the more the merrier

October 2076, Blake Miller is 32, Clarice is 31.

The townhomes along West Washington Drive are very popular among Lake City's yuppie crowd. Each home has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, with a small yard in back. They are perfect for young college graduates who may or may not be ready to start a family. Close to the West End's club scene, across the street from City Park, and right in the heart of the downtown business district. Just right for newlywed professional couples like Blake and Clarice.

Blake works for City Council, and Clarice is an assistant high school principal at Lake City High School. They are still newlyweds, married just last year, and haven't done much with their place yet, so what better reason to have a housewarming party! But of course, being the friendly and sociable people that they are, they never really needed much of an excuse to throw a party.

A couple neighbors from the area have already stopped by to say "Hello," Marisa and Cameron, who say they live just across the street in the lofts. Yay for new friends, Blake and Clarice think! The more the merrier!

Patrick Nova and Lara Boyd live in a townhouse just around the corner. Lara brought over spaghetti, which was very kind of her. And it was actually surprisingly good too, for spaghetti!

Clarice's good college friend Nessa lives in the end house with her fiance Jackson Phoenix. Nessa and Jackson are engaged too, just like most twenty-somethings in Lakeside Heights, and they are planning a spring wedding. Clarice finds out that Jackson and Patrick are cousins. What a small world!

Blake's best college buddy is Aurora Harris, and she lives with her husband Joel not too far away to the north in Stoneview Court. Blake and Aurora actually almost dated once, a long time ago, though they never really felt the need to tell Joel or Clarice. It was their first year in college, during one of Aurora and Joel's off-again periods, the year before Blake met Clarice. There was a little kissing, a little cuddling, at a time when Aurora was broken-hearted and Blake was new to town and lonely. They're glad they didn't do more than that though, knowing it wouldn't have meant anything more than just messing around, and then it might be weird for them to be such good friends. Neither Joel or Clarice have ever asked about it, though Joel looks at Blake funny sometimes, and he must wonder.

Blake and Clarice are also friends with Sheldon and Alana Fortney, and Berjes and Hailey Monif, but they couldn't make it saying something about a long drive and lack of babysitters.

I guess they never took the time to realize it, but between the two of them, Blake and Clarice seem to know pretty much the whole damn neighborhood! Which makes for some pretty interesting parties. Blake really likes to dance, and sometimes it gets a little crazy. You know, like in the movies where whole rooms of people just break out in choreographed dance. Yeah, it's kind of like that.

Awww, poor honey pooped himself out with all that dancing.

But anyway, Blake and Clarice, like everybody else it seems, are ready to start a family. But unlike everyone else, who seems to be getting knocked up right, left, and center, it's just hasn't happened for them yet. They're still pretty young though - they'll keep practicing.

(Because they both actually rolled wants to have a baby, I let them bypass my very carefully modified ACR formula for calculating their odds for wanting one, and they are allowed to try once each day of their turn. Of course, it would be so easy to just hit the Maxis "Try for Baby" option, or let them try and try until it happens, but that kind of defeats the variety of it. Unfortunately, getting knocked up doesn't get to be easy for everybody, does it?)

Already residents of the Lake City Metro Area are feeling the punch of the recent economic slump, and Blake knows he's not looking at a promotion any time soon. Not only that though, but even college students are complaining college courses becoming more difficult, and Blake thinks it's a good thing he and Clarice finished when they did because he was never a very good student.

But he did receive a very generous work bonus for his stellar performance this year! They're both shocked, actually, they didn't know he had it in him! They use the money to fix up the house a little. He doesn't mind if he doesn't get a promotion any time soon. City Council is easy work, short hours, and decent pay. He had fought Clarice about getting a real job after college, but this gig sure as hell beats waiting tables! Of course, it's only typical that he spends most of the bonus on a new hot tub.

Their wedding portrait is finally ready and Blake goes to pick it up from Centowski's. They had an outdoor wedding last year, at Riley Hall in Lakeside Heights, and it really turned out beautifully. Even the portrait they ordered turned out beautifully. But man, this guy charges a fortune for these things!

They both thought they were pretty sure of what they were doing with their lives until Clarice hosted a meeting of the Lake County Education Council, where they discuss how they must add bugs to the science curriculum. Bugs? Seriously? This is totally not what she saw herself doing with her life! She was always a bright student, top of her class, and she wanted to be a journalist, but the right chances just didn't come along after college.

It just so happens the next day there is an offer online for an internet movie critic. She gives up her great-paying job as an assistant high school principal, and she goes for it! She guesses she should have talked to Blake first, but she didn't want to pass this up. She'll get to do most of her work from home, in her bathing suit if she wants, just reporting into her boss a couple days a week. Her paycheck will be dropping from $1500 to just over $200, but she's smart and she knows this is just a stepping stone. And Blake's doing so well at work now. She wonders if he'll be mad.

So she's working then. And for a movie critic, sitting on the couch watching movies is what we call work-related research. And yup, she's still in her bathing suit!

"Have you been in your bathing suit all day?" Blake says, when he comes home.

She says, "Don't get mad, honey, I quit my job today."

But who is Blake to be mad? He's a laid-back kind of guy, and besides, he thinks he could probably get used to his wife walking around in her bathing suit all day.

And they both seem really happy with things at the moment. They go outside, even if it is just a little bit chilly, and throw some leaves around under the moonlight.

Which apparently is an aphrodisiac.

And they're thinking that night as they fall asleep that maybe they should have held onto some of Blake's bonus money, with the way everyone's worried about the economy lately. You know those hot tubs get crap for a resale price. Maybe it'll work out though, they think, if they can learn to curb their spending habits a little. It's something they need to learn anyway. Because even if they don't know it yet, tonight's leaves and moonlight did just the trick, and they're going to be adding one more bundle of joy to next summer's baby boom.