#callen charm

[ravingsockmonkey]

TFW your daughter is in a bear phase and the four members of your polycule who co-parent her want to be supportive.

[ravingsockmonkey]

GL HF! [Good Luck, Have Fun!]

When Teddy wasn't throwing down to defend his little brother, he was grinding.

Grinding ranks in games, grinding out stream views, grinding fitness, grinding out grades, grinding out magic... you name it, Teddy would find a way to turn it into a competition that he was going to win.

Streaming became one of his favorite pastimes, and his dads got him his own computer so he could stream without keeping everyone else from using one of the family computers. He started streaming and gaming under the name teddybearRAWR.

It wasn't long before he started recognizing a consistent name in his matches: JaxAx69. JaxAx69 seemed to be as competitive as he was and had a foul mouth to boot. He was constantly talking trash, and Teddy found himself both irritated by him and enjoying having someone on his level. After several sessions of them trading barbs back and forth, the two agreed to meet up at what would become the last after prom party for a while.

Despite a few insults, the two ended up becoming friends... or possibly closer to frenemies. They started hanging out, and the more Teddy learned about the boy, the more he understood why Jax was the way he was.

Jax lived alone. Every adult in his household had died except for Ervin who was like a big brother to him. Ervin had moved out to live with his fiance and didn't visit often. His parent, Ash Harjo, apparently wasn't his parent*... researching his own genealogy revealed nothing, and there were no adoption records either. As far as he knew, he had no family.

And though he'd never admit it to anyone, he was incredibly lonely.

Teddy noticed that Jax's insults were becoming less of a thing or at least they were shifting to be more teasing than cutting. He had his suspicions on why, but didn't want to push things until the boy was comfortable.

When he wasn't hanging out with Jax, Teddy was working on his magical ability. He really looked up to his big brother Callen, so whenever the young man challenged him to a duel, he was excited to give it a shot.

Callen was a significantly stronger spell caster, and Teddy found himself straining against the very first clash.

All Teddy could think as he felt himself being lifted into the air and flung onto the ground was that he was glad Jax wasn't there to laugh at his loss.

A surprise waited for him at home though!

Jax was there, and he was in a flirty mood. As Teddy suspected, the boy had a crush on him and was finally feeling comfortable enough to express it.

The two traded flirts back and forth until Jax, feeling a little overwhelmed around so many people, headed outside. Teddy went with him to show off some new games.

The chill in the air couldn't put a damper on the warm feelings between the two, and Teddy leaned in for their first kiss. Jax was a little surprised at first, but quickly recovered with a chuckle insisting that he won.

Later after Jax left, Teddy found Finn and his da working on a puzzle. Johnny was struggling a bit (a lot), and gave up to make himself a drink.

Finn: Teddy, can you help me with this? Da wasn't having much luck.

Teddy: I will crush this puzzle. I'm going to beat this puzzle so fast your head will spin!

Phoenix: Oh, this is going to be rich.

Finn: I don't think that's how puzzles work, but okay.

Phoenix eventually stepped away, and Johnny came back to check on the boys.

Teddy was unleashing a concerning amount of sweat for a puzzle game, and Johnny knew it wouldn't be long before it would become a problem.

Sure enough...

Finn: TEDDY!!! You're sweating all over the puzzle! You're going to ruin it!!!

Everyone (else) chuckled. Finn was having fun despite the sweat, and Teddy was simply happy that he "won" at puzzles. Even if his family didn't quite understand his competitive nature, he knew that Jax would appreciate the victory.

*Whenever I still had neighborhood stories turned on, I found Jax as a toddler in the Harjo household. Since Ash and Noah's parents had been dead for a long time, I assumed that Ash had adopted him. However, whenever I view the family tree, Jax shows no one as his parents or family. My current working theory/HC on this is that one of Ash's more bonkers fans "gifted" them a child, and that child was Jax... which would also explain the weird relationship the two had and the mess that he is now.

I thought at first it could be a case of ghosts/sims being purged, but if I look at Teddy's family tree I can still see Nancy, Geoffrey, and Minerva showing as grandparents... and they've been dead for well over a full actual year. So yeah, Jax was a weird fan gift to Ash I guess.

[ravingsockmonkey]

Zest-Charm Extras

Some notes about the Zest-Charm family that I thought might interest folks:

Darrel and Johnny's biological kids all have the Zest-Charm surname. The four they adopted and the twins Darrel had with Emilia all have the Charm surname. I decided to use it at the time because I didn't want the Zest name to be lost in the mix.

I didn't realize Darrel and Emilia were engaged back whenever I first got RoM as I wasn't familiar with the townies yet. Darrel started autonomously flirting with Johnny while at a club, and then started coming over regularly.

So imagine my surprise whenever I decided to take Johnny to visit and uh... yeah.

I didn't yet have lumpinou's Open Love Life mod installed, so I couldn't do polyamory, so Emilia broke things off with Darrel.

Once I did install it, Darrel and Johnny opted for an open relationship and discussed what could have been had they known about it before.

In game years later, I found her living in Sulani and decided to move her to Willow Creek, completely forgetting I was moving her into the same neighborhood as Darrel and Johnny... which made the welcome wagon a bit awkward.

Despite the awkwardness, there was very clearly still a spark there, so I slowly rebuilt Darrel and Emilia's friendship until they could fully reconcile.

Their current arrangement: Darrel and Johnny are married, Darrel and Emilia are romantic partners, Johnny (who is gay) and Emilia are besties. She really wanted more with Johnny (I can't blame her), but yeah.

The children:

Celeste Zest-Ember [She/Her] -currently living in Brindleton Bay.

Lilly Charm [She/Her] - oldest daughter of Gemma, adopted by Darrel and Johnny after her death. Currently living in Windenburg with her fiance, their cat, and two children.

Robin Charm [She/Her] - youngest daughter of Gemma, adopted by Darrel and Johnny after her death. Had Dormant Wolf trait, later sought the cure and became a spell caster. Died in an accident leaving her twins to be with Lilly.

Hannah Charm [She/Her] - Adopted by Minerva Charm shortly before she passed away. Adopted by Darrel and Johnny after her death. Currently lives in Oasis Springs with her girlfriend and cat. Almost was submitted to Dating Deanna!

Callen Charm [He/Him] - Biological child of Gunther Munch and L. Faba, though neither were particularly interested in the boy. Minerva, who disliked L, tipped Darrel off to the boy's plight. He was able to talk Gunther into letting him adopt the child. Despite Gunther's reluctance to be a father to him, Callen maintained an amicable relationship with him until his death and is still friendly with his biological siblings. Currently lives on a small farm in Henford on Bagley with his three partners and children.

Stephanie Zest-Charm [She/Her] - Youngest daughter and second biological child; she was little whenever Darrel and Emilia reconciled, so she sees her as a mom figure. Is currently engaged to Logan Goth (son of Marco and Blair Goth) whom she lives with across the street from her parents. She has one child.

Theodore "Teddy" Zest-Charm [He/Him] - Hot headed and atrociously competitive, Teddy doesn't seem like someone you'd want to be around on the surface, but he genuinely cares about his family and tends to save his toxic side for everyone else. His competitiveness has driven him to be an excellent student (seriously, this kid autonomously does his homework, extra-credit work, and projects all of the time). He is a few days older than the twins, and never lets them live it down.

Phoenix Charm [He/Him] - Oldest of the twins that Darrel and Emilia had together. Named Phoenix because the Watcher was celebrating their reunion. Saw Simeon Silversweater once and decided to adopt the same aesthetic. He's a gentle boy who loves plants and the outdoors, but also enjoys spending time with his brothers despite how different they are.

Finn Charm [He/Him] - Whenever Johnny and Emilia decided to "twin" with their pregnancies, no one knew that Finn would crash the party causing literal twins. Outgoing and creative but not particularly motivated, he is hoping for an easy life surrounded by friends where he can simply paint and bake.

[ravingsockmonkey]

A matter of family...

While August and Dylan slowly blend their little families together, it might be worth taking a look at the dynamic Celeste grew up with. You see, Dylan would be the first to admit that being co-parented by four people might not have given him the best picture of how challenging raising kids could be (though he'd not use that as excuse for his prior inattention), Celeste didn't have such a setup.

She is the oldest of 9 children, four of which were adopted while she was still living at home. Initially, it was just her dads raising them all as Darrel and Emilia didn't reconnect and reconcile until after her youngest sister, Stephanie, was born.

Maybe such a large family made her long for something smaller and quieter?

Were Darrel and Johnny younger, they may have assumed they did something wrong, but they had long since learned that their children had to learn to make their own path once out of the nest. They simply made sure to be there to support them in their own way.

Celeste had been trying to put on a facade that everything was okay, but the two knew that it was slipping quickly. They also wanted to make sure that Erick knew that he was welcome in their home as well.

Out of respect to Dylan, the two made sure to clear it with him that he was okay with the boy having a key to their home. They also wanted to make sure that he knew that they had no animosity towards him after the divorce. Keeping Erick safe and happy was the right thing to do even if their oldest was in the mix.

Erick enjoyed being able to visit his extended family more often, and developed a closer bond with them as a result. He bonded easily with Grandpop Darrel over their shared love for cooking, and he decided that being a food critic sounded like something he might be interested in once he aged up. His youngest uncles were also his age, and he enjoyed hanging out with them whenever he was over.

The next time that Celeste came to visit, it was very clear that things were not okay. Not only was she afflicted with some sort of ailment, but she also seemed to have very mixed feelings being around her siblings.

Their lives were far from perfect, and yet they all seemed happier than her. Lilly and her fiance had been raising Robin's twins after she died in an accident, but doing so made her realize she wanted to get a bigger home so they could have children of their own. Hannah wasn't sure if her career was one she wanted to stick with, but she had reconnected with an old flame and things were going well. Callen was exhausted juggling the small farm and his start-up, his bio-dad had passed a while back, and him and his partners unexpectedly had twins... but their house was full of love and chatter.

Maybe it was time to do some reflection, work on her bucket list, and sort out what she wanted in life. Maybe it was worth even attending grief counseling to finally work through losing her childhood best friend.