eulalia | Veridia Round 7: Salter

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A round in which I promise no one will be murdered!

Gwendolen: Good morning, Mummy!

Brigid: Mhmm.

Brigid is, understandably, still depressed after the death of her husband last round and spends a lot of time either sitting around staring into space or playing riverstones in her nightgown.

Oh, and Enna is expecting again.

Derelei: Up you go, poppet!

Enna: Thank you... it was set him down or puke on him, and the floor seemed better.

Derelei: Oh, don't worry about it, I hear babies love the floor.

ROS! This was rather fortuitous, since I'm planning for Gwen to become Diseta's apprentice, but it'll have to wait until she's a teen, because I can't imagine Brigid letting her go before then (even if she's mostly ignoring her daughter right now).

Speaking of Gwen, she and Derelei have been managing the garden, because Glamaer is usually fishing or at the store, Enna is also at the store/managing the house/caring for an infant while simultaneously battling morning sickness, and Brigid is... well.

Enna: Oh, are you still playing that game?

Brigid: Mhm.

Enna: You know, it would be a tremendous help to me if you could tidy up the breakfast dishes while I feed Eamon. I would appreciate it so much, if you feel up to it.

Brigid: Oh, yes... I suppose I could do that.

Luckily, Enna has a knack for prodding her out of her despondency once in a while.

Glam is becoming a real doting papa.

Glamaer: I wish I could stay here and spend more time with you instead of going on the boat so often. You're a lot more exciting, Eamon.

Random wolf: No! Someone has to go out and catch fish for me!

* * *

Gwendolen: Mum, look! Mum? *sigh*

Gwen is growing up to be a very sweet child, and her Aunt Derelei tries to give her plenty of attention to make up a little bit for what she lacks from her parents.

Glamaer: This soup is really good. Thanks for cooking, Derelei.

Derelei: Sure! I like having more people around to cook for.

Enna: Hey, you.

Glamaer: Hey—I kinda found something for you while I was cleaning up the last catch.

Enna: Well, that sounds mysterious. I assume from the lack of smell that it's not fish. Let me see!

Glamaer: They're pearls. They look pretty nice, I think? I don't know much about these things. But I thought maybe you could get a piece of jewelry made with them next time we visit the big market.

Enna: Oh! They're so pretty! But Glam, these are much too nice for me. You ought to sell them. You could probably get a decent price for them.

Glamaer: I could, but why? We have plenty, Enna.

Enna: Well... maybe I will get something made with them. Earrings would be very pretty.

Late-night pop for Enna. I had nothing to do with this baby, they just immediately decided to ACR up a second as soon as the first one was fully baked. 🙄

* * *

At his request, Enna helped Glam chop off half his hair—it's easier to keep it out of his eyes and away from any fish guts at this length! Not to mention, soon Eamon will be reaching that 'grabby hands' stage babies go through.

Most of the customers have gotten used to seeing Glamaer or Enna at the shop instead of Wulfric these days. Glam is getting a little better at sales...

...though Enna is still the best at it!

This looks so familiar.

Derelei: Shep! You have a new dress!

Shep: Heh, yeah, Gytha finally convinced me that it was time to stop patching the old one and cough up the money for something new.

Derelei and Shep have tentatively resumed their friendship. It's a little bittersweet to hear Shep talk about her new girlfriend—she seems a lot more invested in Diseta than she ever was with Derelei—but mostly she manages to be happy for her friend.

Unfortunately, it's not a great idea to put Shep and Brigid in the same room together, which means Derelei is going to have to go meet Shep at the mead hall or her own home in the future...

* * *

Some days, Brigid feels up to resuming her usual routine and tackles some chores. The house is certainly not up to her standards these days—Enna's cleaning is simply not as meticulous as Brigid prefers—though Gwendolen is a good girl who does her best to keep things tidy.

Other days... it's very tempting to let herself stew in sadness and resentment.

Enna: Think you feel ready to have two babies crawling around?

Glamaer: Absolutely not. At least it'll be a while before this one is actually crawling.

Speaking of, it's Eamon's birthday, and Glam has managed to coax his sister over for the occasion. Brigid, stopppppppp.

Glamaer: Uh, Enna?

Enna: *snrt* I'm not sleepin... I'm jus' resting my eyes.

Glamaer: Okay, but Gytha and Angus are here, so you might wanna at least sit up.

Gytha: Where's your dress?

Enna: The baby's eaten all my energy and I'm too tired to dress. It's just you two, anyway.

Gytha: See, you keep telling me I should have a baby too and then you say stuff like that.

It's too bad Glamaer married her best friend, because now Gytha is doubly obligated to come to these occasions.

Okay, but why is Eamon the cutest toddler my game has ever spawned??? I forgot to take a pic of his personality in game, so here's SimPE—

Oh, a 10 playful/1 nice point sim. That's gonna be great. He also rolled the 'hates the outdoors' trait, which doesn't seem ideal for the child of a fisherman.

Gwendolen is a little fascinated by her older sister. She's very... bold.

Gwendolen: Cináed is my best friend. He lives at the smithy, mostly—sometimes Ms. Diseta lets me watch when she's working.

Gytha: She's pretty nice, right?

Gwendolen: Yeah. The forge is neat... you melt metal and make it a brand new shape! It's incredible!

Gytha: Hmmmm, does Cináed know you're using him to get access to the smithy?

Gwendolen: I am not!

Gytha: I'm joking, kid.

Glam is usually up before the sun to get the traps and the boat ready to go out.

Enna: Brigid, I just put him in there.

Brigid: Oh, but he wants to get out. Don't you, Eamon?

Enna: I'm trying to feed him his breakfast.

Brigid: I'm only helping.

Enna: That isn't helping, that's interfering! Go see to your own child and let me take care of mine.

Enna: Alright, let's see if I can actually get some food into you now.

Brigid: Hmph. Your mother thinks she knows better than me.

Eamon: Bah?

Brigid: Exactly.

It's hard to nap with so many people in the house, especially with Eamon's newfound love for banging on his little xylophone toy.

Derelei helpfully takes Brigid and Gwen into town with her so everyone can have some time out of the house.

River: Um, hi, Derelei. You look well?

Derelei: Hi.

I thought Derelei and Eisu might become friends, but alas.

Next stop: the market, so Brigid can get lunch and Gwen can play a game of riverstones with Sabren (closely watched by some of the other girls in the village).

Gwendolen: I win!

Sabren: Noooo!

They're still besties, don't worry.

Just some friendly dancing between friends who aren't pining for the other one in any way at all.

* * *

While Enna and Eamon are both napping and the rest of the household is out, Glamaer takes care of some chores. He tries his best to stay busy these days. It keeps him from dwelling too frequently on the incident with his father last summer.

The timing and duration of Enna's naps are, alas, dictated by the whims of a toddler. Pregnancy is exhausting her—not helped by her reluctance to admit that she actually is exhausted and stop working for a few hours. There's always so much to get done, it's hard to justify napping during the day unless her body forces her to.

Enna: How was your outing, Derelei? Did your sister behave herself?

Derelei: Mostly—I mean, yes. She's not that bad.

Enna: Sure.

Glamaer: There, nice and clean and ready for sleep. You are going to sleep, right?

Eamon: :) :) :)

Glam doesn't get to sleep immediately, though, as Enna's labor pangs start that evening and he has to rush back out to fetch the midwife.

Helenet: Well, it'll be a while yet. Shall I tell you the story about how my husband came home with a random free horse last month?

Enna: A horse? A real one?

Helenet: Oh yes. You see...

Enna tries to rest a bit, but soon baby Meria makes her appearance in the world! This one's got Glam's black hair, and I think his eyes as well.

Eamon: But I wanted to be an only child!!

I finally got rid of that corner fireplace.

Gwendolen: Oh, she's here! The baby's here!

Enna: Her name is Meria.

Gwendolen: Hi, Meria!

Glamaer: Oh, Gwennie, I have something for you. It came up in the nets yesterday.

Gwendolen: What's that?

Glamaer: Some of the old fishers call them fossil rocks. See there? You can see an imprint of what looks like an animal. I think the blacksmith could probably crack it open the rest of the way for you, if you ask her.

Gwendolen: Neat! I'm going to show Cinny.

Brigid did something actually helpful (cleaned up the dirty bowl from the highchair). Thank you, Brigid. 👏

Gytha: How are you doing? How's the new babe?

Enna: Great! You should come meet her.

I think it's cute when sims do the 'approve' nod/smile at their friends' relationships. But what's happening with those red minuses back there?

Oh, Maddan is trying to pretend his girlfriend's kids don't exist, I guess.

* * *

Girl, don't spy on Norweni with your magic star chart. She's one of the only people who tolerates you who isn't a blood relative.

Angus: Wow, you've gotten really big, huh? I bet you're going to be running all over the place soon.

Eamon: Yeah!

Enna: Oh, don't give him ideas. I have enough trouble keeping track of him as it is.

Angus: She's really cute, Enna.

Enna: Thank you—it was a lot of hard work. Speaking of, I'm still waiting on my Angytha baby.

Angus: Um... please never say our names together like that again.

He can't be stopped. 😑

Brigid has managed to tolerate having Gytha under her roof occasionally, but she's not pleased about it.

Then again, she's rarely pleased by anything.

The adults seem concerned by Gwen's talk of a potential plague of womrats.

Angus: Um... are you doing any better these days, Brigid?

Brigid: Well... I'm looking forward to Samhain. Perhaps my husband will come to visit when the barrier between worlds thins!

Angus: Oh, um. Wouldn't you prefer to think of him as happy in the Otherworld, rather than a restless spirit?

Brigid: I would RATHER think of him as still alive, but fate has cruelly limited my options.

Angus: ....Right.

Brigid actually takes some time to play with her child, though she seems to immediately regret the choice of game (red hands).

Standing and cheering is much more acceptable.

* * *

Derelei decided to take some time for herself and visit the mead hall...

...where Gytha is also letting off steam after having to be in the same room as her step-mother, I presume.

Hi, Orla!

Surprise return of Derelei and Cian's friendship that I've mentioned one (1) other time.

Cian: I haven't been seeing you around here much lately.

Derelei: It's just hard to get away. When I'm not working, I'm usually with my sister.

Cian: It's kind of you to be so supportive, but Brigid is a grown woman. I'm sure she can do for herself a little more often.

Derelei: You're probably right...

Cian: Either way, it's nice to see your smile here again.

Derelei has noticed before, in a vague way, that Cian is handsome, especially with the gray in his hair now... but he is rather handsome, isn't he?

Derelei: It's pretty nice to see you again as well. D'you want to eat dinner with me? We could catch up some more.

Cian: I'd love to.

What if all of Derelei's exes go somewhere else. What then.

Derelei: Maybe this is a little quick...

Cian: I don't think so. We're both old enough to know what we want, aren't we?

Spotted: Orla and Shep watching River fail at archery.

Derelei: Hi Shep, bye Shep. River.

* * *

He might be dead, but at least his bed is still here!

Brigid had a want to learn to make ~~hamburgers~~ beef hand pies, and managed to not burn anything this time.

Derelei: Brigid? Brigid!

Brigid: What?

Derelei: Are you alright?

Brigid: Just tired. What is it?

Derelei: Oh, I had the most lovely evening. With Cian! It's funny, we've been friends for years, but it just hit me tonight how attractive and nice he is.

Brigid: That's nice, dear.

* * *

Gwen occasionally likes to try her hand at fishing, but it's more fun when she goes to the lake with Cináed.

Her favorite activity is still building things at her play table.

Lune: That joke isn't very funny.

Gwendolen: I thought it was...

Lune: There wasn't a punchline!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Enna: Would you mind terribly, Derelei? I'm starving.

Derelei: Of course not! Come here, you stinky poppet. I am heading out after this.

Enna: With Cian? Have fun!

I think I finally found someone who actually likes Derelei as much as she likes them. 😭

I am once again asking my sims to sit together on dates.

Cian: Your hair looks very pretty like that.

Derelei: Aw, thank you!

Cian: Tell me if this is too much, but what do you think of marriage?

Derelei: In general or to you? Because... I rather like the idea of both.

My god, someone finally beat Diseta and Norweni's relationship speedrun time.

* * *

That evening, Brigid makes sure she and her daughter are dressed in their best clothes and that the offering is ready to bring to the shrine in the hills.

Gwendolen: But... why can't we make the offering at home? Couldn't spirits go wherever they want if they don't have bodies?

Brigid: Certainly not. You see the white tree? The spirits and gods have claimed this spot as sacred to them. And our house certainly isn't very sacred, all things considered...

Gwendolen: :/

Gwendolen: Mum, who put the flower petals here?

Brigid: Shhh.

Gwendolen: Do spirits like flowers? Can they smell them or do they just think they're pretty?

Brigid: Gwendolen, I said shush.

Alas, Morwenna Salter, Gytha and Glamaer's mother, only pops out once Brigid has left the cave and misses the chance to haunt her again.

Glamaer: How's she doing?

Enna: She's perfect, just tired. I'll put her to bed in a minute.

Glamaer: I can do it.

Enna: No, no, I want to.