAT?”

Charles jumped. “What is what?” Then he peered at the headline.

LOCAL WOMAN FOUND CONSORTING WITH OCCULT.

Beneath was a picture of Veronica kissing Charles… in their own hottub. In their all-together.

“Wow,” Charles said. “I knew this town didn’t like me that much, but I had no idea. If I’d realized that your name would be smeared just because you married me, I’d have–“

“Don’t you dare talk like that!” Veronica raged. “We weren’t bothering anyone! Someone is going to pay for this!”

“It’s a free country,” Charles said weakly. “They can print what they like, and obviously they think their readers want to see this. What can we do?”

“What can we do about what?” Zahra asked as she walked into the doorway. She was in desperate need of a shower, but the look on her dear son’s face made her forget all of that life trivia.

Veronica waved the newspaper under Zahra’s nose. “How is this legal? They come into our private space and take pictures for the newspaper? And Charles is an occult? They use that word like it’s an, an epithet!”

Zahra blinked at the article. “You know, dear,” she said, “things like this wouldn’t happen if you’d keep your clothes on where people can see you.”

“That is NOT the point and you know it!” Veronica cried. “This is harassment, and it’s racist to boot!”

“People out there are frightened of what they don’t understand,” Zahra said. “We’ve never cared what other people think in this house.”

“Oh, really? Well, damn it, I’ll show them. I’ll sue!”

Charles was aghast. “A lawsuit? Are you sure you want that kind of attention?”

“We already HAVE the attention,” Veronica snarled. “We might as well do something about it.”

Before Charles or Zahra could offer up any more thoughts on the matter, Veronica was on her way to the courthouse.

She was undaunted by the paperwork or the expensive lawyers hired by the newspaper. The case was clear. There was a law against hate speech on the books, after all, wasn’t there?

Hearings ran late into the night.

And in the end, she left alone, defeated, and out 600 simoleons in legal fees.

“The occult have never been classified under hate speech laws,” the judge said. “Occult isn’t a hate term. It’s just, well, occult.”

“Don’t say a word,” she warned when she dragged at last into the house. “Not one word.”

Soon she found a perfect place to vent her rage.

“You!” she screamed at the paparazzi lingering near her chemistry lab. “Maybe I can’t sue your pants, off, but this is our property. Get out before I kick your ass into next week.”

“It’s the news, don’t you get it?” the photographer retorted. “You can kick me out, but you can’t stop the news!”

“Then I’ll settled for kicking you out,” Veronica said, her voice now dangerously calm. “Leave.”

As he left, she said under her breath, “This is not over.”

———-

I’m not dead!

But hey, I hope none of you are either. Nobody seems to be posting much on the simblogs at the moment. I’m guessing it’s because this is the end of term for you students out there.

DragonWife, is the port to a new town going OK? Amhranai, is your move going all right?

I’m settled with my dear daughter at my parents’ place for another week while my husband finishes up teaching his last class. Our house is STILL not on the market, but soon. We’re promised it will be soon.

Sim celebrity points are funny. Charles picked up a random one at some pont. Then, when he proposed to Veronica in the park, *she* picked up two points. Then they each got a point for marrying another celebrity in public. So Veronica now has three points, and Charles has two. After they got married, Veronica was immediately disgraced for “Woohooing with an occult.” Oh, really?

It’s good to at least be able to get a post out. Someday I’ll even be able to play again 😛

4.16 The Butler Did It

Apr11

Charles came strolling into the house with a string of fresh caught fish to fry and was stunned at what he saw.

“Hello!” Ada called as she walked down the stairs. “I want to talk to you!”

Charles grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the office and out of sight. “Ada!” he hissed. “There’s a guy cooking in our kitchen!”

“I know, silly,” Ada said. “That’s Kirby Hawkins. He’s our butler.”

Charles blinked. “We have a butler?”

Ada beamed. “We do now! I called up the service and hired him yesterday.”

“Why on earth did you think we needed a butler?”

Ada shrugged. “They wear monocles, and monocles are really neat.”

So the Samples had a butler. It took some getting used to, but after a while even Charles had to admit that there were some advantages to having live-in help. Kirby eagerly learned recipes for Charles’s fish, and the house was always filled with the delicious scents of fresh gourmet food. The family had never eaten so well.

Fabian was a little put out, though. He loved to cook, and now there was no reason to.

After a while, though, the leftovers were piling up in the fridge. Kirby began stacking plates on top of plates. Food began to go bad.

“I think we really have enough to eat,” Charles said pointedly when he found Kirby in the kitchen making yet another delicious batch of poached salmon. “There’s water pooling up on the back deck. Would you, um, mind cleaning it up?”

“I’ll do that immediately, sir!” Kirby said, and he meant it. It dropped the platter of salmon on the counter and dashed out the door.

And he scrubbed. And scrubbed. And scrubbed.

The back deck was certainly a lot to clean, and it seemed like no sooner had Kirby made it spotless before the garden sprinklers came on and showered more water on it to mop up.

Kirby took to roaming around the back yard at all hours, muttering about cleaning supplies.

He stopped bothering to put on his suit and monocle, which disappointed Ada to no end.

One morning, Charles woke up to Veronica shaking him. Her face managed to look both delighted and terrified all at once.

“I couldn’t wait to tell you,” she said breathlessly. “I took the test, and it’s positive. We’re going to be parents!”

“Oh, wow,” Charles gasped. “I don’t know what to say. I think I need a drink. Would you like, um, a glass of water.”

Then he froze. “What is HE doing here?”

“Who?” Veronica said.

Charles stared across their bed at Kirby Hawkins.

He looked like he’d been sleeping in the back yard again, and Charles could smell him from across the room.

“What the heck were you doing?” Charles demanded. “Watching us sleep?”

Kirby gave him a twisted smile. “There’s water on the back deck again,” he said. “I have to mop it up.”

“You are one heck of a creepy bastard,” Charles said. “You’re fired! Get off my property or I’ll get you off!”

And that was the end of the Samples’ experiment with live-in help.

———-

Ada got a high-value wish to hire a butler, so I gave one a try. OK, I don’t see the point. He cooked about 4x the food the household actually needed and did very little cleaning, which we really did need. And there’s an interaction to ask the butler to cook, which I never needed to prompt him to do, but not one to ask him to clean!

Once he did do some cleaning, it’s like he never even tried to go back to his bedroom to sleep.

I wish I’d taken more pictures of him cooking, so there would be more photo continuity for the first part. But I had no idea how messed up he was going to get. I did include the closeup, though, because I thought his eyes were awesome.

At least ours didn’t set the house on fire like DragonWife’s. Charles tried to fire him, and it failed, just like it did for her. I had to use the Dismiss option, which worked.

4.15 Girl Talk

Apr9

True to her word, Veronica honeymooned with Charles on a backcountry hiking and camping vacation. She didn’t have a lot of experience roughing it, but she met it with the same enthusiasm she met any new experience.

One night, as they cuddled under the stars, she admitted, “You know, I really hate the military.”

“Why on earth are you working there, then?”

“I don’t know. I hated my last job, and I wanted to try something really extreme.”

“The dojo is bringing in enough money these days. Mom and Fabian make a ton. We hardly need your paycheck. Find something you like and do that.”

“You really don’t mind if I just quit and coast for a while?”

“Absolutely not! Why should you be a slave to The Man?”

As soon as they made it back to civilization, Veronica gave leave to Gnome Military Base and began exploring her Eccentric side.

This meant she spent a lot of time with Zahra. The most logical place to set up a chemistry station was next to Zahra’s inventor’s workbench.

After Veronica stepped in it a few times by trying to make jokes, she and her mother-in-law got along swimmingly. To Charles’s taste, they almost got along too well.

“You know,” Zahra said with a sort of forced casualness one day, “Maternity leave can really crush your career. If you and Charles are thinking about kids, you might want to do it now while you’re between jobs.”

“We what?” Veronica choked.

Meanwhile, Ada was spending a lot of time with her muse, either writing or painting. She loved to hang out at Second Chance Consignment, where the every-changing odds and ends gave her inspiration.

She was selling more and more paintings these days, and she was getting higher and higher fees for them. It was exciting to get a sense that her name was out there.

Unfortunately, though the shopkeeper appreciated her art, he didn’t much appreciate her musing about life. After a couple of conversations, he made sure to keep the counter between them.

One day, she ran into Jabari’s mom, Justine Keaton, stopping by on her way home from work.

“I just wanted to tell you that even though I’m sure you’re thrilled that your son is married and happy, Latisha is always going to be a tramp in my imagination, even if it isn’t true. I prefer to think that she’s making Jabari miserable. She can’t possibly deserve him.”

“You what?” Justine said, stunned.

“Thanks for listening!” Ada said, her face brightening. “I just needed to get that off my chest!”

She went home feeling much more relaxed and had a bit of fun.

Zahra’s scientific research had reached international attention. It was certainly going to her head.

She began dressing and acting more eccentrically. She kept a note pad with her at all times and interrupted conversations to write down ideas for experiments.

She was growing some strange fruit in the garden that kind of looked like beating hearts. Better not to look at those fruits too closely.

Still, there were some definite advantages to all her hard work. She Did Science to all sorts of things around the house.

She found a way to make the beds float.

She invented this amazing new automated way to harvest the garden. It was ten times faster than the normal hand-picking, and it only upset your stomach most of the time.

She didn’t know when to stop, though. Fabian and Charles found themselves carrying her to bed plenty of times.

Good thing she had less single-minded loved ones to look after her.

———-

Basically an interlude piece to show how the girls are doing!

So the big news here is that my husband has taken a job with Google in Boston, Massachusetts. We’re going to be moving in mid-May. Before then, we need to get our house in Albuquerque, NM ready to sell (with a toddler), and we have to go on at least one house-hunting trip to Boston! We are going insane over here, and I don’t know how much I’ll be around.

We moved to Abq from Boston 10 years ago, and we have some very close friends there that we are looking forward to living near again. Still, it hasn’t really sunk in yet, and moving is front-loaded with suck. Lots of goodbyes and lots of stress. Aaaagh!

4.14 Vows Beneath the Trees

Apr2

Charles insisted on an outdoor wedding. Veronica, however, drew the line at his first choice of location, which was a woodland campsite at the end of a five-mile hiking trail. “Save it for the honeymoon, my love,” she said. “I’d like a few guests to come.”

They compromised on a small park at the edge of town with a huge, lovely canopy of old trees and a fishing pond.

Shanni had just given birth, but Agnes insisted she come anyway. Agnes stayed home to watch new baby Garry while Shanni came with Jeanette.

Adjo was the sharp and sophisticated family man.

He and Toya brought with them their ever-growing clan.

Charmaine

Starr

Darrin

Toya looked ready to give birth to baby number four at the wedding. Everyone eyed her a little nervously, but she made it through the festivities. Charles and Veronica received word that she’d gone into labor on a few hours later and given birth to a little girl they named Brenna.

And then there were friends and well-wishers.

Arvid Voss

Zhan Wu

And of course the best man Jabari

with his wife Latisha Langerak Keaton

(“She looked like a tramp,” Ada confided to Charles later.)

Ada arrived early so she could be sure to find a seat in the front row.

Charles and Veronica watched the guests arrive from a park bench. “I guess we’re committed now,” Veronica said.

“Yeah,” Charles agreed. “Let’s do this thing.”

“I can’t figure out how I got here,” Veronica murmured as they walked together to the wedding arch. “You know, I’m not really the marrying type.”

“I guess I am just incredibly persuasive,” Charles replied.

Veronica laughed softly. “I guess you are.”

“I, Charles Babbage Sample, promise to love and cherish you as I do our Mother Earth from the birds in the trees to the fish and the ocean.

“I pledge to cherish and protect our marriage as I do the world we live in.”

“I, Veronica Krane, pledge to love and cherish you

“And help you get out of your own head and have a good time once in a while.”

And so Veronica became Veronica Krane Sample.

You may kiss the bride.

When the cake was finished, Veronica grabbed Charles by the hand and pulled him to the lakeside, where she had set up an MP3 player. “Now it’s time to dance!”

“I’ve never really danced before,” Charles admitted as he tried to follow her lead.

“Don’t worry about it. This is a fun skill to teach too.”

———-

This was my first Generations wedding, and I have to say I vastly prefer it this way, with the wedding arch allowing me to pick where the vows take place, guests sitting in chairs, and wedding cake!

I missed getting a dedicated shot of Shanni and Toya, but you can see them in the group scenes. Since Shanni got pregnant this time, the game keeps wanting to change her hairstyle. I changed it back for the bachelorette party, and then again for the wedding. It just seems like any other hairstyle is not Shanni.

I also wish I’d gotten a pic of the whole park. It was just sitting in my lot bin and might have come with the game or one of its expansions. It’s a cute park.

Zhan Wu is so adorable I just can’t stand it. It’s a tragedy I have no way to bring his genes into this legacy.

I don’t know what made Jabari Keaton stand up and take that position just as the vows were ending, but it was so sweet and appropriate!

4.13 A Girl’s Last Night of Freedom

Mar28

Meanwhile…

“While the boys are away, the girls will play!” Veronica cried. “Paaartay!”

She rented out The Queen disco club and turned the music up until the beat vibrated the walls.

“Don’t TELL me you’re related to Shanni Crumplebottom!” Veronica had said while they were filling out wedding invitations. “She’s a buddy of mine from way back! She does my hair!”

Shanni was the closest friend Veronica was able to invite to the party, but when Veronica asked her to be Matron of Honor, she had to kindly refuse. “I’ll be at the wedding if I can, but this baby is going to come any day now.”

Not to be outdone, Toya was due with her and Adjo’s fourth child only a few days after Shanni.

“Let’s get down!” screamed Darlene Branch, a coworker of Veronica’s from the military. She’d already had more than enough to drink.

“I don’t think you’re drinking enough!” Veronica declared to Zahra. “LET ME GET YOU SOME NECTAR!”

“Attention! It’s time to drill your sergeant!”

“Look at the pecs on that guy!”

“I’m not sure. I think I need a CLOSER INSPECTION!”

After the dancer finished his act, Velvet Sharpe and Genvieve Goth got into a bit of a catfight over who would dance with him first.

The dancer, meanwhile, headed out into the entrance hall to cool down.

“Um, you’re about to walk into the ladies’ restroom,” Ada said politely.

“I’m what?” the dancer said absently. “Oh! God! Thank you for warning me.”

“I’m Ada,” Ada said. “I’m really weird. Everyone says so.”

The dancer gave her a charming smile. “I’m Alberto Royale.”

“That’s a great stage name. Are you allowed to give me your real name?”

Alberto Royale frowned. “Am I supposed to have a stage name?”

They turned out to have a lot in common. Alberto was saving up his dancing tips so that he could do some traveling, and he was fascinated by Ada’s vacation stories.

“You seem like a really nice guy,” Ada said after they had been talking a while. “Is it weird to ask for your phone number?”

“Totally not!” Alberto said. “But, um, I hope you have something to write on because I can’t keep anything in this costume.”

At that moment, Agnes burst from the ladies’ room.

“Ada, you’re not smiling! Let me help you with that!”

Not long after, Veronica kicked everyone out to go home and sleep it off. She was not going to have a hangover on her wedding day.

——–

So, for story purposes these happened on the same night b/c that would be logical. In fact, I could never have handled two bachelor parties at the same time. Charles slept in so long from his dusk-to-dawn bachelor party that there wasn’t really time to do a wedding the way I was planning without waking him up and leaving him exhausted. So I gave them an extra day and let Veronica have the (shorter) bachelorette party she was wishing so hard for. Bachelor parties are really more her style anyway :).

In an attempt to follow the great party tutorials, I had Veronica bring a key lime pie, but I couldn’t get the “call to meal” menu option to appear at the dance club. I did, however, make sure Veronica was home by midnight, and her party was a “modest success.”

I was surprised to look at Veronica’s relationship bar and discover that she and Shanni were already good friends. I wanted Veronica to ask her to give a speech, but for some reason the menu option wouldn’t come up. I have no idea why. It wasn’t because she was pregnant, because the option was available for Toya. However, Shanni was quite a bit more pregnant than Toya, so maybe that was it?

I have no idea why Zahra changed into a slip before leaving. That’s not even her sleepwear. Hilarious! What happens at the bachelorette party stays at the bachelorette party, I guess.

As far as I can tell, Alberto Royale didn’t actually dance. He just posed under the lights, and the whole group of ladies gathered around to cheer him on. Somehow I missed photographing the crowd, and now I’m sorry. But they really did have a great time watching him. The dancer at Charles’s party didn’t even pose under the lights. I think the first floor of the pub was laid out poorly for her to do her thing, but there was a whole cute second floor of that building with a dance floor that nobody used.

Ada and Alberto get along like a house on fire! What a sweet surprise!

4.11 Never Let This Change

Mar22

Charles had never been so happy.

On their very next date, he made a big production of taking her out for a fancy dinner. No holds barred, bottle of wine for the table. He tried very hard not to think about how the beef had been raised and whether the after-dinner coffee was Fair Trade.

Standing outside on the crowded patio, he asked her to be his girlfriend. She laughed. “You mean I’m not already your girlfriend? I couldn’t tell. You treat me like I’m the center of the world.”

She sort of was the center of his world.

“I don’t want the evening to end,” he admitted shyly.

Veronica smiled. “It doesn’t have to. Why don’t we go to your place for a nightcap?”

“Wow,” she said. “Nice place. You hide it well. We had to take my car to get here.”

Charles suddenly realized where this was going. He tried to make nervous smalltalk in the foyer.

Veronica finally wrapped her arm around his. “You’re cute when you hyperventilate. Why don’t you show me around the place?”

“Sure!” Charles said a bit too brightly.

“Just give me a sec to slip into something more comfortable.”

She stopped when they got to his bedroom. “So this is where you sleep? Out on the patio?”

Charles shrugged. “Yeah. I like the feel of the outside air.”

“What happens if it rains?”

“I don’t know. I get wet. It’s not that big a deal.”

“Hmm. Well, this seems like a good place to stop and talk, don’t you think?”

“I love to, um, talk. What did you have in mind?”

Wow.

Charles drew back and looked her in the eye. “I just wanted to say that I’ve never–“

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “This is a skill that is a lot of fun to teach.”

And she taught very thoroughly.

The basic and the advanced course.

It didn’t take Charles long to throw in a few ideas of his own.

Veronica didn’t have much of what you’d call modesty. Once she and Charles had been an item for a while, the place you’d find her most often was skinny dipping in the hot tub.

After a while, she persuaded Charles to join her.

The rest of the family learned to steer clear of the back yard when Veronica was over, at least if they didn’t want to see a show.

Fabian was presented with an unexpected chance to prove himself. Temptation was all of a sudden sleeping over and hanging out in her skivvies most mornings.

He did pretty well. Whatever he might be thinking, he kept it to himself.

The sleeping over was the best part. Well, ok, aside from the woohoo.

When he wasn’t training at the dojo and wasn’t spending time with Veronica, Charles was sifting through his adventure spoils, looking for just the right gem. Eventually, he found it: a perfect square brilliant cut tanzanite.

When it seemed like he’d waiting long enough, he invited her out to Aldana National Park for a picnic.

“I just wanted to tell you that the time we’ve been together has been the best time of my life,” he told her earnestly.

Veronica frowned. “You make me happy too. Really. But you say that like like it’s going to change.”

“Oh, wait!” he interrupted. “Just a sec.”

“What are you doing down there?” Veronica demanded. “You have a goofy smile–“

“Oh my God.”

He drew out the ring set with the tanzanite and slid it on her finger as she stared at him with mute astonishment.

“I mean I don’t ever want it to change,” he said. “Marry me, Veronica.”

“Wow,” Veronica said at last. “I wasn’t expecting that. You have to give me some time. I have to go home and pack.”

“Huh?” Charles said. “You have to what?”

“Are you kidding? I’m moving in.”

———-

Did you never think we’d get to this point?? Ha!

I’m serious that Veronica spends all her time skinny dipping. I’m not sure if that’s the Dramatic or Daredevil trait.

The dinner and afterward were all in the same day. Veronica changed clothes for no apparent reason. I just have changed her back just for continuity’s sake, but oh well :).

Oh, yeah, and blog template change! I love this look, but it won’t make as much sense when Charles is no longer the patron. I think that after Charles I will have pretty much wiped out World Adventures, and I expect to focus on other expansions :).

4.10 Put Your Heart Where Your Mouth Is

Mar16

When Charles returned from France, there was a message waiting for him on his voicemail. It was Velvet Sharpe. “I know it’s not exactly Sim Fu, but what would you think about me holding a concert at the dojo?”

Charles called her back immediately. “That’s a great idea! I never thought about the place as a venue, but if you think it would work, you can have it dirt cheap.” He hung up feeling proud of himself. The dojo was turning out to be a great business in all sorts of ways, and this was just a new way to get people in the door.

Then, before he could lose his nerve, he dialed Veronica’s number. “Hey! My dojo is going to be hosting its first concert! Yeah, Velvet Sharp is going to be performing. I thought maybe you’d like to drop by and listen for a while.”

“Velvet Sharpe!” Veronica exclaimed. “I’ve even heard of her. I’d love to be there.”

All right, then, it was now or never.

As Velvet set up and did her sound check, Charles lingered around outside, hoping to catch Veronica without a crowd of people around her.

He was in luck. Veronica saw him and hurried over to say hi. She’d obviously come straight from work again.

“You’re fresh back from vacation, right?” she said. “How did it go?”

“I, um, saw something there that made me think of you,” Charles said. “I hope you like it.”

“You got me a present?” Veronica was astounded. “You have to be kidding! I’ve never gotten you anything.” She pulled off the paper and gazed at the music box with shining eyes. Then she gave him a probing look. “Wow. You shouldn’t have. Really.”

Charles just shrugged. “Sounds like Velvet’s started her first set. You can probably hear her better from here than you can from the back of the audience.”

Veronica seemed happy to let the moment drop. “Yeah! It’s just like having private celebrity seats! Let’s stay out here and listen.”

So they did.

It was so comfortable with the two of them, listening to the music as it drifted through the night air. Charles just had to believe there was hope.

At last, Veronica pulled away and stood up. “I think this is the last set,” she said. “Let’s go in and listen to it.

Velvet had pulled in a nice crowd. This wasn’t such a bad place to hold a concert, really.

There was the final song, the applause, the encore song, and then a commotion of packing up sound gear and hawking Velvet’s latest album. Veronica pulled Charles aside as the crowd pressed around them.

“I have a confession to make,” she said, just loud enough for Charles to hear. “I’ve been kind of leading you on.”

Charles couldn’t think of anything to say, so he just raised his eyebrows to invite her to explain.

“Things haven’t been going that well with Willem recently. Last night, we called it off and–“

“Wait,” Charles interrupted. “You mean you’re not seeing Willem anymore?”

“Right. He said –“

———-

I am on vacation in Boston this week, visiting with our daughter’s godparents. I can’t play, but apparently I can blog! I’m inching closer to being caught up with gameplay. Yay!

I looked up Veronica’s relationship with Willem before Charles started putting the moves on her, and it was three-quarters down the red. I’m not sure if some of Charles’s other advances might have been considered cheating, but it didn’t really seem like he’d gotten that far. Maybe they were on the verge of breaking up anyway.

Willem Yo has had a rough time in this legacy. I didn’t put it in the story, but Toya Ursine had just started dating him when I finally figured out why Adjo wasn’t getting her attention, and Adjo had her break up with him. Then he took a ride on Rollercoaster Shanni, and now in the next generation, Charles is taking his girlfriend. That’s two generations of Samples trashing his love life!

But never fear. Willem has rolled through at least two other girlfriends since this breakup. I don’t know if he’s seeing anyone right now or not.

Oh and Velvet was busking in the middle of the dojo when Charles got there. Pretty cool! It looks like both of the Collingswoods and Sean Flynn all came out to hear her. Man, I wish Courtney were still around because her sims are getting so much attention!

OK, you worried folks, here Charles is winning one!