Blowout

Round 28: Autumn 2027

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Julian Sitko is 77, David is 45, Kirstin is 43, Camilla and Lila are both 14 and Adelaide is 9.
(Caterina Nihill is 72)

Narrated by Kirstin Sitko

Before Dad proposed to Caterina, he wanted to get my okay. I have to admit that I was a little surprised, both that he was that serious about her and that he seemed to know I was never fond of Caterina.

I'd only complained to David about Caterina but I guess I was more transparent than I thought. And I think I've been better about it lately. Little by little, I've got used to Dad being with someone other than Mum. I wouldn't say I love the idea but I've reluctantly had to admit that it doesn't have anything to do with me, or with Mum.

So I told him that I was fine with it. I even told him I wanted them both to live here with us after they got married, mainly because I didn't want Dad to leave. I just had to hope I wouldn't regret extending that invitation.


The wedding was very simple; just a fairly quick ceremony at Town Hall. It's the second marriage for both and neither of them wanted to make a big to-do.

Our family were the only guests, along with Caterina's kids and grandkids. I was expecting Adelaide to make fast friends with Jessica but they didn't seem too interested in each other.

Camilla and Lila were more excited about buying dresses than going to the actual wedding.

I didn't realise Dad had grown so close to Max. I'd been assuming that Caterina's kids weren't keen on Dad either.

I'm still not thrilled about Caterina but seeing Max and Dad did make me feel a little petty.

Caterina has actually been pretty great though. She has definitely made Dad happy again.

Caterina is retired, so she's usually home all day. It's been especially nice for Adelaide to not come home to an empty house after school. She really likes Caterina.

Caterina was also a huge help while David was home recovering from his accident.

The hospital called my office and didn't give me many details, just that my husband had been in an accident. So naturally, I was scared.

When I arrived, Cara told me it was a car accident but that David was okay and was already resting in his room. She seemed calm enough but I was still worried.

It was only once I saw David laughing it up watching TV in bed that I started to think he might be okay.

He said he felt fine, other than being a little sore. He looked like he'd really been thrown around. He had bruises and cuts on his face.

Thank goodness Cara told us that none of his wounds looked too serious. Still, they wanted to hold David overnight for observation, just to be on the safe side.

I picked him up from the hospital the next morning and took him home. It didn't occur to either of us until later that it was the first night we'd ever been apart since before college.

David was ordered to rest, which he was not at all keen on. When the girls were little, David would have loved to be a house husband and stay at home all day but now that they're at school, he gets bored alone at home.

Having Caterina around at least meant he had some company during the day.

David is as useless in the kitchen as I am too, so at least I could go to work and know he was eating properly.

Doctors are the worst patients though and David was no exception. He's chief of staff at the hospital so he doesn't really answer to anyone and could have taken a couple of extra days off. He insisted on going back in as soon as he got the all clear though.

David's now more worried about Camilla and Lila and their burgeoning interest in the opposite sex than he is about his accident.

David was so worried when the girls started high school, thinking they'd be bringing boys home every afternoon but they really didn't show much interest at all. Until now.

I took all three girls on a shopping trip one night after work but I might as well have left Camilla and Lila at home, because they ignored Adelaide and me the whole time.

Adelaide loved the extra attention but I think she's feeling a bit left behind by her sisters.

Who spent most of their time gossiping about boys at school.

David would have freaked out if he saw the boy Camilla took a liking to! He was at least 17. Fortunately, he also didn't seem too interested in Camilla.

As for Lila, I spotted her talking to Connor, who is at least her age. They seemed like they were getting along just fine for a while.

The next time I looked over though, Lila was furious and looked ready to bite the kid's head off!

All Connor could do was laugh nervously. It's times like these when I see so much of myself in Lila. I've probably made several people laugh nervously in my time.

I think it's kind of fun to watch the girls growing up and changing. They're good girls though and they're smart, so I trust that they're going to make the right decisions. David's still a nervous wreck about it.

I keep telling him he shouldn't worry so much but he can't help himself. He trusts the girls - he doesn't trust any of the boys, including the ones he hasn't met yet!

The girls have been pretty tolerant of David's paranoia so far. Neither of them have even been on a date yet but I don't know many times they've sat through David's interminable dating lecture.

"Make sure you're always in a public place". "I want to meet any boy either of you date before you leave the house with him". "Don't let a boy talk you into doing anything you don't want to do". I mean, it's all good advice but he must go through it at least weekly with them now! And still, they pretend to listen.

I think Camilla and Lila just find it kind of funny at this point.

Adelaide is not doing very well at school lately. Her grades have been dropping and she's finding her homework more and more difficult.

I didn't realise just how bad it had gotten until I heard her crying in her room.

I went in to see what was wrong and I could barely understand her through her tears.

She calmed down, eventually, and told me her teacher gave out their report cards and Adelaide got a D.

She thought David and I would be mad at her, so she didn't want to show us. I'm not thrilled about the D but I'm not mad at her either. I did find myself wishing David was around but he was at work; he's better at the comforting stuff than I am.

But I guess I did okay. Adelaide and I decided that either David or I would help her with her homework every night, until she got back up to speed. It's too early to say whether it's helping her grades or not, but I hope so.

David completely supported my run for governor but a part of me still wondered if he was hoping I wouldn't win. He already thinks I work too hard so I wasn't sure he'd really like me taking on another job but he has remained totally supportive.

I'm so glad, because it's something I'm really enjoying. I'm not looking forward to the inevitable complaints that I'm sure will start pouring in from various citizens but I am looking forward to helping shape the city.

Currently, I'm working with Hanna Novak, the education minister, on the overhaul of Suffolk University. She had been working on it with Athena but the project had been stalled for some time.

We're starting with new student accommodation. The current dorms are adequate but very old. One of the buildings has hardly changed since I lived there myself and that was over 20 years ago! Construction has just started on a completely new dorm and hopefully we can get it finished well before Camilla and Lila are ready for college!

Extras:So my game was not co-operating over the past couple of days trying to get this session finished, so I only ended up doing one wedding portrait for Julian and Caterina. But it was a small wedding, so it seems quite fitting that it was a short photo session too. ;)

Have any of you ever seen this after-woohoo face? LOL! During the act, Caterina was making all these sighing noises, almost like she was in pain!

But I guess she didn't want to give Julian a complex about his bedroom skills, because she was only frowning for a split second!

Elspeth is such a little snot! Every time she gossips, it's about poor Finn!

Olivia dropped over to see her mum this session and Caterina seems very excited about becoming a grandmother again - it's been 7 years since Jessica was born! I'm hoping for a boy, not only because of my gender imbalance but also because I really want to use the boys' name I've picked out!

Notes:

• Title is from Blowout by Radiohead.
• I'm about to take the poll down, so I'll note here that Kirstin Sitko is the new governor of Sullivan. She won 56% of the votes (41 votes), while Zaria got 43% (32 votes).
• David was the lucky Sim who rolled the car accident ROS this round. I can't believe how many variations on wounds you can find on MTS alone! I ended up downloading two packs, one of blushes and one of masks. I'm going to have to go through them later on because some of them are way more gruesome than I'd ever use for Sullivan! It was fun to do something a bit different with the ROS this time, as I've rolled it twice before.
• Poor Adelaide. I don't know why but she does her homework every afternoon and then comes home with a D! I do like the variation but I'm just very wary about her getting an F - I don't want her taken by the social worker!
• I am actually in the middle of making over a dorm, which is what Kirstin was referring to. I haven't started decorating it yet but I have the basic structure and I'm really happy with it so far. There are 8 rooms, all big enough for a double bed but I think I'm going to have three of them with two single beds instead, and try out a roommate kind of thing. Dorm rooms work with two claimable doors, as long as you don't let dormies claim the other door.