Chapter 18.3 - January 2024: part III - Thomas' birthday

The birthday childs family tree, including their cat, Pelsdott, and Lise Veronicas girlfriend Kristina Reppe.
-----

It's an early january morning in the Motorsen-Notesen household when its youngest (human, that is) member wakes up to enter what is not yet his room, but soon will be, to play with the building block toy..

The room is just out there in the hallway from his parents room, and first door to the right. It, and the toys in it, once belonged to his older sister Lise Veronica, but since she has of course grown out of it since she turned thirteen about a year ago..

 

After playing with the blocks for a while his mom wakes up to take him downstairs and its feeding time for the last time..

 

It's also feeding time in Lise Veronicas room on the top floor where she has woken up to make sure her pet rodent, which sbe found behind the Corsican Bistro to the partial disgust of her girlfriend... Of course Lise Veronica would sometimes help her mom in caring for and feeding her little brother too, but she enjoys feeding her pet rodent much more..

 

It's just so cute and snuggly..

 

..until it bites her fingers, then its not so cute anymore...

Then its enough of that rat for now. Time to get dressed and go to school.. and hope that they serve a good lunch, because in caring for her rodent she forgot to feed herself...

"Looks like its just going to be you and me in the house again while the girls are off to work and school.. you, me and Pelsdott" Ivar cuddle talked to Thomas as Monica was getting ready for her shift at the Research Facility.

-- Just an innocent walk in the park --  (skip to birthday party)

Yeah, that's what he said.. while she was listening... but after she had gone out the door he was quick to take his boy and head to the park. It was such a lovely winters day, no need to spend it all indoors... he thought about taking the kitten with, but decided it would probably be able to fend for itself for a few hours... it wasn't his idea to have an animal in the house, that was his daughters.. though he had allowed her to adopt it, he didn't feel to much responsibility for the kitten.. as long as it was fed and had water to drink, it would probably do alright...

Ivar wasn't a bad father - in most instances - but there times where he would showcase a bit of a selfish, almost negligent streak, and today was one of those times.. after putting Thomas down on the grass to fend for himself, he wanted to prioritize skating, but found himself being pestered by the towns elderly female population who seemed to take a fancy to him.. first one being Monika Morris-Nielsen.. you would think she was happily married, but since when did that stop anyone..?

Either way.. on the other edge of town Lise Veronica was just entering the science building to go on an excursion. She wasn't particularly thrilled to visit her mothers workplace - science was boring, and she certainly didn't want to end up like her mom.. a brainy geek in a white coat - and worst of all was the animal testing they performed. She didn't like that at all - it was systemic animal cruelty! Animals - all of them - deserved to live free and happy lives with plenty of nurture and love and then some! She would much rather become an activist breaking into the research facilty at night to free all the animals... those poor, cute little animals... but she would never tell her mom that, of course...

 

At the park Ivar had shifted his attention to a book - to look inaccessible to all the women there of course... but at the same time being captivated by the world of fiction made him also continue to ignore his son, who repeatedly tried to make contact with every adult person he could find nearby...

        Elder: Monika Morris-Nielsen

It's a good thing then that Sunset Valley is such a quiet and peaceful, almost dozy, town during daytime while most everyone else is at work.. except for all the retirees..

        Elder: Vegard Morris-Nielsen

It was hard to not be charmed by the little boy, even though most of them didn't feel like picking up this kid that wasn't theirs..

        Elder: Dagfinn Lande

..but that didn't stop little Thomas, because there was a reward every now and then..

..and of course, as soon as Ivar was done reading his book, there was nothing stopping the women in the park either, as Iliana Langerak was quick to grab her chance to utilize as much charm and charisma as possible..

..to no avail, Ivar wasn't interested. He was just there to chill in the park with his son.. kind of...

..but to himself he also enjoyed a little bit the attention he got. The perks of being a locally famous musician...

Having already observed all the other womens failures at grabbing his attention, Victoria Andrews knew she had to level up on them by handing him a bouqet of flowers - in a colour that would much her sweater, of course, and it worked, because he just couldn't say no to that.. and they continued to have a nice conversation about their common ambition to succeed and their interest in reading.... when they parted ways, Victoria had some hopes that he would want to see her again, but for Ivar this was mostly just a nice chat in the park, and not much more than that...

Thomas also found a new female companion in Tori Kimura-Frio, and was having a great time as she held him up to tickle and play with him.

..but the boys couldn't hang out in the park forever, as Monicas shift was now over and she was already at home to prepare and invite people over to the youngest ones birthday party..

..and immediately after they receive their invites, Ivar gets a message from Ranveig, Monicas sister, as well as one from Helene, Thomas' aunt and Monicas sister-in-law...

Message text: "Vi har så mye til felles. Jeg vil gjerne bli bedre kjent med deg," translates to "We've got so much in common. I would like to get to know you better."

Now, Ranveig is single, and has been for most of her life, but its still not a very nice thing to do... but Helene is, atleast from an outside perspective, happily married.. Sunset Valley is a dozy town.. on the surface, but...

Lise Veronica was also returning home after a successful excursion at the Science Centre (atleast in the eyes of the teacher and most of the rest of the class). She had received a trophy for the occasion, which she kept in her pocket, but it wasn't one that she was likely to put on display anywhere.. just another useless dust collector. If it wasn't for her mom, she probably would've thrown it in the bin...

- The birthday party -

..that may also be true for her homework. "Such a pointless thing! It's torture to give the kids homework - we learn much better at school, where we can also get help from our teachers if we get stuck!" Lise Veronica thinks, while she begrudgingly opens her notebook, hoping to be able to finish todays assignments before the guest begin to arrive...

Yup, she made it just in time. Cousin Bjørn-Yngve is the first to arrive with a plate of food that he quickly places on the study desk before he runs into the kitchen to check out the birthday cake.

More guest arrive, including cousin Robert-Bråge, who has gone upstairs to greet Monica only to be met with a barrage of complaints about how hard her job at the science centre is... It probably won't encourage Robert to pursue that career himself, which he has considered, inspired by his brother Oliver Freddy, which in turn was inspired by the same Monica.. Robert is still torn between being a full time writer, choosing something more outdoorsy, physical and adventurous, such as joining the military, or becoming a scientist. This will at best provide him with a more balanced view of what it means to be a scientist, and at worst completely discourage the kid. Only time will tell..

Robert definately looks up to anyone doing service for their country, like his father Gaute, or his uncle Eivind, so it's not very unlikely that at one point he will decide to go for a career in the military and try to become an austronaut to be "one with the stars" as he poetically would put it..

Some of the guests were already having fun playing video games, but Thomas was getting impatient so it was time for mom to pick him up to show him his birthday cake and start the main event.

..and everybody that could got up from their seats to cheer for him. From left to right: His aunt Helene Kråkesen-Motorsen, his father Ivar Motorsen-Notesen, his cousin Robert Bråge Motorsen and his sister Lise Veronica Motorsen-Notesen. Waving in the back is his uncle Knut Kråkesen-Motorsen.

"Make a wish!" his mother said with joy before helping him blow out the candles. ;)

Not everyone was feeling the same joy though, as two of his cousins, Morten Kråkesen-Karlsen and Kleopatra Motorsen-Karlsen was still focused hard on their homework... teenage life is rough! Soon enough young Thomas will also be of school age and get his first taste of homework.. and it might even be sooner than he knows....

Then the magic happens, and almost all but the homework-ridden guests are already gathering around what is now the most important thing - the cake, of course....

 

..and there we have it! Say hi to Thomas, now 6 years old and ready to start school! Exciting times ahead...  He inherited the friendly trait from his grandmother Karianne, fathers side.

Then his aunt Ranveig arrives through the door, just a little to late to catch the moment, but still cheer as she spots him. However, Thomas doesn't care about that now, as he to has set his eyes on the birthday cake..

Everyone was waiting for him to take the first piece and then its eating time..

 

It was just enough cake for everyone to get a piece, and it probably would have been enough for the guests that never went inside to join the party too, such as his grandmother Eirin, who was busy still doing police work and interrogating everyone outside...

However, the maybe she should have been interrogating some of the people inside instead.. if she had known, that is, because while they were enjoing their cakes Ivar wasn't shy to confess out loud his mutual interest for Helene..

..and of course all there right in front of Monica, who strangely enough did not react to it.. atleast Ranveig had the brains to keep quiet about her desires, but then again.. Ranveig is Monicas sister, she couldn't do that..  

    Now, of course this was an embarrassing situation, and Monica, though she wasn't a genius like Ranveig, knew better than to make it worse by creating a scene on her sons birthday.. but this sure gave her a reason to keep an extra eye on both her husband and her sister-in-law... and an ear out for rumours... just in case.. and some arsenal to use in a future argument... she never would have thought that Ivar had the potential to be a womanizer when she first saw him, he just didn't seem like the character for it, but here they were...

Thomas didn't catch any of the potential drama that went on, for two reasons.. the first one was simply that he was to young to yet pick up on what was said, and the second one being that he was busy "playing" with the birthday gift he received from the school.. already! Poor kid hasn't even had his first day there, and already he had received homework in the mail.. as some kind of preparation, or something. Happy birthday from the School for Gifted Children - here are some brochures and a bit of preschool homework! That's just twisted...

..and looking at the miserable faces of the teenagers sitting at the table behind him, there would plenty more of that in the years to come, so he might as well just get used to it.. school in the sim world is absolutely relentless!

All of the teenagers and kids weren't done with their homework until after it had started to get dark outside. Ranveig, though she thought it was important that the kids certainly did their homework to perform well in school, noticed their misery and wanted to cheer them up by telling them jokes about school from her own school days.. If it was anyone in the room who knew that school could be hard, it was probably Ranveig.. She had her share of stories from those days to tell, not all of them as funny as this one, but that's something for another day...

Then finally some leisure time as the teenagers gathered with uncle Knut to play some video games. It was only a four player game though, so Robert Bråge to the left behind Kleopatra had to wait his turn. 

Robert Bråge catered to his outdoorsy nature and had gone to get some fresh air playing the gnubb game in the garden.

Lise Veronica goes into a fit of rage over losing the last round and having to give up her spot to her other uncle and Knuts twin brother Eivind.

This makes Eivind think he upset the teenager and decides to give up his spot, which prompts an immediate reaction of joy, though she didn't really care much for playing video games anymore and instead decided to walk upstairs to her room to tuck herself safely into the sleeping bag on the floor - even though she has a perfectly fine bed in there as well..

The sleeping bag is there only in case she wants to have a friend to sleep over, but whatever you want to sleep in young miss... good night. ;)

Thomas, who had been absent from his own party since after the cake eating, had retreated upstairs as well to read books. He didn't feel like hanging out with the adults and all the other kids were much older than him, so he didn't want to spend time with them either - and as he has yet to start school he doesn't really have to many friends that are excactly his own age, so.. for now he just preferred his own company, but hopefully this will change once he starts school..

Downstairs again Morten and Kleopatra is doing some friendly pillow fighting between cousins, until Morten comes with a jokingly remark regarding Kleopatras mom, Sofie..

He shouldn't have done that. Kleopatra is a young girl with a big temper, and she will defend her mom indefinetely. The pillow fight is over...

 Kleopatras temper may be hot, but it also burns out quickly and after playing a round of video games with their aunt Ranveig, they make it up and become friends again...

..well, atleast for a while...

Robert Bråge is hitting it off much better with his aunt Helene, as they have spent a good portion of the evening talking about Robert Bråges potential future plans to have a career in the military, as well as Helenes favourite topic - herself, and now they're having great fun in a pillow fight.

 

Its really, really late now, and Thomas' parents have already been in bed asleep for a while, as well as his sister in the sleeping bag, but he still wants someone to read him a bedtime story, so he walks downstairs to ask his aunts to read for him. First Helene, which says she agrees, but then forgets about what she was just about to do - which happens every now and then - so he moves on to ask Ranveig, but she ends up not reading for him either, because she can't decide on what book to pick from the book shelf..

While Ranveig is standing there pondering and reaching no conclusion, Kleopatra walks past her up the stairs and heads for the bathroom to take a shower before changing to her sleepwear, which is a little peculiar since nobody asked her to sleep over...

 

..but adding two and two together, since Lise Veronica went to sleep in her sleeping bag, the girls must have been talking, and the cousins should probably arrange a sleep over one day. I have a suspicion they would want that, maybe some other time. :P

 

..and poor Thomas is now in Lise Veronicas room after having exhausted all his adult options and asked Robert Bråge to read him a bedtime story.. and it may have happened, if it hadn't been for Robert being distracted by Lise Veronicas pet rodent..

..so sadly he has to go bed the first night in his new bedroom without being read to, but I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities for that later.. and there will probably be more exciting birthday parties for him in the future as well, let us hope... good night. ;)

Now, the party, and update could have ended here, but of course some of the guests were still downstairs enjoying their time playing video games and not wanting to leave...

 

More or less anyway. Good old Ranveig is relatively sensible though, as she walks outside to find her son again playing the gnubb game and telling him its probably time to go home and get some sleep..  ;)

The same can't be said about Helene who walks upstairs to have another pillow fight with Morten in Monica and Ivars bedroom..

 

..now that does it! Ivar wakes up from the commotion to tell them its time to quit and head home in as a stern of a voice possible, which isn't really very stern at all..

Ivar has always had a very soft spoken appearance, but nonetheless they still respect his command and decide to leave to each their own house...

..so that finally everyone in the household can get a good nights sleep...

..god natt. ;)

Previous | Next

Addendum (about teenage relationships)

In the previous chapter a teenage girl named Sonja Bjørnøy made her first, and potentially only appearance, where she engaged in flirting with Bjørn-Yngve at the graveyard. I speculated that she was just a one off, and wouldn't be seen again. Now, when inviting the guests over for the party, I noticed that she was on the list of people that could be invited, so she is still in town so the chances of her being a new permanent fixture has increased. Its still unknown who her parents are, though, and if she has any siblings, etc.

Also, again in the previous chapter, Lise Veronicas girlfriend Kristina called Robert Bråge late in the evening after he had gone to bed to ask him to the school ball.. Robert Bråge, of course, rejected her since they are both in a relationship.. however, Kristina was invited to Thomas' birthday party, but for whatever reason glimmered with her absence... why is that? Well, I don't know.. what could be more important than going to the birthday party of your girlfriends little brother? So far only cause for speculation.. it might be nothing, or it, coupled with her making a late night call to Robert, could be an indication that the relationship between her and Lise Veronica isn't as strong...