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From Cassy's diary
After graduation, both Venus and I returned back home with mom and dad. I think I'll stay there for a while, I don't have any clear plans in mind. After all, now that teleport devices are present in every house I don't care much about the place where I live, I can do my new and fantastic job as an astronaut from there like anywhere else in New Sixam.
My sister, on the other hand, is already excited about the idea of marrying Steve and going to live with him, she hardly talks about anything else now.
On the way home we also saw little Taz again, over time he has become so calm that he seems almost unrecognizable. Dad decided to bring him to the vet soon later, he looked quite ill to be honest.
Luke: That cone makes you resemble a table lamp, you know?
Taz: Woof!
Back in the days, he used to prefer going out for a walk with either Mum or Venus, who love to jog around the neighbourhood with him. Now he's starting to prefer slower walks with me or with Dad instead.
We all realised that our beloved little dog was becoming very old, so we can't really say we were surprised the day he passed away. That didn't make the news any easier to digest though, we're all going to miss our little fur ball...
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A few weeks later, from Venus' diary
Planning a wedding is a real grind. People say this often, but it's hard to realize how true it is until you've tried it in person. Despite everything, both Steve and I have every intention of getting married as soon as possible and moving in together.
As soon as they heard of the wedding, Aunt Lyra and Uncle Nick just couldn't avoid proclaiming themselves as organizers of the event. That's why I'm here more often than I've ever seen them before, they really like this kind of thing...
Nick: Lyra has just finished designing some trendy clothes, you'd end up in magazines!
Venus: Well, actually we were thinking of something more traditional... I mean, I'm sure that aunt's collection is very nice, but...
Lyra: You really remind Luke when you talk like that, you know?
Venus: C'mon, I didn't feel like I was grumbling so much!
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From Venus's diary
Cassy: I honestly don't understand why are you spending so much time and money on a big wedding, wouldn't it be easier if you just moved out together to a new house?
Venus: Well...
Cassy: Soon we're starting to work too, that's going to take a ton of time as well!
Venus: Maybe it won't seem logical, but sometimes it's nice to fantasise a bit about this kind of romantic stuff... It's the kind of memory that lasts forever, you know?
Cassy answered me with the same look she would have given me if I had told her I was going to drop everything to go unicorn hunting in the Himalayas. But Steve and I have so much to celebrate with this wedding, and we want to share all of this with our families and all the other people close to us. This is mostly why we want to organize a good ceremony, we want to make sure that everyone can have fun and that they can remember this day for quite a while!
Cassy: Anyway, you got distracted again. Checkmate!
Venus: Not again!
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From Venus' diary
So the wedding day arrived. According to Aunt Lyra, the list of things which went wrong was getting longer and longer every second, but neither Steve nor I cared much about the exact diameter of the cake or the shade of turquoise of the flowers. All the people who mattered most to us were there, and that was enough for us.
Steve: You look great!
Venus: It was a lot of work, but in the end I convinced the aunt to give us normal dresses, isn't it great?
Steve: I've seen a bit of the brochures she sent me, but I never understood where the jacket started, and where the pants did...
Cassy: Both you and dad seem almost happier than Venus is, I've never seen the two of you smiling so much!
Misty: (nostalgic) Well, when we arrived here in New Sixam everything was very different from now, we had to make many sacrifices to ensure that both you and Venus could do everything you needed. And now you've graduated, are about to start your dream job, and Venus is getting married today too! Of course we're very happy for you both, and very proud too!
And then the moment of the exchange of promises and wedding rings arrived. Both Steve and I were as excited as rarely in the past, even our hands were shaking a bit. But that trembling wasn't dictated by fear, far from it.
At that moment we felt more ready than ever to embark on our life together!
Venus: The cake is delicious! Strange, because...
Steve: C'mon, is your aunt also complaining about this fantastic cake?
And then we just started laughing. Could this day be any more perfect than this?
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From Cassy's diary
Cassy: Oh, hi Serena!
Serena: Hello to you too!
After all the effort dad and Mrs Serena put into making the truth of New Sixam known to people who live in other countries, the situation timidly started to ease up. Many have started business relationships with us, they sell us the raw materials we lack and we sell them some of our inventions. So seeing a few humans visiting New Sixam is no longer a novelty, and a few thousand of them have started moving in here permanently. Among them is the family of Mrs Serena, who seemed to be waiting for nothing more than an opportunity to study our country and society from the inside.
Cassy: How are you doing here in New Sixam?
Serena: I'm glad to live again next to Misty, Lyra, Ariana and the others, and Luke too... I almost feel like being back in my high school years, it's incredible to think that more than fifty years have already passed instead...
Cassy: From what dad told us, it would seem like the situation has changed a lot, in the meanwhile.
Serena: Oh, you don't know how much!
It's always very interesting to talk with her, she always tells stories about some small country or culture I'd never heard about before. Often it feels almost like she's talking about some far alien place, and not about other spots on our same planet. It's quite fascinating to think about it, about how two places so close in space could be so different in many other ways...
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From Venus's diary
Luke: Congratulations, Venus!
Luke: I'm so happy for you, it has been an incredible day!
Venus: the whole town can see it, you're glowing so much!
Luke: Just like you.
Dad is a great author who filled his books with millions of words. However, he's never been a great speaker, especially when it came to expressing what he felt. But, sometimes, a hug is worth a thousand words.
The party went on well into the night, and we all enjoyed ourselves until we couldn't stand and dance any longer. I don't think anyone among the guests could forget a day like this so easily!
But, among all the rest, what we'll really struggle to forget is what happened soon later...
We had all decided to spend the night at mum and dad's house, after all it was very late and it was just a few steps away from the place where we hold the ceremony.
We were chatting a bit before saying to each other goodnight, when something no one heard of for decades suddenly happened...
A mysterious spaceship appeared out of the blue right above our house and took Steve away! We were all too stunned to react, who could it have been? But above all, what would have happened to Steve?
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§HermioneSims§ corner
Please ignore Taz in the penultimate picture, I changed the order of events a bit to make the story flow better and close with this moment of suspense.
I wrote at some point that unexpected alien abductions were some of the in-game events which made me struggle the most when trying to build a plot that made sense, and this one is one of the worst examples of this.
On the one hand, I was glad to have a new turning point to work with, Venus's wedding was giving me diabetes-vibes, but how can I justify an alien abduction at this point in the story?
The next few chapters will for sure be filled with new revelations, that's for sure...
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