#lilly charm

[ravingsockmonkey]

Crushes, texts, and arguments...

Erick wasn't exactly having a great time in the last post, and even the Watcher was sad at the end. But things didn't remain sad!

Terrence also had an imaginary friend, though for different reasons. When given the chance to make Wylde real, he eagerly did so, and thus Wylde Hussain [he/him] joined the household as a real teenage boy.

Terrence developed the crush after speaking to his now real friend for the first time.

Tomax is not sure about this suddenly real kid.

While Terrence and Wylde hang out, Erick is busy making friends with one of his classmates, Aleah Amaya [she/her]. She's a macabre music lover, and Erick thinks she's pretty cool.

And she thinks Erick is irresistible!

The next day, Erick got a text from someone unexpected...

After so long of no contact, no visits, and not even a birthday present, his mom texts him about Aleah?? How did she even know?

Erick was upset by this.

He turned to his dad because he wasn't sure how to process what he was feeling. Why did his mom decide to message him now? And after all of this time, she didn't even apologize? Dylan did his best to comfort the boy and cheer him up, but he also knew he needed to have a conversation with Celeste.

He couldn't help but to greet her with an embrace, but he knew this wasn't going to be an easy or pleasant conversation.

They argued back and forth with Dylan trying to explain how her behavior was hurting their boy, and Celeste not seeming to understand how he could be a teenager and upset over something like a birthday or a text message.

It was then that Dylan lost his cool and said the one thing that struck a real nerve.

"The way you're acting is just like L.Faba!!"

When she winced, he knew he had finally gotten through to her. He remembered her telling him about two of her younger siblings and how L was their biological mom, but didn't seem to care about them at all... until they were teens...

Lilly in particular was hurt, and Celeste had been angry on her sister's behalf.

Even if he was right, Dylan still felt like he went too far with the comment, so he apologized.

Before she left, Kevin (Dylan's poppa and Erick's grandpop) pulled Celeste aside to talk about the situation. He understood that parenthood wasn't for everyone, but if she really wanted to reconnect with Erick, then she should commit to doing so wholeheartedly. It wouldn't be easy, but it would also get significantly harder the more time went on.

Celeste left with a lot to think about.

A couple of outtakes:

Dylan, I know you haven't seen Celeste in a while and you REALLY like her sweater, but uh... can you at least be less obvious what you're looking at? I don't even have WW installed - the man did this himself.

Wylde, sweetie, I don't think you're going to find much...

Erick still has the ability to start fires, which means I have to be VERY careful when having him do anything.

[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.