January 14, 1176
"Well, that was good timing," Falidor mused as they parted lips. "I take it everyone made it out all right?"Raia nodded. "Your sister and my brother are both fine." And if only there had been some poor, uninformed sap here to hear it! While having one's own stepmother as a sister-in-law did have its downsides, there was nothing quite like the devilish delight of making such comments in shot of unsuspecting ears. "Little squirt looks just like Roddie when he was born."
"As did the rest of you." He leaned in for another kiss, a sweet taste of some forbidden biscuit passing from his mouth to hers. The cook had always been a little sweet on him--not that Raia could blame her, even if the admission was bitter. But if Falidor had gotten through all those years of Ailede without straying until the end, then surely she had nothing to fear. "Mark my words, just a few more generations and your father's face will be the archetype of the region."
"Shame. Yours would make for a prettier people." She'd meant to tease, but her heartstrings knotted as a bit of truth seeped. Their children were young, but so far they both favored her in the face; they wore her features better than she did, she had to admit, but she'd always harbored a secret hope that they'd take after their father more. Maybe they would later in life.Seemingly not picking up on the thought, however, Falidor chuckled. "Then I suppose we'd better get to work."
A little queasy, Raia tried to grin, but maybe that gave her away as a little dishonest. But no--no, nobody could blame her, least of all him. She'd gotten pregnant with Sev almost immediately after Alina had been born, and that had been more than enough time spent all fat and uncomfortable and cooped up indoors than anyone could have wanted over that stretch. A few years' worth of freedom was more than worth the taste of her grandmother's bitter herbs, even if she did feel a little bad about not letting Falidor in on the secret.
But though she liked to think the best of him, he was still a man and it was doubtful he would understand; for now, all she could do was wink. "Find a way to carry this next one yourself and you've got yourself a deal."
If she ever needed to remind herself that she had a good man, all she needed to do was make a crack like that and watch him laugh at himself. "At my age? That sounds dangerous.""You're only thirty-five, you idiot." She tapped him on the nose, then stepped back and snickered. "Granted, I guess that's old enough to be a grandfather, isn't it?"
He laughed again, but a little more forcedly this time. Maybe she'd gone a little far. "I guess so."
Ah, but it would be a different story next month--no longer bait for teasing, but something to be proud of, a happy little occasion. At least... as 'little' as whatever Eilyssa had growing in her belly could possibly be. Raia couldn't recall seeing any woman bigger unless perhaps it was twins; Fenrick must have been pleased with himself.
"Funny, isn't it?" She placed her hands on his shoulders and lifted herself to her toes; he wasn't much taller than she was, but there was no better angle for losing herself in those eyes than dead-on. "I used to think you were old."Her husband sniffed. "You still think I'm old."
"Yes, but I thought you were old when you were my age."
Now it was Falidor's turn to smirk. "I guess that makes you old.""I guess so." Funny. She didn't feel old. She'd spent the past couple years dreading twenty, but now that it was here, it felt no different from eighteen, fifteen, three and a half. Maybe it was only a matter of years before time caught up with her; if that was the case, she supposed she'd joke while there was still something to laugh about. "I am going to have a step-grandchild next month, after all."
"And yet, you have a baby brother today." He wrapped his arms around her torso and twirled her about, letting her down opposite where she'd stood before, a breathless, wispy sort of bliss about him. He looked scarcely older than sixteen. "Our family is a little strange that way, isn't it?"
Spoken like a true Wythleit--and a true Kemorin. "Good thing we can appreciate the strangeness of it, then."NEXT CHAPTER:
10 comments:
There are some days when I have nothing to say. There are others when I have lots. This day is of the latter sort.
1) I know it was supposed to be Realmspeaker today, but I looked at the outline and realized that I need AL installed for the post after next. This is slightly problematic since I've been putting off installing FT and AL until Riona's baby is born (I don't want to risk any conflict with updating InTeen--not sure if that's a valid concern or not, but it seems like the sort of thing that could happen?).
BUT, I realized that if I updated Naroni today AND tomorrow, then the shoot I have to do tomorrow will be the last time we absolutely have to see Riona before she has her baby (she had one more scheduled appearance, but her presence in that post isn't particularly crucial). So after tomorrow's shoot, there will be one more little Sim in my game and I can expand :)
2) On a similar note, it's probably a good thing that the aforementioned shoot will now fall on a weekend. Not looking forward to having forty-eight Sims in the same room, even if--hell, ESPECIALLY IF--most of them are just background noise.
3) Unrelated, but configuring chemistry to suit existing/upcoming couples is more difficult than I thought it would be. So far, I think my only triple-bolters are Raia+Falidor, Izzy+Riona, Octavius+Holladrin and then Farrel+Lucia from RS.
Although sometimes it works out okay. Severin, for example, has two bolts each with Alina and Nora... and, err, Xeta. That must make for some interesting breakfast conversation :S
So Raia's on BC? Hmm. That could cause a bit of conflict with Falidor, considering how much he loves the chilluns. On the one hand, if she's only trying to space out the births, she could probably talk sense into him ... or more sense than if she just didn't want any more children.
Besides, between his biological children and his adopted children, isn't Falidor giving Severin a run for his money by now in the descendents department? ;)
And -- Severin and Alina, the greatest love story in Naroni's history, had only two bolts?! ZOMG!!!1!!eleventy!! ;)
... I think Bors and Claire have at least two bolts, now that I come to think of it ... which is wrong and bad. And Arthur and Alison only have one, but every time I leave them alone for five minutes, they're all over each other!
I don't think Raia is completely closed on the idea of ever having more children... but she did have the two she has pretty much one right after the other. After that, she just wants a nice break.
(Although she should probably tip Nora off about whatever she's using :P)
Yep, only two... but after a few instances of lining up turn-ons and turn-offs perfectly and one getting one bolt, or characters rolling up triple bolts with random Sims who walk past the lot and don't fit the scheme at all, two bolts didn't seem so bad :P
I know about the chemistry thing, although having three bolt couples is not always a good thing. Oberon and Titania Summerdream almost lost their toddler twin boys born in game because they are a three bolt couple and were busy woohooing in bed instead of feeding their kids (three bolt couple + ACR 2.0b= lots of woohoo and stalking).
One interesting thing about FT is benefits assigned to each aspiration. Because Titania is a family sim, Family sims have a plead with Social Worker benefit, which kicked in and the boys weren't taken away but it was close. I had to cancel ACR a bunch of times but they took better care of the boys and they are now children that can get juice out of the fridge or use the muffin oven. (Puck was at college and Bottom was a teen but I didn't want to wake her up because her energy bar was orange.)
Even though Titania's turn ons don't match Romeo Monty, they also have three bolts. I changed Romeo's aspiration when he was a teen using SimPE to knowledge, and I think the three bolts are because of their compatible aspirations and maybe astrological signs.
It sounds like Raia needs to tell Nora about her grandmother's herbal mixture since it doesn't seem like Severin and Nora will stop having kids without the herbs.
Fair enough :P I didn't install ACR (I pretty much only use the game for pictures these days, so I figured there wasn't much point), but I can see how that would be a problem.
Ooooh, aspirations get benefits in FT? Interesting. I'm also curious about secondary aspirations. I'm surprised that astrological sign and aspiration might have an effect, but I guess that makes sense in terms of the game.
Severin and Nora are allowed one more baby before I put my foot down. After that, somebody is giving Nora those herbs XD
I'm starting to lose track of all of these kids. I think I might have to go eye the family tree again!
There are benefits that apply to all sims (slower fun/social loss, slower hunger loss, slower hygiene loss, slower energy loss), and there are benefits that apply to specific aspirations (Make Grandma's comfort soup, Plead with Social Worker, increased chance for Twins for Family Sims for example).
Each time a Sim's wants are filled they get points towards the the FT benefits. Once they get enough points, you can also assign them an secondary aspiration (choosing from the aspirations that are available when they become a teen, but you can't choose the same aspiration as when they became a teen) . They get the wants/ benefits of the both aspirations for example a Sim with the Family primary and a Knowledge secondary will get the wants and benefits of a Family and a Knowledge sim.
Aspirations make a big difference with chemistry. For example Romance sims have major negative chemistry with family sims. Family sims have major positive chemistry with other family sims and Knowledge sims.
Epi: I'm starting to lose track of everyone too :S
Orilon: Ah, okay. I was curious as to how that worked. I'll probably have to cheat if I want them to get secondary aspirations, though (even on the off-chance they do fulfil wants, I usually leave the lot without saving).
That would explain quite a bit, actually. I don't think I've assigned any romance Sims yet... I'm guessing Family/Popularity isn't the best combo? (I think all of my triple bolters so far have common aspirations.)
I can't find the website again I found one time that displayed all of the affects of the different aspirations, but if I remember right Family has more of a neutral chemistry with Popularity (it doesn't help or hurt). (I usually use SimPE to change the popularity sims when I start the game because the popularity aspiration drives me up the wall.)
Popularity Sims are annoying to play, for sure (back when I actually played, I always found it kind of pointless to make my Sims keep up non-sexual relationships for some reason. Most family members were pretty estranged unless they lived on the same lot, even). In terms of story Sims, though, Popularity is my default "teen" aspiration. Rona, for example, is a Popularity Sim, as is Hilla I believe. Most of the time I change it when they grow up, but not always. Depends who they seem to be at the time.
No worries about the website. Really, it was very nice of you to even look for it at all. Thanks for all your expertise :)
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