"First of all, it's very unkind of you to say that I sleep with a dozen guys in a week!",Cindy interjected, pretending to look shocked, "When its well known I try to share myself equally between males and females."
"That dozen doesn't include battery powered or inanimate objects.", pointed out Delilah, who shared a bedroom with Evie almost directly below Cindy's. "And secondly, CONGRATULATIONS!", squealed Cindy ignoring Delilah and pulling Jess into a tight hug.
After everybody had hugged Jess, and the excitement had quieted down Coral asked Cindy, "So how is you can have so much sex and not get pregnant?". The room went quiet. Coral, whose picture could be used with the entry 'Prude' in the dictionary didn't ask questions like this.
The unflappable Cindy replied, "Simple biology, plant sims have a brain, lungs, and a circulatory system similar to all the other races, but our reproduction system is totally different to any other sentient biped. When we orgasm we drop a seed, male or female. If the seed is planted, their is a tiny chance that the seed may become a Plantsim, if it is, it 'absorbs' Dna from those it comes in contact with. Especially the harvester, who could be a complete stranger to the seed generator."
Coral's curiosity overcame her prudish nature, and she pressed further. "So your 'mother' might not be your mother?", trying to wrap her head around the concept. "Correct.", responded Cindy, not quite understanding the line of questioning.
"Although in my case the female Plantsim that raised me was also my seed generator, and Plantsims being raised by non Plantsim families is as common as single parent Plantsim family, which is far more common than a Plantsim being raised by two Plantsims, whether males, females, or a mixed couple.", Cindy added trying to cover all bases.
"Okay, any idea what that was about?", Cindy asked Jess after Coral had left the room. "I think she is re-examining her life, her mother has been admitted to St. James Simatarium with advanced Alzheimers, but don't mention it to the others, I only know because I heard Coral on the phone, and she doesn't want anyone to know yet.", Jess explained to Cindy quietly.
When Jess broke the news to Edward and Kim, she explained that she intended to use the old art room as a nursery, and that her father should take anything remaining that he wanted. Edward disclosed that all the art supplies and tools in the room now belonged to Delilah who used it for her work.
Jess and Delilah spent the next few days clearing the room, Delilah storing the things that she wanted to keep in the 'playroom', as the second garage had been dubbed, while the rest was donated to charity or binned.
Eventually the room returned to being a blank canvas.
Coral had dropped her night packing supermarket shifts to spend more time at the Simatarium. Each afternoon Coral would spend time reading and playing with the children and ending the night visiting her mother, who seemed to be more forgetful and disoriented each visit.
Jess decided to tag along one day, she told Coral it was to read to the
kids and to learn more about what was ahead for her, but secretly Jess
knew Coral needed the moral support after visiting her ailing mother. Jess also brought a deck of cards and her magicians wand as well as a big bag of chocolate coins, just in case her 'reading to children' skill sucked.
Jess was more than half way along her pregnancy and it was still hardly noticeable. Except for the occasional bulge caused by fist or foot, the only obvious sign that Jess was pregnant was her increase in nesting habits.
Jess decided that having her room on a separate floor to the nursery was a bad idea, and set the old art room as her own room as well as the nursery. Instead of doing the room in Hot Pink, which was her all time favorite color, she settled on red, it was a very neutral color for a Vampire nursery, and she wasn't sure if she was having a boy or a girl, or a ninja, it was hard to tell with all the punches and kicks. Cindy managed to find a crib that fit perfectly with Jess choice of decor.
"You know I get paid to do that? Wouldn't you rather be somewhere comfortable with your feet up?", Ezekiel, the most recent agency maid chided gently. "Mmm, on a beach in Tahiti, sipping spine reticulators!", responded Jess. "Just make sure to bring back all the washing for me to do, because that's my job.", he laughed. "I'll send you some daily Zeke, attached to a postcard. You are the best maid the agency has ever sent us!", Jess grinned.
That didn't stop Jess nesting, and she washed single items instead of waiting for a full load.
And vacuumed the floors twice in one day, despite the fact that nobody had walked on them.
"Okay team, what have I told you about roughhousing in there!",
Jess joked when her tummy finally began to bulge.
Corals mother passed away, and the day of the funereal was as dark and miserable as Coral felt. Afterwards Coral told Jess that she had intended to leave the 'Hollow', after her mothers death. Jess convinced her to stay until the baby was born so that Coral night leave the 'Hollow' after a positive event rather than a negative one.
Jess was worried about Coral's state of mind after the loss of her mother and endeavored to build her friends spirits. Coral eventually revealed that she had intended to return to the Black Rocks to resume the fight against the old ones that were still carrying out attacks on her Fae kin.
Coral also revealed that she longed to find a man among her clan with which to settle down and start her own family, especially after watching Jess tummy grow.
When Jess realized that it was time, she was home alone. Delilah and Eve where out having dinner at a restaurant. Coral was at the hospital reading bed time stories, and Cindy was out somewhere maintaining her reputation as the towns resident nymphomaniac. She reached for her mobile phone and speed dialed her Father. "Dad, I'm in the garden and I need you!", she grunted.
"Be. Patient. You. Little. Monster!", Jess grunted. With each step she took, she felt like her spine was about to explode as she waddled out through the gate.
Random people outside the hospital began to panic as Jess waddled through the doors at St. James.'You idiots!', thought Jess, 'I am not really going to explode, it just feels like it!'. The panicking crowd made way for the grunting, waddling juggernaut.
"Melissa and Nerissa!', Jess beamed when she arrived home. "Although I don't know where they are both going to sleep." Cindy picked up her phone, "I'll have another crib delivered within the hour!", she advised.
"Cindy, its one A.M. on a Sunday morning, nothing is open.", Jess pointed out. "Ah, you seem to underestimate the power of my magical yo-yo knickers, and the fact that I know both the store owner, and his wife. Intimately.", Cindy stated. "Both of them? Intimately?", Coral mumbled to her self, she wasm't even sure if that statement shocked her anymore, when it came to the green nymphomaniac.
True to her word, Cindy convinced the store owner to deliver a second crib in less than an hour. The store owner's wife had added a package of diapers as well, which was fortunate as it was something that Jess hadn't thought about. "Okay Cindy, you better pass me Nerissa before Melissa drinks me dry.", Jess suggested.
By Tuesday afternoon the new nursery was ready, Jess discovered that although Cindy didn't want sprouts of her own, that her Plantsim friend was the cluckiest person that she knew.
"I'm actually qualified for Swedish, deep tissue, acupuncture, hot stone, romantic and erotic massage.", Cindy declared. "So if you have any post natal massage requirements, you just let me know.", she offered.
Jess had already decided that two babies was enough for her, and was considering that she might possibly be better off with a girlfriend rather than a boyfriend raised an eyebrow and grunted. It was a thought that she decided to keep to herself for the moment.
Authors Note:
Okies, normally I'd rant here about lag and constant crashes and blah blah blah, but instead I am going to whine about stupid game limitations that TS3 devs actually thought about enough to put in game.
UL Backpacks: apparently my Vampires can't wear them because of their life state. What? The Vampires run so fast that the friction would cause the backpacks to spontaneously combust? Is this normal or just something in my game?
Pregnancy Restrictions: A pregnant sim can't do even simple magic tricks, I've never seen a deck of cards with similar health warnings as a pack of cigarettes. I can see it now.. 'USING PLAYING CARDS FOR MAGIC TRICKS WHEN PREGNANT IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH' or maybe 'PULLING RABBITS FROM HATS WHEN PREGNANT HARMS YOUR BABY'.
I'm sure there have been a few more WTF? restrictions I've encountered recently, but these two really annoyed me enough that I was still thinking about them days later.
Comments and questions are ALWAYS welcome, especially if my storytelling leaves you with WTF is going on? moments :)
Youtube Leo Moracchioli - Whats Going On Cover (4 Non Blondes)
This guy is IMHO the greatest musician in the universe, and I listen to a lot of his covers while writing my chapters. The chapter title is almost always THE last thing to be added, and this song was in my playlist while I was writing up 6.05. As the story characters and myself experienced several "WTF is going on?", during the making of this chapter, I thought the title was a good fit.
