LCU, landslide, part 3.5

November 2083 - LCU, fall semester (part 3.5 of 4) - Vicky Garth and Summer Phoenix are 19, April Hutchins and Beau Jackson are 20. (Corbin Gray is 33.) * soundtrack for all parts, "Landslide," by Fleetwood Mac *

Vicky actually waited until three months after the legal drinking age to have her very first drink. April made it for her, a sex on the beach. She didn't taste the vodka so much going down, but it she sure did feel it in her head about ten minutes later. It wasn't that she was afraid, or opposed, or even prudish. It was mostly that she just hadn't even realized she was old enough finally. 

LCU, landslide, part 3

November 2083 - LCU, fall semester (part 3 of 4) - Vicky Garth is 19, April Hutchins and Beau Jackson are 20. (Heather Huffington is 37.)

* soundtrack for all parts, "Landslide," by Fleetwood Mac *

April doesn't think she's ever had a friend, male or female, who she didn't want to sleep with. And Vicky? No, April doesn't want to get in bed with Vicky. Not in the least. The girl has a stick up her butt the size of an oak tree! But there's something in this poor, friendless girl, that April feels drawn to. She can't help but reach out to her. And honestly, she doesn't see why nobody wants to help the girl. She's in college, not a freaking nunnery! She needs to be saved!

So she digs her new friend out of her biology books and brings her to work with her one night. "So, you're not drinking because you're allergic, or because you're studying to become a nun?"

"Drink?" Vicky says. "I don't know, I've never had one before."

"Oh, geeze, you've probably never had sex before either."

"Sex? Well, if you mean, all the way-"

"Oh my God, I was right!" April says. "We gotta get that taken care of!"

LCU, landslide, part 2

October 2083 - LCU, fall semester (part 2 of 4) - Dallas Deppiesse is 19, Fenton Dyer and Iris Barton are 20. (Lucy Harris is 17.)
* soundtrack for all parts, "Landslide," by Fleetwood Mac *

The residence hall at Takemizu Academy has an ancient wishing well hidden among some trees, but Dallas won't touch it. He refuses to touch it! Because the first and only time he touched it was the first day he got here - the first hour he got here, before he'd even unpacked his bags - and this is what it told him: "The time will come for you to make a decision."

What the hell is that supposed to mean???

He also didn't know that a swarm of bees had taken up inside it. The coin he tossed disrupted their sleep, and in the space of seconds, they woke up and rushed toward him. He was stung thirty-two times.

LCU, landslide, part 1

October 2083 - LCU, fall semester (part 1 of 4) - Beau Jackson and April Hutchins are 20, Summer Phoenix and Vicky Garth are 19. (Lucy Harris is 17.)

* soundtrack for all parts, "Landslide," by Fleetwood Mac *

Summer doesn't know much about college yet, but she does know that Lucy is going to love it! They've somehow convinced her mom to let her stay for the weekend. Lucy's mom teaches computer science at LCU, so she knows the campus is largely safe, but she's still worried about the co-ed dorms.

"Don't worry Mrs. Harris," Summer says. "I'll bring her back safe and sound." Then she adds, with a wink, "And not pregnant."

"What?" Lucy's mom says.

"Kidding," Summer says. "I mean, my floor is all girls. We've got an RA - she's a girl. Keypad access and everything."

Lucy's mother is paralyzed.

"Rape alarms?"

"Bye mom," Lucy says, tugging Summer by the arm, pulling them out of the house before Summer can convince her mother to change her mind.

and one for the happy...

Because these people are breaking my heart around here lately. (Just wait until we get to the next chapter - it's like everybody decided to fall apart at the seams simultaneously.) So I decided to do a collection of happy and uncomplicated moments from happy and uncomplicated couples. Okay, so maybe not all of these couples are (or will be) completely uncomplicated, but they're all very happy together, for sure!

A lot of these were going to go in my extras at the end of the chapter, but it feels called for now :)

pressure points

October 2083 - Stephanie Day is 23, Willow is 1. (Jeremy Nova is 68, Riley Hathe is 34, Justin Kim is 23, Corbin Gray is 33.)

She feels looked after like a child. Her father drives back and forth from the city. He says he's just prepping for the move, but he never seems to be moving anything. Justin calls her almost every day after work, and he and Lily come over when they can. Her Aunt Sophie comes by from across the street. "Oh, honey," she says, frowning at Stephanie's scorched attempt at pork chops. "You should have let me bring you something."

And then there's the real, actual child. Willow. Aunt Sophie scoops her up in her arms. "Oh, isn't she just precious?" she says. "What a doll."

one day, an earthly goddess is born...

October 2083 - Fiona McCullough is 16.

One day, Fiona McCullough, our (not-so) friendly neighborhood Wiccan, finally feels ready to try her hand at some of these things she's been studying. She's been waiting for the moment to feel right. She's a very careful and calculating girl, and she wanted all the pieces in their right places. After all, when one is plotting world domination, laying a perfect groundwork is essential!

bad karma

October 2083 - Chad and Riley Hathe are 34, Liza is 14, Shaun is 6. (Fiona McCullough is 16, Robbie is 13.)

Chad found this one morning, a ratty old vest he used to wear in high school. Yes, high school was fifteen years ago, but it still fits, and it helps him to relive all those long-forgotten days, before children, before marriage. He can hardly remember those days as it is. But his wife is not nearly as amused.

"Oh hell," Riley says, twisting up a scowl at him.

"What," he says. "It still fits. You remember this? I wore it all through high school. It was rad."

"It was not rad, even in high school. You look like a fool."

Behind them, Liza is laughing.

a poem about a freckle

October 2083 - Amelia Bradshaw is 28, Drew Bruty is 27.

* Warnings: NSFW/kids - and unabashed poetics! Soundtrack: "Colorblind," by the Counting Crows. *

She smells like organic lemongrass and ginseng, which leaves her skin soft and milky smooth. Did he know that natural soap is gentler on the skin than even the most moisturizing body washes? No, he didn't know that. But he does now.

She eats zucchini. He ate french fries before he met her, and now he knows that red bell peppers contain more antioxidants than green ones, green tea more flavanoids than bottled beer. She buys fresh fish for its omega-3. Now he knows what omega-3 is - he never knew he needed it, but she insists that he does. He doesn't need to know why, but she'll tell him anyway.

It's not about ideals or glamour. It's science, she tells him. "Because it'll make you live forever," she says. "Or at least a really long time. I want you to live a really long time."

prequel stories #8: reconstructing the founders, part 2

In April of 2006, a group of young college graduates decided to start their brand new lives by settling in a once-quiet little town called Lakeside Heights. Until now, there has been little record of who these people were, apart from a few aged photos and the basic public record of their family tree. This effort is to reconstruct their lives as best we can, through their family who might remember them.

family trees and photoshoots

*the family photoshoots are a work in progress*

The Brant/Harris Family:
(gen 0, 1, 2, 3, 4: includes Fortney, Bradshaw)

The Bradshaw/Riley Family:
(gen 1, 2, 3, 4: includes Gibson, Buchanan, and Kim)

The Nova/Phoenix Family:
(gen 1, 2, 3, 4: includes Collins, Hathe, and Day)

The Ramirez/Shaw Family:
(gen 1, 2, 3, 4:)

idle chatter: a hole in the head

Guess who? Couples edition!

Wouldn't that be a fun game? I'd show you couples, in different clothes and with their faces obscured and you'd have to guess who they were, just from their surroundings and mannerisms.

You all shout, "Yes!"

Well, maybe I'll put one together some day ;) LOL!

No, I'm not that mean. But I do need to finish out this chapter of stories first, so maybe we'll do that in the next chapter break.

You can try to guess who this couple is though. They've both had recent makeovers, so it might be a little tricky. I'll reveal them at the end of this post.

I'm kind of itching to finish this round by the end of September (I know, longest round ever, right?), which I'm aiming to coincide with the completion of my novel, because I'm itching to play FFXIII in my intermission. And you all should know that when I play FF games, I disappear from the conscious world for a solid two months! FFXIII is going to be my prize to myself for finishing the first solid draft of my novel - what more incentive does a girl need than that?

Of course, when I actually sell the damn thing, my prize will be a supercool new gaming computer! :)

prequel stories #8: reconstructing the founders, part 1

In April of 2006, a group of young college graduates decided to start their brand new lives by settling in a once-quiet little town called Lakeside Heights. Until now, there has been little record of who these people were, apart from a few aged photos and the basic public record of their family tree. This effort is to reconstruct their lives as best we can, through their family who might remember them.

guess who???

This game was inspired by Carla's "guess who" game over at Sullivan. I personally found hers much more surprising than mine, though maybe I would be biased. The only changes to these Sims are the removal of custom eyes, skintone, makeup, and clothing, and I've left them in whatever outfit and hairstyle the game defaulted them to. For those who were already wearing Maxis clothing, I photoshopped their clothing so it wouldn't be a give-away ;)

I'm very eager to see how many of these you guys are able to guess! Feel free to use the resident database if you think it might help.

As Carla mentioned in her game, any Sim wearing an in-between skintone would default to a lighter or darker tone. Same with custom eye color. There are 18 to try, and you can guess as many or as few as you like.

who are you people anyway???

*** note: I originally did this survey as part of this blog's two-year anniversary festivities, but newcomers to this blog are welcome to join "the peanut gallery" at any time ;) ***

Now I get to ask you some questions! We've known each other a couple of years now, and I'm curious about all these people behind these screen names.

You can answer as many or as few of these as you like.