moonlightfallsdiaries

[moonlightfallsdiaries]

New Sim: Miss Elissa MacDuff

Name: Elissa MacDuff

Parents: Jules & Janet MacDuff

Generation: 2

Life Stage: Toddler (4 years old)

Birthday: 4 June 1805

Life State: Sim

Traits: Brave, Disciplined

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[moonlightfallsdiaries]

New Sim: Mr. Jules MacDuff

Name: Jules MacDuff

Parents: Flint & Joanie MacDuff

Generation: 1

Life Stage: Young Adult (27 years old)

Birthday: 22 March 1782

Life State: Witch

Traits: Brave, Inappropriate, Hydrophobic, Nurturing, Unflirty

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1809, November

Some pictures of the MacDuffs’ house. The house came with the game. Moonlight Falls is more Victorian in style than regency, but as this challenge is meant to be low-effort, I don’t stress overmuch about that. I did redecorate a little bit, however.

A note on Jules’ and Constanza’s marriage: I ditched my original plan of waiting for whims to have them further their relationship, mainly because…a) I wish Constanza every possible happiness and b) Jules is in the military career and it’s the War of 1812 soon, and him going off to war just when they have finally tied the knot was too delicious a drama to pass up on.

Which I realize are two very contradictory statements.

However, I didn’t want to decide that they would marry, so I threw a coin. And the coin chose to give them a Happy Ending For Now.

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[moonlightfallsdiaries]

Now introducing: Mr. and Mrs. Jules MacDuff

Date of Marriage: 6 November 1809

Mr. Jules MacDuff, of the local MacDuff clan, and Miss Constanza Lionetti, formerly of Riverview, were married on the 6th inst., at the groom’s house. The groom’s family notably did not attend the festivities, due to the bride’s dubious antecedents.

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1809, November

When Jules first broaches the idea of marriage, Constanza is sure that it is only one of his fleeting fancies, a harebrained scheme that will lose its charm once faced with the very real difficulties connected with it. The idea of a respectable man marrying a woman that has sold her virtue is ludicrous. He will ruin his own chances. His daughter’s marriageability will be diminished by mere association with her.

No one in their right mind would want that, and she can’t even fault him for it.

But he is serious. He wishes to provide for her, more than just by paying her to support their child. And the best way to make sure she is cared for is to make her his wife. “And damn what my parents or anyone else says” he adds, when she is still doubtful.

She thinks this proposal over for a while. She isn’t well-liked in her own neighbourhood, but there are other women like her there. Criminals, those who have done questionable things to survive. He, on the other hand, moves in upstanding circles. She won’t be accepted there, and neither will she be welcomed by his family. It will mean even more isolation than before.

She deliberates and dithers, but in the end, she accepts. Arrangements take a few weeks to make, and she is showing quite clearly by the time he takes her to his home. There, he presents her with a ring, finer than every other piece of jewellery she has ever worn – his gift to her, for their marriage.

They are married quietly that very day, with only their witnesses and a still-reeling Adriano as guests, and just like that, she is a married woman. She can hardly wrap her head around it. Of all possible outcomes to her pregnancy, that is the one she least expected.

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1809, October

She hesitates for two more weeks or so, agonizing over how to break the news to Jules. Telling him will change everything, she senses that much. But haven’t things already changed? She is with child, there are no two ways about that, and much as she dislikes raising children, she can’t stomach the idea of getting rid of this one.

By her calculation, she is almost four months along. If dresses weren’t so loose, she’d already be showing, and as it is, she won’t be able to keep this secret from Jules for long.

She gets off on the wrong foot on the day she picks out to tell him or their impending joint parenthood. Nervous as she is, she pushes him back when he tries to embrace her, and quickly has to smooth over his hurt. And she dallies over actually getting the words out, but eventually, he gets the hint.

And to her astonishment, he is delighted. He barely seems able to believe it and embraces her tightly when she does. She is astonished, to say the least.

He notices her stiffness, of course, and asks her in concern if she is feeling unwell. It feels a bit ludicrous, especially when she has to explain to him that while he might be pleased at the idea of having another child, for her it means not only losing income, but an additional strain. Being a lone mother to one child is difficult. She can’t imagine what being one to two of them will be like.

“But you won’t be a lone mother”, he says, in confusion. “You’ll have my support.”

“And financial support will help”, she replies, “but I’ll still have the household to take care of, in addition to a toddler. And my neighbours won’t warm towards me for having another illegitimate child.”

He is quiet at that for a moment. Obviously, he hadn’t considered that. “And what if you come live at my house?”, he says, after a moment. “My parents likely won’t approve, and neither will my neighbours, but you and our child would be safe. We’ll have a charwoman, and you won’t even have to work.”

“Are you insane?”, is all she can ask. “Your neighbours won’t just not approve, they’ll shun you.”

He shrugs. “Let them. I value the comfort of my child quite a bit higher than that. And yours as well.”

It is not the way things are done. Any other man would have paid her off, maybe even enough to live in a semblance of comfort, but he wouldn’t bring his mistress and bastard into his house. Doing so is worse than simply marrying her. She shakes her head.

“I can’t live openly in sin with you in that part of town, Jules. I’m sorry. It’s one thing if it’s here, but with all your posh neighbours around…”

He smiles faintly at that, touching her small bump. “Who said anything about living in sin?”

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1809, September

Regardless of her feelings about it, by September, Constanza is certain that she is pregnant with Jules MacDuff’s child.

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[moonlightfallsdiaries]

1809, August

Despite her continued illness, there are chores to be done, among them laundry. The taxing physical work helps to distract Constanza from her worries. If she is with child – and she still hopes that she isn’t deluding herself by considering that an ‘if’ - she doesn’t know how to feel about it.

Or, more precisely, she knows how she does feel about it, but also knows that Jules would be disappointed if he knew. Because the truth is, Constanza doesn’t want another infant to take care of, especially just when Adriano is starting to become more independent of her. She doesn’t have the time for childcare, but more than that, she doesn’t want to care for another child. One is plenty enough for her.

And how is she supposed to pay for that? Where is the child supposed to sleep? Her house is small enough as it is. She will be able to put a crib somewhere, but what will she do once it is older?

And what will Jules say? He loves children, she knows that, but she doesn’t know how he feels about having a bastard. Because she is sure that this child will change nothing about the arguments against a marriage.

And like that, her thoughts whirl around when she isn’t taking pains to distract herself, like reading the papers. The news does little to cheer her, however. So, she pours her attention into writing her next short stories. If she is pregnant, she will need the money, for surely, she will lose her position once she begins to show.

No matter what way she turns it, all another child, even a child of the man she loves, will mean, is trouble.

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1809, August

At twenty-three, Constanza is no blushing virgin anymore. Neither is she naïve, or as unaccustomed to her changing body as she had been at sixteen. But given the scarcity she lives with and the elixirs she consumes – someone has to test her creations, after all, and elixirs that induce sleep, bliss or wakefulness are very handy to have – have accustomed her to certain aches and pains. Nausea, too, is no rarity for her.

What she notices right away, however, is that that nausea comes in tandem with an absence of her monthly courses.

It does not mean anything, yet. The lack of blood, too, could be explained by an alchemical mishap. So, she remains silent on the matter, for the moment. But she remains very observant of her own body and its changes.

Which, at the moment, only tells her that the constant nausea is awful.

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1809, June

Over the next few months, Adriano continues to be a curious child, when he is not busy with chores. He soon starts reading even those books that would usually be considered too difficult for children of his age, and to write down some of what he finds in the papers or in books to help himself remember.

It saddens Constanza, sometimes. Her boy seems so bright, but she’ll simply not be able to afford to send him to school or to universities; she is dependent on his help and will be on his income once he is old enough to find work. It seems cruel, somehow, although it’s the usual course for children of poor families.

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1809, May

By 1809, after years of study and experimenting, Constanza is actually quite good at following and altering alchemical recipes. That does not mean that her tries to brew an elixir always succeed.

See this instance, in which the stench emanating from the vat is so foul that she becomes physically ill.

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1809, March

It is not all struggle and strife in these months, however. Constanza actually enjoys the opportunity to immerse herself in elixir-making. She has given up on wanting to cure Adriano – the risks are simply too great. But that does not mean that she doesn’t relish the possibilities one is granted by immersing themselves in alchemy. From strengthening potions to liquid luck to sleep draughts, the old grimoires in the shop contain everything, if one is only persistent enough in searching for it.

Adriano, she has noticed already, is a very bright, interested child. The older he gets, the quicker he seems to pick up on things – maybe a side effect of his vampiric nature? Whatever it is, he is a voracious reader, and far more interested in the papers than his six years of age would make one think.

And, of course, Jules still spends half his time at her small house. She is tired a lot of the time, nowadays, but he doesn’t mind watching over her sleep, often reading quietly beside her while she rests.

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[moonlightfallsdiaries]

1809, March

In an ideal world, Adriano would continue to spend his days playing and enjoying his childhood. In the one he lives in, with a mother that can barely afford to keep food on their table and a roof over their heads, there is no time for such tender-heartedness. Adriano is old enough now to take over caring for the garden and the house while Constanza works, so she makes him do exactly that.

It may ease the sensibilities of modern readers to know that this use of child labour does not mean that Constanza had more leisure; she worked as hard as ever, merely without the pressure of most of her household chores and a better-kept garden. And for what it’s worth, Adriano actually enjoys taking care of the plants. Luckily, his skin is not yet sensitive to the sunlight – that vampiric trait will only develop when he gets older.

Also, and Constanza doesn’t like to admit that to herself, she doesn’t know how long her health will support the constant strain. Her son will be better off learning self-sufficiency now, while she is still there to watch over him.

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[moonlightfallsdiaries]

Birthday: Mister Adriano Lionetti

Name: Adriano Lionetti

Generation: 2

New Life Stage: Child (6 years old)

Birthday: 18th February 1803

Life State: Vampire

Traits: Excitable, Slob, Light Sleeper

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[moonlightfallsdiaries]

1809, March

It is hard for Constanza to believe that the little boy that has caused her so much grief and so much pride is already six years old. That she has been living on her own, making her own way in the world, for even longer than that.

But the advent of March 1809 brings with it the celebration of Adriano’s sixth birthday. The older he grows, the more he looks like his father. But that, she freely admits, may simply be his luminous golden-brown eyes and the unusual pallidness of his skin. She still doesn’t know what to do to raise a young vampire correctly. Will he have access to his powers, now that he is older?

Regardless of such considerations, she acquires new furniture for his room, now that he is starting to have different needs and especially needs a bigger bed. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s a start.

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1808, July - December

The rest of the year, ending in beautiful fall weather, passes peacefully. During these six months, Constanza extends her garden somewhat, continues working on her literary career – which isn’t easy when she is bone tired from her other chores and jobs every evening – and does her best to adequately care for Adriano.

Having Jules is still a comfort. He is frightfully sweet, nothing like the abrasive man she had met almost a decade ago. He even brings her flowers every other day, like she is a lady he is courting instead of his mistress. It makes her feel young and desirable again, a feeling she doesn’t often experience these days. She’s only twenty-two, but sometimes, it seems to her as if she is already forty.

It is some time until she learns why Jules is so extra-attentive: his parents have begun pressuring him to look for another wife. He has been a widower for three years now, and there is a witch named Beatrice Crumplebottom that is looking for a husband. Marrying her would mean preserving their magical gift.

He tells her that he has been thinking about it – he wants no new wife, but his daughter will need a mother to guide her. But he tells her, quietly, that if things were different, he’d like nothing better than to marry her.

His admission should comfort her, but instead, she feels her heart grow heavy. She’d always known the day he’d remarry would come, but somehow, she hadn’t thought it would hurt this much.

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1808, June

Jules has decided that he needs to use Constanza as a target for a spell again. I was considering having them argue and make a thing about it if he set her on fire again, but luckily for both of them, it was a good luck charm on this occasion.

Maybe he wanted to make up for the last time.

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