Holisdale: Round One -- The McPherson Family
First up, we have the McPherson family, thus far the biggest family in Holisdale with two adults, one teenager, two children and a toddler.
24 pictures; warnings include: censored nudity and adult themes.
To fill you in, this is what happened in the missing pictures:
The McPhersons moved into their new home and everyone was pleased with the placement and size although the family had almost no money after the move and the girls had to share a room while their brother Arnold got his own room. Matt is currently searching (so far unsuccessfully) for a new job in the Slacker career and Arnold got an afterschool job as well. Charlotte is essentially the unemployed housewife, a role she not only loves, but assigned to herself. Ashley and Tina are doing well in school and the youngest daughter, Maybelle, is a very cute toddler.
Tina (in the red shirt), Ashley (in the blue sweater) and Maybelle (not pictured above) returned from school, all considerably more tired than they were before they left that morning. Maybelle immensely enjoyed her first day at school and her sisters tried their hardest to make her feel welcome even though they were so much older than Maybelle. They warned her about the horrors of homework and why it was good to get on your teacher's good side even if you hated them. Basically, Maybelle would be set for the rest of the school year with her older sisters on her side.
Both Ashley and Tina were popular at school (in their own ways) and had a good amount of influence over their peers. They'd been bringing friends home from school since the first day and by the looks of it, school wouldn't be much different for Maybelle either.
The girls weren't the only ones bringing people home though. Arnold had his own charm and influence and was gaining popularity at his school as well. Funnily enough, he seemed to be more popular with the girls than with the guys, but Arnold wasn't the romancer that his dad was. He wasn't interested in all the attention that he got. He planned on being interested in one girl and one girl only. In fact, someone had already caught his eye.
However, one of Arnold's girl friends, Sophie Miguel, wasn't interested in Arnold for the reasons all those other girls were. She just liked hanging out with him and genuinely being his friend. She did enjoy trying to figure out who the girl Arnold was interested in was though. She figured she'd gotten pretty close once when he started to blush at the mention of a certain blond's name.
Something else Sophie enjoyed about hanging out with Arnold was coming back to his house and hanging out on the swings the McPhersons had in their backyard. She didn't even mind it when Mr. McPherson came by and interrupted her and Arnold's conversation to give her a push and joke around with them. Arnold personally found it embarrassing (especially when the chat topic turned a little too randy for his tastes) and wished that his father would just go away sometimes, but Mr. McPherson was rather charming and made it so that others liked having him around.
It would be impossible for Arnold to tell his father to go away without Sophie protesting.
Meanwhile, inside the house, all was not going so well. Charlotte, having just woken up from a post-coital daytime nap, was starving and thought to make herself some ramen noodles whilst still scantily clad.
As you can see, this didn't exactly work out.
Later that night, after Sophie had gone home and Charlotte cleaned up her ramen mess, a birthday cake was brought out onto the counter. It was time for the first birthday not only in the family since moving, but in Holisdale period! Little Maybelle McPherson was finally growing up into a child. The mere thought made Charlotte rather sad. She was very conscious that her children were growing up and away from her at incredibly fast paces. She knew it wouldn't be long until Arnold would be off to college and Tina and Ashley would follow him soon after.
What was to become of Charlotte and Matt then? Their children had been the glue in their relationship, the one thing (regrettably) tying Matt down to Charlotte. With the children gone, Matt wouldn't feel he had any obligations to his wife, would he?
It was thoughts like that that made Charlotte absolutely detest birthdays. She didn't want her children to grow up and leave her and though she might not love him as dearly as she loved their children, Charlotte didn't want Matt to leave her either. Charlotte couldn't help but grow depressed at the thought that this was the last birthday celebration in which she'd be able to hold her own small child in her arms. When she looked into Maybelle's eyes, she couldn't imagine anything better.
How does Matt not want anymore children? Charlotte thought. It was a question that often found its way into her mind, but she knew that voicing it to her husband would only cause more problems and more fights. They'd had enough in their marriage and the quieter Charlotte became, the smoother things seemed to go. Perhaps later on she could convince Matt to let her adopt a child or something. All Charlotte knew was that the last thing she wanted was a quiet, empty house.
Maybelle, of course, grew up into a pretty young girl, with hair slightly lighter than her sisters', but still brown. She seems to be the sweetest and quietest of the girls, but perhaps that will change with time.
Also, take note of Ashley starting her homework in the background.
And now, take note of Ashley leaving for school the next morning, her homework still unfinished. She is lucky neither of her parents found out about the incomplete assignment, or she surely would've gotten in trouble for it. The funny bit is that Ashley is supposed to be the goody-two-shoes daughter and Tina's doing much better in school than she is. Tina looks to be the overachiever this generation, following Arnold, of course. Ashley needs to focus more if she expects to get anywhere in life.
Finally, after about half a week of searching for this job, Matt finally found a job in the Slacker career and he will start working later today. It's just as well because the McPhersons are very low on cash and can't even afford to pay the bills that have already piled up! With Arnold and Matt's income combined, things should start to pick up very soon. This is when Matt both appreciates and hates the fact that Charlotte is a stay-at-home mom; the fact that she is at home means they don't have to pay to hire a nanny, but at the same time it means less money is coming into the household.
They'll just have to make do with what they have for now.
On his first day at his new job, Matt is already getting tough chance cards--
--and doing the right things! Right on, Matt! You go, boy!
Matt came home from work that day with a smug smirk on his face and an extra pep in his step and swagger. It seems that Mr. McP is finally on a roll. He felt so confident driving into the driveway right then, as if he were on top of the world. It was a feeling that Matt loved and missed. He hadn't felt so confident since he stopped going out to town to be out on the prowl. Bringing on his a-game to meet new women was always something that gave Matt a thrill; there was nothing he enjoyed more than shooting (and scoring, of course).
Since the move, he'd been a little out of practice though. He tried practicing his moves on Charlotte and for the most part, she'd seemed impressed and always responded. The two had certainly been more sexually active as of late, but Matt suspected that was because Charlotte felt her biological clock was ticking and was desperate for another child.
Matt wasn't sure if the temporary boost to his ego was worth the risk.
But then again, sometimes it was.
Poor, poor Tina. It hadn't kicked in then because she was so excited about her grades, but that image will be burned into her retinas for decades to come. She will share the story with her boyfriends to come, with her spouse, with her children and with her children's children. The memory will never, ever leave her.
But then again, every child has to walk in on their parents at some point, right?
In other news, Arnold is more popular than ever and has finally landed a shot with his crush--none other than Meadow Thayer. From the first day Arnold saw her, she'd set his little Family-oriented heart a-flutter and he sought out to at least be friends with her. Meadow didn't show it at the time, but she interested in being much more than just friends with Arnold and she did not hesitate to answer when he asked her if she'd like to come over to his house afterschool.
Maybe if things go right, they won't still be just friends by the end of the night.
It didn't take much talking and hanging out before Arnold struck up the confidence to flirt with Meadow a little. She was definitely pleased--she'd secretly been worried that Arnold wasn't interested in her the same way she was interested in him. But the harmless flirting and charming banter cleared everything up for Meadow. Even if things didn't go any further than that, both of them were having a good time with each other.
But of course, since they both liked each other so much, things did go further. A lot further. To first kiss further, actually. It turns out the kiss was not Meadow's first, but Arnold didn't mind. He felt a little better actually, knowing that one of them was a little more romantically experienced. It sure would have been embarrassing for him to go to his dad asking for tips and advice. The kiss wasn't nearly as awkward or unpleasant as Arnold had thought it'd be. And from her reaction, Arnold figured Meadow quite enjoyed it.
After a little bit more talking (and lots more kissing), it didn't take much for Meadow and Arnold to unanimously agree that they would start going out together, the real way. Arnold was ecstatic to have his first girlfriend and so soon too! With the girl he'd wanted to date. Arnold could already hear his dad once he told his parents about Meadow--Mr. McPherson would definitely say a bunch of phrases relating to how Arnold was really just a "chip off the old block." Arnold disagreed a little though. While he may have had his father's charm and gotten some of his good looks from his dad, Arnold had no intention of straying in any relationships he would have. He planned on remaining one hundred percent faithful because the person he'd be with would deserve that.
Arnold himself wouldn't settle for anything less. He'd heard some rumors about Meadow's apparently less than clean reputation, but he didn't really believe them...
...or at least he didn't until Meadow asked if they could go upstairs.
Everyone knows what's upstairs and the question made Arnold reconsider his relationship with Meadow. They'd only just started officially seeing each other and although they'd been semi-friends before they hooked up, Arnold didn't know that much about Meadow. She definitely had more experience than him, but Arnold wasn't the kind of guy who cared about that kind of stuff. He wasn't even sure if he was ready to have sex at this point--with anybody! Sure, he'd had the talk with his parents and he'd gone through all the Health classes; he even still had the pack of condoms he'd had to buy as part of a school assignment! But when it came to the actual dirty deed, Arnold wasn't too confident.
"Uh, I don't know, Meadow..."
"Oh please," Meadow laughed, dismissing Arnold's uneasiness. "Trust me, you've got nothing to worry about. I've been through this all before; I'll show you how it's done, okay?"
How could Arnold say no to that?
He didn't say no, if only to prove to Meadow that he was committed to their new relationship and that he'd do whatever he had to to please her.
Of course, the fact that he was rather pleased afterward was just an added bonus. About an hour after they went upstairs, Meadow claimed she had to leave and left Arnold with a quick goodbye and a promise to call him later. Arnold barely concentrated on her words, a goofy, but very pleased smirk on his lips. He wasn't worried about Meadow not coming back; they were going out now after all. She wouldn't just hit and run him, would she?
...Would she?
Oblivious to the fact that their only son had just lost his innocence, Charlotte and Matt were both downstairs. Charlotte was hanging out with Ashley, enjoying her last moments with her daughter at this age. Tomorrow would be Ashley and Tina's birthday and as usual, the thought of her children growing up brought tears to Charlotte's eyes and pain to her heart.
As Matt watched his wife and daughter dance and be so carefree, he tried to ignore the weird tug he felt on his heart. Just seeing them together--seeing his family--gave him strange feelings. Growing up, Matt had never really felt he'd belonged in his family and sought acceptance from other people, mainly women. He'd never loved anyone really and he usually felt detached from the family he had now. But seeing Charlotte and Ashley together reminded him that he had a home and belonged somewhere, finally. Would he risk losing that because he couldn't keep it in his pants? What was so bad about settling down and being loved anyway?
Maybe Matt was finally growing up as well.
The next day brought on the twins' birthday and everyone was excited about it, even Charlotte. As much as it broke her heart to see her children grow up, she couldn't help but admit that it was just as exciting to see them grow older and see what choices and mistakes they made. It was part of the wonder that was life, after all. She had complete faith that all her children would grow up well and succeed in whatever they chose to do. She hoped they chose to have families of their own though and that she'd be around to see her children's children blossom and grow.
The girls went to their respective cakes and made their birthday wishes. Ashley wished to have more friends and Tina wished to have more fun. Both of them were excited to be teenagers and be able to do the things their older brother got to do. Tina was definitely looking forward to being able to drive Arnold's car (when he let her, of course). It was going to be great.
Tina grew up into a beautiful young woman and decided to devote her time to having a great, fulfilling life. She was determined to do whatever she had to to have fun.
Tina McPherson -- Pleasure; Scorpio (6/5/8/3/3); LTW: Become Celebrity Chef; turned on by blond and brown hair; turned off by full face makeup
Ashley also grew up just as beautiful as her sister and had decided to shed her goody-two-shoes appearance. Somehow, she still managed to look mostly innocent though... She decided to devote her life to building a family, perhaps one even better than the family she had now.
Ashley McPherson -- Family; Aries (5/8/6/3/3); LTW: Reach Golden Anniversary; turned on by cologne and grey hair; turned off by swimsuits
What's in store for these girls? Only time will tell.
And that's it for my first real update! Thanks for reading; next up is the Bleckers.