From Sirio's diary
Alba: Hi!
Erika: (laughing) Hello to you too, Alba!
Alba: Huh!
Our move to New Sixam didn't only have negative effects. At least, now it has become much easier to spend some time with my relatives and friends again. For example, today we all went together to the house of my cousin Halley, her wife Sophia and their daughter Erika. I haven't seen them for a while, Erika has grown so much that I almost didn't recognize her anymore!
Sophia: (astonished) What, you are expecting another baby? Seriously?
Maki: Yes, we found it out a few days ago.
Sophia: It's none of my business, but let me tell you, you're really brave. All considered, your current situation seems quite… er… challenging.
Yes, our situation seemed complicated enough already when we moved here, and everything will only become even more chaotic when our second child will be born.
We'd always planned for a large family, and time went on and on, so we decided to give it another try during our last few months in Sim City, before Jessica showed up to summon us to the tribunal. However, I have to admit that at that moment we still didn't expect this turn in the events.
Overall we were still quite thrilled by the idea anyway, but our mood was smashed again when Halley joined us at that table with a folder of legal files in her hands.
Halley: Sorry if I'm late, I was just finishing sorting out all the paperwork you brought me and it took longer than expected… Your custody situation is such a mess, no doubt about that. Maki had won the first lawsuit, which however her ex-husband then challenged and was about to overturn by paying better lawyers, and now you have opened a new process here in New Sixam to be able to apply our laws instead of those of Sim City… Let's say it's the most complicated case I've ever come across.
We didn't even have to ask my cousin Halley to help us out, she volunteered right away.
When she showed up she seemed tired from having worked so many hours without a break, but underneath I also felt intrigued by the possibility of working on a more substantial trial than the small skirmishes she was usually involved with.
Sophia: Is there really necessary to talk about work even today? It's Sunday, come on!
Halley: Well, maybe you're not entirely wrong… Still, there is a ton to do.
Alba: Aunt!
Halley: Hey, Alba!
Halley: You really like hugs, huh? Just like Sirio...
Erika: Hey, hello! Your name is Lily, right? Welcome to New Sixam!
Lily: Uhm…
Erika: So soon you'll come to school with us?
Lily: So it seems…
Lily: And here she comes… No, I don't want a hug, Alba!
Alba: …
Erika: Com'on, she's your little sister!
Lily: Well, she's not really “my sister”, at most we are half-sisters.
Erika: But that is such an ugly word!
Lily: But it is what it is, Sirio is my stepfather she's my half-sister. And now mom told me that in a few months they are having another baby too. (Irritated) She has just stopped to wake up screaming every single night, this is so annoying!
Erika: Uhm…
Lily: What's up?
Erika: Well… so, in your opinion, aren't they your family?
Lily: Not really, no. And then it's been ages since I've heard dad even by the phone, it's unfair!
Erika: …
Clearly, getting used to this new life will take a while for everyone...
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The weeks go by, as we tried to find a new routine in our lives.
And time certainly doesn't want to slow down and give us the time to settle down. Would you ever tell that my birthday has already arrived, my dear diary?
Florian: (ironic) Hey, old chap!
Sirio: Come on, I'm not that old!
Florian: Seeing you around here so often makes me so nostalgic... You really missed a lot of things while you were living in Sim City, you know?
Sirio: (curious) Like what?
He seemed to be dying to tell me something, but I didn't have enough elements to figure out what.
Florian: I want to introduce you to someone, come up!
???: (joking) Hey, hello! Can I come in now, or are you still trying to build some suspense?
I admit I was seriously surprised, I didn't expect to meet another half ancient sixamian like us. And even less did I expect Florian to find a stable partner, so far his relationships had never lasted more than a month. Anyway, her name is Trix, and she works at the recycling centre in town.
Okay, perhaps I start to understand what Florian meant while saying I was getting old, the back starts being a bit stiff...
I admit that I really missed this kind of party when we were in Sim City, and even Alba seems to be having a lot of fun.
As expected, however, everything is much more complicated for both Maki and Lily.
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I am continuing to paint, selling these paintings remains my main source of income after all. A few more strokes of white should be enough, and then…
Lily: Hey, the wifi isn't working again!
Sirio: … Oh, hello Lily. Yes, Techna already told me, they say they were downloading an update for their drivers and the signal went down after half a Gb of data. They are already working on it, for sure they understand more about these things than me.
Lily: (annoyed) You're really useless, you know?
Sirio: But…
Lily: Bla bla, I'm going back to my room!
As you see, dear diary, Lily doesn't take me seriously at all. Maki always tells me to be a bit stricter with her, to try to show a bit more authority. I really don't know how to behave with her, being authoritative isn't like me at all...
Sirio: Lily, we've already explained to you why we decided to come here. We did it for…
Lily: (sarcastically) Suuuure, I couldn't ask for anything better than being dragged in this boring place full of weirdos. Come on, be serious!
Sirio: …
I admit that I'm feeling very guilty about this situation, perhaps we are not giving her the attention she would need at this moment. I can see it clearly in the colours around her, she always seems so upset about everything...
But sadly, we have even more pressing issues to worry about. Such as the fact that we don't have much money left. Not at all.
Maki: The local museum seems very… small.
Sirio: Compared to Sim City there is really no comparison, that's for sure.
And this was precisely the reason why I had decided to leave New Sixam the first time: here there is no place for art, the ephemeral, the aesthetics for the sake of aesthetics. As a result, it's hard to carve out a niche working in this sector, as we both did in Sim City.
Sirio: ... and this is the best picture they have.
Maki: (diplomatic) Oh. It's very, well... old-fashioned.
Maki: Um…
Maki didn't say much, but I could clearly sense her complete lack of enthusiasm in our museum. At the Sim City gallery she was always surrounded by a multitude of bright and iridescent colours, while here her aura was as grey as the sky outside.
Maki: Well, I think we'll have to find some solution, our money is starting to run low...
By making a rough estimation, the savings left would have been enough for another three months at most, not to mention that after the birth of the baby, inevitably, we would also have had to face many new expenses.
Until now we had always managed to stay true to our dreams, but willy-nilly that seemed not possible anymore.
Maki: I'm still writing reviews on my blog, but without being able to see the paintings in person it's much more difficult to be taken seriously. And all the exhibitions to be organized are gone as well, I will probably need to find something else to write about for a while.
Sirio: I saw that the DIY store downtown is looking for a salesman. It's not much perhaps, but it would still be a starting point, isn't it?
Maki: Um…
Maki is trying really hard to adapt to the new situation, but the more days go by the more sad she becomes. But we ended up in this situation because of a problem bigger than us, how could I fix it?
Sirio: … and so the explorer found the point from which the great rainbow started. There he found an entire city, full of many colours and happy people. There was…
As usual, Alba had started yawning as soon as she got under the covers, and it was enough to read her a couple of pages of that book to make her fall asleep. I leafed through that booklet absentmindedly, it was her favourite. “A whole city, full of so many colours and happy people”… It actually reminded me a bit of Maki's house in Sim City, don't you agree, my dear diary?
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A few weeks later…
Maki: Don't worry, Sirio, it will probably take some more hours!
Needless to say, my worried face made half the hospital laugh at me also this time, but I just can't help it. How could I, knowing that Maki is delivering our second child?
After many exhausting hours, we finally met him. We called him Helios, apart from his blue complexion, for the moment he looks a lot more like Maki than me. Isn't he lovely, my dear diary?
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Lily: And he's already started crying, bah…
Sirio: Don't worry, he's just a bit hungry...
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Even before Helios's birth our life was pretty chaotic, but now anything resembling free time has completely disappeared.
The general morale was getting lower and lower, and the fact that our first Winterfest away from Sim City was approaching only made the general mood even worse. But was there really nothing I could do?
Maki: (surprised) Sirio, how…
Sirio: Surprise, happy Winterfest!
Maki: But how did you do it? We don't have a penny!
Sirio: I, uh… borrowed the matter recomposer at the DIY store where I work. Basically, I rearranged the furniture we had before to make it look like the ones you had in Sim City. It's not exactly the same, but…
Maki: Thanks!
The colours around her reflected again those of the house, I missed seeing them so much!
Sophia: (perplexed) Did your apartment in Sim City really looked like this?
Halley: It really was psychedelic, to say the least! And now also this place resembles it a lot, it's impressive!
At least for one day, with that little trick, I was able to bring back to our home those colours that we missed so much. Bringing the colours of Sim City here to New Sixam… is it really that unthinkable, after all?
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§HermioneSims§ corner
This is another chapter in which a lot happened, all at once, about which I could decide to say a lot. However, I decided to use again this corner to share some funny pictures.
This time the protagonist is Maki, during the pregnancy she really was so enthusiastic about the family situation... (*sarcasm*)
