The Goth / Roseland Family: Week 5

The following week at the Goth-Roseland villa starts with Cyd Roseland retiring from his job as Chief of Staff. He has worked hard enough, and there are over 500.000 Simoleons in the family bank account.

Upstairs, Tara and Alexander are about to start their day.

Cassandra, for once not busy with her dogs, takes a quiet moment to write her diary.

Somehow, this family seems a bit more intelligent than others - when left to their own devices (as I frequently do when some members of the household are on Permanent Platinum), they don't wait until they are close to death by starvation before one of them prepares a meal for everyone. Here, Cassandra can't seem to wait for her little brother to finish the pork chops he has just begun to make :-)

The family happily sit down for dinner later.

In the evening, Cyd plays the grand piano in the upstairs drawing room.

On Tuesday, he is clipping the hedge while a thunderstorm rages, and hit by ligthning. One would think the lightning would find a different goal, what with so many large trees on the lot, and the house itself being so high!

Bellina dies at the ripe old age of 33, escorted by a friendly Mr. Reaper and accompanied by the mournful howling of her daughter Jackie and old friend Porthos.

Her small urn is left in the house and not buried in the pet section of Gamesend Grounds, New Maximiliania's cemetery.

The thunderstorm is not over yet, and lightning strikes again, this time it hits one of the trees next to the gazebo where Mortimer's tombstone is.

On Wednesday, Cyd decides to make salmon. While the dish is in the oven, Cassandra comes in, and the couple start talking. Cyd is so distracted he forgets to take the salmon out of the oven, and does not even notice the smoke coming out of it!

While the salmon is "happily" smoking away in the oven, neither Cyd nor Cassandra seem to be willing to do something about it. Instead, Cyd rubs Porthos' belly, with his wife looking on.

Only when flames burst forth from the oven and the fire alarm goes off do they finally become aware of what is happening.

Yeah, now you can all panic!

But of course, the fire alarm means that the fire is quickly put out by a professional firefighter, and the two silver-haired lovebirds can go back to their flirting and exchanging of romantic glances. It really is SMOKED salmon on the menu today at the Goth-Roseland villa!

Thursday sees Cassandra somewhat listless. She has not been doing anything towards her lifetime want this week yet. I must admit that was my mistake - I was of the opinion that Jackie, her only remaining female dog, was pregnant, because the option "Try for puppy with..." did not appear. But really this must have been due to Porthos being rather old; I thought that male dogs and cats can father puppies and kittens all their lives, only female ones were restricted to their adult (and not elder) years in terms of fertility.

In a big house like this, one thing or other does break every now and then, or needs maintenance. The repairman is generously tipped every time he is called; the family can certainly well afford it.

On Friday, Nina Caliente walks by and is invited in by Cassandra. She wouldn't have done this had she known...

...about her little brother once having had a one-night-fling with Nina! Tara had not known, either, and therefore must have been quite surprised when, after she and her husband had just been kissing as usual, all of a sudden Nina accused Alexander of cheating on her!!

But Tara knows that Miss Caliente is no real competition for her - Alexander's heart beats for her, and her only! (She kissed Alexander on her own accord, right after Nina had made that scene.)

Only the way she looks at Nina here reveals Tara's true feelings about this "lady"!

Yes, this was Nina. She kicked over the trash can in full view of Cyd, who is just mopping up a dog-made puddle.

Just after Saturday slipped into Sunday, something happens... The corner of the house I am showing you in this picture should give you a clue!

Indeed, Alexander has been abducted by Aliens, after he has spent as good as every night at the telescope! He is welcomed back home by the family several hours later. As almost all Alien abductions in New Maximiliania, this one happened without me influencing it. The only exception (so far) is Loki Beaker, who needs children for his lifetime want and therefore was allowed to summon the Aliens.

No need for that question mark, Alexander - you should know what your queasiness means, there are so many men in your neighbourhood who have gone through this before you!

As Sunday draws to a close, let's have a last look at our two charming and happy couples. Alexander will be an Elder in 7 days; Tara is 62 now.

Cyd is the same age as Tara, and Cassandra is 70 today. Will Alexander have a half-Alien girl, boy or twins? How is this heir to the Goth name (and villa) going to grow up, surrounded only by elderly people? Is Cassandra going to adopt another dog so that Jackie can have puppies?