Four rowhouses with very different styles, who would say they all have the same base?
I built these houses live on the Purple Website back in December 2023 for Cjplays (@gkfkfkfk)’s DLC Challenge, just now I'm posting it here, after over half a year!
Anyways, this is a residential lot and it’s meant to be placed on 99 Landgraab Avenue (a 30x30 lot), just beside Jamie Jolina's house.
Requires the University Life EP, Town Life SP and Midnight Hollow Store world (I used a decrappified version though). I also used some CAStable default replacements by joninmobile, as well as my Smooth in Three Parts default replacement, as I forgot to remove them while I was furnishing the lot.
I want you both to know that I mean this in the most sincere way possible. I want you to be able to see my honesty illuminate from every word, and lastly, I want you to take everything I say to heart.
Fuck you.
Fuck you both. I was just a child. What kind of parents put their kid through the shit you put me through? I not only have to live with all the pain ravaging my memories, but the scars that go with it too. What happened to taking me to the park to play catch, or signing me up for soccer so you could go to my games and still cheer me on, even if my team is completely sucking ass? You have no right to call yourselves parents. You're barely even humans. If your idea of family time is arguing while I sit in the corner, pouring my eyes out, then you two definitely need help. Leaving you two was the best choice I've ever made, and I'd gladly repeat that decision without hesitation.
Even if that means dying here again.
I've never hated anyone else besides the two of you, and trust me, I've met a lot of terrible people. I remember how often I used to wonder if you two ever cared about me after I left. If you wondered where I was, or if you spent any nights regretting the way you treated me. I guess I was pretty stupid to think that.
Brigitte had always had trouble expressing how she felt, she never knew exactly what to say to the people she cared about, all in all, she was afraid of being hurt, she looks, she doesn't ever know exactly what she is looking for, but she looks. Wide eyes, closed mouth, thinking, breathing, wishing to be anywhere else. Except for very few moments, she tends to shy away from people, but occasionally she'll strike up a conversation, she always had trouble trusting people due to her past, she believes something bad will happen to anyone she cares about.
Dear Tobias,
've known you for such a long time, I know you've always been there for me, and I cannot thank you enough for that. Honestly I don't know how I feel about you. I care and I know I do have feelings for you, but then there's Adam, and I don't know what to do any more, I'm lost in my mind, I've been thinking and I've decided it would be best this way, I'll miss you Tobias and I honestly wish I didn't have to do this, but I feel this is my only option, remember that I care, and that I do very much. I'll always love you Tobias...But this is goodbye.
Dear Violet,
I know we've never spoke much, but I decided it would be best if I wrote you a letter as well to explain a bit. I've never really been fond of talking to people, and most people tend to leave me alone because they believe that I am not worth it, but you tried to have a conversation or two with me, and you will not believe how rare and different that is compared to everyone else, honestly Violet it means a lot to me that you tried to talk to me and listened to what I had to say, I still haven't eaten, by the way, but I tried for all of you, I just wanted to say thank you.
Dear Alec,
Where to start? Alec, you're probably my best friend, I love you so much, you're like a brother to me, I just don't know what to say, you tried to get through my walls and you tried hard, I tried to make you give up, but you were convinced that you could do it, and you did, thank you Alec. I'll always be there for you like you were to me, I think I'll miss you the most, you're my perfect best friend and I wish you the best of luck with Harper.
Dear Lisette,
You are a very unlikely friend that I made, when I first met you, I honestly thought we would not get along, But you're so different from most people in the house and I respect that in you so much. You are a very nice person and I hope it will help you in life, you deserve the largest amount of happiness that I can give. Although I don't try, I will give you my happiness when I die, it will pass to you, and I hope you enjoy it, you may not receive it straight away, but when there are those moments, the special ones, remember me, I'm there, making sure you're happy.
characters involved → Nathaniel and Nicolas De Luca
notes → I try to make it not too emotional, as always I include a trigger warning just in case. Muneris is Latin for Responsibility. The phone number means I am Sorry.
word count → 1410
Vincent looked up at the sweet blue sky, he smiled as a flock of birds flew by. The sun barely peeked over the horizon and he looked back at the house he had to left his two brothers in on this early Saturday morning. He walked up to his Impala and he got in the car, he placed the key in the ignition and turned the key. It roared to life and he put the car in gear driving off to work. It was a shitty job but anything to keep his brothers in school and out of trouble. At least they were old enough to take care of themselves when it came to food and such, Nicolas always loved it when Vincent wasn't at home, it made him feel like the older brother for a few hours. Vincent came across his misuse of power one day when he came early home from work. He parked in front of the book store and walked in. As the day went on, he became more and more bored with the job he was doing. But he was doing it to take of his brothers. Times were tough and the money was average, they just barely lived paycheck to paycheck. The smell of old books was something that didn't so sit so well with him, but it got him money to care for his brothers. When the day came to a pass he drove home, passing the liquor store as he drove. He turned the car around, parked his car, walked into the store bought a bottle of whiskey, flashed his ID and walked out of the shop. He drove home, brown paper bag on the seat next to him. He pulled up at the house and walked up the stairs. He opened the door and heard the door filling the house and he found his brothers asleep in front of it. He looked at the clock and saw it's well past 8. They were probably exhausted from school. He woke them up and walked them to bed, tucking them in. They were his responsibility, his only family. The only reason he still chose to exist. He walked back to the kitchen where he placed the brown paper bag, he took the bag and walked to the tv, he fell down on the couch and turned on the tv. He started to watch a movie about a family who struggled through a lot and he took sips from the bottle, when the movie was done. The bottle of whiskey, good ol Jack Daniels was gone as well. Johnny walked right out of that door. Vincent stared at his bottle and he shook his head, he wanted more. So he took his jacket, stumbled a little and he was out of the door. He walked down the street at 10:30pm needing more whiskey. The bottle he had didn't drown out the pain he felt. He slipped into a bar and got a few more glasses into his system. He chuckled as the liquid set his body on fire, he completely forgot about anything. He walked out of the bar an hour later, he stumbled a little and heard two girls talking to each other as they came out the theater, they sounded like sisters and he laughed at them. Their mother came and escorted them to the car, calling him names. He stumbled into a park and sat down on a bench, looking up at the sky. The weight on his shoulders hard and heavy.
"Why did you leave me? I can't do this anymore. This is hard! YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH!!"
His head hung all of the sudden and a tear fell from his eye. He just chuckled and wiped it away.
"You know what is the worst... Nicolas... He has cancer, how in the hell am I going to pay for that. I can't let him die. WHAT DID YOU THINK?! DRINKING EVERYTHING AWAY WAS GOING TO MAKE IT EASY FOR US?"
He just lay his down on the bench next to him and curled into a ball. He didn't deserve this. Another tear slipped from his eye and then he heard a soft whining sound. He looked down and saw a dog just sitting there and staring at him. He closed his eyes and a sob broke from his lips. The dog came closer and just lay it's head on the bench in front of him. He opened his eyes and just stared at the blue eyes that looked back at him.
"Your breath stinks..."
The dog tilted his head to the side and gave him a confused look, and then made a face that almost said likewise. Vincent reached out and softly patted the dog's head, the dog leaned into the touch and it panted like he was enjoying it. Vincent looked down and saw a collar on the dog, with a number on the tag, the dog's name as he saw was Muneris. He tried to read the number but somehow it just didn't make sense to him, the area code was all wrong. He sat up and frowned, responsibility is what came to his mind when he looked at the dog. He then stood up and stumbled home, the dog right by his side. He walked up the stairs of the house again and entered it, the dog following close by. It quickly ran to the couch and lay down there. Vincent walked to the dog and patted it's head. Checking the collar again he took down the number. On a piece of paper he wrote it down. 9113-1915181825. The numbers were confusing but he took it as he was too drunk to even think so he left it, and decided he was going to bed.
"Come on dog."
Vincent walked to his room and the dog trailed along. Vincent's head was still violently in a haze but he somehow got out of his clothes and with the dogs help into some clean ones. He luckily had tomorrow of and he walked to the bed, simply falling down on it he instantly fell asleep. The dog took hold of his blanket and pulled it up, gently treading next to Vincent not to step on him, he covered the man. He jumped off the bed and trotted over to his brother's rooms. The dog saw Nate's arm hanging off the side of the bed and he simply nudged it until the boy pulled it back in. When he got to Nick's room he saw the boy completely threw his blankets off, and he was shivering. The dog did it's best to cover Nick again without getting on his bed and waking him up. Muneris walked back to Vincent's room and jumped up, licking him on the cheek. It lay his head next to Vincent's and fell asleep.
Vincent woke up and he saw the dog was gone. Yet the collar remained. He frowned almost thinking he was insane or something. But the memory of the dog he once he had came back. He named it Muneris because he read it in a book once and the dog meant everything to him. He smiled when he picked it up and ran a thumb over the name.
...
"Their my responsibility, my family, I'd do anything for them. Family is not just family because of blood you have to earn it... "
Vincent said to the lady that randomly came to sit across from him, she watched him for days on end, before he went to work he came to sit in the coffee shop and just relinquish his emotions a few hours alone. She decided today she'd talk to him and he absentmindedly started the conversation. After he found comfort in her eyes.
"So you are their responsibility, but who is responsible for you?"
The woman asked him after he told her the story about his brothers.
"Me?"
He chuckled and stood up, taking his jacket. The cup of coffee not once touched and smiled at her. She turned in her seat to look up at him and then shook her head.
"Have a good day ma'am."
He walked out of the coffee shop and looked up at the sweet blue sky, he smiled as a flock of birds flew by. The sun barely peeked over the horizon, he looked back at the shop and walked off to work.
characters involved → Nicolas, Vincent, their father.
notes → death, drugs and a mental institution
word count → 524
The day everything changed
Nicolas wasn’t always like this. He was once full of light and life. What happened? Drugs happened.
Everything happened almost in one day. One morning he got up and went to see if his father was alright. His father was sick for a very long time now and he and his brothers were taking care of him. Nathaniel and Vincent were out of the house so he got to go and see whether he was okay or not. He knew that everything was okay but he had to be sure. When he went in his room he found his dad lying in his bed. This was normal because he was spending most of the day in the bed. Nicolas pulled the blinds up and turned to his father. He was sleeping. ‘’Come on dad, a big day is in front of us. Wake up.’’ His father didn’t hear him though. Nicolas went closer to the bed. ‘’Dad? Wake up? Dad?’’ He got scared for a second. He loved his and he was very afraid of losing him. ‘’Dad...dad no!’’ He knew what was happening. He went to the living room and called Vincent. He was crying but Vincent understood everything. ‘’Don’t move and don’t panic, Nick!’’ His brother told him. But Nicolas wasn’t there to hear it. As he told him what happened he dropped his phone and got out of the house and got into his car. Tears were streaming down his face and he couldn’t see the road but somehow he managed to go to his favorite club. He went to the bar and ordered some alcohol. After that he went to the back of the club and told one dialer that he needed some cocaine. He knew the man very well..He was his best customer after all.
After few hours he woke up in a strange and dark room. He could sense that something was wrong; he wasn’t in home for sure. He opened the door and went through the hall. It was a very long hall with many rooms in it. Somehow he managed to go out of this strange house and then he turned around to see where he was. He read a big sign –Mental institution. Now he was panicking. He started running to go out of this yard but the fence was closed. He couldn’t open it and when he tried to go over it some nurses came and brought him in again. ‘’No, let me go, you don’t understand. I’m not sick. I want to see my brothers..My father..He is dying. Please let me go.’’ But they didn’t listen. After few days he was calmer and one nurse told him that he was there because he overdosed on drugs. ‘’But I’m okay now. I’m alive and I’m not a psycho. I have to go to my father’s funeral. Please let me go home.’’ He begged her for hours. ‘’You can’t leave. You had to think before you did all that drugs. Now you’re going to stay here for a very long time.’’ She went out of his room and never came back.
A Lost Letter by the Late Vincent Andreas De Luca || Challenge accepted
writing challenge → 001.
prompt → The day I found a letter from grandad.
characters involved → Vincent and his grandfather
notes → I don't know how this will turn out so yeah might be trigger happy.
word count → 1321
Vincent lay on his bed, of his dorm room and he stared at the ceiling. Music blasting through the speakers of the radio he turned on a few moments ago. His laughing smiling face a mere ghost in the mirror of the bathroom. His arm hung off the bed a letter from his grandad, he never thought would ever happen, clutched in his in hand, empty bottle of his best friend Jack Daniels next to the bed. The words still haunted his mind, his eyes wished that they never read anything like that.
|| 2 hours ago
Vincent stumbled into his room, laughing as the guy his one friend from two doors down playfully pushed him inside and they just joked around.
"Vincent you have that test tomorrow... Go study now, come on man... We can party later."
Vincent just lifted the bottle to his mouth and took a swig his laughed and slammed the door shut. He turned up his stereo that was playing his favorite song so softly. He just swung his head from side to side, the sun was shining into his room while he danced to the beat. There was a soft knock on his door and he fell against the door, laughing loudly and then he opened it up.
"De Luca?"
Vincent nodded and he just took a swig from the whiskey bottle, the guy handed him a bright yellow envelope, his name and address written in almost a calligraphic style of handwriting and he just lifted the bottle as to wave the guy away and he shut the door. Taking a swig, must be from some girl confessing her love to him, because the envelope was very puffy from all the papers. He chuckled and tore the letter open, when he saw a photo of himself and his grandfather that died years ago, he froze. The bottle dropped from his hands and fell to the floor, clanking a few times and started to empty onto the carpet. He just stared at the picture of himself probably 4 maybe 5 years old. Fishing hat, his first fish. Grandad right next to him, smiling happily.
Vincent sank down onto his bed and everything went quiet around him, he placed a shaky hand over his mouth. He was the only one that knew his grandad, neither Nate or Nick knew him. Vincent lay down on his bed, tears forming in his eyes and they started to leak from the corner of the jade colored windows of sorrow. He took the paper in his hand and he pulled out about 6 pages of written on out and he started to read.
Dear Vincent...
A sob broke over his mouth and he closed his eyes he just wished when he opened his eyes that this was a dream and this wasn't happening. But when those eyelids got removed he was still in his room, holding that letter a few inches from his face. He shut his eyes again and opened them again, still here.
Vincent read the letter...
Dear Vincent...
This is so hard for me to say, since your mother never let me visit you after what happened. I just had to write this to you. And I asked the post office to send this in 10 years from the day I handed them it and I guess this day 10 years ago I wrote this for you...
Vincent sobbed again and he just curled in on himself and slammed the letter against the wall, when a few words caught his attention. He knew? But how... Who told him? His mom said that his grandad died long before Nick or Nate ever was born.
Vincent I know your brothers must be asking questions about me but I can't see them, not like I always had a grandad, grandson moment with you, you know. Your mom would have killed me if I had even set foot so much as 20 miles close to the house. But you have to know, boy... I always loved you...
Vincent just stared at the letter. What were these words that was swimming up to his eyes and biting him like a water snake would have with it's prey? He shook his head.
"You never did anything... You just stood there... You saw how they treated me all those years but you never said anything... What kind of a father are you?"
His eyes scanned over the papers and he screamed at the words and a few more sobs broke over his lips. When he came to the end.
Vincent... I'll fix everything. I know I was never there when you called me. But I promise all the pain will go away. I promise, boy. You are my Vincey.
Honest Love,
Granpapa Vincent.
Vincent's arms just fell from where it was to beside his bed, hanging off the side.
|| 2 hours later?
The electricity suddenly went out and Vincent was left in the darkness. Words haunting him, he just stared at the ceiling, his world started to spin and he frowned when he saw his grandad's face coming into view.
"Come on, Vincey... Pull harder, boy..."
"Look grandaddy, I'm gonna catch my first fish."
The 5 year old squeeked. His grandfather laughed and held onto the pole.
"Yes you are Vincey... This will be the first De Luca catch made in 20 years."
He closed his eyes and a tea fell from his eye. The front door came into his vision and he saw his grandad leaving with suitcases.
"We'll go fishing on my boat right? You'll be the Captain, right, Grandaddy?"
His grandad bent down to get eye level with the 5 year old boy. Tears filled the grey haired man's grassy green eyes and he nodded.
"Of course, but my Vincey will be the Captain, I will be the Captain's first mate. What have I taught you?"
"Freedom comes from being brave and courage comes from being free. I love you, grandaddy..."
Vincent's arms encircled the older man's neck and he felt stronger arms hold onto him. Those strong arms suddenly left the little boy's body and he was pulled away from the door and the door got shut, his mom's arms held onto him. Vincent stood there for a moment. His mom walked off to the kitchen. Vincent stood there, he always stood on that one spot. He only left to go to the bathroom and sleep, after a few years go to school. One day after school, he dropped his bag on the spot where he usually stood, eyes filled with tears when his mom said his grandad died of a heart attack. He ran out of the door, rain pouring over him. He ran out onto the dock where he and his grandad usually grabbed a boat and set course north where the best fish were. He got into the boat and just lay there in the rain.
"Captain, Vincent De Luca..."
His grandad's voice rang in his ears.
Vincent just walked to the bathroom, threw the letters into the sink, grabbed a box of lighters and set the papers on fire. When he was satisfied with the ashes he walked away from the letter. No one ever knew.
Vincent grabbed and threw on his hoodie over his head, he walked out of the dorm room, he took a train to the docks. He got off just as it started to rain, he walked to the edge and sank down to his knees, running his fingers over the words that were carved into the wood.
Captain Vincent and Grandaddy forever.
Vincent started to cry again, he looked to the side where all the other boats were docked and a boat with the words
'Courage comes from being free...'
painted onto the side, Vincent lay on his back in the rain on the edge of the dock and closed his eyes.
