From Sirio's diary
Maki: I had to work a lot to get sole custody of Lily, the proceedings were over just before you arrived here in Sim City… But Lily cried so often when she heard him arguing, I thought it was the best thing to do.
Sirio: …
Maki: I mean, under normal circumstances, I would want Lily to spend some time with her dad too, from time to time. But you have seen him, for months he didn't care at all, then out of the blue he's completely obsessed about seeing her, and now he reached the point to start a fight with you! Even the psychologists called during the last custody trial suggested him to seek for professional help to learn how to manage his anger, but he clearly ignored them.
She was so upset just thinking about him, and rightfully so. As a result, she often needed to vent a bit about him, and I let her do so as much as she needed to.
Sirio: (cautious) Do you think he'll try to reverse the custody verdict this time?
Maki: I'm afraid he will, yes. I mean, you've seen him too, he's not the type to settle for half-measures. It's either everything or nothing, that's his style.
Maki: In any case, I heard that he recently started living with his very young and very blonde secretary…
She tried to say it as if she didn't care, but I could sense that, down deep, the fact that Hotaru had found a new partner upset her a bit.
Maki: I think this should distract him for a while, so maybe we've bought some time before he will decide to start a new trial.
Sirio: … At that point, however, what are you planning to do?
Maki: Whatever it takes to keep Lily safe.
We had some alternative plans in mind in case Hotaru won his case, we had already discussed it with my cousin Halley and with Sophia. But we would have definitively preferred to never really need to resort to either of them.
On the one hand, having Hotaru's memories altered to oblige him to drop the lawsuit would have been relatively simple. I would just have needed to plan in advance all the details, so that the new memories remained consistent with the previous ones and nobody could notice anything. I've never done it before, but with what Toq taught me I think I would be able to do it without him ever noticing. However, this wouldn't cancel out the fact that I have no intention to use my telepathy in such a malicious way, nor to break the law of both Sim City and New Sixam in such a blatant way. In the case I was caught, the consequences would be terrible.
The other alternative would be to move all together in New Sixam, where the lawyers would be on our side instead of his, and where he wouldn't be willing to follow us. But I can't ask Maki to move there, when she is so strongly attached to this city, to her friends and her work.
In essence, both of these alternatives will be considered as a last resort, in case the situation turns for the worst. It's a scenario we hope we'll never get to, but facing a determined person like Hotaru makes us fear the worst all the time...
I even made a portrait of him, the shady colours surrounding him are unforgettable. Who knows what happened to him to become like this…
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Meanwhile time passes, and we don't receive any more news from Hotaru. Maybe Maki was right, he may have been distracted by other matters.
He also seemed to forget about Lily's birthday, we didn't even receive a notice from him. So we ended, to our relief, to organize a little party for her by ourselves.
Maki: Happy birthday, honey!
Lily looks so much like Maki, the more time passes the more she seems to see the miniature version of her around the house.
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Time continued to pass, it had been more than a year since when we started to live all together by that point. Although many pointed us out as one of the most bizarre families in the neighbourhood, we continued to focus on the only really positive word in that expression, "family". Because that was how we felt at that point, all of us.
And that feeling became even more tangible on a cool October morning. Maki seemed particularly excited, her colours swirling around her so fast that I didn't have time to focus on them…
Sirio: (confused) Are you all right, Maki? Did something happen?
Maki: Yeah, well, I mean, I…
Maki: I haven't seen a doctor yet, but I've just made a test… I think I'm pregnant!
At first she left me speechless. That sentence had filled my head with a thousand thoughts, all together, and no one could find a way to be pronounced out loud. I just managed to run up to hug her tightly, probably the colours around me were very similar to hers at that moment.
We hadn't planned anything about it yet, but during our endless conversations we often hinted at the fact that we both imagined having a large family, at some point in the future. And, as if to prove it, at that moment we just couldn't contain our emotions.
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A few days later…
Lily: What, a sibling? Bah, I don't know if I want one...
Maki: (categoric) We know already that he or she will be born in a few months, so try to get used to the idea, okay?
Lily: But will it be strange like Sirio?
Maki: C'mon, Sirio isn't strange, he's just Sixamian!
Lily: (unconvinced) Uhm.
Lily didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about the idea. To be honest, I mostly perceived disinterest coming from her.
Lily: Mon, can I ask you one more thing? Please!
Maki: Sure.
Lily: The new Super-Friends doll is out, she has a beautiful new costume! Can I have one, please!
Maki: Um… we don't have that much money, I'm afraid… But Winterfest is approaching, maybe you will have better luck with Santa, isn't it?
Maki wasn't making an excuse, we really were short of money. For this reason, at that moment more than ever, we had to give our best to raise enough money to be able to provide for Lily and the sibling who would have been born shortly.
I could no longer afford to just paint, hoping that sooner or later my paintings would have been hung on the walls of some museum. I have to be pragmatic, and look for more stable sources of income.
So I started selling my paintings at the flea market in town, focusing on popular styles people are actually willing to buy. Maki knew the place well, she goes there almost every week. Maybe it doesn't look like such a good way of making money, but it is possible to get very good deals over there.
Lily: Hey, but these are like the lamp in my room!
Maki: Yes, in fact I bought yours right here!
Lily: Did Sirio paint all these?
Maki: Yes, and he made many even better ones as well. Those are exposed at the art gallery, though.
It was a fun day overall, and we even managed to rise a few thousand simoleons.
In parallel, we also continue to work at the art gallery. After all, Maki has been entrusted with yet another exhibition, and there were a lot of preparations to make.
Maki: (loudly) I think we could hang Jin's painting here, what do you think?
Sirio: Yes, it would look great next to Freya's!
With so many things to do, the pregnancy had flown by in what seemed like a blink of an eye. In no time the birth was imminent, and we were working hard to ensure everything was ready to welcome the new member of the family.
Lily: You're huge, if you keep going like this you'll end up exploding!
Maki: (laughing) Let's hope I don't!
Over these months, I barely had the time to go visit my family and friends in New Sixam by teleporting in there for a few hours some now and then. I mostly kept in touch with them with frequent phone calls to my mom, my aunt, Halley, and Florian. Some people would call me childish for calling them so often, but I don't care at all.
Sirio: Yes, Maki is doing quite well, she says everything is proceeding quite smoothly… Yes, of course we'll let you know as soon as we have news, don't worry mom!
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Maki: Sirio, I think it's time!
I thought we were well prepared, but when it comes the time of giving birth it's hard not to panic a little. I don't know how Maki could be so calm, I could feel very clearly how painful it was for her…
Maki: Sirio, calm down! It will take several more hours.
The wait seemed to go on forever, but in the end…
… our little girl was born, we named her Alba. For the moment she seems to look more like me than Maki, don't you agree, my dear diary?
Lily: Mommy! Are you Okay? You've been away for so long!
Maki: We're all fine, don't worry. Don't you want to say hello to your little sister?
Lily: Um…
Lily: (cautious) Hello. You're really really blue, you know?
Techna: Congratulations, Sirio.
Sirio: Thank you. What are you looking for on that PC?
Techna: I'm searching for information about infant care protocols, I've never had to deal with such young children.
Sirio: If you find anything send it to me too then, I've never done this before either.
It only took a few days for me to understand that there is so much to do. Alba is so little and defenseless, and she needs us for everything…
But I don't think I've ever been so happy before in my life, it's such a strong emotion… I'd really like to see us from the outside and put that scene in a painting, because I'm sure there are some really amazing colours around us.
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§HermioneSims§ corner
Another chapter where a lot happened all at once, in this part I really had to make a lot of things happen in a few days to avoid reaching Sirio's birthday before the birth of the next heir.
Talking about the next heir, let's welcome Alba! Again I chose to keep the original name I gave her in Italian and not to translate it. You could have noticed some sort of pattern with sixamians names, and Alba (whose name means "Dawn" or "sunrise" in Italian and Spanish) maintains the pattern of (vaguely) astronomically-related names.
Alba looks very much like her father so far. Her name is lovely and I'm happy to see the next heir.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Sirio's portrait of Hotaru is magnificent. A+.
Thanks a lot for today's comments! When writing and playing this part I had a lot of fun with Sirio and Maki, they're very cute together, and also in portrain Hotaru in that exaggerated way.
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