chillyzgrrl-inzoi

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Beach House - Sneak Preview

Here's a sneak peek at my next build. It's a bit ambitious-- 4 floors, mostly modern, open concept beach house.

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Searching for Gold - Chapter 3.2

Chapter 3.2

So this is Micah Cox.

I have seen him around a few times since I started venturing back out into the world. At the park, the beach... the bookstore.

We really had a good time, sitting and talking about books, the weather, music. We even had some laughs dancing to the music... at least until the radio one of the song Matteo's band (yes, I no long think of it as my band) just came out with.

We had a really good time.

I keep telling myself to take things slow, but after that day at the bookstore, I can't help but thinking... you know...what if?

I was still thinking that when I picked up the book I'd bought, sat down to read it, and found that he'd slipped his name and phone number into the middle, written on the payment stub.

Text me sometime - Micah

Tell me I shouldn't do it?

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Searching for Gold - Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3.1

My entire life was starting over...

I had to deal with both the grief of losing the baby and losing Matteo both. And I truly had lost both. Matteo was lost to the music industry. Touring with the band. Making a name for himself. For a while, he still texted and called. Sent picture on his phone. Slowly, all of that fades away.

I started therapy, started focusing on getting me back on track. A journey of self discovery, my therapist said .

I have two choices. 1- run crawling back to my mother and the current step-father. 2 - Resume life.

Life resumed.

I left the apartment for the first time in months. Started visiting the places I loved. Meeting new people. Listening to music again.

Learning to appreciate the life I still had.

My therapist said to take things slow. Think about why I always rushed into relationships.

I could just be friends with them, right?

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

I finally remembered to sneak into settings and change the appearance of my Bliss Bay. Added cats, deer and squirrels.

Here is a deer. 🦌♥️

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Thank you to everyone who got me to 100 likes!

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Cozy Suburban Home

A two bedroom, one bath home with a detached garage, and a back yard meant for family bbq's and pool parties (I wish! The 'pool' is decorative only) Or start a garage band on the weekends.

Open house hosted by Bliss Bay's very own house flipper, Annie Sayer.

Available now, on Canvas.

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Searching for Gold - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

With Matteo's encouragement, I took up piano, and was getting to very good at it. He wanted me to play keyboard for the band, maybe sing a little, too. Practices made for long nights where we'd eat dinner from the little restaurant down the street or one of food trucks on the beach. Sometimes sleep was a nap on a bench, while waiting for our next set.

It wasn't the healthiest life, and I began to feel un down as my pregnancy progressed.

One night, after passing out on the boardwalk, Matteo rushed me to the hospital. He stayed with me all night long, but then left to talk to the rest of the band.

"We're just worried about you, Ebony," he said the next time I saw him. "We think..." he ran a hand through his hair, awkwardly trying not to look me in the eye. "We think maybe you should take some time off... until after the little guy... or gal... is born."

"But our big shot?" I asked him. The band had been offered a gig opening for another up and coming band. Our big break.

"We leave next week," said Matteo. "You can't come with us, Ebony. I am so so sorry."

The following week, they rest of the band left on their big tour. I found out later that they had replaced me the night I collapsed, and the new keyboard player 'fit better' with the vibe they had going.

Even if it was the right choice for them, and for me, it still hurt. Even if I still wasn't back to normal after my time in the hospital... it still felt like betrayal.

Everything hurt... and I thought it was just the heartache of losing out on all our plans... until I awoke one night to horrid cramps and pain that drove me to my knees... I called for an ambulance...

... but it was too late to save my baby.

Player's Note: I fixed the corrupt save file, only to learn that the beautiful new June 13th InZoi update that brought so many lovely new features actually broke relationships and pregnancy for old, pre-update saves. If I want to continue this challenge and family, I have to reboot it and bid Matteo, and the baby which (for me) had been born before the corrupted save file. Looking at the Steam forum, a lot of people are having issues with it. I could stop playing, and wait to see if the devs fix it, or start over, but I don't want to scrap the story, so ... here we are. Again.

On a different note, I finally came up with name for the story I am telling here... Searching for Gold.

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Smith-Terrano

Johnny Smith and Stella Terrano, two of my favorite Sims 2 aliens.

My favorite 'head canon' for the Smith family of Strangetown is that PT9 is an alien prince, who left his home world to live on Earth when he fell in love with Jenny. Stella, a Sim Bin young adult who came with the Sims 2, University, is an undercover agent from their home world, sent to bring PT9 and his family back, because Johnny (a half Sim-half alien hybrid) is destined to be the next prince.

InZoi Stella is my creation, and you can find her here.

Johnny was created by 6vilish, who has other familiar Strangtown citizens, as well. He is aged up here to young adult.

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Chapter 2.5

I did it. No chickening out.

Well... I was definitely scared when I called Matteo and invited him to my apartment to talk.

I did not know what to say or what he would do. I had fallen for him, enough that I divorced myself from my unhappy marriage to Walker, but now, if I didn't tell him the truth, would I lose him, too?

"Matteo..." I told him, my heart pounding in my chest. "I need you to know, I just found out... I am pregnant with Walker's baby."

He was silent for a long while.

"You're gong back to him?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"He doesn't know."

"Why not?"

"He won't answer my texts or my phone calls," I told him. "He's just ... walked out of my life as quickly as he walked into it."

Matteo took my hand. "I'm sorry, Ebony," he told him.

But I wasn't sorry. The honesty of the moment broke down a barrier between Matteo and I that neither of us knew was there. He came over after work, and we discovered a shared love of music.

It was a start of a much stronger relationship that the hurried one in my dream.

Player's Note: This story finally has a title... Seaching for Gold.

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Chapter 2.4

I awoke with a start, only to realize that what had seemed like the last several months of my like was all just an incredibly lucid dream.

I was still single, newly divorced from Walker, and he was still missing. But what had the dream meant?

I had been pregnant and had rushed a wedding with Matteo just to keep from being alone, echoing my own mother's failures in so many ways.

The truth was, I barely knew Matteo, and should not be rushing into anything.

But... I had to know... was I... pregnant? I bought a test and took it... yes, definitely pregnant.

I walked around in a fog, unsure of what to do. I tried to contact Walker, knowing it was his baby I carried, no uncertainty like in the dream. But the one part which remained real, was that Walker refused to return my calls or texts.

Depression set in, could I handle this on my own?

I went to the hospital, to the doctor about the baby, and while I was there, she suggested I go to counselling for my depression.

And then, there was Matteo, who texted and wanted to see me again, asked if I was alright, if I was angry with him?

I didn't know what to tell him.

Player's Note: My save file for this character/story became corrupted. I had to choose between backing up to prior save or losing the whole think, and I chose to try and salvage it.

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Chapter 2.3

I chickened out, as the Americans say. I couldn't bring myself to tell Matteo about the pregnancy, not at first.

For days, I walked around the apartment just thinking about everything and how it would be different if Walker hadn't lost his job. That truly was where things went wrong for us. Him losing his job, not really trying to get a new one. Me feeling unloved or uncared for.

Now here I was, married to one man and pregnant with another man's baby.

So I said noting, and spent countless hours looking for places to be, other than at home with Matteo in our apartment. The beach was a favorite place, a place to relax, listen to the ocean and forget about my own problems.

At least, until Matteo confronted me with a question -- "Ebony, what is wrong? You seem so sad and distant. Have I done something to displease you?"

Have I done something to displease you?

No, no, no, no... I want to tell him, but in that moment, all I can do is cry.

Through the tears, I tell him that I am pregnant. Tell him that I am not sure if it is his, or my ex-husband's child.

"It's mine. Of course, it's mine," Matteo tells me, and he holds me in his arms.

I

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Chapter 2.2

Remember me saying something about that little flutter of nausea on the morning Matteo and I got married? it wasn't nerves.. it tuns out, I am pregnant. I should be happy about that, except for the fact that I can do math, and there is no way that this baby is my current husband's child.

It can only be Walker's, and he still won't answer my texts or phone calls.

I don't know what to do. I should tell Matteo, tell him the truth. But all I can think about is what he will say. Will he still love me, knowing that I am carrying Walker's baby? Will he think that I trapped him in to marriage, just to take of us?

I didn't even know I was pregnant... but will he believe that? How do I tell him?

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Chapter 2.1

It took a lot of planning, but Matteo and I finally made it to the big day -- our wedding!!!

We gathered with a handful of friends at the outdoor wedding chapel and pledged out love to one another. It was was so beautiful, and technically my first wedding, since Walker and I had just eloped without the ceremony.

Nothing could ruin the day me, not even the little flutter of nausea I'd felt that morning during breakfast. Nerves, is all. Worried for the future Matteo and I were building together.

All my worries were for nothing, though, and the wedding day went off without a hitch.

Player's Note -- this was my first InZoi wedding. It was beautiful and worked so smoothly! I wish My Wedding Stories worked the same way, because I might actually play weddings instead of having my Sims get married in their bathrooms. (OG SImmers know what I mean, all the big things happen in your Sims' bathrooms. Weddings, engagements, birthdays... epecially in a Legacy family) But this, this was perfect. I just queued up the interactions I wanted and sat back and watched. Took some pictures, enjoyed the moment. Like I was a part of the wedding itself.

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Thank you to everyone who got me to 50 likes!

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Chapter 2

Matteo and I continued to see one another, weeks turning months.

I talked him into moving in with me, keeping me 'safe' in case Walker came back. Not that I heard anything from Walker in last few weeks. He'd turned off his phone, or got a new one, so I could not call him. Everyone once in a while, this silent treatment bothered me, like a nagging feeling in the back of my mind, or deep in my heart. He was just gone, but something told me that I should be out looking for him. That our story was not quite over.

In the meantime, life for Matteo and I moved forward.

He moved in to the apartment with me, and we settled in together.

One day, after a romantic dinner he cooked himself... Matteo proposed to me.

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

There's only a handful of items, but come visit my Canvas.

[chillyzgrrl-inzoi]

Chapter 1.6

Spending time with Matteo did not help my crumbling relationship with Walker. It seems like we fought more and more and drifted further and further apart.

One day, he stopped me before I could leave the house. I was heading to meet Matteo at the park.

"I know where you're going," he told me. "I know what you've been doing behind my back, too."

I couldn't deny it.

"He treats me with respect, and he has a job," I said, getting in that little dig.

"I've been trying," he said.

"Not hard enough "

He shook his head and looked sad. "I have an interview lined up for next week."

"Walker, I don't know what you want from me. You take your failings out on me, and expect me not to look elsewhere for companionship, friendship."

"Is that all it is? Friendship?"

I looked away, and at that moment, we both knew we were beyond saving.

Walker stayed a days, until the divorce was final, but we slept in separate rooms, barely talked.

One morning, I came home to find all of his personal belongings gone.

He never even told me where he went.