Pettonta Castle: A Pettonta Gral Secret

[Year count 158]  Believe it or not - Maria is still alive and kicking! I thought she would be gone by now, old as she is...



Today the family had one of their regular meetings in the blue room, planning the future of the Pettonta family. Count Junato and Countess Constance only have 2 children, so if they exclude the distant family residing in Galucca, they are not that many individuals to make an impact. Planning their moves will be quite important.

Ex-Countess Maria still wants to control more than she is entitled to, but luckily she is now half deaf, missing out on most of the debates.

Galucca has definitely reached modern times. Clothing is still kinda formal here at the castle, but downtown the younger girls wear miniskirts in public, and every new establishment gets a certain dash of fresh colours, stripes and polka-dots. Hairdressers are doing well, and there's even a small shopping mall in the area where Old Town meets City.



While culture blooms, there are many political issues these days. One matter that bothers nearly everyone, is the lack of cemeteries. The old cemetery next to Church of Similius was full long ago, and the chapel is pretty full as well. There were suggestions that each region should have their own graveyard, or at least a chapel, but because people nowadays move all across Galucca, the districts are no longer as isolated as before - that's for all except Moon District, of course.

Another subject is the mis-coloured residents. They are now old enough to settle and reproduce, which many of them already did. Count Junato would like a law stopping two mis-coloured to couple, because if they marry someone with normal skin, there would be a bigger chance the toxic colours would fade in a few generations. Some councillor even suggested that all mis-coloured residents should be forced to live in a ghetto in the Dump, but Count Junato didn't support that idea at all. Besides it would be too close to the castle.

Countess Constance has supported the scientific work on the case, through her work at Constant Hope Hospital, and only sees the poor individuals, and not the problem.

Baron Gustav has not given it much of a thought yet, but for the lack of cemeteries, he supports the idea of regional chapels. I'm not sure how to handle this - how many ghosts can a world carry?



Maria never found the Pettonta Gral that she suspects to be hidden under the castle. In the past she sent the children down there to search for it, unsuccessfully. She is now 116 years old, and some might think she already found the gral, and had a sip of Youth. But no, she didn't. She now talked Lady Lincia into asking every family member about the gral mystery.

(It's so great that this family actually resided here for generations already, I don't even need to know who was the last to know about the gral )



It's well known that old Maria roams the underground net of long stony corridors, still hoping to find the gral. Her late husband, Gustavian Pettonta, told her about the gral, but he didn't know where it was located. And she already cursed him twice!



Maria's screaming and cursing could be heard all up to the library where Junato and Constance were preparing tonight's dinner party. And Junato realized he should enlighten his wife a little.



Pettonta Family Gral is a huge trophe, said to contain a small bottle of holy water. The person drinking the water will indeed earn eternal life. Junato knows a secret though, that he didn't even tell Lady Lincia when she asked lots of gral related questions the other day - The effect can only be achieved by a real Pettonta! Maria was married into this family, and if she drinks the water she would gain no effect. Junato thinks it's better this way, not telling his mother...



Then the dinner party was on! Three important men arrived the castle, and after they had checked into their guest rooms in the northern tower, everyone gathered in the Butterfly Room. The elderly is Count Vladdow from the countship of Vladinada, the blond man is son of a wealthy business man of Grapefield City, and the one with a beard, is oldest son of the Mayor of Bridgeport City.



Well, all three of them were seated near Lady Lincia, she is just a teen but will grow up very soon. She felt the situation as rather awkward.



And Maria did not like that her granddaughter got all this attention, while Maria was nearly ignored except a couple polite phrases now and then. Count Vladdow's wife died 10 years earlier, and now he was desperate because his sole heir recently died in a car accident. He will simply need to remarry to keep his countship!



Lady Lincia behaved politely, but didn't encourage anyone. As soon as everyone left the dining room, she snuck to the servants' kitchen, out into the kitchen garden. She is a dog lover, but this far they had no dogs at the castle, only the chicken and the cows. Naturally she had shared many thoughts with the cow, Rosie. And Rosie would always nod trustfully.

Well, there was probably some coffee and cigars in the library later on, or a drink in the castle garden, praising that the Autumn surprisingly had turned into Spring. Galucca never ever had Winter, what was going on with these disturbed seasons?

Next update; Seylouse family!

Fogdale: Misty's pretty bad day

[Year count 156]  We all remember poor, angry Misty Fogdale. She recently reached Young Adult, still residing with her elderly parents at Lower Farmland, or the Dump as the locals call it. She is sole heir to their misery. Some time ago she surprised us all by being the new employee at Love Café. Although Love and Misty don't seem to match very well...



Well, she was fired! She got even more angry, and the entire world is just unfair!

The Fogdale family is a rather poor household. In fact, according to my kinda rigid system, their social status is too low for their lot value, which is of course a bad thing. The house is a small farm, the house is not huge but the only 2 storied house in the Dump. The only way to match, would be to reduce the worth of their home, ie by selling off enough belongings. It's not a huge gap, so I'm allowing them to stay a little longer, but on one condition - they can't afford to buy a single item! :no:



Misty's old mom Tusha (Gruston) Fogdale is 88, her dad Eremias Fogdale is only 83. They are both factory workers, but in a short while they will both be retired!

Ever since she grew up, Misty had a dream of working with science at the Wooming Soil Facility. That's where the toxics of the Dump is investigated. Misty might not have the perfect references for such a job, but maybe she would qualify for a job as a test subject?



She ran over to Wooming Soil Facility, it's just a quick walk from the Dump, over the field next to the poisoned waters next to the Fogdale's home, then climbing up the steep hill, following Gal River a bit till the sunken bridge, and there it is!

But Mr. Wooming turned Misty down, he blamed that the toxic project had received less funds from the Council and they had to move on to other projects. Besides he had heard about Misty's failures at Love Café...



Yes, Misty was kinda depressed now. Couldn't they just have offered her some other job? Testing fatal medicines? Testing safety in crashing cars? Just anything? She needed a way to earn money!

She explored the facility area, there were numerous worn out furniture there. She knew locals would drive up here to get rid of their bigger garbage, and a few times Misty had actually picked up something they could use at home. But this time it required an Inventor's skill to make good use of the items, and Misty didn't know how a factory worker would deal with this kind of scrap.

Misty had always refused to work in the filthy factories in the Dump. Yesterday she heard there was an available job at the boat ticket office down at the harbour. Everyday someone traveled by boat, and each of them had to buy a valid ticket. She knew she could handle such a simple job, and it wouldn't even require smiling or other stupid services.



But no luck... The elderly woman serving the ticket office told Misty that the job was already taken. Somehow Misty didn't trust her, but what could she do about it except frown?



Misty walked back to the Dump. It still rained, but the weather was much lighter. Oh, what a day - the best thing that had happened to her was that it rained a little less! She really needed someone to talk to. All her friends had grown up, and some even started a family, meaning they didn't have much time for the single Misty Fogdale.



Shellith (Gnomes) Gruston did marry to Didrik Gruston, and they already expect their first child. They both were affected by the toxics, or whatever caused the skin miscolour long ago. Didrik was out gardening, but Shellith had time for a quick chat. Not that she could help, not getting a job because of bad looks was nothing new in Galucca. Being turned down twice in one day was tough, though.



Then Misty left the Gruston house, but she didn't get very far...

Nobody knows what happened over the next few hours, not even Misty herself.



The following night, a little after 3 AM there was some kind of activity up on Moon Mountain. That's the mountain that leads all the way from Moon District to the volcano, and even farther.

There exists some ancient stones, and in the very center...



... a person looking like Misty Fogdale was laying on the ground. No wait, there's one more person, it looks like... could it be the young adult Emma Hydront!?

Now, what on earth are they doing up there?

Malone: A girl for Syrup?

[Year count 155]  So, it's been about 10 years since our last stop in Sunny Fields - the lowest and better part of Gal district. Here's a fresh overview, that is lots of building activities took place in town, but not here at Gal district.



I think there are 2 more vacant lots here at Sunny Fields, more house building will need to take place shortly!



The Malone family makes a living from growing flowers and other plants for decorative purposes. Now that both sons are practically grown ups, there should be more hands to do the work. Syrup is a young adult, and he is both excitable, absent-minded and insane, but also good and easily impressed. Seems like an interesting man to follow into the future ;)

His younger brother Steven is pushing young adulthood, too.



Ursa is an elderly woman by now. She is with good health, but is working less with the plants, focusing more on duties in their house. She still thinks about the twins she had to give up some years ago, nearly every day she stands by the bedroom window trying to get a glimpse of the boy she left outside the Monastery of Similius. But she never saw that Monk again (Rallo Plisterwood, btw), and never go near the Monastery or the beach nearby.

Of course she regrets the past, but she focuses the more on her family to make up for the mistake. Every day Everet Malone fills their blue car with healthy plants, and drives to their flower market in town, next to Similius Square that is in front of the church. Some days Syrup or Steven follow, but up to now that would normally be just a couple hours after school.

Their old horse finally died, and the stable is currently empty.



Well, today the Malones are visiting Bono's Gym. It's run by Ursa's brother, Bono Swims, who is a successful Athlete and was involved with the previous project "sports for all", initiated by some snobby charity woman. Bono did very well in boxing, but also took part in other disciplines.

Everet has helped decorating several public spots in Galucca, but was never asked to decorate this very street corner. Instead the Council placed some ugly rock monument there. Crafted by the local Sculptor, Davan Sculler.

Ursa and Everet brought some flowers to decorate the gym entrance, as a gift. The boy standing next to the door, is son of a 2nd brother, Remi Swims. Remi lives at Maurice Creek, while Bono lives with wife and daughter in town. The boy is named Don Swims, and works at the gym as a trainer.



Bono never made money from running the gym, and there's not much left from winning contests either, being a champion mostly brought fame & respect instead of money.

It's Ursa's first visit to the upgraded gym. She found it rather disturbing that people swimming up there will be watched without knowing it. But Bono said that everyone can see the windows when arriving the gym, so it's pretty obvious. And the "Tuesday nude swimming" initiated by a Flower-Power group, was stopped by the Council after just 2 weeks.



Upstairs there's numerous work-out facilities. Huge mirrors were just added, it has become more common in gyms all over Sim Nation that people like to watch themselves while exercising. There should actually be more mirrors, but Bono explained they were too expensive.



While the rest of the family left, Syrup decided to exercise a little now that he was at the gym. He admires uncle Bono, and if it wasn't for the flower production at home, he might have chosen the athletic career like uncle Bono and cousin Don. Being the oldest son, puts him first in line to take over the house and the family business.

Then, suddenly Timara Onioon was standing there watching him. She is the onion farmer's girl who wanted to be Syrup's girlfriend back when he was a teen and she was a child. Now Syrup is young adult and Timara is a teen.



She talked him into taking a swim in the new outdoor pool. And how cute, both being insane! Both swimming with their clothes on. Or was it simply because of those underwater windows?



Later on, the Malone family gathered for dinner at home. Ursa has become a decent cook, and there is always a lively discussion during their meals. Today Ursa could tell them they had got new neighbours, and she urged the others to join her visiting them.

Everet was busy though, and so was Steven, but Syrup decided to join his mom.

The neighbours is the Van Hutch family. You have heard of them before, but I don't expect you to remember that. The elderly man in the background is a famous painter, son of one of the two guys who founded Arts Academy very long ago. His elderly wife grew up at Maurice Creek where this little family lived until now. Their social status is above the average worker family up there, so they chose to move down here to Sunny Fields. Their only daughter, Bellamy van Hutch, is the official head of this little house.



The house is built on stilts, and they got a fantastic view from the living room. Ursa couldn't help looking for the Monastery that is located just across the Gal River. Knowing that her unknown son could be running over the hilltop any second made her really nervous.

Non of the van Hutch family had ever heard about that baby being found, but they enthusiastically talked about the lovely sunsets, the view to Ucca Island, and the grapes they grow for nectar production.

And well, could Bellamy be a future match for Syrup or Steven?

Next update - the angry Misty Fogdale of the Dump!

Moonster: Happiness, fish and seagulls

[Year count 153]  So, it's time to stop by at the original Moonster household over at Moon district. I say the original, because there is one additional Moonster household there by now - Gloria Moonster residing at Seagull Cottage.

You might remember that Milton Moonster had more than a good eye (two eyes?) for Chloe Seylouse. Now that Chloe is married to Gust Turmington, son of an Admiral, she is no longer the objects of Milton's dreams. But the entire thing helped him realize that he should find some other woman shortly. Instincts. Soon pushing Adult.

The pictures above shows one of the two Kiosks in Galucca. The other is at Galucca Plaza, and this one is between the Town Hall and the Ellie's Library here at Town Street that cuts through the upper part of Old Town. The woman serving it is Jeri (Brugster) Barksdale. She is a wealthy sim, not really sure why she chose to serve this kiosk, but hey-ho.

Nevertheless, don't see a point in Milton flirting with her, either. She is way above his class...

But then, one day there was a new girl at the Arts Academy! And Milton instantly liked her! He complimented her work, and then she had to run because she worked as a chef at Chez Ludmilla.

So, if you were Milton, wouldn't you too have followed to eat some food at Chez Ludmilla?

Milton did, and Yvonne recognized him right away. On his dish she wrote "fish" with the peas, although he had ordered a chicken meal. And he had to laugh, and wave back into the kitchen numerous times during his meal. He is an Angler, you now, just like his dad.

He noticed that his neighbours Edith and Viggo Kragger were standing there in the queue. Edith is the slightly purple woman with a yellow blouse - she is the oldest daughter of the Hydront family. Viggo is son of Camille Kragger, who recently died.

Well, Milton and Yvonne Sacroville started dating, and soon it was time for Yvonne to meet Milton's old parents.

Yvonne is a rather lively girl, her oldest sister Marbelle is married to the priest Nikodemus Dipperwell, and Yvonne has another sister and a brother too, so she is used to a much bigger family than the Moonster house.

Milton and Yvonne married! She is neurotic, but a great kisser and a natural cook. She is also artistic and quite ambitious with most efforts. And she is a little richer than Milton, rising this house value (my status system).

One day Detch Moonster's cousin Gloria Moonster stopped by. She runs a bed & breakfast, currently with 3 long term lodgers. Gloria is engaged to Ludwig Hapster and they have a child.

Tonight Gloria needed Detch's help to undestand one of the recipes of the "Black Journal of Magica". She was currently experimenting with feathers. Detch is a member of the secret MSW, but he isn't much into recipes and spells. He somehow managed to help her understand the book, though.

The Moonster family actually was involved with the MSW since the beginning. Now Detch wants to leave his seat to Milton, and at next full moon it will happen!

Yvonne served some delicious sushi (feels kinda futuristic, right). It was a great success with the Anglers. And "the Countless" refers to ex-countess Maria.

That's right. The old conflict between the Moonsters and the Pettontas is still pretty hot. Not that they try to do each other any harm, but they do their best to avoid the other family. That's why the noble family of Pettonta Castle will never set foot in Moon district, and why a Moonster will probably never ever be attending the events taking place at the castle. Milton isn't quite sure he knows all about the conflict. He knows about Esphella who died in the deep well, but that was several generations ago! Maybe becoming a MSW member will change that? Or maybe the conflict exists just... just to exist, like a plot in a story?