Ahh, a fresh chilly morning in our indoor garden.
What do you mean this blog hasn't updated in centuries?
Get out of here with your lies.
Lynx and his girlfriend, Mariposa, hang out in Astral's old room now that she's moved into her own home and most of her brightly colored garbage has gone with her.
"So I was thinking this would make a SWEET gaming den," Lynx explains.
"I was thinking I'd move in here," Mariposa replies.
"Could probably fit at least six desks in- ...wait, what?"
"This is exactly the kind of place I could picture spending the rest of my life."
"Well that escalated quickly."
"I'll need a fireplace in here, of course. And a huge fishtank, I've always wanted that. And plenty of garlic. I don't want to be the next vampire statistic."
"Pretty sure vampires are a myth."
"That's what they want you to think. Don't willingly be part of the vampire agenda, Lynx."
Lynx rolls his eyes. "Well, if the vampires come, I have plenty of experience fighting the level 90 archvampire of Gloom-Death Forest."
Mariposa blinks.
"It's a max level enemy?"
"Mm, I love it when you say what I want to hear."
Mariposa's advances are as hard to ignore as they are sudden and unpredictable.
"Don't you ever... worry, about that girl?" Pippy tries to pry into her brother's love life.
"What girl?"
"Mariposa."
"Hmmm." Lynx pretends to think about it. "Nope."
"I caught her trying to set up cameras in my room. She called me a lizard."
"She's just screwing around."
"What's her home life like?"
"What are you getting at? Some girl is attracted to me, so obviously she's got mental health issues?"
"Your words, not mine."
"Her parents died of old age when she was in elementary school, so she's been living in some youth program house," Lynx says, a little too blithely. "It's actually a nice place. Not as good as having parents I guess, but she's not being abused."
"Hmmm."
"You don't sound convinced."
"Well, I'm convinced your girlfriend acts out as some weird cry for help."
"I'm trying to study, okay? I don't want to hear any more about this."
Fairuza bursts into Lynx's room at dawn to collect his dirty laundry and criticize his laziness, "You need to exercise more to stay healthy! You can have noodle arms when you're old like me."
"Everyone's a critic," Lynx grumps.
"It's Saturday. My plans are play video games, then go meet up with my girlfriend, because I'm winning at life right now before I have to become a depressed, overworked adult."
"Mom told me to exercise more too." Epiphany shrugs. "So I just hopped on the treadmill for thirty minutes. It made her happy."
"How about you start winning at putting the dishes away, Mister Winning at Life?" Rock calls from the dining room.
"Daaaad! One more level."
"Mom, why do we keep that play-table there?"
"Well I'm not going to throw it out. One day there may be kids in the house again."
"Umm?"
"You or Lynx could stay here and start your family."
Epiphany frowns nervously.
"Or Astral could move back in someday, when she's tired of her partying."
Astral's house, shared with the other female members of her band, is a constant party zone and not very suitable for children, that's true. Astral has no plans to have kids right now, but she's always been impulsive, so that could change at any moment.
It's a sad day for Aurora Skies when the Leader of the Free World dies.
Rock is just leaving work and about to hop in that sweet limo when bam, his time runs out.
"I'm terribly sorry," he tells the driver. "I didn't mean to make you come all this way for nothing."
Mayor Jonas is absolutely distraught
Fairuza wearily makes arrangements for her husband's placement in the town graveyard.
She spends hours standing alone in the cold, crying, overcome with emotion.
"We spent our entire adult lives together," she sobs. "How am I ever going to adjust to living without you?"
Rock's grave cannot answer her.
Epiphany sulks about the house, wondering how she can honor her father's memory going forward, as she's on the verge of graduating and planning out the rest of her life. Her dream is to write and illustrate childrens' books. "It's just... hard, you know? Knowing he won't be there to see us succeed as adults."
Lynx stares sadly at her, and asks what she thinks is an uncharacteristic question: "Yeah, but... how are we going to comfort Mom?"
Epiphany considers her response carefully. "Well... we can show her we care about her, but I don't think it's possible for her to feel better about this."
Fairuza's daily routine becomes a chore. A show she puts on for others.
At the end of the day, it is difficult to go to bed alone.
She goes to sleep missing her husband, and wakes up missing him.
Did their lives matter, she wonders? Did they make any difference?
Fairuza had grown so complacent with living in the moment and not caring about how small she was to the universe, but it was important to Rock, to make a difference.
She tries to keep his indoor plants from dying, but she knows very little about gardening...
Despite it all, she quietly strives for inner peace and acceptance.
Lynx grieves in silence as well. For several days, he subsists off of microwave ramen and doesn't bother to even get dressed.
Epiphany ages up. Given recent events, she didn't feel like having a party, so the fanfare is minimal.
She just wishes her brother would put on some damn pants.
After she graduates, her mother doesn't ask her to pay rent or get a job or do anything. Epiphany is left to her own devices, as if she's still a teen, on some kind of extended school break.
But soon enough, Fairuza's youngest daughter wants to move out of the house and get on with her life, just like her sisters before her. Despite all the freedom and space she's been given, she wants more.
"Look, Mom, I won't leave if you need me to stay here."
"No, no. I'm tough and I'll be fine. I want you to adventure while you're young and make the most of your time. You won't be this age forever."
"Um. I won't be far, Mom. I'll be just down the street."
Epiphany does have plans to travel, but she wants to save up some money first.
For now, Epiphany is moving in with her eldest sister, Ivy.
That's toddler phase Lily on Ivy's arm.
Ivy and Mikkel just had a second baby, this time a son named Andrew, so they're paying Epiphany to watch their kids so they can return to work. Epiphany thinks she can easily work on her art projects while child-minding, which may be an unrealistic expectation...
It's spring before Mariposa is able to drag Lynx out of the house. Their date night is at the seasonal festival, where she demands they use the love tester machine.
"To see if you still love me," she quips.
"You doubt the moon landing, but you believe in this machine?" Lynx asks the tough questions.
"You were ignoring me half the winter!"
"My dad died. I didn't feel like talking to anyone."
Mariposa heaves a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry your father was recalled to his mothership."
"That... almost sounded sincere," Lynx mumbles.
Mariposa strokes his cheek. "It was. I don't like it when you're sad. I love you."
Lynx closes his eyes when she touches him. It always feels good, her warm skin on his, but he isn't sure if he loves her. He spent that half of winter contemplating breaking up with her. He imagined all the cruel and insensitive things she'd say about his father. Now that moment has come, and it wasn't too bad, and he just feels... numb. "You know I'd like to believe you. That he was just recalled."
"But you don't," she observes, sounding sad.
Lynx shrugs. "Let's get some ice cream or something. My treat."
__________________________________________
Etc.: Rock glitched out when he died. Jonas stood out there crying for over 12 sim hours before I decided the reaper just wasn't showing up, and used MC's Force Kill to rid Rock's waiting ghost from the streets and his unclickable portrait from my sims lineup.
I thought about waiting it out and seeing how long it would take before Jonas started pissing himself, but then I grew concerned that he might keel over dead from starvation first.
