Another early breakfast.
Naomi is out the door before Calvin and Evan even wake up.
"Looks like it's just the two of us again, buddy," Calvin sighs.
Evan shrugs. It's not like his mom ever eats with them anyways.
Many of their mornings follow this routine. They eat, Calvin tends to his plants, and they chat about school.
"Make any friends?" Calvin inquires as he pulls out some stubborn weeds.
"Well, there is this one girl named Olivia. She's pretty nice," he muses. Evan's been placed in the gifted program, putting him away from most of his peers. The classes are ok, but he doesn't get to talk to the other kids very much because of it. Except for Olivia and her twin brother, Isaac. Isaac's also been called a "genius", but Evan's a bit scared of him. He gets mad so easily!
Oh and they're also werewolves. But Evan finds that pretty neat!
"Why are they the only werewolf family here?" Evan asks his dad.
"Hmm... well most supernatural sims- you know, werewolves, vampires, and such- live in Moonlight Falls and Bridgeport. Riverview's pretty far away from those places." The closest city to them is Appaloosa Plains, but as far as Calvin knows, there aren't many supernatural sims there.
"But why do they only live there? And if they only live there, why does Olivia's family live here?"
Calvin harrumphs. Difficult questions first thing in the morning! "I don't know Evan."
"Why don't you know?"
The bus honks outside impatiently. Shoot, 10 minutes early? That doesn't give Evan any time to get ready!
He misses the bus by just a few seconds.
Darn it... guess I'll walk, Evan thinks sulkily.
Meanwhile, Calvin is questioning his life choices earning some dough for the family.
He's so deep in the waste that he doesn't notice his son running up to him.
"What the- Evan! What are you doing here!?" Calvin nearly jumps out of his skin in surprise, "You're supposed to be in school!"
"Well you said I couldn't go anywhere without you knowing...so I looked around until I found you," Evan says, blinking his eyes innocently.
Calvin pinches the bridge of his nose. "That doesn't mean you can just skip school whenever you want!"
"Ew, you reek," Evan is belatedly distracted by the stench, "Why were you in that dumpster?"
"It's my job."
"So you're a garbage man?"
Calvin narrows his eyes. "Don't change the subject."
"Fiiiine, I'll go to school..." he stomps away.
Thinking of how long it'll take to get there and the fact that his dad is mad at him again makes Evan cry a little.
Ugh. I'm so soft. "Evan, wait!"
Calvin decides to take Evan to the pool.
"So you steal garbage?"
"No. I take things people have thrown away, clean them and fix them up, and sell them," Calvin explains.
"Isn't that the same thing?"
Sigh.
Evan's quickly distracted by a water aerobics class starting.
"Would you two like to join?" the teacher calls out.
"N-"
Evan jumps up. "YEAH!" he runs off to change.
***
"...so you just let him skip school?" Naomi says as she finishes getting changed.
"He was so upset, I just wanted to show him that I care..."
Naomi shrugs, "Well, if you think that's best..."
"Anyways, will you be coming with me?"
Calvin frowns, "To where?"
"The fundraiser. I'm sure I told you a few days ago."
Calvin shakes his head. "I have to help Evan with his homework. You have a good time, though."
Naomi wraps Calvin into an embrace. "I promise we'll go out, just the two of us, as soon as I have time. I love you, Calvin. Tell Evan goodnight for me, ok?" she pulls away with a quick peck on the cheek.
"See you..."
Calvin comes out and finds Evan halfway through his homework already. The teachers have told him that Evan's gifted, but it's still a bit spooky for Calvin to see him speed through his assignments. If only I was as good at school...
"Daaaaad, what's a..." Evan squints at his simlish homework, "a dependent clause?"
Calvin sighs. Time for a quick trip to the internet search bar...
Now that the weather is warmer, Naomi holds her fundraiser outdoors. The night air is a bit chilly, but nothing too extreme.
She has a busy night of schmoozing and charming voters...
Then comes home and makes breakfast for the next day. Their leftovers have finally run out and Naomi notes that they'll have to go grocery shopping soon. She reminds herself to leave a note for Calvin later.
Calvin is pleasantly surprised to find pancakes in the fridge the next morning.
He makes sure that Evan's awake bright and early today. No more of this skipping school tomfoolery.
Evan frowns- his dad gave him a dumpster bike. It's impossible to tell that he fished it out of the garbage, but that doesn't stop Evan from imagining what it must have smelled like. So gross...
Still, it's faster than walking to school. Evan's given up on making it to the school bus on time.
Evan frowns when he gets to the school's front doors. Does he really want another day of boring lessons that barely engage him? Or would he rather spend the day as he pleases?
He still goes in- no need to get yelled at again- but if he could release the frogs from the science lab...that's at least one lesson period spent outside while the teachers try to recapture them. Sounds like a plan!
Calvin has an uneventful morning of once again repairing the dishwasher...
Going out for a run...
Part-way through his jog, his brother Igor spots him and eagerly waves him over.
"Bro, it's been forever!" Igor exclaims, wrapping Calvin into a bear hug. "I'm so happy to see you!"
Calvin listens as his brother eagerly updates him on his life. He's bought a small sailboat for fishing.
"I'm thinking of bringing Brianne with me," he sighs dreamily.
"Brianne? Like Brianne Shelley?"
"Yeah, that's her! You know her?"
Calvin tries, and fails, to hide a frown. "Yeah... she's friends with Naomi. She, uh, never liked me much."
Igor laughs, "You don't really make it easy. Always so grouchy!" he lightly punches Calvin in the shoulder.
Calvin's frown deepens. This seems typical of his brother- his emotions run high, he acts upbeat and cheerful for a few weeks, then when things go bad his emotions run just as high again and he ends up a tearful jumble of feelings. He hopes, for his brother's sake, that his relationship with Brianne goes well. He would hate to see him hurt.
Igor eventually leaves to go sailing, allowing Calvin to continue on with his day. He's not too keen on dumpster diving today and decides to feel the burn.
Brianne, huh? Igor's emotional outbursts and her temper should be quite the sight, he thinks with a sigh. It occurs to him that Brianne could be his sister-in-law someday, causing him to frown again. That should make for some... interesting...family gatherings. Wow, can't wait...
Naomi's also in high spirits. Work today went very well- she got a raise for her good work in fundraising! When she pays the bills, she realises that it's been a long time since the act has given her massive amounts of anxiety. She recalls how, just a few years ago, the bills were a huge fraction of her savings. Now they don't even make a dent.
Life is good. Sure, she's exhausted from the little sleep, the constant phone calls, all the early mornings and late nights... but she's really making progress!
The phone rings, shattering her happy reverie. It's the school.
***
Evan feels a pang of dread when he gets of his bike only to see his mother marching towards him. This can't be good...
"Evan! Your science teacher called. She said you let all the frogs out into the hallway! What were you thinking?"
Evan's face is one of pure confusion. How did they know it was him? No one at school caught him...
As if answering his thoughts, his mother continues, "The principal told me they watched the security camera footage once all the frogs were back in their cages. They saw you letting them go! Evan! How could you break the rules like this!?"
"I..." What can Evan say, really?
"I don't want to hear it! Just go to your room!"
Evan sprints inside, eager to flee confrontation.
Naomi sighs. Why is her son so out of control? She never had issues going to class and following the rules! With her mother, she never would have dreamed of flouting rules this way!
She waits for Calvin to come home, her euphoria from work wearing off, leaving her barely keeping her eyes open when he walks through the door. Her phone rings loudly, reminding her that there's probably another fundraiser waiting for her. Oh no it's already happening... family life getting in the way of my job... but I can't put this off... she resolves to at least tell Calvin about the frog incident before answering her phone.
"Naomi? You don't look so good. What's wrong?" Calvin notices the bags under her eyes and her woozy expression.
"I..."
She faints.
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AN: Naomi really did pass out! The fundraiser lasted a lot longer than I expected and she barely slept when she got home. With her workaholic trait, she's also been "working hard" nearly every day. Poor Naomi.
It's really funny, Evan doesn't have the rebellious trait, but rolled lots of wishes to skip school, pull pranks, etc. I decided to indulge him- after all, not all rebellious kids/teens stay like that forever!
Since many of the sims Naomi schmoozes with in these parties have been dead for ages I've given up on characterising most of them or writing dialogue. I can't find most of their family trees anymore, so sorry for the lacklustre fundraising parties!
The original story arch I had was that Calvin would be dumpster diving in secret, embarrassed that he couldn't get a "real job", but I quickly realised what a silly idea that was. Riverview's such a small town, someone would have spotted Calvin! I also doubted Naomi would judge him for it- she's a workaholic, but she doesn't strike me as caring what someone does for a living as long as it works. Not like the family's hurting for cash anymore, either. Calvin's not ambitious or a workaholic either, so I don't see him being super ashamed of his job.
This did leave me with this scene I had panned ages ago, where Calvin gets caught dumpster diving by Evan and gives in to his request to skip school to keep him quiet about it. I decided to keep it in as a father-son bonding moment instead. I think it worked better this way!
We should be seeing the Nocturne family once Evan is a teen! I plopped them into the city since Naomi didn't have a lot of co-workers and the town needed some fresh blood. I didn't plan on including them too much in the story, but Evan became friends with Olivia (the oldest daughter) at school. The parents then had two more children, leading to them having quite the pack of 6 sims!
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