Week 2: Batavus
When we left off with the Batavus family, Penelope had grown into a darling child, Wim had just become a toddler, and Piet was their number one fan. Now winter's come, which means it's time for family.
Wim's the first of the children to get his mother's eyes!
Little Penelope has taken up painting and makes the cutest faces while she does it.
Frida continues to work up her way toward becoming mayor, making sure she stays in touch with her settlers. And she just became best friends with Lucy Snowe, who is :thisclose: to maxing out her mechanical skills-- electricity and running water are on the horizon!
With her networking in hand, Frida thought it would be a good idea to start building some creativity to prepare for her next promotion. So, they've knocked out the fireplace in the master bedroom to make room for a little office space where she can bang away at the old typewriter, and she's started her first novel. Something about an intrepid young woman who ventures out to found a city on the ruins of an old village... She's being very secretive about it.
Ah hahahahahahahahahaha! I don't think I've ever noticed a toddler doing this before! Wim! Why so resistant? "Cheemy chum-a-roo-ba..."
No?
Ah hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Oh man, I love it.
Eventually, he settles down enough to learn a little something, and family sim Mel watches on fondly.
Reeeally fondly.
Oh, remember Millie at the bar who has a thing for redheads? She came over, and this happened:
Awkward. All three of you.
!!
Our burglar is briefly startled to find a now-awakened Wim; but turns out, she has nothing to worry about because the kid would literally rather sit there picking his nose than do something useful like scream so the family could wake up.
She takes the couch...
... pauses to cackle evilly in front of the powerless Warhol cat...
... and then moves on to the swingset in the backyard! No! They just got that!
And she's off, like a thief in the night. Fittingly.
In the morning, Frida's all, "Damn, my couch! I was going to sit on that!" and Wim is like, "Girl, you don't even know." Joke's on the burglar, though, because Piet wants to be Captain Hero someday, and she just opened up a spot in the law enforcement career. Speaking of Piet...
... he continues to be Piet.
His cool friend Jasper stops by and is particularly charming. Piet's a teenager, and there aren't any kids his age in town. He's always sort of looked up to Jasper as the hip, younger adult-- who's a musician, who lives in a bar-- but now he's having all of these new feelings...
It's very confusing.
He finds it safer to express his emotions through punching and food fights. Some things might be better left unsaid.
Spring comes, and everything is green.
And all anyone wants to do again is fish. And then also-- oh, you guys. This made me really sad...
No! My Pietie! You can't be a grown up!
[sob] But at least I will make you a youngish grown up. Unsurprisingly, he's taking his styling cues from cool friend Jasper.
In contrast to the last Batavus birthday bash, this one doesn't immediately devolve into a bum rush on the canal for prime fishing spots. People drink punch! And eat cake! And talk to each other!
It's all going along swimmingly, until Piet tries to flirt with Jasper for the first time. As if things weren't already awkward enough between them.
[sniffle] He'd been rolling wants to fall in love and have his first kiss and ask someone on a date the whole last week of his teen years, and without ACR, there was nothing I could do to help him out. And now this.
But my dear, resilient Piet immediately picks himself up and dusts himself off and tries to get psyched about Tabitha Sweet. She's not Jasper, but she's very pretty and seems happy to talk to him.
He even runs upstairs to change when he learns that she likes men in formalwear. AND THEN--
Piet's not the kind of guy to go making a big scene of things. So when he made the decision to find his own place, he thought it might be best to just slip away quietly, while his guests continued to enjoy the party.
Mel catches sight of him just as he starts to get into the cab, but Frida is in the middle of socializing with her constituents and doesn't see her son go. Frida! No
Oh, Piet. Oh, Frida. Oh, Batavus family. Don't go breaking my heart.
(But don't worry. He won't be going far. I may come to regret this, but we'll see.)
back to Snowe | top | on to Sweet