****THE CHIKAMORI SELFACY**** (WHY? BC CMAR_NYC's ASIAN SKIN Morph, THAT'S WHY!) REBOOT! «1234567…11...Next Go

Nikkei_Simmer

Life in Sunset Valley

'Life was good, in a manner of speaking.' Yasunobu thought, his expression neutral as he looked out at Oak Grove Street. It was a nice house that they had purchased. It was a side by side duplex, three floors, two bedrooms on each of the upper two floors meaning that each unit had four bedrooms apiece and those bedrooms were going to be filled easily. It was well worth the §108K they had paid for it, but unfortunately that meant that it was going to take a lot of work to pay for the taxes involved.
When they had bought the house it had enticed the McIrish family to sell their home and move to the duplex. After all, Haruo and River had been playmates since the time that they could crawl and it was well known that where one was, the other was usually soon to follow and a duplex seemed like the perfect answer to both River and Haruo as they were soon to graduate. It gave each of the families their own little bit of privacy, yet River and Haruo could hang out and do their homework together - people after all were saying that River and Haruo were joined at the hip, colloquially speaking (to the ever increasing ire of Ethan Bunch and Parker Langerak who had their own designs on River McIrish). Both River and Haruo were teens with about five days till graduation and school was rapidly starting to bore them, yet they were both bound and determined to end up on the honor roll before graduation.
Satoshi, good ol' Uncle Satoshi, was Yasunobu's younger brother and a world traveller and explorer that was planning on setting down his roots and what better place to do it than Sunset Valley. Having travelled to many corners of the globe, he was full of stories and River just loved listening to them as she hoped to travel herself. River had that restless spirit about her that she wanted nothing more than to explore the world, but running a close second was the love of her family and the want of someone to share her life with and to raise that family that she wanted.
Mayumi, herself, could only be described as a "seething ball of hate". She didn't like anyone or anything and the most that could be said of her was: it was wise to not cross her. If anything could be said that described just how vitriolic Mayumi was, it was whispered around Sunset Valley that even Vita Alto, the town's defacto evil hag, was slightly afraid of what Mayumi Chikamori could do. Completely narcissistic, vengeful, self-serving and hateful were some of the more colourful nouns used to descripe Mayumi.
If there was a living, breathing representative of the wonders of collagen and Botox injection, Fiona McIrish would be the leading candidate and Mayumi hated her very guts. When her tired worry lines were relaxed, erased and her lips were not pressed into the ever-present frown, she was really quite beautiful. River was at the stage where she was being rebellious and testing her own wings so it wasn't too hard to tell where those worry lines were coming from, however a recent trip to the spa and the resultant collagen treatment helped Fiona's looks immensely and that made Mayumi hate her even more.
...and then there was Haruo himself, subjected to verbal abuse from his mother - she was too smart to lay a finger on him (belittled, subjected to minimalization of any concerns that he had, name-calling, threatening, isolation if he didn't do what Mayumi wanted, waking him up at two in the morning to scream at him about something that only Mayumi was concerned about; never though, a finger laid on him), but he was ripe...oh so ripe for open rebellion. And it was just uncertain as to what form that rebellion would take place or whether it would involve more than just hateful looks directed towards his mother and her abuses but yet there were the cultural mores of being the obedient son and never talking back to his elder or treating her ill in return. He and his father both were the long-suffering types - suffer in silence.
And in that maelstrom of chaos, lost in the shuffle, barely thought of and treated as mere after-thoughts by anyone other than Fiona, River and Haruo, were Molly and Sandi French. Molly was Fiona's friend and Sandi was Molly's daughter, a toddler who was just one day from aging up to school age. Molly worked at the local Hogan's Diner which was slightly better fare than McDonald's on the edibility scale. (considering Jared Frio's cooking skills - he seemed to spend more of his time improving OTHER skills). But they say, beggars can't be choosers, and frankly, as long as there wasn't a cloud of flies emanating from the restaurant anytime one opened the door, the fare, if it didn't kill you, at least was filling.
And with such introduction, our tale starts.

Nikkei_Simmer

Seeing In A New Light

Well, all that standing around at the start of the game while the narrator yapped his face off had made them hungry and thirsty - the heat will do that, y'know. But they all headed down to Hogan's Diner to have a meal - or more accurately: play gastronomical Russian Roulette - "Let's see, will you upchuck tonight or won't you? Come down to Hogan's Diner and find out." Well, essentially being the great parent that Molly was, she abandoned her daughter in the care of Mayumi. while they went down to fill their faces.
The only thing the narrator can say to that is:
"WHAT IN THE CONFOUNDED H-E- DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS WERE YOU THINKING? MOLLY!!!!!"
~sigh~ She's going to be scarred for life. - yes, another picture so that you can very well grasp the FULL HORROR of this moment.
Anyways back to the story:
While the rest of the family stuffed their faces, Mayumi was enjoying the full-on psychological torture of an infant. It fed her soul and replenished her evil-ness and frankly she didn't give two hoots about whether or not Molly would have to spend thousands of simoleons on therapy bills for poor little oft-neglected Sandi - especially with puting her in the hands of *gasp - horror* Mayumi. That was an unspeakable crime.
Jared Frio being the arrogant little 🐸🐸🐸🐸 that he was, decided to start something with Haruo - he might take disrespect from his mother, but lord help anyone who crossed Haruo outside of the home. Jared started it; Haruo ended it, it didn't matter that Jared was an adult. He got the full venom of Haruo's vitriol and five-knuckle sandwich. Nighty-night, Jared. Don't mind the canaries floating around your head - they'll go away eventually.
Molly wanted to know how Haruo was doing in school, whether he had any aspirations to do something with his life. Haruo being rather absent minded didn't have a clue at the moment that Molly asked him. Of course being rather inclined to concentrate his studies on writing, he did aspire to be a well-respected author.
But he certainly perked up when River started talking to him as well, enthusing about how wonderful it would be to graduate and travel the world. She also enthused about their new house and how wonderful it was that they were living so close together. (~evil narrator grin~ Oh...they don't know just how CLOSE they're GOING to get... MWA HA HA HA HA)
And it was at that very moment that they saw each other in a VERY different light - of course it could have been the dimming light of early evening, but I think it was something else.
They were enthralled with each other...seeing hearts. Oh how disgustingly romantic.
They were so engrossed in talking about each other. that they lost complete and utter track of time. They talked about the future and Haruo talked about River and her aspirations and River talked of Haruo and HIS aspirations -
Of course, all the aspiration talk led to them forgetting about the clock and then realizing that they hadn't done their homework which led to Haruo's getting his butt-end chewed out, justifiably (as opposed to the other unjustifiable times that he had unjustifiably been chewed out) for not doing his homework.
So it was two unhappy teenagers who ended up stuck doing homework so as not to get roasted by their teacher the next day.

Nikkei_Simmer

Close Neighbours Make For Tense Relations

Studying was never fun...for Haruo nor for River. None of them enjoyed the prospect of homework or th tests that followed thereafter and it was a royal pain to feel motivated enough to do homework all the time. But Mayumi was a stickler for homework and poor Haruo just didn't find that it was all that interesting. In fact, neither did River but at least she was hovering around an A average in school Haruo was struggling and he knew it. With only three days left of school to go, He was going to be hard pressed to pull his grades up to an A average.
Who knew what the future would portend for the two, but they knew that in order to get a great start in life, that they would have to crack the whip on their schooling and try to achieve as high a mark as they could in what short amount of time that they had left in their high-school academic career. But it didn't stop Harou from making faces about it.
When they were both done their homework, Haruo made Mac n' Cheese since Mom and Dad had gone upstairs to bed...
When they were done eating, River and Haruo stood side by side...making sure the place was all cleaned up.
And then River headed over to her side of the duplex and headed for bed. While Haruo did the same with his. (Had to put in elevators because the darned steps have bug issues with the lot direction). And things were quiet and settled down for the evening at the Chikamori/McIrish Duplex.
In the morning, it was a madhouse, trying to get Yasunobu, Mayumi, Fiona and the kids all out of the house and to work or school which ever the destination.
And Uncle Satoshi came out to pay the bills in his briefs giving the children on the bus something to talk about all the way to school. ~facepalm~ Good heavens, Satoshi, think of the children - the trauma. They'll be scarred for life.
When the kids came home from school, Fiona and Yasunobu were seated on the couch watching a television show, with Mayumi standing right next to the TV looking angry.
River and Haruo went immediately to the table and started working on their homework eager to not arouse the ire of Haruo's mother.
But Mayumi's ire was not directed at them THIS time. It was directed at Fiona for sitting beside Yasunobu. Yasunobu was HER possession and woe betide the person who dared to poke herself between Mayumi and her possession.
"Just WHO do you think YOU are?!" screeched Mayumi "You...you brazen hussy." she rounded on Fiona who recoiled in surprise, narrowing her eyes wondering why this insane woman was yelling at her just for sitting beside Yasunobu. They were just watching television, it wasn't like she was horizontal on Mayumi's bed telling Yasunobu to give it to her. Evidently this crazy woman equated sitting on the couch as destroying the sanctified bonds of marriage.
"What the plum are you going on about Mayumi?" Fiona asked her, her tone dryly acid. "Yasunobu and I were just watching TV. Then you come out all bent out of shape."
"I know what you were thinking about doing...you shameless tramp..." Mayumi snarled as she glared daggers at Fiona. "You think you can sit on my couch with MY husband, you weren't just watching TV, you were hitting on him."
Fiona smiled a wicked smile as she thought for a brief second So that's what that ogre thinks, she thinks I'm going to take her husband away from her.
Both River and Haruo were silent, not saying a word as their two mothers fought not more than ten feet away from them.
Mayumi screeched, "I don't know why we keep an open door policy in our duplex if you are going to come over here every single day and invade my space...and...and...and chinwag with my husband..."
Fiona nearly laughed in Mayumi's face as she thought ...and you treat him like a possession...instead of a husband, how do you think that makes him feel?
"YOU people should keep to YOUR own space..." she ranted at Fiona. "That's why this place is a DUPLEX and not a single family home."
Fiona rapidly was starting to lose interest in Mayumi's ranting. During a moment that Mayumi took a breath, Fiona jumped in, "Are you done ranting, you pompous windbag? If you're not, I'm going to inform you that I'm rapidly growing tired of your ranting and your insinuations."
"Why you...you Botoxed B...Brainless...B..Bimbo!!!!" Mayumi shrieked in outrage. "You couldn't satisfy a flea ridden mongrel." she threw one last insult...
As the insult registered on Fiona's face her lip curled with disdain. Poor Yasunobu caught in the middle of could only stare, his eyes wide open and near-stupefied.
"Well, I'm sorry you think of your husband as a flea-ridden mongrel because I'm sure I could satisfy YOUR husband more than YOU ever could, you conceited Crow-Faced Hag!"
"River, When we're finished homework, you wanna go upstairs and play video games together?" Haruo asked nervously.
"Yeah...anything to get away from this..." River muttered staring down at her homework.
"...AND if you think of your husband so little, maybe he needs a REAL woman to show him some REAL loving... What do you think of that, you little snot-nosed witch!!! Maybe I should take him away from you to teach you a lesson." Fiona snarled in Mayumi's face. That was a mistake...if she thought that Mayumi would back down. Since Mayumi had the evil/mean-spirited combination, she won the fight.
But she didn't get off easily as Fiona, when she got up and dusted herself off, slapped the ever lovin' bejeepers out of Mayumi.
...and that was going to make for one tense household that night...well...except for the two upstairs...

Nikkei_Simmer

A Day of Respite

The next day was the day before Leisure Day and everybody was on edge due to anticipation because of the impending holiday. When the kids came home from school they immediately sat down at the kitchen table and did their homework, quietly with a minimal amount of fuss. That way, they would have the holiday to enjoy without having to worry about homework.
That freedom of being able to enjoy the holiday was catalyst enough for them to plow through the homework and get it completely done. Because it was almost 8PM by the time the two got their homework done, they knew that they didn't have any time together that night. So Haruo walked River to her door, just next door and gave her a kiss and an embrace. As River cupped her hands to the side of his cheeks and leaned in to say good night, along with a soft growl of amorous intent, he leaned in and kissed her deeply, soulfully and with meaning showing just how much he loved her.
River slept well that night and her dreams were pleasant.
A cloudy morning dawned over Sunset Valley.
As soon as Haruo awoke, he had this irresistable urge to go let all the frogs out of the Biology classroom. Normally he was a very quiet student only speaking up when spoken too and he was entirely too forgettable in the midst of the hustle of classmates who were more rambunctions and extroverted than he was. The best part of the being the introverted, quiet and forgettable classmate was, that no one would suspect him of being the one who pulled the prank on the school. He could get away with it and not have to worry about any repercussions. So...he hopped a taxi and headed down.
Luck was on his side as no-one saw him enter...
And he was able to get in, release the cavalcade of croaking amphibians and get his butt out of the school without being identified or caught. He had gotten away with it scott-free. And that was a good feeling. However it was time to get out of Dodge. Too many villains had been caught by hanging around and gloating about their misdeeds. Haruo was no villain, nor was he a gloating villian rubbing his hands comically with glee. He was just a teenager with a penchant for pulling off one single prank before he graduated from school and he'd accomplished his mission, now it was time to go home.
River had wanted to talk to Haruo but came into an empty bedroom and Haruo gone off doing something somewhere. She hoped that he would come back soon. And she did while away some time by making his bed. It was a romantic gesture that he'd appreciate and he certainly did when he got back. Thanking her by taking her into his arms and giving her a kiss.
River asked if Haruo would be interested in heading down to the Leisure Day Fair. And to her joy, she found that he enthusiastically agreed. Besides, they were both getting hungry for breakfast and what better way to have breakfast than to sample some of what the fair offered.
When they got there, Susan Wainright was stuck in the middle of the roller-skating rink...staring off into mid-air as though she'd been struck mute. So while she was completely out of it, the Creator decided to give her a make-over.
She wouldn't budge even after the makeover so the Creator reset her and made her leave. At least Susan was not such an arrogant putz like Boyd so the Creator was kind to her. If Boyd had been around, he'd have gotten a Mohawk. Haruo and River went to the food booths Haruo got himself som french fries and River got herself a pulled pork sandwich.
River and Haruo spent the whole day at the fairground at Central Park and didn't head home until it got dark. But then again, it was worth it to spend time away from the madhouse that was their home.
After that it would be three more days of school and then they would face graduation and the rest of their lives. Would they choose to spend it together? Well, that was an answer that they would face when the time came.

Nikkei_Simmer

Life Around the Chikamori House

Well, Haruo thought that he could skip out on doing the homework prior to taking River to the Leisure Day festivities...well...that wasn't to be the case...since he got stuck with doing homework after he came home from taking River to said festivities at Central Park. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy about it. Tough.
Meanwhile during the time that Haruo was trying to do homework, Mayumi was abducted by aliens. Couldn't have happened to a nicer person. ~sarcasm~. I'm sure the aliens won't be abducting her again. Maybe she became ruler of the alien planet during that time with her evil ways.
Haruo finally finished his homework and went to bed, only to have to wake up again not more than three hours later to get ready for school. While the kids were away at school, the sink geysered and Satoshi had to fix the leak before it flooded the entire main floor of the duplex.
He did however get a bite to eat before having to leave for work.
Yasunobu paid the bills, and Haruo did homework after he got home from school.
...then he had something to eat as he was starving.
Mayumi got into a spat with Yasunobu for some silly reason that the Creator couldn't figure out why, but it ended up with Yasunobu not wanting to talk to Mayumi at all.
He did however have a nice talk with his brother, Satoshi. And then there were only two more days before River and Haruo would age up.

Nikkei_Simmer

Haruo and River

Well, no one ever said mornings were dull at the Chikamori/McIrish residence. Molly French got into it with Mayumi after Mayumi criticized her for prancing around in the Chikamori's kitchen with just her nightie on. Yes, Mayumi was making friends and influencing people.
Evidently, Mayumi said something that royally ticked off Molly because Mayumi got her tail whooped.
...and then slapped. Well, Molly had the right idea. Mayumi did deserve a good slapping.
Mayumi screeched, "You people best remember that this is MY house..."
"Excuse me...you witch, this is YOUR HALF of the house...not the whole house...Fiona paid for half this home!" Molly interjected heatedly as she got in Mayumi's face.
"But it was MY Husband's good credit that got us that mortgage! So I'd shut your yap if I were you..." Mayumi hissed. "Because we can take it back if you aren't careful."
River thought to herself Dear God, they're at it again. I'm getting a seriously reverberating headache in my skull... She turned to Haruo. "They seriously aren't going to shut up for the next five hours, are they?"
Haruo sadly replied, "Nope...she never does..." referring to his mother.
"AND how about you put some clothes on, you painted floozy!!!" screeched his mother at Molly who turned around and slapped Mayumi for the second time that morning...HARD.
"Can we just ignore this or get out of here..." River asked Haruo as the argument escalated behind them.
Haruo leaned in...and River's arms went around him as they kissed, the electric feeling erasing the cacophany of noise behind them.
Tori called and Molly was able to wrench herself away from the venting harpy long enough to answer the call.
Satoshi being present at the scrap between his sister-in-law and Molly found that Molly was irresistable and decided to make his move. He offered her flowers which Molly gratefully accepted.
By this time, River and Haruo had escaped to Pinochle Pond and were having a relaxing time talking with each other, and growing closer and closer.
Seeing River in that quiet place and feeling their connection he did the one thing that he figured that he needed to do, which was promise to spend his entire life with River and getting down on one knee he asked, haltingly, if she would consent to become his bride. He explained to her that he understood if she didn't want to because of the maniac from whose womb that he came from, but he laid it all out on the line and asked because he loved River.
River of course, was a strong woman, and she felt that she would more than be able to handily take care of Mayumi and her little narcissistic attempts at disrupting the family. She accepted Haruo's proposal whole-heartedly.

Nikkei_Simmer

Satoshi and Molly

That night after work, Molly made some veggie rolls in the Chikamori's family kitchen so that others could eat. She's the chef in the family. While she was making spaghetti with veggie sauce (as a meal that would stretch for the families) Satoshi came up and started flirting with her. She didn't respond to his advances until she was done cooking, then Satoshi surprised her with a bouquet of roses. She accepted the roses.
And she responded quite favorably to his advances.
Molly agreed that she and Satoshi should commit to each other and go steady before she said that she needed to get some sleep and departed the Chikamori's half of the duplex.
Satoshi stood there in shock at the one-eighty degree turn his life had taken in that he now had a girlfriend that he was going steady with, something that he had not reckoned would happen this quickly. He was lost in thought when Mayumi seeing an opportunity to be her evil, mean-spirited self, snuck up behind Satoshi and...
...scared the living bejeepers out of him. Needless to say, Satoshi wasn't very appreciative of the scare and proceeded to call Mayumi every name in the book, including some not very flattering ones related to a female dog and how she should be spayed for the good of Sims everywhere. Mayumi in turn called him pathetic and told him that he should go get himself a real job if he wanted respect.
And Satoshi glared at his sister-in-law while their relationship meter plummeted far into the red.

And that was the state of affairs in the Chikamori family on Sunday morning.

Nikkei_Simmer

"Happy Birthday To Two"

River and Haruo woke up on a Sunday, knowing that this was the very last day that they would have as teens. Their birthdays coincided in that perfect little way that other people loved talking about how romantic that the two of them were together since they could celebrate their day together. And now that River and Haruo were officially an engaged couple, they could see exactly why other people said it was so romantic.
Haruo was the first to age up into a young man, who seemed to have a fair bit of muscle for a man that didn't work out...very much. Maybe that needs to change.
River gazed at her fiance with a lot of interest.
But then of course, she changed too...as a part of the birthday transformation process.
She seemed to be rather pleased about the whole situation...though.
After all, people had considered River and Haruo a pair even before they had begun toddling. Maybe it was the romantics in Sunset Valley, but they were definitely getting their wish as River and Haruo were inseparable.
They even ate their birthday cake together.
Yasunobu contemplated what Fiona had said about him...and wondered if there ever could be a chance...for the two of them, considering what revelation about how Mayumi felt about him. If he was that much of a burden to Mayumi, then perhaps it would be better fi they split up and went their separate ways.
After all, if Mayumi didn't appreciate him, then perhaps there was someone else who would.
And well, the two birthday lovebirds couldn't keep their hands off each other.

Nikkei_Simmer

River's Makeover and a Night Out

"I know that you're engaged..." Fiona said to Haruo, "River told me yesterday..."

"I apologize for not telling you before hand or asking you for permission for her hand in marriage..." Haruo apologized profusely.

Fiona shushed him, "I know about young love...it happened to me too." she paused then smiled at Haruo. "You understand that I will be making sure that you treat my daughter right."
Haruo nodded...looking a bit worried

...and Fiona smiled at him again, "Never mind, Haruo, it's just the rantings of an old woman who knows that her daughter is growing up too quickly for her mother's liking. I know you will be a good husband for my daughter. She's never had a father-figure so you will have to be patient with her, but she has a good head on her shoulders and cares for those who are important to her deeply.
Haruo looked over at River who was watching her mother with an upraised eyebrow and then said to Fiona. "I'll take care of her and be the husband that River deserves...Mom." he said as Fiona beamed at him.

"Welcome to the McIrish family, Haruo..." Fiona said.

River gratified to see her mother and her fiance getting along gave Haruo a kiss that he could feel to his toes.
River wanted a makeover so she decided that she was going to take some time and get that done at the salon. She had been wearing this green sweater and jeans for the longest time and it made her feel frumpy and the jean dress and white blouse wasn't making her feel any better. She wanted to look "hot" for her husband-to-be. And to make heads turn at graduation by walking in on the arm of her fiance. So she told Haruo that she was going to go to the salon and that he was to come with her. Haruo ever-willing to do what River wanted agreed to go with her.
It was late and there wasn't a whole bunch of people there...but River was able to get her makeover...and she came out looking like a million simoleons. Haruo couldn't stop looking at her.
And it was quite evident that River McIrish was going to make her classmates' heads turn when she walked up to the dais to accept her high school diploma. Of course Parker Langerak and Ethan Bunch weren't going to happy about the fact that the little Asian "nerd" had scooped up River McIrish, the girl they had designs on, but well, tough for them. It wasn't certain as to when the school was going to assign a graduation date for the students who were graduating, but well, it would happen when it happened and right now, they had their lives to figure out what they needed to do to earn a healthy income (Creator: After all, they still have to move into their Legacy Home)
Since Haruo's lifetime wish was to be an acclaimed author, Haruo worked on his writing skills and since he now had a table and a computer, he was able to put the photo of him and River that was taken at the photobooth at the Leisure Day fair on the table beside him.
River on the other hand had rolled a Master of the Arts lifetime wish, so she started painting to increase her skills. Haruo already was naturally at level 8 piano (Asians...) due to piano lessons so he would be able to earn some money busking at Central Park if things got tough.
Haruo was so infatuated with River's new look, he could barely keep his hands off her.
Her lips...the subtle curves on her body...that she'd always kept hidden from view by wearing frumpy sweaters and clothes, but now was on full display in that gorgeous Irish Green nightie of hers that she was wearing. Oh...she could wear that for him for the rest of her life...
He unhanded her long enough for them to eat breakfast and Haruo got his ears chattered off by Sandi French. She was an adorable child but by about the third or fourth story that Sandi had told, Haruo's eyes were glazing over and he had a frozen smile on his face while feigning a look of wide-eyed interest.
In the evening, Haruo and River decided to skip the usual dysfunctional family squabbling at home and go out for a nice relaxing dinner.
Except as they got to the Bistro, Vita and Nick Alto got into a nasty screaming match. But they had booked reservations there so unfortunately they had to tolerate the two jawing at each other. Haruo would have knocked Nick out for some peace and quiet, but unfortunately, Nick had ties to the criminal Underworld and Vita would take dangerous exception to her husband being knocked out by some no-name person from Sunset Valley. The only way to stay safe was to stay out of it or get as dangerous as Nick or Vita and that took money.
The dinner was delicious outside of the audible interferences and the food was pretty good for the Bistro. Haruo and River enjoyed their dinner together and were looking forward to their future.

Nikkei_Simmer

River and Haruo Cuddling and Mayumi Takes Exception


One of the things that River and Haruo loved doing was watching TV together.
They would snuggle in and cuddle together...River's head on Haruo's shoulder revelling in their closeness, though invariably it would lead to kisses.
...which invariably led to heavy petting...
Which unfortunately earned them Mayumi's ire...
Mayumi called River some unseeming names that were comaprable to certain trade workers. That got Haruo heated enough to snap on his mother.
He told her that in several months they'd be earning much more than she or Dad was bringing in and that she'd better consider herself lucky that River and he were briniging in a good amount of money, a painter and a collector were slow-starting occupations, but inside of several months, they could be making a lot more than at a regular paying job.
When Haruo was stressed he played guitar for recreation...and River built up her painting skills. And eventually they made enough to move into the house which would become their legacy home.

Nikkei_Simmer

The Chikamori Selfacy

The Move and River and Haruo's Graduation

The New House was expansive and expensive...but nowhere near the cost of some of the houses on the market in the area. The old Landgraab mansion cost at least §100K more than their own, but their home had 10BRs and sprawled across 50% of the property and when one counted the four floors above the main, it was HUGE.

River and Haruo took the top floor and had mini-kitchen installed. And Haruo and River would paint (Illustrious Author LTW also has painting as one of the skills needed) and Haruo utilized the computer to write his books. River also played the guitar and at least upstairs on the top floor, they had a modicum of privacy not given to anyeone else. The fourth floor had an area that no-one was quite sure what to use it for and a martial arts gym which Haruo conveniently locked off before Mayumi could avail herself of it. Mayumi with the evil/mean-spirited traits would have been unstoppable if she had ever laid her hands on martial arts training.

The third floor had the regular training gym with treadmills and universal weight machines and a two bedroom one bathroom suite for Satoshi and Molly; the second bedroom being for Molly's daughter, Sandi.

The second floor had 10 bedrooms of which Fiona, Yasunobu and Mayumi took up three of them. Three because Yasunobu and Mayumi's relationship had degraded to the point where Yasunobu couldn't bother even sleeping with Mayumi anymore.

The mainfloor comprised of the main common area; the living room, the foyer and the kitchen/dining area and the wide open-ness of this layout was not lost on the rest of the family who thoroughly enjoyed the space, even though in real-life such an open layout would be impossible with the load distributed on the main floor ceiling with the four floors above it.
River was absolutely enthralled with the bathroom and enjoyed looking at the mirror. She was still getting a major kick out of the makeover that had turned her into a stunning beauty. She couldn't believe it, even though Haruo told her day after day that she'd always had that beauty both inside and out.
Molly came home from work and immediately gravitated towards the kitchen, cooking up a delicious meal of veggie burgers for dinner that night, which everyone partook of despite the lateness of the evening. As it turned out the school FINALLY called to give Haruo and River notice that they were to appear for graduation on Friday.
...and Satoshi got into a bit of a disagreement with his sister-in-law.
Mayumi went upstairs in a huff to take a shower and ended up the target of a well-placed booby-trap by Sandi, who most definitely didn't like Mayumi at all after being upbraided for her homework situation and being called a little, lazy good-for-nothing by Mayumi.
The Creator, knowing what an evil creature Mayumi was, was hoping more for orange dye himself, but well the dye would wash out. Pity...
On the following day (Thursday) River took advantage of the pool that the Chikamori/McIrish family house had now and she had a fun time increasing her diving skill. And then still in her bathing suit, went up and painted...which certainly thrilled Haruo seeing her with her wet hair slicked back and her bathing suit contoured to the curves of her body. Yep, males...all they think about...
Thursday evening Mayumi got to fix the dishwasher that broke. Even with the puddles lying around the periphery of the dishwasher, she still managed to get away unscathed fixing the dishwasher. The Creator is going "drats...next time it has to be something more powerful."
Molly made her "To Die For" Key Lime Pie. It was absolutely delicious.
And River and Haruo, not officially having graduated yet, still took advantage of the fact that they were a) betrothed, b) young adults and c) in love and went for a bit of a fun shower. Woohoo...
Friday morning dawned nice, with a few clouds racing across the sky and Haruo did his morning circuit of the property looking for gemstones. Of course they'd been lucky and the Creator did his bit of providing the Chikamoris with monetary sustenance...after all.
Just as one figured, graduation was a success and everyone turned around and stared at River as she was called up. "Who was that stunning redhead with the shining green eyes?" the students asked each other in confusion. "That's River?" Jaws dropped, The student body believed that she was just this mousy, plain-Jane girl who was always into painting and other nerdy subjects. They hadn't reckoned on a woman in love with the man that she was going to marry who wanted to look good "for her man" River came to the graduation dressed to the nines and pretty much left the rest of the female students at the graduation "in the dust". Haruo on the other hand pretty much taunted Parker Langerak with a side-turned gangsta-ballin' cap the way Parker always used to walk around. Parker wanted to start a fight with Haruo for "dissing" him, but couldn't with all the adult parents around. Oh well, there would be plenty of time later on in life for the two of them to be at each other's throats.

Nikkei_Simmer

The Chikamori Selfacy

HotTub 1 - Dishwasher 0: RIP Mayumi

Well, it appeared that the hot-tub had broken at some point in the week and nobody had noticed except for Mayumi who decided that night-time would be the best time to fix the thing as well as being fatigued. Needless to say, in her narcissism and her desire to do everything herself because she was the best and everybody else were idiots, she decided that she would fix it herself. That proved to be a big mistake.
As she settled into start messing around with the electricals it just so happened that stagnant hot-tub water slopped into the internals...and sent a massive dose of electricity coursing through her body which stood her up in mid-air jerking spasmodically. Mayumi in her mind saw splashes of light and dark that obscured her vision while she jerked uncontrollably. (this, kids, is why you don't play with water near electrical outlets - your friendly neighbourhood public service announcement).
When the electrical pulses quit coursing through her, she ended up in a heap on the ground still twitching while little bits of electrical charge played havoc with her internal organs. And because she had so narcissistically thought she was a electrical handyman who didn't need to worry about things like this, there was no one to call emergency; everyone was asleep.
Mayumi lay there, her brain synapses fried and with no other response; a limp meat-bag on the ground. No one would know how she met her end, other than the Creator who smiled most sadistically. Such evil deserved to be extinguished.
In fact the course of energy that flowed through her was so great and the spastic reflexes of being jolted by several thousand volts of electricity was so violent that she ended up cracking her head through the base of the hot-tub.
Grim sighed as he appeared, "Sims..." he intoned sonorously, "They never learn to not play with electricity. Another one..." He looked up at the sky for a long moment. "I hope you're satisfied. Keeping me in work, are you?"

The Creator just nodded.

"Very well, then I'll reap her soul..."
Grim looked down at the prone and unmoving body of Mayumi Chikamori and thought grimly (haha...a pun) at the prospect of having such an evil presence in the Underworld. She was going to make Purgatory miserable for everyone there, even if they were evil or mean-spirited themselves...but unfortunately there was only two places in the afterlife. Paradise or H*ll and well, she was to evil to go to Paradise so the latter was the only place that would even think of accepting her. So H*ll it was. Hey, no-one could blame him, he was just taking orders.
Mayumi let out an unearthly cackle as she realized just what had happened and the opportunity that presented itself to her. The afterlife just opened up. Here she could really only make seven lives miserable while in the afterlife there were MILLIONS. She let out a evil burst of laughter that made even Grim cringe. And when she shook his hand, Grim had a really bad feeling about this.
The only person who grieved when they woke up to find a headstone in the place of Mayumi was Yasunobu and that was only for appearances. Pretty much everyone rejoiced at Mayumi's demise. Haruo was so relieved, he didn't even bother to attend the laying-to-rest of his hated mother who had always demeaned, ridiculed and persecuted him. His view was that she should be put to her final rest alone...and uncared for just as she had created the animosity that pervailed throughout her life alienating those around her. The rest were only there for Yasunobu.
And Fiona stepped in to say her condolences as well as to let Yasunobu know that she was always there to take care of his "broken heart" Yay, Fiona, what a gal, but man is that ever gonna mess with Haruo and River's heads.

Nikkei_Simmer

The Chikamori Selfacy

Life Goes On (Except for Some People)

The dying days of summer brought a peace to the Chikamori family that was unmistakeable. The demise of Mayumi Chikamori was no great loss and she wasn't mourned very much at all.

In fact, her death was so much of an afterthought that no-one other than Yasunobu mourned for two days afterwards and that was more for appearances-sake than for anything else. In fact there was an overwhelming sense of relief that she would no longer be able to make life miserable for anyone else.

However, that meant that Haruo, River and Yasunobu were able to make free use of the martial arts training room that they were able to keep a secret from Mayumi. Haruo and Yasunobu started out training with the training dummy as River joined them soon afterward.
The training dummy was a staple of Eastern martial arts, such as Sim Fu, and as such it was used in order to provide training on kicks, punches, blocks and open hand techniques - enforcing good martial arts technique and since that little bugger could spin around, it would deliver a stinging correction to the side of the head if one got a little too cocky or became sloppy in one's technique. The 木人樁, or Mu Ren Zhuang(in Mandarin)/Muk yan jong (in Cantonese) was a wooden contraption with sticks pointing out to represent arms and a bent leg to represent a kicking leg and one practiced strikes, punches, kicks and blocks on the dummy and eventually, as one progressed: more complicated moves with increased speed. And River and Haruo both got whacked in the side of the head more than once.
The house they had moved into was an enormous home with five floors of living space. And it was more than enough for the now seven (so long, Mayumi) family members. The McIrish/French/Chikamoris had blended into one big happy expanded family now that Mayumi was out of the picture. The house offered them lots of privacy and it was a much happier family now.
Haruo wrote his books, and played the piano.
...and River, his beloved fiancee, came and watched him play (since he is my Idealized Simself, I'm giving him Level 8 in Piano because he studied from childhood - most Asians get stuck playing piano. It seems to be a thing with Asian parents; I just don't feel that I want to force my kids to do what they don't want. At least I can teach my RL second son, if he wants to learn, but at 13, unless he's a musical genius, he isn't going to be a concert pianist.)
Evidently, she found the sounds of JS Bach soothing...and romantic...and rather arousing...ahem...

And...we all know where they ended up. (innocent look)

No wonder how come Haruo is always having to repair the shower constantly.
Well, all the exertions in the shower got them rather hungry. You know, exercise requires food to recharge. ~smirk~ And Haruo decided that he'd better cut the tiberium rocks before they gave him visceroidal nausea which wasn't a good thing because then he'd end up having a reunion with the food that he ate.
And things were dead at the family graveyard next door (Oh, c'mon...that's funny; y'know I wanted to drag THAT one out back since I rebooted this selfacy.)
With the advent of fall, Satoshi decided to brave the chilling temperatures and went for a night-swim in the backyard pool. He wanted to make himself into a popsicle, evidently.

So...life at the Chikamori family's house went on as per usual although with a lot less-Mayumi drama.

Nikkei_Simmer

The Chikamori Selfacy

Mundane Life Tasks

Life resumed its usual pace after Mayumi's death and life went on in terms of wedding preparations. There were two wedding to deal with; the weddings of Satoshi and Molly; and Haruo and River. And Yasunobu and Fiona were happy that the their respective off-spring were getting together.
Satoshi being the romantic, took Molly out to dinner and they did enjoy themselves.
But as much fun as that could be, there were always things that needed to be done and Haruo and River kept at it religiously. Paying the bills was a definite necessity and River's talent pretty much paid the bills, as Haruo was struggling as an author. And the only thing that kept them afloat was the the money that River earned from her paintings and from the periodic tiberium rocks that kept spawning on their lot (lucky that they landed on the "motherlode" of motherlodes.
Molly cooked dinner instead of the family eating out which helped ease some of the monetary tightness and spent some time soaking in the hot-tub.
Things set into a routine at the Chikamori household and fall came to Sunset Valley and the temperature seemed to plummet overnight. The weather took a turn and there was rain practically every day. And the few days that didn't have rainfall, it was bitterly cold. The Sunset Valley residents knew that winter was coming and it wasn't going to be a mild one this year.
Haruo took some opportunities to relax from incessant writing and went down to the park to play some piano (it was on his wish list so he went and took care of that).
Yasunobu took care of the garden while Haruo did some cooking to increase his cooking skill. With River having to do so much in terms of painting to bring in income into the family, Haruo decided that he would cook to keep the family fed and he would alternate with Molly.
And so it went for the Chikamori family...which was getting back to normal after several upheavals over the past while.

Nikkei_Simmer

The Chikamori Selfacy

Satoshi's and Molly's Wedding

Satoshi and Molly got married on a Friday afternoon and Molly had called in prior to ensure that her boss knew that she was taking the day off for wedding preparations as well as getting time off to spend time together.
There were a lot of people invited and the house filled up with guests as well as "party-crashers who weren't even invited but ended up at the wedding as well.
It took some time to sort everyone out but eventually everyone headed to the little place where the wedding was supposed to take place.
The original invitation had stated "formal attire", but frankly, Sims didn't give a hoot and came in whatever attire they had at the time, all to see Satoshi and Molly get married.
It was a thoroughly disorganized mess, but frankly, Satoshi and Molly didn't care. They had each other and it was enough to be getting married. They only had eyes for each other.
One of the wedding guests who was there was Parker Langerak, one of Haruo's nemeses. Haruo made a point of flirting with his fiancee right in front of Parker, just to get his goat: a thoroughly blatant I won River's heart challenge and a thoroughly "rotten richard" move, but well. Haruo could definitely be petty when the opportunity called for it. Payback for all the times that Parker tried to be a "Willy" to Haruo in high-school.
After the nuptials, Satoshi and Molly retired upstairs...to alleviate some "tensions". And the guests dispersed. Satoshi and Molly came back downstairs after some time and ate, considering they were starving after "strenuous exercise". Yasunobu decided that he had to fix the garburator and did so.
River went back to painting and Yasunobu went off and broke boards.

Nikkei_Simmer

The Chikamori Selfacy

I Do

It seemed as though the dust barely settled from the last wedding before the wedding bells went up again. This time, it was River's and Haruo's turn for the nuptials.
Since the wedding was to be held on a Monday, it had to be 5PM before the ceremony went underway. And just like Satoshi's and Molly's wedding it was a major party. Haruo stared out at the backyard mentally ticking down the minutes that he was single till he was a "married man". But did he have any reservations about marrying River? Not a single one. River completed him entirely.
He did feel the first drops of rain under the wedding arch; as the weather had made an appearance, however that was not going to make a difference. He had eyes for no-one other than for River at that moment.
Haruo gazed into the eyes of his soon-to-be wife and lost himself entirely in them.
Their vows were spoken softly and only for each other, and the rings were exchanged
River mouthed a soft "I love you..." at Haruo who returned the words back at her and they kissed.
They were so lost in each other that they had completely forgotten that they were in front of an audience of wedding guests. And their scope of vision expanded only when they were pelted by rice. (Creator: You all know that this is a wedding with Japanese members of the family? They're going to be appalled...really...appalled. "You're throwing food around!"
...so they kissed again for good measure. And the crowd cheered yet again along with another round of rice-throwing - hopefully it's that Uncle Ben's cr*p and not the really good stuff...
Just like Molly and his uncle three days ago, Haruo and River high-tailed it upstairs to get some fun time in for the first time as a married couple, while the rest of the family had dinner while the guests dispersed.


Haruo and River's Wedding Video:

https://youtu.be/ZLtre_QoPVc

Nikkei_Simmer

The Chikamori Selfacy

Susan's Divorce

A knock on the door, interrupted a rather early morning for Fiona...who was getting ready to sit down at the computer to type out another article. Opening the door, she saw a rather distraught Susan Wainright who looked a partial bit disgusted as well as distraught.

"What's going on, Susan" Fiona queried as Susan stepped in the house.

"Boyd's done it. He's hacked into something that is going to come back and bite him?"

"What has he done?" Fiona asked, a look of concern crossing her face.

Susan looked at her. "I don't know much of anything about what Boyd's doing at night when he's up hacking. I turn a blind eye to it; you know, plausible deniability, but this time Boyd's ticked off the wrong people and I need to get out of there before something bad happens to him and by connection, to me."
"I think that might be a good idea." Fiona nodded, "And you've warned Boyd how many times that you were going to leave him if he wouldn't stop this hacking business?"

Susan sighed deeply, "More times than I can count. I thought that eventually he was going to do something that he wouldn't be able to worm his way out of, but this time, he's gone too far. Even Blair can't do anything and she's works for the police. It's dangerous..." she paused for a long moment then whispered "...everything points to Nick and Vita but I can't prove a darn thing."

"You need to tell him that you're going to leave him and this time, do it for your own well-being." Fiona informed Susan who nodded.
...and Susan did confront Boyd. She found him at a protest, one of his favorite little things to do, when he wasn't hacking or working on the computer. "Boyd, I can't take any more of your little hacking escapades." she informed him.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Boyd answered her, his stance growing ever-more hostile. "I'm not doing anything."

"Then tell me why we're getting these strange calls, the ones where you answer and there's no-one on the other end of the line. Or the strange cars that seem to slow down whenever they drive past our place? How about you explain to me that one, Boyd?"
When Boyd was backed into a corner, he started accusing everyone else of impropriety and he behaved true to form. "Who knows? Maybe you're paranoid, did you think of that?" Boyd accused her, "Maybe you're seeing someone on the side or something else...what have YOU been doing?"
"I knew you were going to behave like this. You don't know who you've managed to tick off with your hacking, do you? You've ticked off the wrong people, Boyd, and you've brought our family right into the middle of it. I've begged you to stop, but you keep doing it, regardless of how much our safety means to me. I can't do it any more, Boyd. You've always had the you versus the world mentality and it's going to kill us." she paused for a long moment, shaking, "I'm done, Boyd, I can't do this any longer, you've painted me into a corner and I want out."
"You're leavning me?!!!" Boyd bellowed, outraged, "After everything I've done for you and Blair?"
"I'm sorry, Boyd, but I can't have you gamble my life any more. I value that over our marriage. I just hope you wake up to the fact that you're playing with danger. I hope that I'm not going to read about you in the paper. Good bye, Boyd."
When Susan returned, Fiona was there. "How did it go?" she asked.

"Just like I expected." Susan replied. "He tried to deny everything. But there's been too many strange things going on that I can't ignore it any longer. Blair's and my safety come first and if something happens to Boyd, well, he knew that it was coming."
"Look..." Fiona said, "I'll talk with Yasunobu and see if he'll be OK with you rooming here, at least until you get your feet back under you. You left everything there, right?" Susan nodded.

It wasn't long before Fiona came back and told her that she would be able to stay for as long as she needed. Susan appreciated that and Yasunobu was very much appreciated.

Nikkei_Simmer

The Chikamori Selfacy

Susan and Yasunobu

It was around then that another of Yasunobu's brothers (author's note: My RL late father had three brothers and one sister - my father was the oldest child in the family; still not sure how many brothers I'm going to give Yasunobu yet) knocked at the door in Sunset Valley and was welcomed in with open arms; so now three of the Chikamori brothers were back together again: Yasunobu (the eldest), Toshiyuki and Satoshi. As it was, the darned garburator broke again for the second time in a row and Yasunobu had to fix it; luckily for him it didn't zap him good. And then in the morning Yasunobu and Toshiyuki sat down to breakfast to catch up on what Toshiyuki had been doing all these years.
Susan having gotten past her divorce with Boyd; after all Boyd hadn't been the best husband that he could have been to Susan, decided that she was back on the prowl again to land a much better husband, but it wasn't for money, that was for certain - as she knew that the money was all Yasunobu's son's money and it was for the filial relationship that his father was living at their place and enjoying the rest of his life; all his needs taken care of. Money didn't matter to Susan so long as they were stable and had a roof over their head.
And that relationship had grown into a steady romantic one and not only did they spend a lot of time together, they spent their time together doing activities that they shared a common bond with - like gardening.
Susan also, for work, attempted to improve her handiness skill with repairing a broken TV, luckily for her, it didn't zap the living daylights out of her, which it was wont to do to certain sims.
Yasunobu took Susan out to dinner at the Bistro and like pretty much all the Chikamoris decided to move pretty fast in on a now available Susan. And it was pretty much evident to most Sunset Valley residents that Boyd had messed up really badly that Susan had left him.
And it wasn't too much longer before Susan decided to take their relationship one step further.
...and it was evident that the hot-tub had broken from Molly's constant usage and Clark Sauer, the repairman had drawn the "short-straw" to come out and fix it.
The Creator wasn't kidding when he said that Chikamoris move fast and Haruo's father was no exception. It wasn't the most romantic place in the world, but well...
And it was clear with that ring, that Susan was no longer Boyd's. Her heart and soul rested with Yasunobu.

Nikkei_Simmer

The Chikamori Selfacy

Judgement Day


Toshiyuki was a disciplined Sim so what life-time wish he had, he pursued with a intense focus, which meant that he was most oft-times in his room, hammer and chisel carving or painting. Based on his life experience as an adult sim, he was already at a Level 8 in Sculpting and a level 7 in painting, but had absolutely no skill at inventing so he was going to have to start on the ground floor. If he wasn't having to shower or eat, he was at the easel or the sculpting station with single-minded fervor.
Judgement came for Boyd in short order; even though Susan had hoped otherwise. Evidently it wasn't enough for Boyd to have stopped hacking, the vengeance of the people that Boyd had wronged knew no bounds, which is one of the reasons why you don't hack a criminal organization or a government organization. And that vengeance came knocking on Boyd while he was outside telling a ghost story to his young neighbour.
He coldly fired two shots into Boyd, dropping Boyd to his knees in utter pain. Uttering not a single word, the assassin left, entirely ignoring the young witness to the crime.
Collapsing to the ground in a fetal position, Boyd moaned...his scope of vision narrowing as if he were looking through a pipe; he felt warmth leaving his body and he felt as though he was lying in a wet warm pool. His dulled hearing could barely hear the little boy who he was telling a story to not a few moments earlier, screaming...and eventually, he could hear nothing or see nothing at all.
With an ominous clap of thunder and an entrance worthy of a WWE Superstar, Grim appeared stretching his hands out, scythe in hand, to inspect the slumped body of Boyd Wainright..."You should have stopped, when Susan told you to. What a pity that you failed to heed her warnings." the Reaper intoned as he gazed upon the fallen form of Boyd.
A glowing yellow cloud formed around Boyd and his slumped body was transmitted into a ghost, ominously floating above his gravestone.
"Please, I beg of you. You can't take me..." Boyd pleaded with the Grim Reaper to no avail. The Reaper was not feeling magnanimous today and Boyd's soul was reaped.
Meanwhile, across town, Susan felt a slight twinge in her stomach but attributed it to the breakfast she'd eaten that morning disagreeing with her.
So it was, so shall it be, Rest in Peace, Boyd and let that be a dire lesson to all hackers who might get the bright idea to do some hacking into certain organizations.

Nikkei_Simmer

The Chikamori Selfacy

No Great Loss

If it seemed as though people were cold to the fact that Boyd had been assassinated by some unknown punk, it was because Boyd had been steadily hacking his way through the accounts of a lot of residents of Sunset Valley. In fact, some of the people in the wake of the news had been checking their accounts and found hundreds of simoleons missing, although in chunks of §5-15 simoleons at a time, to allay suspicions and all of it pointed back to Boyd and the sleuth who traced the accounts back to the hacking source was Blair Wainright-Steele and she disowned her late father as soon as she found out just how much of a thief Boyd was. The general concensus was "good riddance to bad rubbish" - it was no surprise to residents of Sunset Valley that Boyd had been killed to send a message to any one who had any bright ideas of hacking their organization and it was a certainty that who had done it was a part of a shady organization. Susan hadn't really realized just how close to death she had come. If she had been there, she would have been targeted too. And it was her good fortune that she had gotten out when she had.
Susan considered herself lucky that she had decided to divorce Boyd and as she looked at the new ring on her finger. She'd had a close escape. Boyd had always had a sense of entitlement and he'd had this view that it was the entire world against him and eventually it had come back to bite him, when he'd had thought himself above the law. His hacking had finally borne its toxic fruit and he'd paid the ultimate price.
Susan was with a new family now and she intended to make the most of her new lease on life. She had a new step-son who was married, she had a good friend in Fiona and a new love in her life and she felt happy for the first time in a long while.
Haruo did do a lot of picking up rocks because it seemed every day that there was a new Luminorious Gem or Tiberium popping up out of the ground. They had hit the jackpot in terms of house locations and it certainly seemed as though they had landed right on a fortune. It had been said that the Altos had certainly had their eyes on this property, but the wealth of the Chikamoris now with their tiberium motherlode had been dissuading them from trying any underhanded techniques of trying to shift ownership of the property by unsavory means. With wealth came power and with power...well, one wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of the Chikamoris, being the wealthiest family in Sunset Valley came with perks, such as untouchability. With wealth and money, came the ability to squelch any attempts to do them harm, and if it was blatant, squelching came with due prejudice.
Meanwhile, the fellow who had ended Boyd's hacking reign went about his business with absolutely no remorse whatsoever. It was just another job to him, one that had been completed with success and he had gotten paid for it. Plus it also helped that once Boyd's crime spree had been brought to light, nobody was in a rush to apprehend the killer.
Since the hot-tub was fixed, Molly went right back to enjoying herself in the hot-tub and considering she liked to crank her tunes, it was lucky that she hadn't knocked the stereo into the tub which would have been a rather shocking experience.
River, of course, painted...but often was interrupted by her husband...
...which more often than not, ended up with both of them in the shower...
Their shower-exertions left them winded and exhausted which made for a comfortable night's sleep.
And thus, life went on...in Sunset Valley.

Nikkei_Simmer

The Chikamori Selfacy

Lots to Do

Morning dawned bright and early. Since Molly didn't have work that day, she spent the morning reading a recipe book in order to make certain that she was able to cook the new recipe.
Yasunobu was in the greenhouse working with the plants. Right now they are normal quality, and he's slowly going to go about increasing the quality so that they end up much better than what they were when he started.
Molly loved the fall, with all the changing leaves and fairs. Also Spooky Day was just around the corner and that prompted her to start carving out pumpkins. Quite possibly by the time that Spooky Day actually rolls around, it might be that the whole front yard is covered with jack o'lanterns. At least when Spooky Day is over, the pumpkins become compost.
Dinner was usually a muted affair and well, for dinner, everybody came downstairs and grabbed what they wanted. There were no formal dinners in the Chikamori family.
Of course, it never failed that Haruo and River would be eyeing each other with love-struck eyes. The two couldn't keep their hands off each other, especially now that they were blissfully married.
And the mutual goo-goo eyes at each other, usually ended up with the two of them in their washroom...and the shower ran the risk of breaking yet again.
Someone, however, was not happy but she, unfortunately for her, was bound to the graveyard and did not make a move towards the house.
Toshiyuki was up next morning and into the fridge to grab a bite to eat before he started working on his sculpting and painting. Then he would have to read inventing skills books so that he could get far enough in skill to keep from setting himself on fire.
River finished off her The Business of Decor contract work and she headed out to go and meet the person she was going to hand her paintings too and get paid in turn.
She was paid quite a considerable amount that would help to keep them in simoleons for quite some time. Needless to say, it was a job well done and her paintings would generate a lot of interest in her work.
Satoshi spent a lot of time outside fishing in order to make ends meet.
And Haruo and River took the opportunity to plan their honeymoon which they had delayed so that they could take the painting to the merchant while they were in France. And the proceeds of that would help pay for some of the vacation.
At least the happy couple could visit famous museums at Champs Les Sims and have tons of fun before they had to come back home.

Nikkei_Simmer

The Chikamori Selfacy
River and Haruo's Honeymoon

Vive La France I

Champs Les Sims, France

Day One

Ah, France, Champs Les Sims...the country that inspires l'amour. And it was the perfect place for a honeymoon for two lovers who had just recently gotten married, wanting a romantic getaway. The water glittered in the canals as the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. And Champs Les Sims had that old Norman architecture feel to it - plainly put, it felt like France.
Their first stop upon arriving at the "base camp" - or hostel was to head for the general store where they stocked up on camping equipment such as a nice tent and dried food so that they wouldn't starve if they weren't within easy reach of town. Some of the places in Champs Les Sims were remote and with not very easy access to a road. The majority of the items that they had purchased in France were easy to port and but the chest that was bought at the general store was shipped home.
Intriguingly, their first stop of interest in Champs Les Sims was the graveyard, which was fascinating to Haruo. And they chose to explore the catacombs. What better way to cement one's marital relationship than to scare the pee out of each other by exploring the final resting place of French sims. The Creator doesn't think that would go over very well in real life - not one bit.
Since both of them went in to get their wits scared out of them, the Creator had nothing better to do than watch the front entrance of the mausoleum; yay, just what the Creator wanted to do on a Saturday morning for the equivalent of five Sim-hours (at 0.43 speed - trust me, it's a LOOOOOOONG time).
...and then spin around in circles...
Yes, you could technically put these pics into a circular panorama, but let's just say that the vista was amazing, whereever the Creator turned. (he was bored).
Evidently they had a run-in- with Zombie Bears, because they came out singed.
But all was not lost as it provided a great little reason to WOOHOO...in the shower.
They ended off their first day in Champs Les Sims in great fashion by spending it fishing, having a pillow-fight and really... (I mean REALLY) enjoying each other's company...
It was very lucky that the chateau that was across the lake (they teleported onto the island in the middle of the lake) was unoccupied or they would have gotten the view and shock of their lives.

Nikkei_Simmer

The Chikamori SelfacyHaruo and River's Honeymoon

Vive La France II

Champs Les Sims, France

Day Two and Three

Morning saw them heading back to the hostel where they showered and then went back out to take in the sights.
Their first stop was an old French castle.
...which was up for sale as a vacation spot, but the asking price was way out of their price range. There was no way that they would be able to afford the asking price unless they were lucky enough to win a lottery. Plus the taxes in Champs Les Sims was beyond astronomical for expansive estate homes like this one.

The Museum was their next stop where they managed to find a lot of interesting things to look at including old Egyptian relics and what seemed like Greek statues.
The Museum was a large building and it took quite some time to see everything.
But it was worth every minute in there because River and Haruo both being artistic, enjoyed the entire experience and came back out of there inspired. River figured that the next time they came to Champs Les Sims, she would bring her "portable" easel and paint the area. The paintings would probably bring in a tidy sum of Simoleons being purchased by people who just weren't the "traveling type".

Their next stop was the nectary and it was an experience, being able to sit in the place where they created the nectars and drink juice until they were nearly cross-eyed.
And in the afternoon they headed back to their favorite island...where they watched the sunset and the feel of the slightly cooler breeze. Thank goodness no-one came along while they were in the middle of whatever it was that married couples on honeymoon...(I'm just going to shut up here...). The sunset was nice. Let's just leave it at that.
...and the tent got yet another "flying" lesson...
Morning saw them back at the cafe to eat a nice breakfast and then back to the hostel to pack for their travel back to Sunset Valley. They also took a shower too.
Travel took several days, but they were back in Sunset Valley soon enough where they would have two days to recover before setting off on yet another wonderful journey. They wanted to see the world before they settled down.