Wednesday, April 26, 2017

4.27 Fish Hunt



The house is still overflowing with both junk and people, so Acheron isn't getting his own bedroom any more than Fairuza did. He still sleeps in the nursery with Dysen. The adults get rid of Acheron's crib and plop a child's bed in its place.



A few more pieces of "toddler" furniture get replaced as well.

"Wow, I can't believe it," Milo whispers.

"What?" Carlos grunts.

"Acheron is actually good at music. I thought Ceth was just exaggerating that."


Milo finally gets a weekend day off, and gives in to his daughters' pleas to take them to the spring festival at the park. Fairuza pretends to be a predatory beast hunting for the colorful prey. Orazia, the one with the actual claws, is just happy to find pretty eggs.


The girls wanted Milo to try the love tester machine for some reason.

It says TODAY IS THE DAY, and he just laughs to himself. He isn't ready for today to be the day.


"Oh wow, Ernesto?!" Milo was not ready for this either.

"Yeah man, I finally got a real job." The old man looks around. "Ernesto is in charge of the festival of loooove."

"Wow." Milo doesn't know what to say.

Ernesto quirks an eyebrow at him. "You want me to point any eligible ladies your way? Because Ernesto got the connections."

"Uh, no. No thank you. I actually brought my kids here."

"Ahh. Well, we have the boring, innocent fun too." Ernesto feigns a yawn. "Have they tried the egg hunt?"

"Yup. They love it."


 "You know, being a parent doesn't mean you have to give up on the ladies..." Ernesto expresses concern for his friend. Milo just nods. He's noticed other people care far more about his relationship status than he does these days.



Fairuza rolls a wish to learn how to fish, so the whole family has a go at it.


Orazia wasn't keen on the fish hunt idea. She puts the bench between herself and the lake, as a shield against retaliation from the aquatic life.


After that, Fairuza wants to play horseshoes. This kid does not slow down.


Orazia is feeling too inept to participate in more physical games, but choosing to be left out makes her feel so lonely, she distracts herself by trying to talk to Traci Olivia-Luck.


"Don't talk to me, weirdo."



That was that. Orazia plops down at a table and pretends to doodle while her mind replays the interaction with Traci. What did she do wrong?


Fairuza has worked up quite an appetite. Her father sends her to the food stand with simoleons.


She settles on hot wings! Living dangerously.



UGH, NOT THIS GLITCH AGAIN.


Orazia is too disturbed by the two-tone glitch to eat lunch with her family.



Francesco Olivia-Luck approaches Orazia, claiming he wants to apologize for his sister's rude behavior. "Traci thinks she's going to be so famous and popular someday, but she's not," he offers his analysis.


Already on edge, Orazia is suspicious of Francesco's motives, but agrees to dance next to him for a while anyway.


At the end of the day, Milo and his girls pile into the photo booth for a fun picture.



Random pic of Ceth performing.



After that she went to a party across town.



 This house has too many stairs for Egg Man.


 I didn't save many pics from this dull party.



Here are some Starlight Shores locals playing on the beach.



__________________________________________
Etc.: Crossing the line between character development and worthless picture spam chapter, here I am, reminding you that my save files still work after all these years.

Friday, March 24, 2017

4.26 Ceth's Super Boring Day



Fairuza thinks school is lame and she doesn't want to go. Ceth found her hiding behind one of the cribs in the nursery.


"Class is boring. I want to stay home and play my video games," Fairuza says, with a brazen honesty that makes Ceth smile.

"The law is the law," Ceth says. "And your last name is Law. So get on that bus right now."

"Aww. I thought you were the fun aunt."

"I'm an aunt that doesn't want an uneducated niece," Ceth responds, embracing the familial title Milo's daughters have given her. "So get to school."



School is not the best place to learn critical thinking, Ceth reflects, but acknowledging its flaws would only make it more difficult to ship the kids away every morning.


Ceth's schedule is open today, so she accepts a paid gig opportunity to spice up the neighborhood with art. She's better known for her music than her paintings, so being paid for the latter makes her feel good about herself.


She calls this one "My Kid Could Paint That".



Then, because she's totally bored, she drops by her friend Phil's house for his daughter's birthday. She can't help but notice Phil has had a birthday recently as well.


Phil's daughter, Kelley, inherited this hair color from her mother.



Seeing Phil with white hair was terribly depressing. Time to get super drunk.



Drink #6.



Carlos is the first to return home from work. Ceth stumbles outside to meet him as he gets out of the car, and... he is not impressed with her autonomous flirting, for some reason. He growls in her face and pushes past her into the house.


"Fine, go where it's dry!" she taunts, sticking her tongue out to catch some of the rainwater pouring off the roof.

She's going to feel so embarrassed about this later.


Carlos went to read a skill book, and Milo is still tied up with big game preparations. Hmmm. Maybe we should check and see what Lela is doing.



Okay. Just some typical PI stuff.



After a cold shower and yet another change of clothes, Ceth sits down to play with Acheron.

"You are such a musical genius," she gushes, as the toddler chews on the xylophone mallet.


Ceth begins to sober up by dinnertime. Everyone is home and Carlos is cooking dinner. Ceth feels awkward, remembering her behavior but unable to apologize with so many people around.

"We're gonna have to get a bigger table!" Fairuza announces. "Acheron is almost big enough to sit with us but there's no room!"

"Right you are," Lela agrees.

"What happened to the fruit I was saving?" Carlos asks suddenly. He glances at Ceth. "I told you I was saving it for tonight's dessert."

Ceth presses her lips into a thin line and lowers her face closer to the pages of the book she's pretending to read. Fruit? What fruit? Did the babysitter eat it or something? Carlos would freak out if she told him she hired a babysitter to watch Dysen and Acheron earlier in the day. "S-sorry... maybe I... forgot?"

Carlos narrows his eyes at her. "I guess I will make something else."

"No dessert for Ceth!" Fairuza chants.



The family fixes the dining table situation... in one of the laziest ways imaginable.



Just in time for Acheron's age-up later in the week.