We'll inherit the earth

Round 34: April 2040 (Autumn)

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Abigail Carmody is 57, Jesse is 55 and Austin is 19. 

(Jonas is 62, Nick is 37, Sarah is 35, Mitchell is 21, Declan, Justin, Xavier and Lauren are 19,  Thomas is 9, Ryan is 8 and Catherine is 6)

Narrated by Austin Carmody

Once Lauren went off to college, Mum and Dad started to look around for a new house. Seeing I’m still living at home for the time being, I moved with them. Most people downsize when their kids leave home but this place is actually bigger.

Mum and Dad have four grandkids now and we never had much backyard space for them to run around in when they come over.

Nick and Sarah used to bring their kids over all the time anyway, but it always made for a really crowded house. It’s nice and spacious now.

It’s getting a little cold for swimming but so far, it hasn’t bothered Thomas, Ryan or Catherine.

Then again, it hasn’t bothered me much yet either.

I’ve never lived anywhere with a pool before and the novelty hasn’t worn off yet. Who knows, maybe I’ll never move out!

On second thought, I definitely want some independence from my parents at some point but at the moment, I just don’t have the cash for it.

I’m working any job I can while I try (and fail, so far) to break into photography. I practise on my own but what I really need are some contacts.

The closest I have right now is Lauren, who’s trying to rope me into taking pictures for her new project, the campus newspaper she’s starting up.

She can’t pay me but it wouldn’t be a bad way to build up my portfolio.

The thing is, I work full time here in Exeter. I can't be hauling ass to campus all the time, as much as I'd prefer it to driving taxis. Lauren is so excited about this paper though, so I’d still like to help her out at some point.

Mum wants progress reports every time Lauren comes over.

It’s something Mum would have liked to do back when she was a student but she was too busy with Nick to even think about it. She’s living vicariously through Lauren.

I thought Mum would be on my back about finding a “real” job but so far, she’s been happy that I have any job at all.

Actually, Dad’s been taking more flak than me lately. He’s been off work, because Uncle Jonas has closed the arcade to refurbish it. Mum hasn’t been too thrilled with how he’s been spending his time instead.

She likes Dad to do a couple of chores during the day and maybe get something ready for dinner. He’s done that maybe twice.

He usually ends up falling asleep in the hammock outside.

Mum has taken to calling him from work a couple of times a day, just to make sure he’s awake.

Dad probably just needs to go back to work but that’s all up to Uncle Jonas.

He’s promised Mum it will only be a little while longer before he has plenty for Dad to do down at the arcade again.

Next year, it will probably be Mitchell and me both living here at home, at least for a little while. He asked if it would be okay last time he visited and Mum and Dad were fine with it.

I’m fine with it too, mostly. I just hope he doesn’t show me up by becoming an executive chef within six weeks of moving home or something.

It'll be nice to have someone else around to hang out with though. All my friends are students and it can be hard to find time to see them when I’m working full time and living in a different town.

I try to do it anyway, because it’s always good to see Declan, Justin and Xavier again. We manage it maybe every couple of weeks or so, lately.

They’ve all got girlfriends now, so it’s easy to start feeling a little left out as the lone single guy.

That might change soon. I’ve met this girl, Nora, who I really like.

We met at the shelter where I adopted our dog, Cleo. Nora volunteers there and had become a little attached to Cleo.

I wanted an excuse to see her again, so I said she could come and visit Cleo at home.

I wasn’t sure if she’d take me up on it but thankfully, she did.

We hung out a few times at home and then I asked her on a proper date.

Nora and I have been spending a lot of time together since then and have been getting along really well.

I wouldn’t say we’re serious yet; I haven’t even introduced her to anyone. But I like her more than any other girl I’ve met since high school. Maybe I can think about bringing her home if everything continues to go smoothly.

Notes:

• Title is from We'll Inherit The Earth by the Replacements.
• You may have noticed that I've been adding character mosaics to my sim profiles. So far, I've done one for Jack, Patience, Tim and Jessica. I'm trying to do one per household, as I play, so I'm hoping to have Austin's up soon. 
• I was going to redecorate this house more than I did but I ended up leaving most of it as is. Jesse's favourite colour is black, Abigail's is white and the blue accents around seemed to fit Austin's favourite colour of aqua closely enough. Once I get more custom objects in, I might make some changes. 
• You may or may not see Mitchell living back at home. It might be a temporary thing just until Tim and Eddie graduate.
• Nora was the animal control officer who dropped off Cleo. I'm pretty sure she'll still show up in her uniform next time but if not, meh. Her original name was Emma and oddly, her chemistry with Austin went from one to two bolts once I changed it!
• I have no plans at all for Austin's future, so I have no clue whether Nora is his "One" or not. That said, he and Nora fell in love pretty damn fast!
• Austin finally got into the Photography career, right before I finished up this play session (as so often seems to happen). So we'll see a bit of that in the next update, probably.
• Jesse is incredibly lazy and Abigail is very active. They're both slobs but because Abigail is on the serious side, I still see her as someone who would just want get the stuff that needs to be done over with. She's not too tolerant of Jesse's philosophy on housework but I'm planning on plopping an arcade somewhere in town soon, so he can start making himself useful again. ;)