Chapter 13.2 – February 2024 – Tending to what you love

-- Green grass of home --

Patrik felt a little anxious this february morning.. He knew he wasn't getting any younger as he checked his face in the mirror for wrinkles... He was starting to feel a little.. stuck around here, maybe... He knew it very well that Solvej was an expert in tending to the plants in her greenhouse and that as long as she was around the grass would always be green, but what if...

No, he couldn't be thinking that... they haven't even had their first wedding anniversary yet. But the thought, this new feeling of restlessness, was hard to ignore.. what if..

He couldn't do that.. His role now was to be a father, he had responsibilities. He couldn't just run away from them.. He loved his sweet little girls and he knew that if he... if he did that, he would most likely not get to see them grow up the way he wanted to first hand... Solvej would never forgive him.

And neither would his boy Rune, and maybe he wouldn't either come to think of it.. but was this the life he wanted now? He had given up his career as a football player to spend more time with his family, but every now and then he still missed it.. Traveling to different towns for away games, and the opportunities it gave for new encounters... Working in the police force wasn't really all that exciting as he spent more time at the desk than doing anything else...

-- Bathroom blues --

With the boys out of the house Solvej goes into the bathroom to do her morning routine when she suddenly feels inspired again, so she goes to get her guitar to jam out a little bathroom blues... There's just something about the acoustics of the bathroom that sometimes makes it very satisfying..

What she doesn't notice right away, is that Lilian has followed her in there. It takes a while for her to hear it, that some other sounds are mixing themselves with the sound of the guitar strings.. a sound of something or someone splashing with water..

She turns around and sighs as she finds Lilian there, hands down in the toilet bowl.. "Lilian, Lilian, Lilian.... that's not how you use the toilet..."

She feels a little resigned. She has tried to tell them so many times already to not play in the toilet.. well, there's only one thing to do since she's already here.. to try again and teach her how it is supposed to be used..

"There you go my little rascal.. the toilet is not for playing. It's where you do your poopy..."


-- Impatience --

After watching over Lilian as she did her best on the potty and carrying her up the stairs to play with the toys it was her sister Silvias turn to wake up..

"Rise and shine my little girl. You and I and your sister, we'll be going to the park today. Won't it be fun?" Solvej said in a playful voice.

Silvias face lit up as she grinned with her toothless baby smile. "Bababa! Pahk maa! Ohyeye!"
Silvia pats Solvej on the face with her right hand as if to emphasize the point before ending with a firm "Yes!" that is more like a sound than an actual word.
"That's my girl", Solvej laughs softly. "But first we'll go upstairs to have breakfast. Are you ready for breakfast Silvia?"


Silvia pulls her head backwards with a focused look on Solvejs face, before her answer comes. "Yeyeye! Food! Naaaoow!" She smacks her lips together demonstratively, as if she is already eating before she nods firmly. Message received, now, give me food!

After having fed both of the girls she sat them down to play again while she quickly ate some leftover pancakes from yesterday. Solvej could have decided to spend yet another day in her greenhouse, but as much as she loved tending to her plants, she had to leave the lot every now and then to not go to crazy...

She was impatient to get out and get a feel for the fresh, cold wintertime sea breeze as she dressed the toddlers and carried them out to the car to place them securely in each their baby seat..


--- Park Life ---

The small town of Sprottenham is pretty relaxed and quiet, and this Friday morning was no different. A few people were out shopping, some had gone to the parks in town to hang out and others again had made a decision to go to the pub to chat and watch the latest football matches on tv..

As Solvej and the twins entered the park, Gaute was seen entering the pub, "Sprottenham arms" across the street. Looks like the soldiers at the military base has started their weekend early...

Solvej went off to discuss gardening with one of the local professional race drivers, Shinobu "Jet" Hashimoto-Bakke. One may not think that a race driver has any interest in gardening. It's true that Shinobu doesn't know a whole lot about maintaining a garden, but she is not a stranger to spending time in parks and gardens to relax after a stressful race. So even though they are pretty different as people, they are still able to find some common ground.

Lilian, in the blue jacket, decided to wander off on her own to check out what fun this park had to offer. Silvia was picked up by Leni Dahl-Blankblomst, a close friend and former colleague of Solvej from when she worked at the theatre.

Garden talk soon turned into gossip about the latest happenings in town, about who is now in a relationship with who, and the ones that are unlucky enough to remain more or less eternally single. Lilian didn't get to walk to far on her journey, as she was picked up by Ada Dalhaug, one of the victims from the incident at the old peat factory, who by the way just last month ended up in a relationship with Eilif Sagstad. They both met at the old peat factory, and it seems that a shared trauma sometimes do bring people together...

Solvej knew Lilian was in good hands being held by Leni, but still had to check in to do a little cuddle talk to let her know mommy was there in case she should need anything.

Silvia was in good hands too, as Ada had led her to the spring riders to have fun. She was pretending to be the captain of a ship sailing on the ocean – appropriate given the long maritime tradition of this coastal town, something which the little girl would probably learn more about at a later time. ;)

 

When Solvej had it confirmed that Silvia was in the hands of someone she could trust, she had to find out where Lilian had gone, and who she was with. There were quite a few people in the park this morning, and Solvej had to make sure that her toddlers didn't find themselves in any trouble. They probably wouldn't. In spite of some earlier happenings in town, Sprottenham is a typical quiet fishing village where the most exciting thing that happens is when the fishermen come back to the harbour to report todays catch.. and occasionally someone will report to little, because of taxes and such things..

 

So.. Solvej had no reason to worry, and when she felt safe that her little babies were in good hands she thought it was time to bring out her guitar and give some more life to this quiet park. Every day can be a party if you make it that way...

-- World views and the woes of aging --

A little later Runes school day was over and Solvej had made sure to text him to let him know that they weren't at home and that he should meet them down at the park. Rune is soon to enter an age where his inner world will be conflicting and confusing and he is perhaps already noticing it to some degree. Spending a day at the park in the snow seemed like fun, but somewhere in the back of his mind thoughts about the futility of it all lingered..
    That everything would eventually wane and disappear into nothingness, and that life was fragile.. and that the world wasn't as safe as he used to think it was.. As he had gotten older he had began to understand more and more of what was said on the news, about war, people starving and dying and the true state of the world... It was not at all the paradise he used to think it was just a couple of years earlier, and mom and dad couldn't really do a thing about it...

 

There were many children elsewhere that could not just casually meet up with mom, dad and their siblings in a park after school... There were many children around the world that didn't even have a school to go to.. just a pile of concrete and rubble where their school once used to be... Him making friends with some of the kids from the incident at the peat factory had further cemented this image that all was not right with the world..

Lets just hope that this grim awakening doesn't rob to much of the joy of life from the young boy.. His life was good, and for most of the world it was still a safe place where both adults and children could play around in the snow as they pleased, making snow angels or building snow men...

The locals in this quaint little town sure knew how to seize that opportunity, even if they had it every day.

 

His father was perhaps going through some phase too, as he after sitting down to feed Lilian felt a pull towards the mirror in the public bathroom. He's had a good enough day at work, but since switching careers he was back at the floor again. The change felt good at first, but at the same time not being the captain anymore was a little hard to get used to, and it again made him question his choice and feel old.. to old for his position as even some of his new bosses were now younger than him..

He was hoping he didn't look as old as he felt as he anxiously locked the door behind him to check his face for wrinkles and his head for those strains of unwanted grey hair... and there they were, the wrinkles. The frown lines between his eyebrows had been there for years already, but what was that? The first hint of smile lines too...?

He was really getting old, because that shouldn't be... how can he have smile lines when he has always been told he doesn't smile enough? By the looks of it, it wouldn't be long now until he had become and old man in a grey trenchcoat and a hat (to cover his bald head) sitting on a bench all day feeding the pigoens.. The grocery store across the street probably had some of yesterdays breads at a discount...

Meanwhile outside life moved on as usual. Leni was protesting against all the boring people that can't take a joke, the toddlers were having the time of their life (up until now) by playing on the springs, and Solvej was gossiping and discussing music with Rune.

 

...and Frigg Ås was, apparently, engaged in a philosophical conversation with the snowman she had just made. Who was to say that the snowman didn't have a soul? Who was to say that not everything had a soul? The rocks, the soil, the air, and the sky...
It happened every now and then that Frigg felt this deep connection to the world around her, as if they were all one and the same.. She knew what the snowman felt and thought, and maybe she could even learn something from him, about the world from his perspective...

 

Patrik doesn't believe in such nonsense, he has a much more grounded approach to life. His mind was still ruminating around getting older, but maybe some music would help to distract him from his thoughts.. There wasn't a shortage of creative and musical people in this small town, so one usually didn't need to walk very far to find a street performer one way or the other.

-- Brutal bathroom business --

The music wasn't enough to distract him completely, though, and when Silvia called out to either of her parents because she was feeling hungry he felt another urge to head back to the bathroom.. he was getting way to old for all this noise.. and maybe, just maybe he was wrong earlier. Maybe the wrinkles weren't there, maybe the lighting was bad, or maybe he had only examined his face from the wrong angle.. one more look in the mirror couldn't hurt. Atleast it would be more quiet than this...

The toilets at the harbour park are unisex toilets, open to everyone, as a part of the town councils policy to be inclusive, and in part to not litter the town with ugly pictograms. Patrik knew this of course, but he had still expected to have the bathroom to himself, so he was a little taken aback by both Frigg and her daughter Hoda being in there.

"You have no business here!" he said. "Get out! I need to use the bathroom!" He felt provoked now. What were they doing in there, looking all young and beautiful? Why couldn't they just leave him alone? The fact that Frigg is older than him and with a daugher that was already an adult herself wasn't helping...

"Excuse me mister!" Frigg replied. "These toilets are open for everyone! We have as much of a right to be here as you! You can use the one next door. I think it's available..."

"I'm using this one!" He was there first! Previously anyway, and he wasn't gonna accept this defeat and leave to use the other one! He still had a lot of fight in him and he knew that he could take her down!

"No, you're..." Frigg didn't get to finish the sentence before he attacked her. "Ow, what is wrong with you!? Why can't you just..."

"NO!" he shouted while gripping her in a chokehold. "You take the next one. I'm not going anywhere!"

"Hoda! Please help me out here! This man has lost his..."

 

"Oh, she can try! I'll take you both down!"

"Hoda! Please..." Frigg gasped, but Hoda just stood there as if she was blind.* Or frozen from fear. It's not the first time the Ås family has had violent encounters with the other towns people. Was it jealousy, because they were wealthy, or just plain evil?
Hoda wasn't sure, but it could just be she still remembers the time when she was only a teenager getting beat up after school by a grown man for no apparent reason... Luckily now, that man who goes by the name of Robert and used to be the head criminal in town is now in jail after the incident at the peat factory..

Whatever the cause, Hoda wasn't of much use and her mother mother had to succumb to the attacker..

"This will teach you to not occupy MY bathroom!" Patrik shouted at her as she got up holding her back from the pain. This made him feel a little better for a while, because it made her look old and fragile.. so he wasn't the only one...

After getting up Frigg turned to her daughter. "Why didn't you help me? We could've taken him down..."

"I'm sorry mom, I just couldn't..." Hod replied, her voice lowered. "I can't.. I can't use violence, because I feel... I feel that if I do, it will lead to bad things..."

"Bad things!?" Frigg replied. "I was under attack! Bad things were already happening!"

"Mom.. you don't understand..."

"You're right." Frigg interrupted. "I don't understand! You're my daughter and I would give my life for you! I would have atleast expected you to... to stand up for me..."

"I just feel like I'm... I'm just not as physically capable as my brothers and sister. I need more.. exercise before I think I can join a fight.. Not that I would ever, because.. well, I just can't..."

"It's ok. I forgive you. It's not wise to join a fight if one feels unprepared. Then I suggest you get your workout routine in order. Just in case."

"Yes, mom. Will do. But I really do hope that I will never need to fight, because...."

"Shh, my darling." Frigg said, trying to reassure Hoda that what she feared would not happen. "There's still time to change the tapestries of fate, but you have to be watchful of any trickery..."

Tapestries of fate? Be watchful of trickery? Patrik had no idea what Frigg talked about. Sometimes it was as if she spoke a different language. He certainly didn't believe in any of that lofty nonsense... the fight made him feel a little better, though, and that combined with the oddities that came out of Friggs mouth afterwards had made him forget about feeling old for a while..

 

-- Sharing is not a good idea --

Rune, Solvej and the twins hadn't noticed what happened inside the restroom as they were outside busy with their own endeavours.. Rune had the 'pleasure' of doing his homework in the crisp winter air, whereas the twins had their fun on the spring riders.

 

The pirate ship one was quite popular and a slight argument happened between them as Lilian didn't want to give it up to her sister..

 

It wasn't until after Silvia had given up waiting and had gone for the horse spring rider instead that Silvia figured out she would abandon ship to pretend to be a space pirate instead on the rocket spring rider.. Sharing is not important, but winning over your sister is. Solvej didn't intervene with the childs play, but let them figure it out for themselves, since there were more than enough spring riders for the two of them.

Patrik hadn't gotten rid of his thoughts of switching careers and had gone over to discuss perhaps joining the political career with Chansa Klinemann. It might be interesting, he thought, as it would be a completely different playing field for him where he would need to rely on completely different skills sets from what he was used to in both his sports career and current job in the police force. Chansa was sympathetic towards his desire for change, but suggested that he should keep the police job atleast a little longer. She didn't have to much of an issue with him shopping around, she was not a stranger to such thoughs herself, but thought it would perhaps be a little wiser to atleast give the impression that he was faithful.. or else he might risk that eventually nobody would hire him. It would be best for him, she said, if he didn't look like the kind of person that couldn't hold down a job. Chansa had kept her job at the theatre longer than Solvej had, and she was happily married with Jørgen, as well as being a mother of two.

If only it had been possible to keep two jobs at once without one knowing about the other.. but Patrik rejected the idea. He couldn't stretch himself so thin as to answer to more than one boss, and as for Chansas other suggestions.. it was out of the question. He wasn't going to go behind Solvejs back like that... accepting Chansa bribery in front of everyone in the park, especially his own family, wouldn't do him any good.. If one is to keep two jobs, it can't be made to publicly known...

 

He was, at the end of the day, much to happy to have a stable family life with three beautiful children to want to take that chance...

Chansa would need to satisfy her hunger elsewhere. It was getting late now, and Patrik thought this was a good time to take his girls home so that they could get to bed on time...

 

-- Torn --

 

He had his urges to try out different things, but at the same time he loved his daughters atleast as much as his desires for adventure.. and he still had some dreams that they would one day become football players. He may not be the perfect father.. often, he felt like had no clue what was the right thing to do, but when he wanted to he was both warm and caring.

 

Maybe not always dignified.. but still, Solvej had faith in him. That's how she was raised, with the belief that there was love in everything and everyone.. and maybe the fortune teller was right. It wasn't an illusion, it was real, and it was worth keeping. There was a holy light in the sky, and it was perfect...

The toddlers weren't the only ones that needed sleep. It had been an exhausting day for Patrik, not because he was as old as he felt or thought he was. Though he won the fight with Frigg earlier, she did put up a good one and it had drained him quite a lot. He had managed to keep afloat for the remainder of the day, but after completing his bedtime routine he couldn't stand upright anymore and just had to take an involuntary nap on the warm and pleasant bathroom floor...

He couldn't let Solvej know he had fainted in the bathroom like and old demented man, so he said nothing to her as he went back towards the bedroom to go to bed. Solvej had a little more energy left and couldn't rest completely without making sure her plants in the greenhouse were doing ok before going to bed.

It was a complete family of flowery children out there too that was in need of her love and care, and it wasn't until she had made sure that each and every one of them was well fertilized, watered and that the greenhouse was neat and tidy before true peace could descend on this big little household on the outskirts of town..

Good night.. ;)

 

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* This whole section is a little high flying in the sense that Hoda is actually Hod, son of Frigg and Odin. However, this is one of the points where I took some liberties and made him female here to not skew the gender balance of the town. The high flying part is that, according to Norse mythology, Hod  is said to be "blind and weaponless" and thus cannot see or shoot at Balder, his brother.

However, he was told by Loke where Balder stood and where to aim, and so it came to be that Hod killed his brother Balder, which would eventually lead up to the events of Ragnarok, the end of the world... which explains Hodas fear of using violence because "it will lead to bad things" and Friggs warning about being "watchful of trickery". The trickery of course being what Loke says to Hod...

The "tapestries of fate" refers to how Frigg, the wife of Odin and matriarch of the family, is the weaver of these tapestries and as such actually knows what is going to happen in the future.. her trying to calm her daughter down saying they can be changed is thus a lie... The tapestries of fate cannot be changed. They wouldn't be fate if they could now, would they? That being said, as far as this story goes, it is highly unlikely that I would have Hoda kill her brother.. this is a Sims 3 story after all, not an accurate representation of the events in Norse mythology. ;)