1.6 Little Pirates

Happy July! Here's another chapter for you to enjoy!

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Poor Dylan's birthday was totally forgotten, and he comforted himself by escaping to his imaginary world.
"It was Teddy's birthday, so the whole city threw him the biggest birthday party anyone had ever seen... His mom and dad weren't such idiots, who would forget their child's birthday!" 

Trisha's cowplant raised huge interest in also the male members of the family. Dylan hadn't seen anything so weird in his life. He was happy about his growth to a child, because that meant now he wasn't too young to give the plant a closer look.
"I will name you Greg!" he said enthusiastically. The plant just grunted as a response.

"Hello stranger! My Ambition is to be a Social Butterfly, so let's be friends! Please? What things do you like? I like toys! Do you know the Bug-Man? I have a Bug-Man toy in a tuxedo at home! Do you want to come and play with it?"
"Err... Thanks but no thanks."
"Okay! I'm going home now for dinner, see you later!"
"... see you?" 

"Is it good?" Salim asked friendly. Dylan shrugged.
"It's okay."
"Dyl, your mom and I are truly sorry that we forgot to celebrate your birthday. I promise, when you grow up to a teenager, we throw you the hugest bash you've ever seen!"
"Dad, no one says 'bash', that's so lame."

Although Dylan was a big boy now, he still made his parents banish some monsters from under his bed every now and then. "Not because I'm afraid", he explained, "but because you're better at it. It's called delication."
"Delegation, darling", Trisha corrected, but then went with Anti-Monster spray to investigate, where could the monster hide this time.

Trisha felt like every news she heard was bad news. Many of her friends had passed away, Clara for example. Most of her friends were so much older than her that it wasn't a surprise to her, but still, it didn't hurt any less. There was nothing else to do but to mourn and to try and push forward in life.

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"I can't wait to see how many new friends I'll make today!"

"Oh no! A horrible sea monster is attacking us! What will we do? - Man the cannon! We'll shoot it into pieces!"
"Roaaaaaar!"

Salim was wise enough to step aside, as a new sim arrived to the playground.
"Boom boom! The monster's gone!"
"My dad is quite a good monster, don't you think? I'm Dylan, who are you?"

"Ronja. I'm waiting for my friend Hilda. She should be here any minute."
"Maybe we could play all together!" Dylan said excited.

And soon Hilda arrived to the location. Dylan got along with the girls surprisingly well. He didn't understand cooties - if someone was a nice sim, what did it matter if they were a boy or a girl? Ronja and Hilda were awesome at playing pirates, and that was what mattered the most.

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Dylan was worried about his mom. She looked so sad all the time. Could he do something to cheer her up?

At least a hug should be helpful.
"Don't be sad, mommy. I'm here!"
"Thank you darling. You've been a lot of help."

"Did you hear that, Dragon? I helped mom! Maybe she'll now cheer up and will be happy again!"

Satisfied with himself he let his father tuck him in and soon was sleeping peacefully and quietly.

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Dylan had invited Ronja and Hilda to his house to play, but only Hilda could make it. He didn't mind though, he was sure the two of them could have just as fun.
"What is that glowing tree?" she asked.
"It's Growfruit. You can try one, if you want. They're pretty good."
"No, thanks. It looks weird."

Of course Salim came to chat with the children after he noticed his son's lady friend. Dylan was afraid of him being embarrassing again, but for his relief, his father kept the most of his lame-ness inside him. Nevertheless, he guided Hilda inside as fast as possible. Salim followed them though.

"Don't you kids mind me, I'm just playing this game and you can talk in peace."
Dylan rolled his eyes and gave Hilda a meaning glance messaging: "Parents." She seemed to understand and nodded her head as a response.

But they had a nice afternoon after all. Dylan showed her his toys and told her stories he had come up with while playing. He was passionate about creating stories, and every single toy he owned had a name and a backstory. At some point he handed her one of them and they played quite a while. Dylan was happy about his new friend. Other boys were rarely interested in complicated plots and interesting storylines, those were things where girls were much better about.

As soon as Hilda went home, it was time for schoolwork. Salim was invaluable help with both homework and with school project. Dylan was sure he would get at least an A- from his project, so cool it was. And it was nice to spend some dad-son-time, just the two of them. In the end, they were quite similar: dreamers and storytellers. Dad told stories for a living! Was there anything cooler than that?

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"Say 'sim'!"
"Are you done soon? My cheeks are starting to hurt."

"We haven't spend much time as a family", Trisha said. "Maybe we could sometimes do something together, all three of us?"
He and Salim worked quite different hours, so it felt like a lifetime since Trisha had had a decent conversation with her husband. He nodded.
"Sounds like a good idea. I just have to finish this massive writing project first..."

While waiting for a chance to spend time together, they had to enjoy the little moments whenever it was possible.

Dylan felt like he hadn't seen aunt La'ei for a long time. 
"Aunt La'ei, come and visit us! You haven't seen me yet as a child! We can play better together now that I'm old enough!" 

And of course aunt La'ei accepted the invitation so that she could meet her favourite child (apart from her own of course) after a long time.
"Look at you, handsome little boy!" she said while hugging Dylan. "Well, what do you want to play?"
"Bug-Man!" he got excited. "I'm the Bug-Man, and you can be the Black Kitty!"
"Sounds great!"

After playing with La'ei quite a while, Dylan visited the pirate ship again. There was another new acquaintance. 
"What's your name?" he shouted her.
"Anne! Do you want to be the captain? I can be the lookout!"

He spent a nice afternoon with Anne as pirates. She was an excellent lookout. She noticed every sea monster and treasure island while they sailed across the ocean.
"We are quite a team, don't you think?" he asked.
"Definitely! You haven't wrecked this ship not once!"

Dylan wanted to give Anne a tour in his house, but as she arrived, she seemed so sad for some reason. 
"Hey, what's up? Don't be sad, it's a beautiful day and we can do all kinds of fun things together!"

His words seemed to cheer her up a bit, and when he introduced her to Greg, she seemed to totally forget her earlier sorrows.
"Wow, how cool! What does it eat?"
"Meat! If it's hungry enough, it can eat you!"
"Whoa! I hope you never let it be so hungry!"

In the evening the whole family were spending time at the neighbourhood. They had had a blast, and the fun didn't stop at the front door. Dylan was the only one who appreciated Salim's dad jokes, and as much as Trisha wanted to roll her eyes, she couldn't be that irritated. They had finally had some family time, and the most important sims of her life were having fun. Plum, she was having fun. So she forgave the dad jokes.
"So, Dylan, go and brush your teeth and go to bed. Me and dad will catch up soon."
"Yeah yeah."

As Dylan walked towards the front door his parents stayed for a while, kissing and giggling. Sometimes grown-ups were so gross! But at least they were happy together, and that made Dylan happy too.

He had such a great family.

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