And the family is in France. While Sid and Damaris are happy to take it easy and relax in the park, Jin is busy meeting up with the locals.
Of course, England and France have their differences, as he is about to find out.
“Oh, you’re from Cladbridge? Yeah, I’ve heard of the place,” the girl whose name turns out to be Jeannine Lambert nods. “Very quite and peaceful, isn’t it? Nothing ever really happens there.”
“Well, I wouldn’t put it quite like that,” he remarks. Something about this girl’s tone isn’t to his liking. It’s too condescending. “So, what’s happening here these days?”
“Life, man, life!” she giggles.
“Like this?” he pulls up an article on the current French game, where people get dared to do crazy things. “Sure, you guys are living on the edge.”
“Please, like you have the guts to do something like that!” she laughs.
Obviously he does, he thinks. He’ll prove it too.
“You think Jin’s ok by himself?” Damaris asks her husband.
“He’s a big boy, if he survived in China by himself, what could possibly go wrong here?” Sid shrugs. “I’m sure he’s happy to explore the place on his own.”
Damaris has been more worried about their son than usual, lately. Maybe it’s because he’s at that age when a parent can say their child is growing up, for real. He’s got a girlfriend and everything. But he’s still young…
Of course, they’ve been thinking about the other matter too…
Somehow, in the midst of proving he had the guts to do something wild, he got dared to do something inappropriate and get away with it.
And there is an unassuming target, too.
“Hi,” he approaches the girl.
Before she reacts, he throws the water balloon at her and almost makes it away, but looks like she’s been in on the game as well, because she has one of her own, which lands on him almost immediately.
Jin: Oomf! Ok, ok, my bad.
Eveline: Tag you’re it! Again!
She laughs. “I’m Eveline, by the way. And no one sneaks up on me.”
Jin can observe Miss Lambert spying from a distance and laughing her heart out. He can’t have that!
But what else can he do to win the game?
Without thinking, he kisses the girl.
He didn’t realize she would kiss back… 
Back at the hotel, he tries to process everything. The girl left almost as soon as the kiss was over and he was too speechless to figure out what happened. One thing he knows for sure is, he messed up,
He would ask Damaris and Sid for advice, but… they are enjoying some well-deserved alone time and they have been acting kind of on edge lately. And also, the situation is kind of stupid.
A text grabs his attention. It’s from Marisela!
“Hey, what’s up? Did you have a safe trip?”
He can’t possibly tell her what happened! Crap.
“Yeah, all’s good. We’re settled in and exploring.”
“Alright, rest now. Miss you.”
Heading out of the hotel, he lucks out by finding the girl from before with some other guys her age.
“Hey, uh, Eveline? I’m sorry, but can we talk?” he asks carefully.
“Oh, it’s you? Yeah, talk.”
“About what happened earlier – I apologize, ok?” he explains. “I went too far and I’m sorry.”
“Were you dared by that Lambert girl?” she asks.
“How did you-?
“She and her boyfriend are kind of nuts,” Eveline nods knowingly. “They’re the ones who started this stupid game.”
“Once again, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t sweat it, it didn’t mean anything. See Noel over there? We’re a thing, so really, nothing can happen between us.”
“Same. I have a girlfriend back in Cladbridge.”
“We’re on the same page, then!”
The next day, he was woken up by commotion in the square. By evening, the commotion grew into a protest.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” he asked one of the people with their picket signs.
“You don’t know?” the woman was surprised. “The government is planning to half the funding for most research projects. They already put a freeze on how many people a science facility can hire, but this is going to really hurt any progress we might make.”
“They what?!!”
“Yeah, so we’re protesting. I mean, if we’re loud enough, they’re bound to listen, right?”
Jin heard enough. Cutting funding for science? That’s one of the reason Damaris’s former work didn’t renew her employment contract. And it looked like this sort of thing was more widespread than just England?
Jin: 😡😡😡😡😡😡
Jin: Hello, good people of France. Today they cut funding for science. What comes tomorrow? Perhaps, they’ll cut funding for education? For transportation? For medicine? Where does it end?! We need to put a stop to the budget cuts today and for good!!!
Something about seeing someone as young as him stand there and speak so passionately about the issue resonated with the protesters, because the protest went even wilder after his speech.
The next day, looking for more protests and protesters, the family ran into the Fouchiers. It was a bit awkward for Jin, since he knew his behavior with Eveline really wasn’t cool, but she seemed pretty neutral about it.
He and the Arevalos soon figured out why…
Sid and Damaris were kind of bewildered by the young couple fighting right there for everyone to see. Jin was concerned.
“Hey, they are your sister and her boyfriend, right?” he asked Eveline.
“Yep,” she replied without much thought.
“Is everything ok with them?” he nodded towards the yelling couple.
“As ok as it gets with those two,” Eveline chuckled. “Want to join our pool? Henri, Noel, and I are betting on when they are going to finally call it quits for good. I say they’ll stay together for another year – they both just like to fight.”
Jin: … wow, just wow
Once Jin got a taste of protester life, he was hooked. And also, the group from the other day realized he was good with crowds and made for a good speaker.
They aren’t stopping until the local government listens to their demands.
And Damaris is happy to join in. She remembers going to a few protests in her youth. It’s nice to see that Jin is following in those footsteps.
Sid’s there too. Just not pictured.
Of course, they take time to enjoy local nature as well, apart from joining protests and mingling with the locals.
This was written for a prompt on @legendofsim‘s Discord server.
Damaris woke up with a lot on her mind. Today was the day.
She and Sid have been going over and over this decision for a while now, and they have decided that it was now or never.
Judging by his absence from the bed, Sid was nervous too, since he woke up even earlier.
But there he was, just behind the door. No doubt, waiting for her to wake up.
“Hey, you can come in, you know,” she called out.
Sheepishly, he came in. “Hey, you’re up early.”
“And you earlier still. How long have you been standing there?” she asked.
“Not that long. I just couldn’t sleep,” he admitted.
He sat down next to her and they shared a moment of silence together.
“Ready?” he asked carefully.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she admitted. “A bit nervous, though. What if it doesn’t work? What if I waited too long?”
“Well, then…” he wasn’t sure what to say. He knew a big reason for them not trying to have a biological child earlier was his hesitation around kids. But things went pretty well when Jin joined their family. Still, if things didn’t work out for them now, it would be largely his fault. “I think it’ll work. I think there was a reason we stumbled on this clinic’s brochure right before our trip here. It’s fate.”
“I hope you’re right,” she smiled. “What if it works? What if I really do get pregnant?”
“Then we’ll be a family of four. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it head-on.”
“You know, before we go forward with this, we really should talk to Jin about this,” Sid mentioned.
She nodded, understanding. She cared for the boy like he was her own. But she didn’t want him to think differently if they ended up with a new baby in the house.
Yes, this did call for a big talk.
“Today,” she decided. “As soon as he wakes up.”
This is for a prompt from @legendofsim‘s Discord server
Jin knew there was something on his parents’ minds when they asked him to sit down for a chat almost as soon as breakfast was over.
“What’s up, guys? Is something wrong?” he asked, joining them.
“No, nothing’s wrong,” Sid hurried to reassure him. “We just have something big to discuss, regarding our family.”
“Oh, that,” he nodded. “Does this have something to do with those fertility clinic brochures that were in your room before we got on the plane?”
Damaris and Sid exchanged a surprised glance.
“You know about them?” she asked quietly.
“Of course! And no offense, but it’s about time, you two,” he mentioned, glancing at the clock. Of course, they both understood what sort of a clock he was referring to.
“We just wanted to make sure you didn’t think we were trying to replace you,” Sid explained.
Jin’s incredulous expression shocked him.
“Wait, do you really think we could replace you?” he asked.
“No! Wait, are you two serious?” he laughed uncomfortably. “I am a little offended.”
“Sorry,” Damaris apologized sheepishly.
“Aw, I’m just joking. You two are in serious need of a laugh today. Nerves?” he asked, understanding.
They nodded in response.
“Well, I don’t know enough about reproductive medicine to tell you anything of value right now, but if it matters, I’m completely on board. I’ve always wanted a younger sibling. Of course, if it doesn’t work out, don’t sweat it. But in any case, best of luck to you, Mom and Dad.”
Sims Stories of Violincat 