Prosperity: Summer - the Newson Family

[beanstalk_sims]

It's time for another Riverside update! I will fully admit I've been neglecting this in favour of my OWBC lately, but I'm back on board!

This is the first ever season for Gavin and Emily - Emily Cooper, who grew up and left home earlier in the rotation, if you remember. They're broke, completely broke, and have had to move into an apartment...




The kind of apartment where sirens wail outside at all hours, where your neighbours play music and argue until the small hours, and not really a place you want to end up in forever.

That's just my thoughts on the place.




Gavin and Emily have a teeny tiny apartment, and not enough money for a double bed. The arm chair was swapped out for a recliner, so at least they can both sleep, but they don't have a whole lot here.




Gavin did try finding a job - Emily has one, from her teen years - but due to my rule of You Have To Want It/LTW Jobs, Gavin couldn't find anything.




Not that it matters.

Emily and Gavin are convinced they can survive on love alone.




With nothing to really do in the apartment, Gavin and Emily headed out for the lake, for some fresh air and free fish. It saves having to pay for groceries, afterall.

Gavin, however, had something else on his mind.




"Emily Cooper, my life hasn't been the same since the day you walked into it, and I can't imagine spending it any other way. I know we don't have much, but what we do have is fantastic, and I never want to lose it.

"Will you marry me?"




"Of course I will, Gavin!"




"You've made me the happiest man alive, Emily."

"Stop talking in clichés and hug me."




After his proposal, Gavin set to work on fishing, with the intention of making money for his bride-to-be, and their future together.




And he started a trend. Now everyone wanted to fish.

Which will be fun if they marry into the families later on - with inventories full of fish.




Elsewhere, Emily bumped into her father, Richard Cooper.

"Daddy, I'm getting married!"

"Well, that happened fast!" He joked, and hugged his daughter tight.




"Are you two keeping okay?" He asked, suddenly, spying his future son-in-law fishing.

"It's hard work, but we'll get there." Emily assured him, "The job market's tough is all."

"I know, I know," Richard smiled, "I'd better get going. I promised Lily I wouldn't be long."

"It was good to see you, Dad."

"You, too, Emily. Take care!"




At the side of the lake, Gavin was having no luck.

"A boot?! This won't make me any money!"

But if he finds another one, he'll have a new pair of shoes.




Jace was also around. I like to think he was only innocently hanging out with Marylena here, but given his track record, I'm not so sure. I guess I'll have to check his memories next time I open his lot.




Emily, meanwhile, was making new friends.

"So you even wear the kilt in winter?"

"Yes! It's comfortable! And tight trousers can chafe something crazy!"

"Are you sure this is normal conversation for strangers in public?"




"Define normal," Brandon said, in a level voice. Emily thought about it.

"Talking about the weather?" Emily suggested, "Small talk. You know. Normal stuff."

"Well, did you want to talk about the weather?"

"Not really," Emily smiled, "Conversations on kilts are just as good."




Fishing really isn't Gavin's thing. Maybe he's an indoors-guy instead of an outdoors-guy.




That evening, after a long day of attempting to fish, Gavin let Emily have the bed, and passed out in the recliner.

And who says chivalry is dead?




He did, however, move to the bed when Emily woke up - the neighbour's arguments were keeping him awake. Or at least, it sounded like arguments.

"I can't take it anymore! It's 5am!"




"Could you keep it down a little? We can hear you through the wall!"

"You shouldn't be listening in on my personal life!"

"You shouldn't be shouting about your personal life through my walls at 5 in the morning!"

Somehow, Emily and her neighbour never quite saw eye to eye.




Gavin woke up and heard all of the commotion, and tried his best to cheer Emily up.




"I can't wait til we can move out of here, Gav," Emily confessed, in a small voice.

"I know," He said, holding her tight, "It's just a stepping stone. Our real lives will begin soon enough."

"I hope you're right."




On an unrelated note, Emily is gorgeous. Her face is one of the premade heads under the second panel in CAS, and it's almost like a template but not quite. She's absolutely gorgeous.




I also feel like this picture sums up the area these two live in.




Emily's paycheck that day went on a bed big enough for both of them to sleep in.

Gavin and Emily wasted no time using the bed for purposes other than sleeping.




And because this is my game, and it knows they have next to nothing in the bank, they got a lullaby first time.

I hadn't planned for that.




"You guys are aware it's nearly midnight, right?"

"Of course! That's when the party starts!"

"Well, could you stop smustling outside of my door?"

"We'll head up to the roof, I guess."

On an unrelated note - how many thieves live in this building?!




"They're gone! We can woohoo again and no one will hear us!"

"I love you, Gavin!"




With a baby on the way and still no paycheck to support it, Gavin takes a shovel and heads into the yard. Who knows, there could be treasure buried beneath the building.




Or, perhaps, a water pipe.

Gavin did eventually get some money together from digging.




Just in time, really. It won't be long before these two are parents.




"Emily...I know you wanted a proper wedding, like the one your father had, but we're going to be parents...I think we should be Mr and Mrs Newson before it arrives..."

"I know," Emily smiled, "It's not the ceremony that matters, is it, Gavin?"

"Will you marry me right now, in our living room?"

"Of course I will."




Gavin slipped the ring on Emily's finger. The neighbours next door were yelling, somewhere in the street a dog was barking, and there was a distant cry of sirens as the police sped towards another emergency.

It wasn't how they wanted their wedding day to be, but they'd come to realise that nothing happens as you imagine it. All that mattered was that they had each other.




They could live on love alone.


-------------------------------
So that's it from the Newsons!

By the end of the season, they did have about $12,000 raised, which is enough for a teeny tiny house on the other side of the river, but it's not much bigger than their apartment, and still no real room to raise a baby.

So they'll be spending another season in their apartment, to get some more money together and hopefully buy a decent house eventually.

I hope you enjoyed it! The next house in the rotation is Rossi - Henry Lagoon, and his girlfriend, Nikki.

See you soon!