Life Loves to Throw Curveballs

It is said that sometimes life throws you a curveball...and that curveball arrived in the form of Masayoshi Chikamori, Haruo's cousin or Yasunobu's younger brother's son. The reason why he came over was because his father died on vacation in Riverview (drowning); after meeting his relatives, he opted to stay in town and decided to be with his cousin until he found a place of his own.

...and skeletons came crawling out of Fiona's closet when River opened the door to find a young woman standing there. You can very well imagine her shock when the woman said, "Hi, River...I'm Caitlin...your step-sister." That proved to be quite the skeleton popping out of the closet and saying "boo!" Needless to say, River had some questions to ask her mother as far as Caitlin was concerned.

Masayoshi made himself immediately at home, talking to both Haruo and to Braden. He had plenty of tales to tell about Japan and all its temples and things to do. And it fascinated Braden who had plenty of questions. Of course, Haruo indicated that Masayoshi, Caitlin, River and everybody should go out and have a family dinner at the Bistro where he worked now.

Haruo and the entire family (minus all those who had their own places and were busy with their own things to do) headed off to the Bistro for a sit-down meal together and a chance to get to know one-another.

The meal was delicious and everybody ate their fill while at the restaurant. It also gave River a chance to catch up with her step-sister and in fact, it was a good way for Haruo to catch up with his cousin, whom he'd never seen before; after all, he'd never had reason to go to Japan and being able to see his cousin in the flesh offered a chance to discuss family with a family-member roughly about his age (although Masayoshi was younger than him by a few years)

Then it was all pile into the vehicle and drive home...

Since it was the weekend, it allowed the Chikamoris to catch up on family relations. River talked a lot with her step-sister and that was great to see them bonding even though the circumstances of their meeting was like a bolt out of the blue.

Since River wanted to increase her fitness level, she also went ahead and worked out in the gym and Caitlin joined her.

Masayoshi loved the snow and decided to go outside to build a snowman after getting his work visa and finding a job at the Science Center, which was awesome to see. Masayoshi was definitely a go-getter in terms of finding work...and he loved to keep busy.

Hopefully the snowman didn't obstruct the door and keep sims from getting in to work.

Caitlin relished the closeness of spending time with her step-sister...even though as they were exercising they didn't say much...

When River finished her workout, she looked over at her step-sister and asked, "So what brought you to Riverview?"

"My Dad told me that my mom was from here. I went to Sunset Valley...initially to find you and Mom, but the people told me that you and your husband had dug up roots and moved to Riverview." She paused, "...so that's why I came here. Partly to find family, partly to find answers..."

River knew for a fact that since Caitlin had identified herself as step-sister; that Caitlin's dad would not be her dad. Her dad who had disappeared off somewhere to parts unknown and would forever be so...hadn't ever been around for the important parts of her life and River was skeptical if she would ever let him in...even if he did come nosing around.

River also knew not to press the issue either. Caitlin if she was going to volunteer information on her family, would volunteer them on her own time-frame. Needless to say, they did have one connection together and that was their mother. "So have you had a chance to drop in on Mom?" River asked.

"I have..." Caitlin said, "Mom's really tough to read though. I wasn't sure if she was happy to see me or what. I kind of felt like I upset the apple-cart and made hay out of her well-organized life..."

"To tell you the truth, I don't know if I want to impose on her, since she has such a busy schedule, with her campaign and all that." River nodded at Caitlin's statement because that election pretty much defined Fiona's entire world now. She had gotten the political bug and had pursued it all the way to nearly the top of her field. Prime-Minister (Leader of the Free World) was in her sights and nothing appeared to phase her. River had even pulled back as even seeing her appeared to be an imposition on Fiona's time. But she was familiar with Fiona's obsessiveness and dedication to her job and well, she knew that her mom had a tendency to have a one-track mind when it came to a goal in sight.

"I'm just glad that we can have a close relationship" Caitlin admitted to River.

"So what are your plans now?" River asked.

"I'm going to look around and see if there's a job in Riverview for me. Perhaps in Education, or I may look into University...and see if there's something in it for me in terms of a degree." she stated. "Your husband and you just came back from university, so I hear, from Mom."

River did raise her eyebrow at that, "Well...Mom was always telling me while growing up that university was a definite shoe-in to higher grades...I couldn't see it at the time, but I learned a lot about fine arts in university since that's what I decided to major in.