Postcards from Sierra Nova

boxes and squares #4.1: first fall apart

October 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Colette Marin is 31, Felix and Milo are 9, Maria Boone is 26.

previously: wouldn’t we be the sweetest thing to ever not work out?

Okay, maybe it was for the best that you didn’t fall in love with this. There were a whole lot of people back in Wisconsin who would prefer that this didn’t work out.

The first week of classes, Jordan might have easily said to hell with it. He was ready to call it quits and crawl back to his family in utter shame, because this wasn’t working. It was harder than he thought it would be. His arms felt like jello. He felt his muscles burn in places where he didn’t know muscles existed. His fingers gripped rock after rock until they could only tremble. To top it all off, he looked like such a shrimp next to these other beefy guys.

“But let me tell you a secret,” Maya told him, “We have less body weight to pull up. Just focus on your technique. Newbies always slip a few times. That’s why we have you on the short wall.”

Jordan and Colette: a history

This timeline was meant to be a little freewrite for my own purposes, but since it’s written, I thought I would share. This is what inspired “the boys“ flashback story. And it also inspired another adorable little flashback drabble that I posted on Tumblr. There’s not much shockingly new information here—most of this has been mentioned or discussed in one place or another, but some of it may have been easily overlooked or lost in the mess. Maybe somebody might find it interesting to read?

Can you even imagine a time when Colette was carefree and happy? They were such babies. 💔

boxes and squares #4.0: the boys

July 2079 (flashback, almost ten years ago). Mick Graham is 54, Jordan is 19, Colette Marin is 22.

Colette came over to drop the boys off with Jordan at his dad’s place. Jordan stared at the babies like they were alien creatures. They were still wrinkly and pink and curled up like raisins. When she told him that he would need to take them sometimes, he imagined they might be many months older before that happened.

“Their formula is in the bag,” Colette said. “It’s already mixed, but it needs to go in the fridge. That’s important, did you hear? In the fridge. But they like it warm, just don’t microwave it. Tell me you’re listening?”

postcards from grad school

September, October 2088. Justin Nova is 28, Calvin Banks is 21, Amy Jones is 22, Natalia Deppiesse is 23, Andre Sylvester is 23. Cynthia Kim is 52. Selena Sosa is 25. April Hutchins is 25, Beau Jackson is 24.

#1: welcome to grad school

Grad school is happening at Magnolia Graduate College.

Leading our group is Dr. Heather Thompson, Dean of Students. She specializes in biology. (Hi, Ingrid’s mom!)

Our students this year:

Andre, Calvin, and Steven are all working on their medical degrees.

The others are non-medical graduate programs. Justin (architecture), Amy (nursing), and Natty, (teaching).

intermission: when time runs out (Micah Phoenix obituary)

September - October 2088. Jack Phoenix is 39, Micah is 66.

previously: 12 months to live

warnings: cancer, death

Jack Phoenix lived a pretty ordinary life. His brother caused all the drama that people talked about in their family. In fact, when all added up, Hayden had probably caused their parents enough stress for the both of them combined, so Jack felt it was his duty to be the stable twin.

The biggest stir Jack ever caused was dumping his high school girlfriend in his sophomore year of college. He had met the woman who would become his wife, whom he married and remained happily married to for all their years since. He didn’t become a pro sports star after high school and became a cop instead. Like his father, like any other number of thousands of men just like him. Like it was a Phoenix family tradition to aspire to greatness and fall just short. They were family people, hard-working people, and their family was strong.

boxes and squares #3: what dreams?

October 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Maria Boone is 26, Lou Corelli is 29.

Soundtrack: “Dreams” by The Cranberries

previously: what happened after Stephanie’s wedding // meet Lou

* briefly NSFW 😇

Before he headed out into the wilderness, while still in San Sequoia, Jordan stopped into a tattoo parlor in a quiet suburban shopping strip. Colette was never a fan of his only tattoo and forbade him from getting more. Why did he ever let her decide that for him? They weren’t married, and half the time they hardly liked each other.

Now, they weren’t together at all anymore and he wasn’t asking permission.

He wasn’t asking Maria, either, to be honest, though her opinion he absolutely cared about. This journey for him meant not letting women control his life anymore, and that had to include Maria, as well.

So, with a sizable chunk of his travel fund and a couple of ibuprofen, he settled in to commit vision to flesh. And he said a small prayer that Maria wouldn’t mind this one on him, because it wasn’t exactly small.

His travels would next take him up the coast and into the Cascade Mountains where he looked forward to being truly off-grid and out of cell reception for a few days.

Now it was time to go get lost and see what epiphanies he might find.

boxes and squares #2: this is not that story again

September 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Ingrid Thompson is 25, Clayton Dodd is 21.

previously: the summer of 2085

Ingrid paced the camper for half an hour. She got dressed, trying to make as much noise as possible. This man slept like a rock. Or maybe the problem was that he stayed up all night talking to his lover and then fell asleep on an actual rock. In any case, Ingrid felt restless and wanted to start the day.

She stood over his cot and cleared her throat. “Ahem.”

And he finally woke with a startle and a small yelp.

She chuckled. “Oh my gosh, I thought you’d never wake up! Do you always sleep this late?”

He just blinked his eyes and continued sitting up.

“Can we stay a day? Stretch our legs? I’d like to get some landscape shots, do a little yoga somewhere ethereal, and maybe I’ll write a poem, too.”

“Eh, sure,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind a hike.”

boxes and squares #1: go your own way

September 2088. Jordan Graham is 28, Ingrid Thompson is 25, Maria Boone is 26, Colette Marin is 31.

previously: Jordan had plans to shake up his life // then Maria kissed him in the kitchen at work // he's not letting Colette tell him what to do anymore // and Ingrid ~~conned~~ convinced Jordan to drive her out to California

Ian and Ingrid have done everything together, every moment of their lives since they were born. Until September 14th, 2088, when Ingrid asked if he wanted to tag along on their epic adventure out to the Pacific coast, and Ian said. “Nah, I’m good.”

And Ingrid said, “Oh! Really? Right on, brother! Go your own way!”

a prequel to Boxes and Squares

New story coming soon!

Boxes and Squares will be completed in about 7 (huge) chapters. (Estimated around 28k words—another novella, folks! I can’t stop with these characters, I truly can’t!)

Because the chapters are so big, I feel it would be the least frustrating to post to Tumblr first as I shoot the scenes, then compile the chapters to the blog shortly afterward. I hope not to have too much of a delay between the Tumblr postings and the completed chapters here, but you know, life happens. 🙃

The story spans from September 2088 to March 2089 in the timeline, and will have two short intermissions to visit other families. We will center around Jordan and Maria again, but with shared focus on Ingrid, Colette, and the kids. Supporting roles for Tyler and Maya, Lou (Maria’s sister), Jack Phoenix, and maybe… Charlie? Not sure yet how much trouble Ingrid might cause. You can never really know with that girl, lol!

To start, I kind of feel like taking a little walk down memory lane with Ingrid.

The thing is, writing Ingrid for the upcoming stories, a lot of her mindset and growth keeps reflecting back to the summer of 2085 and the definitive three weeks (it really was only three weeks, lol!) when she was absolutely stupid crazy in love with Charlie Roseland. And I think to understand 25-year-old Ingrid, we need to know 22-year-old Ingrid from that summer.

Those stories were posted on an obscure little side blog, The Lakeside Files, TS3 era, in 2014! Wow, a whole freaking decade ago! I don’t expect anyone to go digging for the relevant posts and scenes, so I’ve done a little flashback series on my Tumblr where you can find them all easily. Truly, it’s been very interesting to focus on Ingrid’s POV only from that story, and how it must have felt to be in her head that summer. Charlie’s story is already told, but you are always welcome to read (or re-read) Charlie & Natty’s story in its entirety on The Lakeside Files.

Of course, you don’t have to read these flashbacks either, but they will provide perspective on Ingrid’s actions and motivations in her 25 year-old life in Boxes and Squares.

Ingrid’s POV from, “2085: a rebel yell”

Charlie-fucking-Roseland
enjoying the quiet
science
a forgotten memory
hiding in the supply closet
last day of the summer fair
always choose dare
the ferris wheel
warm beer
thank you kiss
endings and rebounds

a little blog note

About those 2091 stories.

With Delphie and Dakota off to university now, with Jake and Shannon’s breakup paving the way for him to someday meet Lauren, and with the foretold death of Pamela’s lover-on-the-side coming soon, it’s time to start integrating some of the current plots to connect with those 2091 stories I wrote.

So, I’ll be taking those stories back to draft status, and you’ll see them again when their time comes.

I mean, it was probably super confusing to have them there in the first place, lol!

I will retake pictures for most of them, because 2015 base game was not pretty, with no expansions, no CC, and no poses. For many stories, I will not change a word of the writing, because Susie and Reid’s story was just ❤️❤️❤️ and I wouldn’t dare. For some, I’ll keep the story but perhaps change the timing a little to suit the timeline and balance of other stories. But they’ll all be back in the timeline as we move through the next couple of story years.

Just to let you all know, in case anyone got confused and went looking for them.