Eisenstern 3.9 – K. Alvares

Time passed. Though both moms advised against it, I’d asked Branwen to move in with us.

She insisted on keeping her job, and bought a computer. Apparently she does this thing called livestreaming a lot. Not sure what that means exactly, I was never big into the video games scene, but it brings in extra cash. Not that I’m concerned about it. She is, though.

In a weird twist I wasn’t expecting, one mom really likes her. The other… not so much. Not sure what to make of that, except, I guess one of them’s having a little more trouble accepting that I’m dating again than the other.

Well, dating is… a word.

You can tell who play tests their builds and who doesn’t… they actually almost starved to death sitting here waiting on their order. Also, Morgyn was spying again.

We decided to try out another new restaurant in San Myshuno. It was a lot fancier, and the service was unbelievably terrible.

I almost left a bad review but decided it didn’t really matter. I was mostly too busy enjoying being around her. We don’t have a lot in common, and somehow we find ways to end up talking for hours on end. It’s like we’ve got differences and both of us know it, and don’t try to make things something they’re not.

I’ve found I have a weird sense of peace from being around her. I thought I had the same feeling around Cassandra, but this time… well, I hesitate to say it’s real, but it’s as real as I think it’ll ever be.

I’d gotten a different ring. Cassandra’s original bands were sold a long time ago, and it was a good idea to start again. And when we got home, I asked right there in the street because I knew that going inside would mean moms would start distracting one or both of us.

Surprisingly, she said yes.

“See?” mom said, looking amused. “You found someone else, just like you thought you wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, that was easier than I expected,” I admitted.

“It helps when you’re not moping anymore,” mom said.

I frowned. “Okay, I was moping, so you’re right, and I’m not going to argue about that, but you don’t have to say it.”

“Of course I do,” she said. “I’m your mother. Though I’m not sure your other mother is going to like this development very much.”

“Probably not,” I said. Mom still didn’t really get along with her much. But to be fair, it was an awful lot like I brought home another Cassandra. “Any ideas on how to fix that one?”

Mom snorted. “Sure,” she said. “Don’t try to fix it.”

“Hey, Gabe,” Ari greeted through the door.

“Oh hey,” I answered, and then opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. It was a nice day, and I was sort of surprised to see him. “What’s with this?”

“Oh, I heard down the Eisenstern grape-vine you’re engaged again,” he said.

I snorted. “Let me guess,” I said, “the aunties sent you over to check up on me and make sure I haven’t cracked my head on something, right? Maybe talk me out of it?”

Ari smiled a little sheepishly. “Yeah, pretty much,” he said. “You sure about this one? I mean, I’m sure everyone’ll do the gathering together and acting happy for you thing, but no one wants to see you get hurt again. That was a pretty big whammy.”

“I know,” I said. “But I can’t live the rest of my life afraid of messing up, right? It’s real now. I love her now. And maybe it won’t be forever, but most things aren’t anyway.”

Ari was quiet, and then reached up and patted my shoulder. “Yeah, I think you’ll be fine. … now to tell my mom she’s being nosy.”

I laughed. But I didn’t envy him at all.

I’m pretty sure everyone in his family were judging Gabriel pretty hard. Except Hilda. They all took longer than normal to warm up to Branwen, but Cecily took the longest. Their bar pretty much refused to go up for like a week, despite them interacting fairly frequently. It was like their friendship gains are like, 1 or 2 for everything instead of the normal amount, like how some Sims will have huge jumps but the reverse.

“When’s the wedding?” I’d been asked that like, twelve times.

“Next Saturday,” I answered. “Here.”

“Not going anywhere fancy?” I’d been asked that about twelve times too.

“No,” I said. “I did my fancy. Just dress up and get ready to burn off calories from too much sugar.”

“You’re the lucky one boyo,” grandpa said. “I don’t normally dress up so much.”

“Yeah, but you always look the best,” I said.

The way grandpa perked up told me that was a good thing to say.

As an aside, Gabriel and Branwen actually did not woohoo until after they were married, it was almost weird.

Ari managed to make it. And Branwen, already being goth herself, didn’t mind sticking to the all black thing. I didn’t realise she had so many tattoos, but we hadn’t really been pulling each other’s clothes off. Some of them were really cool. Some of them had stories behind them, she said, and she’d tell me those later.

I also invited both my aunties, and my uncle, and grandpa and grandfather. I wanted to invite all the cousins too, but only invited Ari- he’s the only one I really know, so it seemed the most fitting.

Mom spent most of her time outside on the back deck, catching up with her siblings by the cake.

Hilda managed to make it too. It turned out she and Austin were expecting a baby! She sure didn’t look pregnant at the ceremony, but that’s okay. I was glad she could make it.

As things go, I guess, Ari and Hilda were the only two that didn’t seem like were judging us. Or at least, me. It’s never great to feel judged at your wedding, but being fair about it, the first one went just fine so I suppose I could live with the hesitance and the concern.

It was all just concern, anyway. Badly expressed concern, but it didn’t change what it was.

The ceremony went fine. Diaval insisted on being at our feet while we said our vows. I decided to take it as a good sign. He hadn’t seemed terribly interested one way or the other in Cassandra. It’s just the cherry on top. The cat likes you, so you must be okay.

As usual for the Eisensterns, the reception was spent enjoying cake and each other’s company. Everyone spent a little time talking to Bran, but she went to sleep before the reception was over.

( There were questions about that, but I played ignorant. Our family doesn’t take jobs very well, either. )