The bends

Round 24: Winter 2020

last update/Asha's next update

Kit Royce is 60 and Asha is 23.
(Zaria Royce is 32, Josh Royce-Nihill is 6 and Jessica is 4 months old. Luc Lane is 27 and Ione Romilly is 24)

Narrated by Asha Royce

There are only about two weeks to go until Ione's wedding and I think all of us bridesmaids are as excited as she is!


If it was me getting married, I think I'd be at least a little jittery but Ione doesn't seem nervous at all. She's so calm!

I'm still not quite ready for marriage myself but Luc and I have been talking about moving in together. I really need to move out and be independent from Mum. On top of that, right now, if we want some privacy, we have my tiny bedroom, with Mum just down the hall. Or even worse, Luc's tiny bedroom with Gordon down the hall, who doesn't know how to knock.

We've been looking into the finances of it all though and it's just not going to be doable. Luc has several thousand dollars saved, I have a few thousand but even together, it's not enough.

Luc suggested that I move in with him and Gordon. I could afford the rent, if I did but I want us to have our own place. Without Gordon.

I thought things would be a little weird between me and Luc after I turned him down when he asked me to marry him. He was definitely hurt and a little bit touchy about it for a while.

Once he realised it was more of a no for now, as opposed to no forever, he kind of got over it.

He still brings it up every now and then. I'm not as terrified of marriage as I was a couple of years back, but I don't feel like I need to rush into it at 23 either, which I've explained to him. Luc's only 27, so we still have plenty of time for that.

On the whole, we're still doing okay. Luc still has a wandering eye and I think he always will. As long as it's just his eye and not his hands, or other appendages, that's cool with me. I look too, I'm just a little more subtle about it than Luc is.

Mum and Luc have been getting along extremely well over the past year or so, which still weirds me out a little bit.

She flat out hated him for so long and to see her now smiling at him and being friendly is strange. It's definitely a welcome change though.

Luc was really patient when Mum was being difficult, so I guess it paid off in the end. They actually talk a lot now, sometimes even without me there!

Mum has been happier in general since Zaria had her second child recently. I guess all grandparents love their grandkids but Mum is just so crazy about Josh and Jessica.

I don't mind being an aunt either but I try not to let Mum see me holding Jessie for too long. She gets that look in her eye - she's after another grandkid, I know it!

Zaria likes to tease me when Mum gets like that, asking me when Luc and I are going to have some babies. Definitely not ready to be a mother and we're not even living together yet, so that's a way off! Mum will have to wait!

Possibly, that will change soon! No, I'm not pregnant but I did come into a bit of money. I had the opportunity to drum for a band who was actually recording and when the record was released, it was a big success and I got a bit of a bonus. A $15,000 bonus, to be exact!

I think my parents were both a little disappointed that I skipped university but I feel like Mum is really proud of me now. She says she always was but mothers have to say that, don't they?

While Mum was in a good mood, I asked her what she thought of me and Luc getting our own place. This money could actually make that a reality but I was still a bit worried about Mum by herself.

Well, it was almost like she was trying to get rid of me - she was actually totally in favour of me moving out! She says she'll be fine on her own but I can't help but worry about her.

But I'm so excited that this is happening - we both are! Just a few weeks ago, it seemed like getting our own place would be pretty far off. It would have taken me at least a year to save up $15,000 on my own.

I might need to learn to cook before I move out though. I can't even handle mac and cheese now. I'm hopeless.

Luc says I don't need to worry about learning to cook, because he's pretty good in the kitchen. I want to have some idea what I'm doing though, so I'm watching some cooking shows. Everything they cook seems so complicated though. Lobster? I'm not going to make lobster!

So I have no clue about cooking and apparently, Luc must have saved up that money out of pure luck because he knows nothing about finances! We're looking at real estate listings right now and he's so unrealistic! He's talking about installing hot tubs and buying vacation homes. He wouldn't listen to me so Mum had to break it to him that there was no way we'd be able to afford any of that with the money we had!

We still might have to take out a loan but we've found a couple of places that might be in our price range. If all goes well, we might be setting up house together within about six months!

Notes:

• The title is from The Bends by Radiohead.
• I've never had a Sim as invested in her grandchildren as Kit is, with the exception of the Sims whose grandchildren live with them. She rolled up wants to interact with both Josh and Jessica before she'd even met them and she currently wants to see Josh get an A+ in school. And she wants another grandchild, which is probably why she's being so nice to Luc now. Zaria is done and Kit knows it, so now it's Asha's turn! I think the "Get a Grandchild" want is interesting because I've had Family Sims who've never rolled it (like Augustin) and Family Sims who won't stop rolling it (Collette and Maria).
• Asha's $15,000 was a chance card, the exact details of which I forgot to write down. I really should screen cap them, at least for my own knowledge! But with her $15,000 and Luc's $17,000 (which he got from Debbie - Cordy got the same), they can buy a starter house at least.
• Luc and Asha, this round at least, didn't roll up the fear of marriage, so I'm taking that as a sign that Asha might be ready for co-habitation, if not marriage. She still hasn't rolled that one. I don't know if I'll wait for her to roll it or if I'll just have Luc propose anyway. I'll just see what happens once they move in together.
• I have no idea where I'm going to move Luc and Asha. I've got the Gentries (my playable NPCs with the four kids) all moved in to their house and Max and Zaria are all set up at their new place too (which I love) but I scrapped the Gottlieb house. It was too big and I can tell it would have got annoying, if not laggy! So I'm going to deal with them first and then find something for Luc and Asha.
• Luc really does have the want for a hot tub (which he rolled after he and Asha used the hot tub at the club they went to, which I found hilarious) and to buy a vacation home. He's jumping the gun a little bit.