Despertar

meet the characters

It's rare, right now, that I have any inclination to write anything about my actual life. The cast of characters is the same, the plot twists are the same. My room is messy. My roommate is bossy. My classes are abysmal. My best friends are far away. My most recent sexual episode was with someone who cares, but not enough to quit hurting me. Twice a day I stand in the shower and script things I'll never say to him.

On the bright side, I was the cause of a barfight on Saturday. This is something I've secretly always wanted to experience.

*

My computer broke and was under repair for twenty-six miserable hours. I had to reinstall, which was a blessing in disguise, because I've learned a few new strategies.

[ashley]

Brennan (RED) (GRE) (F)
Chloe Reynolds (BLO) (GRA) (F)
Alicia (RED/blo) (GRE/gra) (F)
Gabriel (RED/blo) (GRE/gra) (F)
Madigan (RED/blo) (GRE/gra) (F)

It's Chloe's belief they were doomed from the start, two stubborn free spirits so unmatched in their temperaments, they couldn't even agree on a wedding date. Here they are three kids later in suburban limbo, suspended indefinitely between their furious, fiery honeymoon and the peace and quiet of an empty nest. She watches Brennan leave for work in the mornings and can't imagine how she ever fell for it, his knight-in-shining-armor act. For hours she chases Madigan around the disheveled front lawn, Brennan's early promises haunting her--disenchanted schizophrenia. They tumble from the school bus at three, these Brennan-clones in miniature, and she remembers, again, that she has put it all on hold for this. For four bug-eyed gingers who hardly appreciate her penance. He kisses her a perfunctory hello after work and she can't even slap him for three shining, watchful faces. In the Ashley house, the refrigerator is always empty; the necessary effects--beds, bathtubs, Madigan's red potty chair--pass constantly through the pawn shop's revolving door. Nights find Chloe starving, exhausted and unwashed, thankful, at least, for the privilege of passing out on the concrete rather than beside her inadequate husband.

[ashwhite]

Addison (BLO) (GRA) (T)
Carmen Hernandez (RED) (BRO) (T)
Ethan (RED/blo) (BRO/gra) (T)
Aaden (BLO/red) (BRO/gra) (T)
Isabel (BLO/red) (BRO/gra) (T)

Addison's argyle-clad, conservative parents resent him deeply for this craziness. What was he trying to prove, anyway, marrying some outspoken cousin of their Mexican gardener? Tainting a pedigree traceable for seven generations with her strange blood? If Addison gave a shit for Ashwhite thinking, he knows, their guilt trips would weigh heavily, but he doesn't. Give a shit, that is. Carmen's class and beauty far surpass what he'd find in any of the inbred prep school girls his parents would have handpicked for him, and he couldn't ask for a better mother to his gorgeous Ashwhite children. They can push their traditionalist values till they're blue in the face; they'll never win this argument, just like they never talked him into business school, or cutting his shaggy hair. He will always stand by his wife, no matter how many times he has to tell them she's Nicaraguan, not Mexican, and that he doesn't need their "seed money" to build a prosperous life for the newest Ashwhites.

[august]

Christofer (RED) (BRO) (M)
Pepper Deluth (RED) (GRE) (M)

Of all the many things they have in common--their Creole origins, their unusual red hair and their appreciation for the finer things--the thing Christofer values most is their shared commitment to a peaceful, childless marriage. He still remembers the anxiety he felt on their fifth date, floating it out there, the line that tended to kill most conversations: I don't really like kids much. I don't want to have any of my own. He remembers, too, the relief that flashed across her dollar-green eyes. Neither do I! Most people don't believe it when I say that. Well, most people are wrong, because here they are, happily married and perpetually honeymooning in their well-furnished house. Theirs is one of the only lawns on the block not littered with toys and bottles and other puerile debris, and nothing could make him happier. Besides, with no children to consider, no looming child therapy bills, what's stopping self-indulgent Chris from the occasional romp with a sexy brunette neighbor? Pepper works days; she never knows the difference. Yes, life is good in the August house. Better still in a certain house down the street.

[aziz]

Charles (BLA) (BRO) (D)
Melanie Satterthwaite (BLO) (GRE) (T)

Melanie likes to have dinner company. What else is there to do in the evenings after work, without toddlers to cuddle, school-aged children to tuck in? Except that it's getting difficult now, entertaining, with their neighbors divided unevenly into two equally offensive camps. On the one side, the Augusts and the Gianellis, childless and callously uninterested in Melanie's gruesome infertility saga. On the other side, everyone else, preoccupied with their own growing families. Charles is kind about it, but Melanie is quickly losing her grip on optimism, never feels like cooking anymore. Still prays for a miracle, even as everyone coaches her to "embrace" her life the way it is now. Totally, totally empty.

[campbell]

Brent (BLO) (BRO) (F)
Clarissa Young (BRO) (BLU) (F)
Tory (BRO/blo) (BLU/bro) (F)

High school kicks elementary school's ass. The best part is the hours--now that he's on a half-day schedule, Tory has time to study, to fantasize about HOT Shane Colbert and to tend to his after-school job. The half-day thing does, however, have its drawbacks. Namely, it necessitates a pervasive weirdness between Tory and his mother, who works the night shift and is generally home all day. Sometimes, when Tory walks through the front door, he sense, briefly, that he has just missed someone leaving. Sometimes his mother's welcoming smile is just a bit too wide. Sometimes there are two empty gelatin plates on the kitchen table. Sometimes the master bedroom and bathroom look somehow...tainted: the covers rumpled, the toilet seat raised. But Tory is his mother's child, his innocent features perfectly matched to hers, and the loyalty he feels surpasses even his desire to find camaraderie with his distant father. Her secret--if she has a secret--is safe with him.

[carradine]

James (RED) (GRA) (D)
Erica Swann (RED) (BRO) (D)
Kyle (RED) (BRO/gra) (D)

James worries about this son of his. This kid so unlike any red-blooded teenage boy he's ever known. Worries that Erica's mothering, so pleasant and nurturing at face, has turned young Kyle into the very opposite of what James always hoped his son would be. Kyle is mousy and milquetoast, frightened by his own shadow, content to do nothing but study and play chess against some imaginary friend. Some imaginary girlfriend, James hopes. Because, God help him, the boy could hardly be less interested in the real girls blossoming everywhere around him. Even James himself, at his age, finds himself awed daily by the collective beauty of the neighbor girls. Their across-the-street neighbors are the Colberts, and more specifically the infamous Colbert twins, and even if Kyle is unimpressed by Alexis Colbert's prettiness, how can he be genuinely indifferent to HOT Shane Colbert? James worries himself, some mornings, staring a bit too long as the girls trot toward the bus. Seeing one of them hooked up with his son would be almost as satisfying as this very illegal dream he cannot voice, but Kyle never fails to disappoint...

[colbert]

Keith (BLA) (GRA) (D)
Olivia Washington (BLA) (BRO) (D)
Alexis (BLA) (BRO/gra) (D)
Shane (BLA) (BRO/gra) (D)

More than anything, Shane hates the very chemistry of womanhood. The havoc it wreaks on all logic and common sense. Because, by all rights, she should be happy. She should be content. She has, among other things, (1) doting parents, (2) a comfortable home, (3) a slightly less attractive fraternal twin sister perfectly poised to support her without posing a competitive threat, (4) brains, and (5) ninety-nine percent of the high school boys falling at her feet. All this, effortlessly! Oh, except that (5) hardly matters when (5a) the one boy she can't land is the very one she wants the most. Which, she realizes, poses an interesting chicken/egg conundrum. Is Kyle's indifference the reason she's so hot for him, or is it incidental (and inconvenient)? Whichever, he's on her mind at all times, and this is plainly unacceptable. How is a girl supposed to take over the world when she can't even win the one game that really matters?

[gianelli]

Mattea (BRO) (GRA) (F)
Anna Nakajima (BLA) (BRO) (F)

Mattea hears the whispers, and he doesn't blame his neighbors for wondering. In a community where homes go up slowly, the pace of construction restricted by young couples' paltry incomes, his own immodest estate draws notice. What do you say for it, though? He and Anna are hard workers, plain and simple. The promotions roll in, no sweat, and that's it. It has nothing to do with his legendary father, rumored to be one of the most corrupt business owners in the Northeast. Nothing to do with a certain chain of casinos along the Jersey coast, rumored to be the site of high-level drug and weapons trafficking. Nothing to do with Mattea's own regular trips into Newark Airport, Anna's false smiles and weak excuses when he's absent from block parties. Nothing at all.

[kitt]

Owen (BLO) (LBL) (T)
Elizabeth Howell (BLA) (LBL) (T)
Tristan (BLA/blo) (LBL) (T)
Adam (BLA/blo) (LBL) (T)

At one point, Elizabeth counted Melanie Aziz among her best friends, but now, honestly, what a drag. Their weekly coffee dates are becoming ever more unbearable, each one ending with Melanie sobbing into her mug, still desperate for a baby. Take mine, Elizabeth wants to scream, trapped beneath the weight of the toddler in her lap. A perfect plan: With Tristan in school, Adam adopted away to the nice Egyptian neighbor and his pretty blond wife, maybe Elizabeth could finally get a thing or two done. Read up on some new recipes! Finally finish painting a still life! Redecorate the house! (Those awful chairs, Jesus; but then, they were the only thing Owen could afford, with Elizabeth trapped at home on, cringe, maternity leave.) It isn't that Elizabeth doesn't love her boys; it's just that, now, looking back on the freedom she's given up, she's wondering whether maybe she loved that more. (Does this make her an awful person? Chloe Ashley contends that it does not, but then again, Chloe Ashley always looks miserable among the throng of her own odd offspring.)

[kurayama]

Samuel (BLA) (BRO) (D)
Vanessa McGill (BLA) (BRO) (D)
Devon (BLA) (BRO) (D)
Perren (BLAO) (BRO) (D)

History repeating itself, as it will. Samuel standing in the bathroom, at the mirror, studying his own Japanese features, trying to see them through the eyes of some beautiful black girl. He loved them all, their rich coloring, despite his parents' warnings about their intentions. Vanessa embodied everything he had ever wanted, his every erstwhile exotic fantasy, but would she take him seriously? Could she? And now, years later, his own half-Japanese son, looking so much like him, standing in the bathroom, at the mirror, studying his features, daydreaming (Samuel suspects) of HOT Shane Colbert. Brown enough for her? Enough machismo in his countenance, his biceps? Who ever knows with women, anyway?

[mackenzie]

Nathan (RED) (BLU) (F)
Nicole Jin (BLA) (BRO) (F)
Nina (BLA/red) (BRO/blu) (F)
Neve (BLA/red) (BRO/blu) (F)
Niles (BLA/red) (BLU/bro) (F)

What can Nina say about having twins for siblings? People ask, often, and she never knows what to say. Does she feel left out of their little bubble of intimacy, or closer to both of them because of the mothering role she had to take as they grew up in a house of busy parents and poverty? But it's neither, really. There was no bubble of intimacy; Neve and Niles were archrivals from the first moment their needy infant cries set them in direct competition for their mother's attention. And even though, yes, Nina was charged with more babysitting than any kid ever should be, in those early days when rotten green bottles littered the lawn where they lived, she remembers that time only with bitterness. Now that they are older, teenagers with practiced facades of composure, she feels that they could be closer, could forge friendships around those unspeakable memories. Instead they resent and oppose each other. Take separate buses home in the afternoons. Et cetera.

[marceau]

Andrei (BRO) (GRE) (M)
Rachel Maire (BRO) (BRO) (M)
Samantha (BRO) (BRO/gre) (M)
Elija (BRO) (BRO/gre) (M)

For Rachel, just a shade shy of pretty, Andrei is a daily blessing. Just waking up to him, his warm, accepting face, transports her back to simpler pre-adolescent days, the days before she ever started obsessing over her own reflection. Unlike the boys back in her cosmopolitan hometown, who much preferred her overdone and overstated older sister, Andrei cherishes Rachel for the very fact of her subtlety. He even seems genuinely glad their children aren't uncanny beauties--it's easier to protect that which isn't overly precious.

[richfield]

Maximilian (BRO) (BRO) (T)
Jessica O'Henry (BRO) (BLU) (T)
Kiana (BRO) (BRO/blu) (T)
Lanolin (BRO) (BLU/bro) (T)

Fuck Shane Colbert. Is Lanolin's stand on the matter. Because, you know, without her, everyone would be pining for HOT Lanolin Richfield. Granddaughter of one of the nation's most prominent textile magnates, exponentially prettier even than her sister Kiana, Lanolin can't help but resent all the male attention wasted on that freaking neighbor of hers. Don't they know who she is? How much dough she's got coming to her someday? Don't they appreciate the cunning in her blue eyes, the definition in her Richfield cheekbones? She resents Shane so badly, so fully, she's beyond the point of guilt over feigning friendliness. Let her confide her secrets, save up for the day she can turn them against her. Friends close, enemies closer.

[shankar]

Ravindra (BLA) (BRO) (M)
Calliope Zorzos (BLA) (GRE) (M)
Jordan (BLA) (BRO/gre) (M)
Charma (BLA) (BRO/gre) (M)

Of the sixteen Diamond Park wives, Calliope Shankar is by far the friendliest. She cried with Melanie Aziz over each failed attempt to get pregnant. Washed dishes for Mari Stephanides when the post-dinner debris threatened to take over the kitchen floor. Rocked the MacKenzie twins to sleep while a frazzled Nicole struggled desperately to get ahead on housework. She is intimately acquainted with the mechanics of every house on the block, the hidden doorways, the burglar alarms. Over dinner with Anna Gianelli, she realized, for the first time, how much they all trust her, every one of them, even in the wake of this sudden rash of petty thefts and outright burglaries. The Ashleys' bathtub, stolen. The Augusts' full-length mirror, stolen. Coco Tremain's potty chair, stolen. Meanwhile her own darling Ravi, her own precious Jordan and Charma, all three sleep soundly, blissfully unaware of the origins of the gifts Callie brings them every day. She questions her own conscience at times, wonders how she justifies building the neighbors' trust only to routinely abuse it. But it's part of the territory, one of her career duties, just like Ravi with his intense post-dinner study sessions. She has to do it. Besides which, honestly, she sort of loves it, too.

[stephanides]

John (BRO) (GRA) (M)
Marilinda Hernandez (BRO) (BRO) (M)
Lana (BRO) (BRO/gra) (M)
Kayne (BRO) (BRO/gra) (M)

Well, actually, there are two neighborhood boys oblivious to the wiles of HOT Shane Colbert, but Kayne pretends otherwise, to fit in. Because everyone expects him to join in the locker room banter, he does, but having grown up in a house full of brown people, he has other obsessions to tend. Brown is beautiful, he's proud of his ethnic heritage, sure, but there is something so entrancing about a beautiful woman with porcelain skin, cornsilk hair. Enter Alicia Ashley, the literal girl next door. They've grown up together, he's offered her refuge from the war zone of her overstocked house a thousand times and now, in adolescence, their lifetime of closeness is blooming into something he can barely recognize. Something a lot like what the other guys profess for Shane.

[tremain]

MIchael (BRO) (BRO) (D)
Shawn Cummings (BRO) (GRA) (D)
Coco (BRO) (BRO/gra) (D)

Truth be told, Shawn hates it here. Diamond Park is its own kind of hell, the kind spun of chicken-coop gossip and banal domestic emergencies. She'll stay for Michael, for Coco, to give her family the chance to blossom in a nurturing suburban environment, but really, she was done the moment that crook took Coco's potty.

*

Hey, contestants, I'll give you five bonus points if you can tell me which two of my Sims are having an affair.