A different kind of birthday....

 So... this chapter took a while longer to get ready for posting for a few reasons. One of them being the christmas holidays, of course. The other being that much more happened during this chapters session than I had anticipated and planned for...

This is Antons family tree that I made before playing through this chapter. At this point I pictured that this chapter would be a relatively straightforward one.

Helene helping Anton blowing out the candles, while his aunt Kathrine cheers in the background.

Guests are invited, candles are blown out, Anton ages up and gets an additional personality trait (inherited from parents or grandparents, as per my usual scheme), cake is eaten, people socialize and have fun, his parents show him his new bedroom, maybe read him a bedtime story, everybody goes to bed and falls asleep.. and good night..

Anton eating cake with his father and brother.

Helene reading Anton a bedtime story.
 

Of course, all of the above happened, but at one point things started to go wrong.. terribly wrong...

 

Chapter 19.2 – July 2024 – Antons Birthday (When the branches break) 

Also, it's a very long chapter, perhaps my longest one yet. So it is divided into three parts. In total its length is equivalent of 19 word document pages, not counting the images. After finishing the first part you'll also get a choice on whether you want to continue reading the part with a more cleaned up language, or the original as I first wrote it. The latter will require you to sign in and features more harsh/offensive language.

This is normally the point where I would say "Enjoy", but I'm not gonna say that here... instead, I will hope that you can find it interesting, if not necessarily enjoyable..

Also, regrettably, kind of, this will be the last chapter for the Sunset Valley story for a while, as my plan is (and was before this chapter) to shift my focus to the town of Sprottenham. I'm saying regrettably since this chapter leaves this family at such a low point, and given how slowly I sometimes update and that I have to cycle through one more town again after this, it may very well be a year or more until I continue this story line, but, well... that's just how its going to be.

Until next time.

(A day in the life of) the Kråkesen-Motorsen family

 Yeah, posted a new chapter. Since the last one I have been anticipating Antons birthday, but.. lets just say there are some technicalities that needs to be in order first, hence I played through a day in the life of this family while waiting for the opportunity to actually celebrate Antons birthday..

Chapter 19.1 – July 2024 - Everybody is fishing for something 

And this is the boy, young, happy and carefree. Soon enough everybody will cheer for him, just not today.

Hope you enjoy the chapter. See you later for something hopefully more festive. :P

The final part of the previous chapter..

 This one next update wasn't meant to be anything special.. just a quick one to finish the chapter and move on to the next one. And yeah, I should have.. or wanted to ideally have posted immediately after the other one, but well... I had to feel like making it first. So.. >_>

Anyway.. here it is.. 

Chapter 18.9 – June 2024 – The beaches we run to, part II

So yeah.. it begins, of course, where the other one ended, after Ranveig and Oliver Freddy went home after fishing on the beach (because Ranveig got tired and needed a nap)... and Oliver Freddy is, as usual, thinking about his science, so naturally he takes his moms pick up truck and drives up to the Landgraab Research Institute to do.. well, research.. ;)

First he does an experiment on the water melon he harvested at the beach, which fails and he only made a version of worse quality instead of improving it.. then he moves on to researching the DNA sample he took from Ranveig.. before he realizes he has done his research all wrong and needs to rethink his map...
After a while of research he got tired too and followed his mothers example to go home and take a nap as well..

At the main beach I had left Robert to his own devices, which meant that he only wanted to do two things - swimming and trying to befriend a whild horse, which meant that he would be completely neglecting his girlfriend Margrethe whom he was still on a date with...

She got fed up with that of course and left as she lied to him about heading for work..

I don't think the painting career has set work hours... I also didn't know teenagers could join the painting career, or any career for that matter, so I guess I learned something new here...

This left Robert alone on the beach trying to befriend the horse, concluding that he didn't understand anyone - horses, girls, parents... he wished for his father to be there, thinking he would've tamed the horse immediately..

Leaving Robert completely to his own devices might not have been the best decision as he ended up not going home when the curfew was up and instead made friends with this elderly woman named Holly, who challenged him to go swimming in the dark.

He ends up staying out until 5 in the morning.. Long enough for the lights to be on in the house when he returns because Ranveig, who went to bed early, is already up watching tv...

He tries to sneak past her hoping she won't notice him, but of course...

..busted! And I think maybe you can imagine the rest.. she just caught her 14 year old son returning home at five in the morning when she thought he was in bed asleep...

She was not very happy, but after he apologized she ended up only grounding him and banning him from playing video games for a day and not an entire week as she said at first..

Then she told him to go to bed to get some sleep and that he better not come down for neither breakfast nor lunch.... good night. ;)

And that ends it for this household for now, because for the next update I'll be switching to the household of Ranveigs brother Knut as his youngest son will celebrate his birthday and age up from toddler to child.

Sunset Valley, June 2024 - The students return for the summer and some new beginnings..

I'll give the chapter link first if you don't want to spoil the story by reading the summary below. 😉

Chapter 18.9 – June 2024 - The beaches we run to

It does deal with some health issues, but it is on overall a positive and optimistic chapter.

This chapter is also one of my more lengthy ones, so here are some stats before you decide if you to check it out:
Word count: 5518
Reading time: ~20-30 minutes or so.
Number of screenshots: 55

Yep this next chapter takes place in Sunset Valley and begins early in the morning with Oliver Freddy and Inge returning from university. It begins where the previous Sunset Valley chapter left off, inside the Holmesen-Fredriksen household where the parents Pia and Fredrik are still sleeping. dreaming their dreams of outer space or long days at the office helping patients through therapy and medication, yearning for that promotion still...

When Oliver Freddy returns home he finds that his dear mother Ranveig has finally renovated the old house at Mosquite Cove now that she has began therapy at the doctors' office and feels more on top in life...

Oliver Freddy makes them waffles for breakfast and encourages his younger brother Robert Bråge to do well in school and puts on his swim wear because he heard Ranveig saying they would be going to the beach later..

They aren't going to the beach, though. Atleast not yet...  Instead Ranveig does what she has already done with her younger sister Monica and her niece Lise Veronica (and herself). She takes Oliver Freddy to the doctors' office.. a new and stressful experience for him, but it will be for the greater good in the long run... and perhaps from now on no more putting on swim wear when the situation doesn't call for it...

Ranveig told Robert explicitly to watch the house while they were away, but pfft... that's lame, so he called his girlfriend Margrethe and after some playful arguing about what they were going to do they went to the beach to swim...

When they are finished at the doctor's office Ranveig takes Oliver Freddy to a beach as well, the one below the now abandoned Wolff Estate, since it is at a more secluded location. . Less people, less elements that can disturb the fish... 

She has for a while now had a wish to catch a death fish, but doesn't know which bait to use to get one, so after an unsuccessful trip to the graveyard earlier, she needs to experiment more to find the right bait..

Oliver Freddy, who is not very skilled at fishing, doesn't catch a single fish, but Ranveig gets two cat fish of perfect quality and a shark of great quality. Oliver Freddy is impressed by her catching such a big shark, but Ranveig is not.. it was only great and not perfect...

Before leaving to go back home Oliver Freddy autonomously asked Ranveig for a DNA sample to add to his collection, because, you know, science. He still has the idea, inspired by his aunt Monica and a book he read at university, that one day it should be possible to create a fusion between plants and humans.. so called 'plantsims'... 😉

Lake Onebega, June 2024 - An after exam party and leaving for home

 The post title sums up what happens in this next chapter about Inge and Oliver Freddy. 😉

But of course there is more to it than that.

Link to chapter:

Chapter 6.7 – June 2024, part II – The bird and the worm

The chapter begins peacefully enough with everyone sleeping. The first one to disrupt this peace however is Samantha as she decides to take out her megaphone. As referenced in the chapter itself, I didn't get to take a screenshot of her doing so, I only heard it through the floor as I was in the room upstairs watching Inge and Oliver Freddy sleeping...

Later its the usual routine of checking their report cards. They've both been getting straight As for several semesters in a row, so its no surprise that they're getting it this semester as well. Of course I want my sims to perform their best, so I always make sure this happens. 😉
    Inge wants to paint another painting and chooses a motive that has been chosen many times in the past by several painters, yet she feels that it might be a little... creepy.. The motive, a very peaceful one, wasn't very far away at the time of choosing...
    Now that they both have enough credits for a bachelors degree, Inge is starting to question if she wants to return to university after summer to continue for a masters degree.

Oliver Freddy wants to impress Inge by creating some art of his own when he gets a party invitation from Ayana Yuki. In a previous chapter Ayana, who used to live at their dorm, switched places with Samantha, so now Ayana stays at the sorority where Samantha used to live.

It was a pool party (swimsuit required), but Samantha was a little reluctant to go and to put on her swimsuit right away. She remembers the reason for her move, constantly getting into fights with Hannah Germanotta and even some of the other girls there, which made living there a little to hard.. however, as soon as she had made sure that this dreadful Hannah wasn't on the lot, she could safely put on her swimwear and jump in..

Oliver Freddy has some anxieties about being in the swimming pool, but is calmed down by Inges presence.

Inge feels it is to long since they've been.. uh.. romantic with each other (basically she has a wish to woohoo with him), and she tries repeatedly to make him in the mood for it, however Oliver Freddy doesn't seem to catch on, leaving Inge frustrated and eventually she just gives up...

Oliver Freddy uses his, lets just say, vivid imagination to tell a creepy ghost story while Inge is approached by some paparazzi that praises one of her previous books, a romantic science fiction novel called "The Gnorb from Demetris IV".

Inge has one last talk with Samantha where they promise to keep in touch over summer, before her and Oliver Freddy has to leave to head back to Sunset Valley.

Sunset Valley, June 2024 - Margrethes first driving lesson..

Yay, new chapter. 😛

Now, before we begin I'd just like to do a little throwback to the chapter where Margrethes family was first mentioned...

Chapter 2.1 - The Holm-Fredriksen Family

 

Primarily because of this map, though it is no longer accurate (outdated) as many people no longer live in the houses as seen on this map, especially on the street to the west of the pub.. so ignore that. What I want you to notice in particular is the name of the mental hospital seen in the bottom right corner, as it will be referenced in the latest chapter.

Chapter 18.8 - June 2024 - Escaping the clutch... and gravity - part I


So.. in this chapter, Margrethe is on a sleepover at her friend Lise Veronicas house. She is a little skeptical of the snakes in her room, but takes a liking to the rat.. even though it is a rat. Apparently she finds it to be very cute. 😉

She's not to happy about going to school, but it gets a little better once they leave the classroom to go on an excursion to the mausoleum where they learn about something interesting from the towns past...

Margrethes mom Pia spends her day at the doctors office, working hard yearning for that promotion. Interestingly their teacher is Jarle, Inges father.

Her father Fredrik is busy after work maintaining his connections with the people around town, here by playing chess with Therapist Terje Hågensen at the old chess club.

Then comes the moment that Margrethe has been looking forward to with excitement and fear... as her mom takes her out on her first driving lesson. Who could've known those hills were so scary...

In the evening she goes on a date with her boyfriend Robert at the bowling alley, where he randomly picks a fight and they spend the majority of the time pretending to watch the night sky through the clouds and the rain, while making lame puns about the same night sky... aim for the stars...

Link to chapter again:

 Chapter 18.8 - June 2024 - Escaping the clutch... and gravity - part I

Hope you enjoy it.  😉

The Red Winged Angels

 So, just yesterday I reposted another chapter from my Red Winged Angels story, in perfect time for Halloween, as it is a somewhat darker themed story compared to my more 'regular' People of Simbria story lines.

Title image of the chapter, thanks to imgur for hosting these images. Image is also clickable to bring you to the chapter.

This is a chapter from back when I was still playing on my old computer, which was a potato compared to the computer I use nowadays, which you can see from the quality of the screenshots (not the title screenshot, that was taken on my current computer). And even my current computer is a bit of a potato, so I have been thinking about getting a new one, but still a little bit on the fence there.

Natalie teaching her son Aaron how to walk.

You can also see that the screenshot is old with how I'm still using the fairy wings. This is from a time when I was still skeptical of adding mods and custom content to my game, and also back then my knowledge about mods and custom content was much less than what it it today. I had some custom content in my game though, but I tried to keep it to a minimum. Well, I think since then I have surpassed that minimum a few times over.... anyway...

Aaron with his friend Billy in front of the haunted house.

Anyway, the idea for the Red Winged Angels story came from listening to a song about quite a tragic topic, as well as from the Sunset Valley branch of my regular People of Simbria story. 

 

The graves of Natalie and Ingunn in Dole Plains.

So somehow there is a link between the two stories, however faint and unclear it appears.. because it is one that I have never fully explained, as I haven't arrived at the proper junction point where the stories meet yet.. and I'm not even sure if I will ever get there, as with a more recent chapter an event has caused that link to be severed somehow...

So, for the time being I think your best bet is to treat them as two seperate storiesn that have nothing to do with each other. 

Ranveig having a strange dream.

For the time being.