#erick ember

The decision was hard, but Takama had to do it. It's not that he didn't genuinely care for or even love Erick, but there were things he could not compromise on.

Death had always been a part of his life. For him it was something to be honored and celebrated; it was a significant part of the culture of Ravenwood which he was proud of. So finding out that there were members of Erick's family who not only artificially prolonged their life via magical means but also avoided death entirely through the same potions was some what of a shock. He held no ill will towards the family, but Takama worried that he would be expected to partake in the same magic were he to stay with Erick.

And so he hadn't spoken to him in a few weeks while he ruminated on this problem.

He ended up turning to his neighbor and longtime friend, Zelmira Gomes for advice and support. They felt the same way about death as Takama and understood why he felt uneasy about the relationship proceeding. In those weeks things changed between the two.

As he got closer to Zelmira, he knew he had to talk to Erick soon. The boy deserved to not be kept in the dark so they could both move on.

The Romance Festival isn't where he wanted to say goodbye, but when Erick invited him out in an attempt to reconnect he figured he had to do it no matter how much it hurt.

Seeing Erick crying in the rain made him wonder if he made the right decision, but deep inside his heart he knew that it was for the best.

A few days later in Newcrest, Ronnie Pancakes was scrolling through Simstagram whenever he saw a post with Zelmira and Takama announcing they were together. Shocked, he fired off a text to Erick to check in on him and invited him over.

The two hugged and Ronnie asked him what happened and if he was okay.

Erick explained that the breakup didn't come as a surprise as the two had been distant for a bit after having the discussion about Takama's feelings about death and using magic to avoid it. Still, it stung, especially whenever he found out about Zelmira.

Whenever it came time for his birthday, he realized that maybe Takama was right that the differences were too much to overcome in a life long romantic relationship with how uncomfortable he felt about the subject.

Erick paused, took a deep breath, and then stated, "I guess I might as well come clean. I'm sad, not because of losing Takama, but because I started seeing him because I was scared to mess things up with you."

Ronnie was shocked. "What do you mean mess things up with me?"

Erick nervously continued, "I like you Ronnie. Maybe more than like. I was scared to admit it because I didn't want to risk our friendship. Now Takama's gone and it's too late."

Ronnie stared for a moment before carefully speaking, "And to think that I never admitted to how I felt because I was also scared that you'd not feel the same way. By the time I worked up the nerve to say something, you were with Takama and I didn't want to interfere."

Erick was stunned, "You mean you felt the same way?"

Ronnie taking Erick's hands, "Not just felt, but still feel. Let's sit down and talk."

The two had been best friends ever since their first day of high school, but today they were blushing and giggling as old crushes were renewed and their fears melted away.

The Pancakes were friends with Erick's grandfather, Darrel Charm, so while they may not have fully understood the magic they supported it. Ronnie suspected that the man played some role in Little B's sudden appearance too, so he was eager to learn more about the power that that the Charm and Ember families had.

But learning about all of that could wait for now.

[Whew, sorry this took as long as it did. Between AGDQ last week and it being the start of the busy season at work, getting the story telling juices going took a moment.]

Time passed pretty peacefully in the Zest-Charm household. Finn had accepted that his mother was an elder, everyone was more than used to and accepting of Teddy's sweaty nature, and Oliver the cat was always around for pets and snuggles.

Johnny and Emilia traded jokes and mixology secrets.

And he tried to keep the paparazzi at bay in order to protect the kids.

And the trio of partners decided to take a Watcher imposed break from continuously serenading one another to work on some puzzles while the kids were at school. Johnny was less befuddled by them than last time.

The boys worked on their homework...

worked on their fitness...

Teddy maxing his out!

and they worked (struggled) on their magic. Looks like Erick took Phoenix's advice to heart!

With prom still inexplicably gone [wn: please vote and comment on this if you can and haven't already], the teens also did what they could to fill their weekends.

Finn was more than happy to hang out with Erick Ember and paint. He was also close to mastering pottery... perhaps it's time to branch out to tattoo sketches?

Teddy... well...

He decided to give bowling a shot while out at the Sweat Shop (a teenage hangout with an arcade, dancing, bowling, and vending machines) with Jax's gamer club.

They were both hilariously bad at it which only served to push the two sweaty competitive boys even further.

After a lot of gutter balls, Teddy managed to get two lucky strikes before the set was ended. Jax raged and swore that he'd beat his boyfriend next time.

The Spice Festival also became a fun outing (that Finn went to as well, I swear) for the boys to hang out with friends, enjoy good food, and engage in a few friendly duels.

Teddy even spent a New Year's Eve with Erick and his family.

Winter was happy to meet him... but not terribly impressed with his competitive tips.

Life in the Zest-Ember household was full of love, light, and laughter.

A bit too much laughter.

The Watcher did not see that Emilia was hysterical until the dreaded notification came up. Darrel was distraught... she had asked him to not resurrect her when she passed, but this was not an old age death.

However, that agreement was with him, and not the kids.

Phoenix had a death flower and confidently presented it to Grim in order to spare his mother.

Emilia was grateful to be brought back, and Finn in particular was happy to not have lost his mom early.

The situation reminded Darrel that a trip to Newcrest was in order...

"It's good to see you again my friend; I'm glad that you decided to stick around."

Morgyn Ember, their sons Dylan and Terrence, and Dylan's son Erick got to enjoy a little Harvestfest together in Strangerville!

I didn't get to show nearly as many pictures of Teddy and Jax bowling in the previous post , and I didn't want them to go unseen!

Before they ever got to bowling, they had a couple of rounds of Blicblock Turbo. The two of them are both terrible winners and losers, and watching their reactions was funny.

The redhead in the third pic is Karl Moyer (Alex Moyer from DU's son) giving them the sideeye. He's used to their goofiness and is a member of their gamer club.

The faces these two were pulling cracked me up, and you know that ball had to be hard to hold onto with all that sweat!

At one point, Jax told Teddy a REALLY INTENSE story that had him doing all of this. It was so over the top. I adore this absolute dork.

Jax's reaction to losing against Teddy.

I switched over to the Munch household to age Xander up, but needed him to do a few things before I did so. I sent him to bed, and his parents decided to make out in the hallway. His imaginary friend was still present and was just standing there awkwardly watching them with this expression. XD

Dork.

Oliver the cat goes spin!

Despite my best efforts, Darrel didn't deal with Emilia's death well, but I guess this isn't as bad of a change as it could be.

Teddy and Finn both experienced grief as well. Finn bounced back pretty quickly, and Teddy struggled a bit but ultimately came through without issues.

Phoenix, however, immediately got the Mean Streak phase and did exactly 2 (two) mean interactions - he yelled at Johnny and then at Darrel. He got a timeout for both (Because I wanted the phase to go away since Phoenix is not a mean sim). The second (last) time he did it and got a timeout, both Teddy and Finn came to hang out with him while he went through it.

Since neither could interact with him, I like to imagine they were low-key ribbing him the whole time.

"So what lesson do you think we can learn from this, Finn?" "I don't know Teddy, maybe don't yell at Dad?"

Story-wise, I decided that Phoenix yelling at his dads (and literally no one else) was him being confused and angry about the hesitation to revive his mom. The kids didn't know about the DNR (do not resuscitate) agreement that she had with their dads, and once Phoenix finally talked to them about why he was so angry, they had a whole conversation. Darrel, Johnny, and Emilia learned that their sons needed to know about these things, and the family came to an agreement that the DNR only applied to death from old age.

Way in the future thing under the cut - don't read if you don't want possible spoilers!

Baylee Charm was a little concerned about joining a bachelor challenge if for no other reason than explaining her vast family to someone else, but after researching what she could on Dominic and the Glynnan family she felt a bit more confident.

She was the first child of the Charming Summer Dreamers polycule, adopted by them as soon as they settled in Henford-on-Bagley while still fresh out of high school.

Yosef Collette-Ember, Callen Charm, Gunner Lothario, and Puck Summerdream might be best known for their support of Baylee whenever she was in her bear phase as a child.

This arrangement also makes her cousins with a certain Erick Ember!

Baylee is currently a teacher and still lives at home helping take care of the small farm and her younger siblings, Crystal (white hair) and Melody (red hair). She enjoys the outdoors, fishing, cross-stitch, snuggling Cookie the family cat, and occasionally karaoke. She's considering becoming a camp counselor so she can continue to work with children because she has no interest in becoming a college professor or administrator.

She's a Cheerful sort who enjoys meeting new people, but she can be a bit of a snob. It's not surprising given her parents and grandparents - Yosef maxed out his fame as a teenager for both being an artist and an expert violinist; his father Tomax is a world renown author, Callen is a CEO for a tech start up; his parents are Johnny Zest and Darrel Charm who are both global superstars in their own right.

While she may be a snob she's still quite polite, and being on the clumsy side can keep some of that snobbishness in check.

She's very unskilled at romance having focused most of her time and energy on becoming an honor student when she was still in school and juggling a variety of hobbies, extracurricular activities, and household responsibilities. She has more parenting experience from helping with her sisters than romance.

And while life in Henford can be unexpectedly adventurous at times, her dads are the ones who encouraged her to take the risk with the bachelor challenge. They wanted her to learn new things and get more exposure to the rest of the world. If she finds love, then great! If not, then hopefully the taste of a life away from home will encourage her to spread her wings.

Young adult Kevin jamming out with infant Dylan enjoying the show vs now with him as an elder playing for his grandson, Erick.

Dylan and August's son Adrian was a relatively calm baby by newborn standards. Winter had been far more fussy... mostly because she had a very healthy appetite and frequently wanted bottles.

August was still in awe of the little boy. They had never imagined that they'd ever have a child that would be a full alien like themself; and while they never felt truly alone with their little family, having Adrian in their arms made them realize that the newborn filled a part of their life that they didn't know were missing.

The feeling of being the only one, the only undisguised alien they had ever seen, had been buried for years under layers of forced half-hearted acceptance. And now here they were, alone no more.

[WN: If August ever travels to Windenburg, then their whole worldview's going to be rocked by the sheer number of aliens in the Villareal family tree alone.]

Erick was simply happy to have another sibling. He reflected on how he went from figuring he'd never have any actual ones to now having two! He was also glad that Adrian came as quickly as he did so he'd have time with the boy before he graduated. He was still debating on if he wanted to go to university, but there was plenty of time to worry about that... now was the time to finish up high school and hang out with family.

In seemingly the blink of an eye, it was time for Adrian to age up...