#QOM Prescott Family

[queenofmyshuno]

Amersham

This is the story of Frederick Amersham: dutiful servant, attentive beau, regular churchgoer, responsible citizen, and generally pleasant chap. At least, these are all the things he said to me when I asked him to describe himself. Come, I’ll tell you all about him, and you can see for yourself.

Amersham’s days start early. Before the sun even hints at rising, Amersham is impeccably dressed and noiselessly descending the cold wooden boards of the staircase. He carefully shifts around familiar creaky spots, so as not to wake the family, and lights the fireplaces in the elegant three-story townhome.

He spent almost three months as a chef’s apprentice, and his cooking skills are a point of pride. He prepares breakfast, expertly wielding the knives that he sharpens and polishes nightly; he likes the clunck-clunck sound they make as the blade hits the cutting board. Long ago, Mr. Prescott, nortorious for his tight pursestrings, allowed Amersham to purchase fine quality cutlery for the kitchen, so Amersham makes sure to take good care of it.

Once the table is set and breakfast served, he stands in the kitchen and grabs a quick bite.

(Note: I’m making this out to be like it’s part of his busy schedule, but really, I forgot to leave a space in the kitchen for a table and chair, LOLs.)

Next, he scrubs the dishes and churns the butter. Normally, a home this size would have two or even three servants, but Amersham does it all. In this house, he’s the chef, scullery maid, chamber maid, launderer, footman, house boy, chauffer, and butler.

Mrs. Prescott recognizes how hard he works and will occasionally ask if he’d like her to talk to Mr. Prescott about hiring more help. He always politely refuses. The truth is, Amersham prefers it this way. He has a certain way he likes to do things, and other staff would only interfere with his thorough procedures.

Mr. Prescott also likes it this way as it saves him money. He’s very proud of how committed and competent Amersham is and regularly refers to him as “my man, Amersham,” as in, “Don’t worry about those bags; my man Amersham will see to them” or “Why don’t you come by the house for dinner this Tuesday; my man Amersham makes a mean pigeon pie.”

Back when Amersham was but a young man, he came to town looking for a fresh start, having learned from the mistakes of his past. Sumner Prescott, also in his prime, was just at the point where he needed his own manservant. Amersham was hired on and has been with him ever since. The two men have a longstanding bond and mutual respect for one another.

Indeed, the entire family counts themselves lucky to have such good help. Other people will complain about this or that thing their servants said or did, but Amersham never gives them any cause. In fact, they rarely even see him. They only see the cozy fire he started before they came into the room or the hot coffee placed in the parlor for them when they arrive home after being out on a rainy day. He’s a master at being present but undetected—in other words, the perfect servant.

His skills at getting around unnoticed are also sometimes useful when he’s not working. On Sunday evenings, after the family has had their supper and the dishes have all been washed and put away, he has a few hours off…

…to pursue his own interests. I hope I have not shocked you and that you will not repeat what you have learned here, for all that I have shared with you has been told to you in confidence. Amersham has desires, and in this respect, he’s no different than any other man. So, let us not dwell on this small aspect of Amersham’s life, but instead talk of something more acceptable.

Amersham has a sweetheart. Have you ever noticed how men who are in a relationship seem less threatening? For instance, women need not be apprehensive about romantic advances from a man who is taken. Additionally, both sexes tend to think of someone in a relationship as more stable, and therefore more reliable. People might not consciously think this, but there’s an underlying societal perception that makes others more comfortable if one is paired up. Have you noticed this? Amersham has.

Amersham’s girl is named Nadine Dudley, and they meet Wednesdays at the market when they’re shopping for their respective households. She adores him. He enjoys this. Sometimes he gets jealous if another man talks to her for too long, but he and Nadine get along exceptionally well, really just swimmingly well.

Except for sometimes. Nadine is keen to get engaged and feels that Amersham is putting her off. At times, she gets unreasonably cranky and is prone to whinge, that is, complain persistently (and in such a high-pitched voice that one who is far less kind than Amersham might describe it as “screechy”). Even the most patient person would be hard-pressed not to find this irritating.

Amersham, though, keeps his cool. He reasons with her (as much as one can reason with a woman) that they’re both servants living in other people’s homes. Extremely nice homes. If they were to get married, where would they live? With their finances, probably in a tenement. Where would they work if they were no longer live-in servants? They have no other job skills. No. They must wait and save their money. “I want you to have a beautiful home and the wedding you always dreamed about. I only want to wait because I care so much about you.”

You wouldn’t guess it by looking at him, but Amersham is very good with words. His words, his gestures, the soothing tone of his voice—he has a way of making even the most determined opponent come around to his way of thinking. Nadine gives in and apologizes for being silly. Because they’re not engaged, they haven’t yet kissed (except on the cheek). So, he simply holds her close, runs his fingers through her cherry-red hair, and says, “That’s okay. I forgive you.”

Amersham isn’t telling Nadine everything, though (as you well know). But let’s be honest, does anyone ever really tell anyone everything? What about you? Are you holding something back from someone in your life right now? Not everyone needs to know everything; some things are best kept unspoken. Amersham has many unspoken things that he puts in a corner of his mind and tucks away beneath a blanket of silence.

Reva. Amersham never speaks her name for fear his desire will betray him in an unexpected tremble or rasp in his voice. Reva, the beautiful eldest daughter of the Prescott family. Reva whose dark eyes seem to always have a perpetual touch of sadness in them. Reva whose one rebel curl always falls out from her neatly placed bun. Reva whose face Amersham sees every time he closes his eyes. Reva, beautiful Reva.

Reva has had countless suitors paraded in front of her but has shown no interest in any of them. Why is that? If Amersham had been born to a higher station, he would have swept her off her feet by now and they’d be living happily in their own beautiful house with roses in the garden, a porch so long it spanned the length of the house, and a little boy with his father’s face but his mother’s eyes. Does Reva ever dream about him, too? Is this why she’s still not married? Amersham holds out hope that somehow, someday he and Reva will end up together. And that’s why he perpetually courts but never marries Nadine.

Lately, Reva has been volunteering at the Vicar’s cottage which means that Amersham has to drive her there, which is no short ride. He wonders if this is all a ploy of hers so that she and Amersham can spend more time together.

Amersham himself does not have the time (nor, to be honest, the inclination) to volunteer with the church except when required to do so by the family, but he does go to church (religiously, as it were) every Sunday morning.

When the service ends, the family usually stays if there’s a church function that day, or goes to a friend’s house to visit, while Amersham returns home to attend to his duties. With the family safely away, he makes himself comfortable on Reva’s bed (the bed for which he washed the linens, fluffed the pillows, and tucked the corners in ever so lovingly) and checks her journal to see if there is any mention of him or their long drives to the Vicar’s cottage. There is not. Perhaps some things are too private to write down.

Before you think his actions inappropriate, know that he checks the younger daughter’s journal regularly, as well. As he has no interest in the younger daughter, this is proof that his actions are first and foremost to make himself as useful to his employers as possible.

If he has done something to displease them that the ladies are too refined to mention to him directly, is it not in their best interest that he finds that thing that is causing them displeasure and takes measures to correct it?

Indeed, you could even consider this as a gentlemanly favor to them, to know their wants and attend to them dutifully without ever being told.

To quietly check on a person‘s wellbeing and know their needs, whether it be through reading what they’ve written down or through watching attentively and then silently backing out of a room without disturbing them, these are all acts of great caring and great skill.

Why do you think the family loves him so? It’s because he loves them back, more than they’ll ever realize. Quietly and patiently, always just on the other side of the door, Amersham’s love and service know no boundaries.

[queenofmyshuno]

Victorian Art Store, TS4

Mr. Sumner Prescott owns and operates the Discerning Art Boutique in the Willow Creek province of The Simpire.

It caters only to the most tasteful (translation: wealthy) clients. (FYI: This building used to house the Willow Creek Library.)

Even Baroness Chadwick shops here. Should you happen to have the good fortune to be invited to Mr. Prescott’s home to dine or, by chance, chat with him at the local pub, this fact will more than likely come up in conversation.

The lower classes and townies are not allowed in the gallery (thanks to clubs). Mr. Prescott becomes very angry at the riff raff gathered on his porch. “Get off my property!” 

Miss Lipi Tatham has been with Mr. Prescott for two years now, and he’s quite happy with her performance. She excels at customer service. 

Mr. Henry Stroud has been an employee for over 10 years...ever since he got kicked in the head by that horse. What he lacks in brain power, he makes up for in strength and loyalty. He handles deliveries, plus other simple tasks.

Because the good Lord did not see fit to give Mr. Prescott any sons, he sometimes enlists the help of his daughters at the gallery. He looks forward to the day he has a son-in-law that he can pass the business down to.

Heidi, the younger one, is very outgoing. She enjoys getting out of the house and talking to the customers. 

Reva, the older one, has a personality that leans toward the quiet and pensive. She often wanders off to quieter corners of the gallery to contemplate the art work.

This painting, titled “Checkered Garden,” is her current favorite.

The dark-haired woman didn’t come in with the Baroness. Apparently, she has never heard of the term “personal space.” Although, to be fair, this being the 1800s, probably nobody has ever heard of that term.

Lipi rings up her purchase on some strange device. “Look what I invented, Mr. Prescott. It will automatically keep track of all purchases and inventory.” Mr. Prescott is not pleased. “That’s stupid and overly complicated. Get rid of it.” Lipi says, “Oh, okay” and throws it in the trash, never to invent again.

At least Henry has the decency to use pencil and paper (and not mess up my screenshots).

It was a busy and profitable day. Mr. Prescott meets with Henry in the warehouse and gives him instructions for tomorrow morning’s deliveries before closing up shop.

(Note: I had an art store in a modern save where I tried to take pictures with somewhat avant-garde angles, close-ups, and filters, whereas this 1800s store has pictures that focus on things that would appeal to people of that era, like landscapes and symmetry.)

Some of the cc used:

Desk decor - vessel with particles by Soloriya at TSR

Photo Frames by Jools-Simming on Tumblr 

Cash Register by Cocomama on MTS

Handtruck by Annachibisims on Tumblr

[queenofmyshuno]

A Day In The Life: Victorian Teen TS4

A day in the life of my Victorian era teenager, Heidi Prescott...

Good morning!

Her sister Reva is excited to tell her about this new author she discovered, called Kate Chopin. Books are nice. You know what else is nice? Some privacy while brushing one’s teeth! 

Breakfast with the family, made by the family servant, Amersham.

The morning is spent doing some self study and writing in her journal. 

She no longer has a tutor and she doesn’t go to school since girls don’t really need an education beyond the basics, but she still likes to read and learn things on her own.

Heidi was looking forward to getting out of the house and going to the park in the afternoon, but as soon as they got there, it started to rain, and they had to turn around and go home.

Sipping on some hot tea with the family in the parlor to warm themselves up after getting out of the rain.

Her mother and father are always inviting different eligible bachelors to dinner in hopes of marrying off her older sister, Reva. (As a young adult with no prospects, Reva is dangerously close to becoming an old maid.) It’s a bit boring and awkward having all those old guys around, but at least there’s cake.

In the evening, Heidi warms herself by the fire that Amersham has started for her in her room. Good ol’ Amersham. You rarely see him, but he’s always there.

After a bath, she complains to her sister about their parents.

Then she reads a little before bed. A romance.

Then it’s time for bed. Goodnight.

...My poor girl. I realized after playing her for a day how boring her life is, haha. This is a new save, so I don’t have very many venues or families created yet for her to interact with. Your life will get more interesting, Heidi, I promise!

[queenofmyshuno]

Visiting the Vicar

Since the Vicar’s salary does not allow for a maid and he doesn’t yet have a wife, the townswomen volunteer to go to his house now and then to cook and clean for him. While some of the women do actually cook and clean when they get there, the more well-to-do ladies bring their servants and spend their “volunteer time” conversing with the Vicar. Today, Miss Reva Prescott has brought along the family servant, Amersham.

Because most of the women who actually have time to go to the Vicar’s house are the well-to-do ones, the Vicar spends a great deal of his time visiting. As he’s new to this post, he doesn’t mind because it allows him to get to know the town and its people. “Are you sure your man doesn’t want some bread, too?” asks the Vicar. “Oh no,” replies Reva, “I’m sure he had some before we came. After all, he baked it himself.” Ladies don’t eat with their servants, but she’s too polite to point this out.

Reva was pressed into service by her mother and father, and she strongly suspects their motives were not soley to help the unwed Vicar, as they do not attempt to hide the fact that their main goal in life is to get her married off. For this reason, Reva was reluctant to come but dutifully obeyed her parents.  

However, she is actually enjoying her time with Vicar Livingston who seems a kind and thoughtful man with many interesting ideas and philosophies. She’s surprised to find herself looking forward to her next volunteer visit. Her day has been very busy, though, and she’s quite exhausted, so she calls for Amersham and says her goodbyes for now. As they drive off in the carriage, she hands Amersham some bread she has saved for him.

[queenofmyshuno]

Fidelia Meryweather

Fidelia likes everything tidy and in its place, so I carefully arranged her room before I moved her in, and the first thing her father did was to steal her unused journal off her desk. LOL, okay. I guess he really needed one, too. I’ll buy her another one.

Teenager Fidelia (right) and her best friend, Heidi. I wanted to make Fidelia one of those hetero girls that doesn’t like frilly things, hence the tie and basic hat. Heidi, on the other hand, is all about the frills.

To give her more personality, Fidelia has a (non-girly) hobby. She goes around the neighborhood looking for rock specimens to collect and study. Her mother has a fit when she comes back home with dirt on her dress; why can't Fidelia stay home and read like normal girls?

Fidelia studying her new specimen back in her room. Well, at least there’s plenty of room on the desk now for rocks since the journal got swiped, haha.

[queenofmyshuno]

Day in the Life, Fidelia Meryweather

You might be inclined to think, given Fidelia’s strong personality and active disposition, that she’s the type to jump out of bed at the break of dawn, invigorated and ready to face the world head on. I assure you this is not the case. On this very morning, as on most mornings, she is lying in bed and gazing out her window at the grey dawn, thinking about the activities and obligations of the day to come. Fidelia has been looking forward to this particular day for over a week now. 

The day starts with the usual family breakfast and the usual breakfast conversations. Mother shares the latest gossip about who is marrying, who is courting, who will most likely be marrying or courting soon, and who really should be marrying or courting but isn’t. Today, Fidelia and Victor collectively breathe a sigh of relief when their names are not included in the “who should be courting whom” list, but Harland, the younger brother, is not so lucky. Harland quickly changes the subject to banking, his favorite topic of conversation.

Victor, the eldest, also has his usual breakfast topics. He either enthuses about a musical piece he’s working on or about some serendipitous meeting with a cat, whether it be a client’s cat or a street cat. Fidelia has no idea where her brother got such a keen and intense interest in cats as the family doesn’t even own one and mother will not allow animals in the house. Of course, Victor’s musical talk is prone to launch father into a tirade about the irrationality of choosing a career in music over banking, especially given the fact that one’s father is a banker and it would be so easy to learn the business. This speech always ends in the phrase, “It’s not too late to change your mind, son,” which results in Victor appearing to be intensely interested in his plate.

After breakfast, father and Harland retire to their respective offices to work. Even though the bank is closed today, their work is never done. Victor prepares for his piano students, and Fidelia heads to the parlor with mother. Because, as Fidelia is often reminded, she will need to run a house of her own one day (mother is always quick to add the phrase ”hopefully soon”), Fidelia often sits in on mother’s meetings with house staff to discuss shopping needs, meal planning, and things of that nature.

Later in the morning, Miss Heidi Prescott arrives for her lesson. Heidi is not only a pupil of Victor’s, but also Fidelia’s best friend. Fidelia and Heidi have an outing planned after her lesson, which is why Fidelia is excited about today.

Mrs. Prescott visits in the parlor for a bit after delivering Heidi. The Meryweathers are very well connected, with many families visiting the residence, due to Victor’s music lessons, a fact that mother enjoys greatly, given her outgoing and socially inquisitive nature. 

At last, the morning’s obligations have been attended to, and Heidi and Fidelia can take their leave to visit the ruins where FIdelia hopes to find some good rock or fossil specimens. Since it would not be proper or safe for two young women to visit such a place unattended, Harland accompanies them.

The three of them are good friends and have been since childhood, so Harland doesn’t mind. He and Heidi get along very well, which is good since Fidelia’s head is usually someplace else on trips like these as she scrutinizes the surroundings for places to dig.   

After about 45 minutes of looking, Fidelia finds something promising. There are samples here she cannot get around her home, so she’s hoping to add something to her collection that she doesn’t already have.  Despite more looking, Fidelia doesn’t find any more viable samples, but she’s happy because the one she did find looks promising.

The three stop to relax, have a snack, and converse before heading back home, as is their custom on trips such as these. Harland and Fidelia tell Heidi that her name came up this morning at breakfast, which it occasionally does. Specifically, Mrs. Meryweather said to Harland “Miss Prescott seems like she’d make a fine match for any young man. You are fond of her, are you not?” The three of them laugh about this, as Heidi and Harland, although fond of one another, do not harbor any romantic feelings between them. Indeed, their feelings for each other are more akin to siblings or cousins.

Back home, Fidelia breaks open her sample to find an arrowhead fossilized into the rock. She is thrilled about this discovery, checking reference books for any clue as to the arrow’s origin and making notes in her geology journal.

She starts to feel bad, though, as Heidi is clearly bored with the procedure, so she puts the sample aside for now.

Instead, she and Heidi talk. They talk about everything...boys, family, friends, fashion, and their dreams. Heidi’s dream is to marry a man who is handsome and kind. Fidelia isn’t sure what her dream is. She only knows that marriage and running a house don’t seem all that exciting, and she desperately wants something exciting to happen in her life. If she were a man, she would probably join the crew of some ship and sail off to the farthest corners of The Simpire, but alas, she is not a man. 

Soon the Prescott family servant, Amersham, arrives to escort Heidi home. He’s greeted by the the Meryweather’s butler, Mr. Hastings.

Heidi leaves and Fidelia is called to dinner. Today was such an interesting day, and she regales the family with tales of her arrowhead find. 

The family gathers in the parlor after dinner, and Victor entertains them for a bit by playing the piano. Fidelia’s favorite song is “Funiculi Funicula,” and the family attempts to sing it, but since it’s in another language, they mess it up, as they always do. This is cause for much laughter, even from father.

(Note: You can hear a rendition of “Funiculi Funicula” on YouTube.)

Then it’s time to get ready for bed.

Before bed, Fidelia cannot resist reviewing her notes on the fossil she found one last time. She then goes to bed and snuggles down into the covers, happy that something a little exciting happend in her life today.

(Note: If you’d like to see a “Day in the Life” for Heidi, go here.)

Pose cc:

Bored in Bed by Katverse

Female Clothing cc:

Fidelia’s nightgown by Sifix2 at TSR

Fidelia’s dress by Elfdor at TSR

Mrs. Meryweather’s (mother) dress by Elfdor at TSR

Maid’s Uniform by Linzlu on Tumblr

Heidi’s dress by Peebs Plays on Tumblr

Mrs. Prescott’s dress by retro-pixels on Tumblr