June 28, 1177
"Precious little thing, isn't she?" Asalaye cooed as she nuzzled noses with the puppy. Nanalie cringed; clearly the elevation through marriage hadn't come with an increased awareness of personal hygiene, for all her little sister did need it. "I hope she grows up to be just as cute. Lonriad says it's hard to trust the kennel masters around here."
Nanalie raised an eyebrow. Having never been fond of dogs--or animals in general, for that matter--she could agree with the sentiment herself, but it was an odd thought coming from a canine lover like Lonriad. "What do you mean?"
"Apparently they get a kick out of breeding all their dogs to look similar as puppies. It's only when they grow up that you learn what you even bought."
Nanalie raised an eyebrow. Having never been fond of dogs--or animals in general, for that matter--she could agree with the sentiment herself, but it was an odd thought coming from a canine lover like Lonriad. "What do you mean?"
"Apparently they get a kick out of breeding all their dogs to look similar as puppies. It's only when they grow up that you learn what you even bought."
That was quite possibly the dumbest thing she had ever heard. "Is that even possible?"
"I wouldn't have thought so, but it's true. Lonriad says they had a pair of 'twins' once. They had to give them little coats to tell them apart. Green Coat ended up as Viridis's lap dog. Lord Severin uses Red Coat for hunting deer."
"Uh-huh." She didn't think she quite believed it, but she figured she'd let it drop. Not like she'd come all the way up here to spend the afternoon talking about dog breeding. "Well, for your sake, I hope she's cute."
"I wouldn't have thought so, but it's true. Lonriad says they had a pair of 'twins' once. They had to give them little coats to tell them apart. Green Coat ended up as Viridis's lap dog. Lord Severin uses Red Coat for hunting deer."
"Uh-huh." She didn't think she quite believed it, but she figured she'd let it drop. Not like she'd come all the way up here to spend the afternoon talking about dog breeding. "Well, for your sake, I hope she's cute."
"I likewise." Asalaye lifted the dog to eye level and gave a loving sigh while Nanalie fought the urge to tell her to save it for the baby. "Oh well. No matter how she grows up, I'm sure she'll always be cute to--"
Her voice reached a sudden halt, her eyes wide and startled like she'd just been punched in the gut. She moved her lips as if to say something, but all Nanalie could hear was a stream of fluid colliding with the hardwood. "Nan..."
Her voice reached a sudden halt, her eyes wide and startled like she'd just been punched in the gut. She moved her lips as if to say something, but all Nanalie could hear was a stream of fluid colliding with the hardwood. "Nan..."
No, they definitely wouldn't be talking about dogs.
NEXT CHAPTER:
NEXT CHAPTER:
9 comments:
For anyone who might be reading them, I'd like to apologize for being totally lame with all my other stories lately. I'm not planning on discontinuing them; the fact of the matter is that I just haven't had much time for picture-taking lately, so my efforts have been going to Naroni because that's where most if not all of my readership is these days (that and I'm eager to finish 1177, even though that's not going to happen any time soon).
HOWEVER. I fly home on Tuesday, meaning the school stresses will be done for a few weeks. So while I can't promise the return to normalcy just yet, any distractions will have a lesser degree of urgency attached to them, so I should be able to get a few Realmspeakers and Ashelias and maybe even the odd Orbis Umbra up reasonably soon.
Nanalie's expression in that last photo is priceless! I can hear her long-suffering sigh from here!
And aww, Lonriad got Asalaye a puppy! To practice on, I wonder? Or just to see whether they get a lapdog or a great honkin' galoot of a hunting dog?
Can't wait to see whether the baby is a girl or a boy -- and whose nose it gets! Watch, the baby gets Alina or Honora's little itty-bitty nose. :D
Oh. Wondering if the baby coming is good or bad. Asalaye doesn't look that preggers.
I think she and Lonriad could run a close second to favorite couples for me. They really are a perfect match.
Morgaine: She's certainly aware of her role of "the practical one", that's for sure ;)
Lonriad and Asalaye both like puppies. That and I imagine both of the above reasons are valid XD
I did actually grow up this baby, so I could tell you whose nose emerged victorious. I'm not sure if that counts as a spoiler, though? As for what kind it is, we'll find out next post :)
Gayl: I'm no expert, but I'm guessing childbirth and pregnancy in general is pretty risky overall (er... my two sources being hearsay and the back of my packet of birth control). For all Nanalie seems pretty casual here, there's probably some cause for alarm.
Sim teens never look that pregnant. Actually, Sims in general never look a full nine months to me, unless maybe the Sim is plus-sized to begin with. But then again, I'm mainly going by TV here XD
Having birthed a son who looked like a Klingon because all his skull plates were really REALLY visible, it is a strange place for a new mother to be. Asalaye has the strength to deal with what comes. If she survives it. Childbirth is a killer.
I haven't looked at pregnant Sim teens too much, but there's such variation in how women carry a child, whether they show a lot or at all, whether they gain much weight, I think you're safe and realistic.
Being a parent sounds like a strange job in general. A strange job, but a meaningful one for those who really want it.
You bring up a good point there. I went to high school with one girl who dropped out when she got pregnant. She worked at a Starbucks near my house, so I ran into her every once in a while, and even near her due date she never looked that big. On the other hand, my friend's sister got pregnant a while ago and she recently posted a bump shot on Facebook for about Week #20 or so. She looked a lot bigger than I thought she would.
It's a bit sad that there's not that variation in Sims 2, or at least not without getting into custom body shapes (and to me, most of the ones I've seen are a little overkill, plus there's the issue of having to find enough clothing for all of them). I try to let the writing influence the characters' builds a bit, but it doesn't always get through. Asalaye's supposed to be a bit scrawny to begin with.
You are right, There is such variation in how "preggers" you look when you are pregnant. I was a flippin hippo when I was pregnant and kept knocking things over with my belly. It also became fairly difficult to move around in those last weeks.
Now-a-days giving birth isn't nearly as risky as the time period you are writing about. It still contains some risk, but going without an epidural and giving birth with little more than a mid-wife around who isn't monitoring anyone's heart rate, blood pressure, etc...I can't imagine how terrifying that would be. However, back in the day they did seem to take child birth as a normal everyday thing, most people had seen a child born in their lifetime and so there was definately less fear involved. Okay...stepping off of the "mommy soap box".
It also irks me a bit when the sims go into labor, scream a few times and then pop out a baby...same goes for TV. That's crap...it took me 8 hours of labor and 2 hours of painful pushing to get my son into the world...darn sims have it easy.
I still can't believe that Geneva was ready to jump into Roderick's pants right after having a baby. LOL. All I can think of is...gross. After having a baby the 9 months you have off from menstrating all comes back and it's the longest period of your life.
Anyway..ok really done now.
Missing the "I" in my name...but you get the idea.
It is kind of weird to see Sims giving birth, isn't it? They kind of just stand there whining like they do when they're uncomfortable and... baby!
Heheh... I'll admit that my Sims do tend to hit the sack fairly quickly again. At first it was because I wanted a decent-sized pool of kids to work with (and not having any kids myself, not much of idea of what the average wait time was, though I would imagine that's another thing that really varies).
Nowadays, everything is up to the random dates, which are sometimes a bit inconvenient (like, Falidor's daughter Riala just had a baby in late April and she got pregnant again within a couple weeks). But yeah, maybe I should look into setting some sort of cut-off point in that regard.
Thanks Keri :)
Post a Comment