#khc: 1872

[lochlander]

The Kohlers aren't the only ones with babies to come! Seems like Joseph and Lupe's wedding night was pretty effective; she pops before the season is out.

Mom- and dad-to-be are thrilled at the idea and they spend a lot of the rest of 1872 being adorable. Which is pretty standard for Joseph and Lupe, but this time they're adorable with a bump!

[lochlander]

1871 ended with promise of a wedding. 1872 isn't quite there yet, but it's getting close, so it's certainly not a bad thing to end on new love as we head into the winter months of 1873. Winter in Montana is pretty cold, after all...why not revel in the warmth while you can?

[lochlander]

Once Vasil has put Alessandro in his place, he invites Éireann over to see if he has a place in hers. After the drama with Alessandro's rejections, I'm a little nervous to see what she says--but I shouldn't be. Éireann accepts Vasya's proposal without hesitation and the hug she gives him afterward is so tight it makes me tear up a lil bit. What isn't pictured because it got superseded by the engagement pop-up: this is where Éireann fell in love with him.

So we do get a shotgun wedding after all, just not the one I initially expected. It's presided over by Otahkoika, who is the closest thing to a courthouse in Kainai, and goes without a hitch, which at this point is all I can hope for Éireann.

Vasil doesn't seem at all put off by his new wife already being pregnant with another man's child. Much the opposite: he seems excited for the baby to come. Honestly more excited than Éireann has been, up until this point. He just seems happy to be with her, no matter what.

[lochlander]

Lawrence settles into his own space easy, though most of the season at his home lot is getting used to the new routine of chores and meals. Beyond being good with a hammer and anvil, Lawrence has managed the first successful beehives in the settlement--which will also provide a steady stream of honey when springtime comes.

Over at the smithy, business is booming. His first customer is Nettie Benoit, continuing her trend of having her finger on the pulse of everything in Kainai. I quickly learn that he's going to need a cashier soon, if he wants to keep up with everyone coming in for nails, pots, and shoes for horses they don't have (I'm working on that).

[lochlander]

It isn't just a homestead, though--Lawrence is nothing if not practical and he only moved out when he had the resources to also establish Kainai's first blacksmith. No lie, I'm a little super proud of this one too.

[lochlander]

When I sidestep over to the Benoit household to see how things are going on Vasil's side of this wild situation, I find that he's two steps ahead of me. See, Vasya got canned from the Schevchenko Mines because he would not stop getting into fistfights with the owner and now he's living in close quarters with the scoundrel who took advantage of his dear Miss Gallagher.

What happens next is...predictable.

See how Otahkoika is cheering watching Vasil whup Alessandro's ass? I'm not too proud to say that was me, watching this fight, crowing at my computer screen like a middle schooler. I'd had a glass of wine, I was playing the Sims, sweet back country justice was being wrought--in short, it was a good night.

Made better by Vasya showing Alessandro why you don't mess with a lady's heart and other more southerly parts and then not marry her--especially when she's best friends with a guy who's been pushing around minecarts for two years. Alessandro is pissed. I am elated.

[lochlander]

I usually try to be all artsy and obscure/cut out the headlines but I needed to make absolutely clear to y'all that this autonomous kiss on Vasya's part was made with no existing romantic relationship between the two of them. Vasya showed up one day to visit a visibly pregnant Éireann Gallagher and, as far as I can tell, declare his love for her.

And it is love, on Vasya's side. Éireann doesn't fall quite as hard, but maybe it's just a little bit hard to believe that this could really be happening. Maybe she's wary of trusting a man who says he loves her--I sure as hell would be in her situation. But Vasil seems to be genuine in his adoration. He even manages to have a whole extra bolt for her, which I can't quite figure out but I'm just gonna go with.

[lochlander]

Éireann and I are satisfied with our "first recorded shotgun wedding" plan right up until Alessandro has other ideas. This is when I start to worry--eagle-eyed simmers might have caught that Éireann was the only one with a love heart over her head the night they got jiggy with it and it seems that wasn't for nothing. Alessandro has no intention of making an honest woman out of Kainai's schoolteacher.

Éireann is pissed and I'm not far off either. Now, it takes two to tango and I was serious with that "if it isn't the consequences of her own actions" comment, but also? These are also the consequences of Alessandro's own actions: it is 1872, motherfucker, and you have way more power and way fewer consequences. But maybe he knows that because even Éireann's tears don't seem to move him.

[lochlander]

To get past the mines, though, Homer needs to put aside things for his own Hope Chest. On his free days away from the mines he heads out to the local fishing hole, which is where he meets Tsuna Morioka.

Tsuna may well be long past daydreaming for a better life. With her husband's philandering and their constant fighting, she often wonders if this great new frontier was just a mistake. Pavel seems happy with the second family he forces her to live with and even though her business is doing well, her heart isn't really in it. Sometimes, she wonders if she still has one.

Talking to Homer, though, she thinks she just might. He's not like her at all; he's full of daydreams: of making friends, of claiming a homestead, of making something of himself. And most of all, of having a family. After years of being married to a Romance sim, talking with another Family sim feels a little like seeing the light.

[lochlander]

Just hours before the seasons change and end their round, Lupe feels telltale signs coming on. I had expected an 1873 birthday for the little one, but the game and Lupe have different ideas. She's ready to meet this baby now.

Joseph isn't particularly helpful--actually a bit surprising, considering how often he helps birth calves--but he's there and that's what matters.

And so he's the first to see his son, Frederick Tandey, who becomes "Freddie" instantaneously.

[lochlander]

Adding to the fuzziness is that neither of them let this take attention away from the kids they already have. No evil stepmothers or absentee fathers here--just the most wholesome family in Kainai.

Lupe is the one to help little Marcus blow out his birthday candles. It takes about two seconds for him to eat a piece of cake and then he and his big sister Zhanna are off to play games.

[lochlander]

When Éireann first starts spending time around Alessandro Rossi, I don't think much of it. Actually, that's not quite true. It's not a terrible couple, I don't think--despite his long tenure in Kainai, he's not particularly close to getting his own homestead. The pairing isn't terrible and so I sit back to see what happens.

And oh boy, does stuff start to happen. If you're wondering, "hey, Loch, didn't you miss some pictures of socializing or crush hearts or something?" that's a good question and no, I didn't. I have no idea how this progressed this quickly. I'm not shaming anybody, I'm just flummoxed.

[lochlander]

When she's not cheering on Seda Benoit's birthday, Maria Divina takes this rotation back where it began: to Lawrence Goode's farm, where she's really struck it off with the local blacksmith.

Really struck it off. So much so that even though their goofing off is quite chaste, I start to take notice. The two have a lot in common, after all--and what is the Sims 2 if not an advanced matchmaking game?

[lochlander]

Separate from whatever drama is going on in the bachelor/ette wing of the host's house, Seda Benoit gets a birthday. It's a smaller affair, with only the Benoits and their tenants in house, but it's cheery enough.

Seda, though, seems to be a quite serious child. I don't see her smile very often. Which isn't a bad thing, at all, but I'm curious to see how she'll develop as the years go on.

[lochlander]

Thankfully, Wilhelm manages to help Isaac put a dent in his toddler skills before the end of 1872, which makes me feel a little better.

For a bit at least. Ah, ACR, my oldest and most rivalmanced friend.

[lochlander]

After a season of drama with our local schoolteacher, the Kohlers' life of routine is a change of pace. Little Isaac continues to operate a little too much in the background for my tastes--he grows up before I can get him a cake, into the picture of his dad.

I hate to call any child a forgotten child but, well, his family keeps forgetting about him. It really highlights one of the interesting consequences about the longevity of the gestational age mod. Most of the time if I have large families, the toddlers don't stay toddlers for long. This mod is a lot more realistic, though, making me ache for the days when the older Kohler siblings will be teenagers and able to help take care of things. This is textbook parentification, but it's the Sims, so who's counting?

Me. I'm counting--when Kirsten autonomously takes over the stereotypical eldest daughter role and spends more time with Isaac than any of her siblings. She's trying her best, but she can only do so much and it really makes me thankful for effective birth control and family planning.