Starring:
Aki Tanaka, Adult Popularity Sim, 2nd LTW Become Captain Hero
~*~*~*~*~
Last time we saw Aki, he and Tara had a nasty breakup, and the two of them both moved out into their own separate places. Aki moved into a mod apartment that suited a bachelor. He was saddened at losing Tara and tried to fill the void by bringing loads of people home from work, making lots of new friends. He finally managed to get to the top of the law enforcement career track and even got himself a little post-breakup woohoo. Let's see how he does this round.
Of all the things he loved about being Captain Hero, Aki had to admit that the method of travel was the best.
He loved going to work every day, helping people, doing his best to save the world. Unfortunately, being a super hero wasn't as easy as he thought it might be. Despite his hard work and best intelligent judgment, he was fired after a scandal involving a power plant/robot situation.
He could not believe that HE, Aki, the perpetual A+ student and all-around hard worker, could get fired for something as minor as a killer robot and nuclear meltdown... okay, so he understood where his superiors were coming from, but it didn't take the sting out of losing the job he'd worked so hard to get.
After a good long session of pouting, stuffing his face, and watching stupid comedy movies on tv, Aki finally peeled himself off the couch and started looking for another job. To his surprise, there was a position open in a nearby town's law enforcement team. He quickly snatched it up, but he told them he couldn't start for a while yet. There was something important he needed to do.
With a sad but resolute heart, Aki packed up his bags and headed for the sunny Twiikii Isles. If anyone needed a vacation, he was that person.
Within a few hours, he was sunning himself in front of the quiet surf, dozing and feeling the heat of the day and the spray of the salt water.
If the gorgeous cove in back of his hotel and some distracting sight-seeing couldn't take his mind off his worries, he didn't know what could. He was beginning to feel more human already.
The painful sunburn he acquired wasn't exactly the most relaxing thing he hoped for on his vacation, but that's what happened when you were so exhausted you fell asleep on the sand, he supposed.
After a nap and a cool shower, he headed out that evening to see some of the sights. The monkey temple, to his eyes, looked like one big opportunity for a prank. He wasn't normally the mischievous type, but what the heck - he was on vacation!
The monkey gods apparently did not appreciate his "offering" OR his sense of humor.
However, the best thing to ever happen to Aki so far in his life happened because of the attention drawn by the angry monkey temple. A local, an exotic brown-skinned beauty named Daisy, came trotting over to see why the temple was angry. Aki was immediately smitten. He talked shyly to Daisy for a while before saying goodnight to her, asking if he could call her for advice on local hangouts before his trip was over. He was elated when she said yes.
He continued to check out the island that week, going on a few tours.
Of course, they all ended disastrously, as seemed to be vacation karma.
The next day, Aki headed back to the beach, determined to even out his terrible-looking sunburn and return to looking like a somewhat normal human being instead of a boiled lobster.
With the aid of some strategic oiling and suntan lotioning, he managed to get a pretty decent looking tan.
Even the locals think I look good, he thought. But it wasn't all the locals he was interested in impressing.
Later that night, he invited Daisy over to sit on the beach and enjoy some room service on his small balcony overlooking the ocean.
They enjoyed more than just dinner.
Afterward, they got up, got dressed, and took a midnight stroll on the beach. "Daisy, I can really see myself being with you," he stated, and saw how pleased she looked as she replied in kind.
"In fact," he continued, getting down on one knee, "I think I'd like you to come back to Rosebud to live with me...as my wife." He wasn't sure whether it was the moonlight or the ocean pounding gently on the shore or the soft coconut scent of her shampoo, but he knew he had to be with her.
To his shock, she agreed! It was beyond fast, but apparently they both felt the connection. Aki packed up the next day with Daisy in tow, and they headed back to Rosebud to begin their new life together.
Daisy came with a healthy chunk of change from the sale of her little beach house on Twiikii Island. She felt very strongly about family and was as charismatic as Aki knew her to be back on that moonlit beach.
She was a real sweetie too. Outgoing, playful, kind...she would be a great wife and an even better mother.
She was glad to get rid of her island duds...her job had required the grass skirt, and she was tired of the tickle of the strands around her ankles.
She couldn't hide the tattoo she got there, but she wouldn't have wanted to. It was part of her past and who she was, and she was happy to bring that part to her new life.
She and Aki settled into a comfortable domesticity. She couldn't really cook (she'd never had to), so he did most of the chef work. She was eager to learn, though, and studied constantly via books and the yummy channel.
Aki finally started his new job and was promoted almost immediately. And it turned out to be a good thing.
Aki had liked the fact that Daisy was younger than he was because it meant he might have a chance to have a child before he died. What he didn't realize was that his new family would start so fast! Apparently, a ring wasn't the only thing Aki had given Daisy that night at the bungalow!
Aki was as yet oblivious to Daisy's condition, and he kept going to work as usual, finally regaining his position as Captain Hero. Now he could relax a bit.
He even used the bonus to build Daisy a huge greenhouse. She was used to the warm, humid climate of the islands and mentioned that it would be much harder to garden in a place that was so cool half of the year. He took the hint and spoiled her.
"So I'm really looking forward to raising plants," Daisy commented at dinner one night. "And maybe a child. In, oh say, 8 or so months to be specific." She looked at him nervously. Aki was certainly shocked, but he was also delighted. So his family would begin earlier than he expected. Even better!
Daisy's belly began to show, and it made Aki realize something important: they'd never actually gotten married! They were living together, engaged, and had a child coming, but he felt it was important to make it legal.
He felt kind of silly at his age getting married for the first time, but he also felt wonderful. This was a step he and Tara had never taken because they never felt quite right about it. Everything about this was right. They only had a small exchange of rings in the kitchen one day, the symbolic exchange witnessed only by their impending little one.
Daisy continued to entertain herself during the day while Aki was at work by puttering around in her garden. She was beginning to think she'd been a bit too ambitious in planning the size of it. By the time she tended every plant, she was falling-down exhausted!
And then, one night, Aki felt a tug of pain in his back. Meadow Pederson, who was by for a visit, commented that he was starting to look his age.
Sure enough, he couldn't deny it any longer. Aki was an elder. He was going to be the oldest dad in Rosebud, but for the most part, he didn't care what people said. He'd waited a long time for this family.
And he didn't look
that bad...he hoped. At least Daisy still seemed to find him attractive, and that was all that really mattered.
Frankly, at that moment, Daisy was busy with other concerns than her hubby's graying head.
That night, Daisy and Aki's son was born, with his mother's eyes and a grossly inappropriate skintone that will be fixed in the next entry. :p
Little Yoshi Tanaka joined the world.
The bachelor pad wasn't exactly child friendly, but Aki added on a room to be the nursery and little Yoshi's bedroom, and life went on with new vigor and new delight.
[[Author's Notes: So I just sort of acted impulsively with Aki this round. The poor old guy was getting, well, old, and he kept having wants for all these women (pretty much any one he met), but I didn't like any of the townies he kept meeting. I figured he could use a vacation, and I could bring home a vacation townie. I really like Daisy, and I think their kids will be lovely. Poor Yoshi was victim to the non-defaulted Kids In Technicolor skintones by Pooklet, so he will be fixed next time around. :) Also, I feel it necessary to mention that this child's name was by request of Liz, in honor of our marathon Mario girls' nights and her favorite character. Come back, Yosh! Got a few bloopers for you...
Bloopers:
Aki occasionally likes to be a douchebag for his own amusement. // Okay, okay! I'll get you a girl! // Long way to come to leave a date present. // Whut? I have no clue what he said that was so offensive. // What I imagine this tour guide to be thinking. ]]
Read More......
Inari Tanaka, Adult Family Sim, LTW Become Education Minister
Salvatore Vinci-Chin, Adult Knowledge Sim, 2nd LTW Become Head of SCIA
River Vinci-Chin, Child Knowledge Sim, LTW Grow Up Well
Sometimes, Sal and Inari wondered if they should have had another child to keep River company, but then they realized that she was perfectly content as an only child...so long as she had Dakota to play with from time to time.
Inari, in the meantime, was loving her new job. Not only was it morally and financially rewarding, but she got the most badass outfit ever.
Plus, she could fly. See you later, Inari!
River also found her own way to keep her social levels up when Dakota got boring. She brought friends home from school from time to time, though none of them really seemed to interest her too much.
Mayhew London, for example, had really unusual eyes, but his gossip about what the other girls were wearing at school wore thin River's nerves.
They settled on an activity that any child could agree on with a peer: some television. River was still bored, though. She didn't like being cooped up in the house as a general rule.
More often than not, she packed off her potential friends and went out to spend some time in her parents' garden. She too took an interest in nature...catching bugs and picking fruit and fishing and all that, but this summer, her parents finally agreed to let her have complete control over the garden. She took this task very seriously and only really felt happy when she was digging in the dirt and taking care of her plants.
Inari and Sal were pleased to see their daughter take a firm interest in nature, just as they had. And they were still learning too: Sal only just then, after years of fishing, managed to finally earn his gold fishing badge.
Their interest in nature spread out to all sorts of outdoor activities.
You know the saying... if this tent is a-rockin'...
Inari's new goal was to finally finish her bug collection. She only had about five more left to complete it, and she spent hours outdoors trying to find those last few elusive bugs.
Thus the whole family spent most of their spring with their outdoor hobbies. It wasn't just something they all enjoyed, it was something that brought them together.
Inari: Look at me! I'm smelly, half-naked, and social!
I have no good caption for this, the picture just amused me. :D
Awkward much? Salvatore: So...you're a colleague of my wife's from work??
