2.03 Maybe Babies

 

One last look before they can finally head back home.

China was nice...

The family got to reconnect...

What are you still doing here...

Why are we still talking about this...

What do they put in the food here?

At least somebody is getting some rest.

Dustin has got babies on the brain lately. He wants babies with Meghan, he wants grandbabies, and he is way too old to be having a midlife crisis.

He's kind of tired of his wife's flippant 'Who are you having them with?” remarks.

Her of course, only ever her...

They don't have to be on the same page all the time.

Speaking of which, you two always get along so well, so why are you not even sitting together?

There is a flurry of activity wherin everyone attempts to fit their final fun in in the last few days abroad.

Wait, Jet - you still have-

...your shoes on.

Whatever. Time for the namesake of this blog to earn his keep.

This was not a vacation for fun after all, but for work.

Probably. And nobody can tell a visionary how to perform his greatest act.

Or what he should risk in the accomplishment.

Or who's terms it's going to be on.

Dustin knows better than anyone.

It's not going to be on anybody's terms but his.

Oh Hullo Malcolm, how are you?

Moths captured, ads produced, and a son-in-law gotten to kind of know. All in all a pretty good vacation that stretched on for sim weeks and was probably like 3 years long in sims life.

Dustin has, for the most part, finished passing judgment on his daughter's choice of men. Like everyone of Malcolm's age, he'll have to prove himself over time.

Having established his name so well over his career, Dustin begins to use his moderate fortune to attempt a few new business endeavors. More people than ever travel to Starlight Shores to get in close with celebrity, glamour and the tropical climate. Opening a resort seems like the perfect new focus for him in what will soon be his twilight years.

Also, the watcher hasn't really done this in a while.

The family home, upon returning to Starlight, is more crowded than ever. An expansion is put above the garage to fulfill a long-held wish for an executive butler. Which was a terrible wish to fulfill, actually.

There maybe needs to be a regret system in this game where fulfilled wishes can be regretted, and reversed for more LTH points.

Jyoti's room gets a larger bed as that's all she and Malcolm need for now. Jyo is still unsure about where she'd like to live or what she wants to do, but she at last has someone to sort this sort of thing out with. Malcolm as usual doesn't ask for anything.

He just wants to stand around sentimentally whenever he has spare time.

I never did pose anyone on the weird photo-op stage I made off the main entrance. It's kind of amusing to see people sitting here reading though.

So without any more delaying, the family settles in. 

Dustin's new resort is named Lazi, and has two tiny VIP cottages. Dustin pays attention to every detail and builds into it over the course of the next few seasons, eventually adding a little bit of everything so that it becomes a wedding venue with a small park and band stage.

It is still far from being finished, but for an early retirement project, it's not off to a bad start.

The watcher gets a bit of OCD from the color of the rooftops not matching the stupid defaults. How many things will the mod community have to fix for you, EAXIS?!

Before long fall is coming to a close.

It was starting to become evident that Dustin was going to get his way about babies eventually. There were several careless and juice-filled encounters between them on vacation as Dustin decided to take up more mixology.

“Dustin, y-you don't think we are, right? I mean, I'm not- I wasn't expecting anything but I'm actually a couple of days late?”

“It's probably stress.” He assures. “I mean, I'd really be on board with having another little one around, but I know we're getting up there. I can wait for one of our kids to have grandchildren. I think I just regret... not spending more time with Jyo and Jet. We didn't see them grow up because we were always overworking ourselves. It wouldn't be fair to them to have expectations for them because of it.”

She raises her eyebrows. “How pragmatic.”

He runs his hands through his hair. “Yeah. I know, I'm still an idiot. But you're this idiot's family.”

“Is there a point to this?”

“Not really.” He grins. “But take it easy for a little while until you're sure.”

“I can do that.” She smiles.

Nearby, Malcolm reflects on also being this idiot's family. One of the most well known names in entertainment is surprisingly humble with his loved ones at home. He's quickly becoming the kind of person that Malcolm does not want to disappoint.

As for starting a family of their own, Jyoti and he are both willing to wait and also ready whenever it might happen. Malcolm is determined that, regardless of the national average income of most firemen, he will be able to provide a good life for their family by working harder than anyone. This isn't about being a good husband and father to him, so much as the result of all the deadbeat parents he saw growing up in the poorer side of town. He just hope his dream can live up to the needs of his family.

Jyo is pretty certain the family will be growing sooner rather than later, but is unsure how to break the news. Should she wait until he has a paying job? Won't that be a while? And, she doesn't have a job at all. Should she go get one? Her parents don't care now but it doesn't feel right to leave things like this.

Meanwhile, cardio.

And recipes.

And science.

Andrea wakes up in the middle of some sort of cloning experiment. She knows enough about Meghan's work to continue it, but more importantly, she hasn't been in control for years. Before waking up again in China, she recalls Jyoti and Jet were both much younger. Maybe Meghan missed some of her meds on vacation?

She's always had a soft spot for Dustin, would Meghan be mad at her for deciding for them that they should have another kid? It was going to make him so happy.

“Eh, she'll come around to it. It'll be like magic.”

“Back to cloning this... cryptmoth, I think?”

So, Dustin receives good news.

He gets to fix the dishwasher.

There are no sets tonight, so he can spend hours upgrading it.

Everet and jet continue their research into the stranger dealings of the most prominent members of the Starlight Shores upper crust. Surprising no one, shady dealings are discovered going through Fine Fellows Hall by a SAG (Sim Actors Guild) member that has become a reliable informant to one of Everet's lieutenants.

The Mayor is no longer the most influential individual who has been compromised by the criminal underground. Three prominent performers are added to the list. In a world where private investigators and paparazzi are everywhere, it becomes more and more difficult to get witnesses and informants to come forward. Do they need to consider some sort of witness protection or relocation program for those willing to speak out? 

Jet begins to have doubts about what they are doing for the first time. What if all they found so far are little surface roots to this problem, and what if, below the surface, the criminal activity has run deep taproots and begun to entangle the whole of Starlight, becoming a part of the ecosystem in a way that can never be pulled out?

Eugene, inappropriate jock having no concept of the gravity of current events, would be haunting a glass of juice.

Meanwhile Andrea lures Dustin away from his engagements that week and takes advantage of being out more. The rodeo bar now has an actual rodeo in it so, bonus, as she's kind of a daredevil at heart.

It doesn't take any convincing for Dustin to upstage her though.

Predictable showoff that he is.

Eugene ruins another tender moment. Your days on this blog are numbered, ghost.

Jyoti will have tell her husband soon about her discovery, now that it's been confirmed. They've only been married a few months, so hopefully he'll be more happy about the news than worried. 

Posing resolutely always helps her to get a handle on something she's doesn't really feel ready to go do. So she stands like this for seven minutes first.

Andrea on the same night discovers that she doesn't have to force Meghan's hand on the matter of having another child.

She must've handled it on her own, back in China.

Fun...

But kind of gross for Meghan when she comes back to her senses to find hay in all kinds of places.

The butler doesn't have much to do other than clean up a bit, formal family meals are not really a thing in this house and people keep wishing to make their own food. When they do want food from the butler, they never eat it and it rots in the fringe for the butler to clean up.

Jyoti is determined to learn more dishes before she's got a little one to care for.

But, apparently, pregnancy messes with the mind.

She wakes up from an hours long nap and discovers that somehow her father has managed to make the stove more than fireproof. It stops cooking if nobody is in front of it for too long, or something...?

The food can't be saved, though.

Jyo is suddenly finding that she likes wearing more floral, feminine clothes.

Malcolm finally knows they're expecting,

And has managed to get a paid position just in time.

Eager to prove himself, he works hard to stay ahead of his coworkers and is in the best shape of his life.

He runs ahead of them, knowing they will send other trucks behind. The address is in a large mansion in an affluent part of the city.

He should have consulted someone with experience first though, there is a reason they all dread going out to that address.

(Cue Montage)

It's not exactly a textbook house fire, but it is licking the wallpaper and growing rapidly in a well ventilated hallway. Which seems like an odd place for a fire to start. Not that he's got a lot to compare it to.

He's only minutes into fighting it before he realizes that backup should have been sent out already.

He also hasn't received the proper equipment yet. He counts another minute before he'll have to get out of the area to avoid the smoke.

Then he counts more than that minute, sure he can get it out in time.

He knows his limit, and he's at it, but so is the fire. In just a couple more seconds...

He sways and collapses just as the sting of flames begins to drift out of the corners of his eyes, smoke covering everything he can see..

Luckily or unluckily, the mansion is home to a local nurse who works at the most respected hospital in the city.

She pronounces him dead at the scene, and takes care of all the relevant paperwork.

Yet another young man who died for the sake of doing what he loved. The community of Starlight Shores will barely be moved by this event.

But for his family and those who care the most, it'll become the most significant event in their lives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aaaaand, goodbye Malcolm, Jyo has rolled Single Parent!

Etc...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFrMLRQIT_k