HearthFire

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by Rompkin

by Rompkin

(I'm not sure it was such a good idea to start off with this as the first chapter but I have some funny stories to tell, so I hope you don't mind.)

So I have the Hearthfire DLC installed, and I think it's really cool. I mean, I think it has just the right amount of family elements to it without turning into a Simulation game.

Anyway, So My Dovahkiin Veraana used to live in Hjerim Hall (now lives in Proudspire Manor) with her adopted daughter Lucia. Things were going great despite the fact that I wasn't home most of the time. Lucia had a pet bunny that would follow her around the house and it's sounded like a slinky every time it hopped, so that was... nice...

The only thing I found really annoying was that every time I came home, she'd ask me for something! Now I know this is normal and part of the game, but on all my other characters that had children, yes, the child would ask for stuff, just not ALL the time. But nope. Not with Lucia. It's just "Can I have an allowance?" Or "Did you bring me a present!?" Every time I step into the house. I mean for the love of Talos! Dovah-mom has been out the whole day slaying beasts, worshipping daedra, fetching old women's jewelry from caves, and slowly jogging up the sides of mountains! She doesn't have time for this! But the only thing that's worse than being nagged for presents, has to be when you have absolutely nothing to give them. Their disappointed little sighs make me so sad.

Alright so I'm on another character -a dunmer named Tamio- and she's on her way home to Lakeveiw Manor after a long day of assassinating the innocent civilians of Markarth. It's now 3:00am Skyrim time, and I've decided to enter the house through the balcony door (since I'm playing via Xbox, and I find the loading screen is shorter than when you enter from the front door.) So I'm inside and I see Tamio's husband, Scouts-Many-Marshes, is fast asleep

(Probably tired from pacing back and forth behind the house. Seriously! That's all he does! He wakes up, eats breakfast, paces behind the house, has lunch, paces behind the house, has dinner and then goes to bed. But I guess it did help one time when Sofie was playing outside and he saved her from a bandit ambush.) ANYWAY. So I walk into the room and he's fast asleep.

"MAMA! You're back! Do you want to play a game?!" The game cam turns around, and I see Sofie standing behind me, wide awake, asking me to play tag with her, in the dangerous wilderness that is the outdoors of Lakeview, at 3:30am. Obviously I told her to go back to sleep and she slumped down the stairs to sulk in her room.

I was kind of freaked out because this was the first time it had happened to me and I had quite a few thoughts running through my head, some of which were:

-Was she awake this whole time?

-Why is Scouts asleep then? Was he all 'peace out!' And just went to bed?

-Did she hear the door open?

Whatever the reasons may have been, Tamio prayed to Arkay that night, hoping Babette hadn't dropped by while she was out, and decided to turn little Sof into a creature of the night.

WOW more Hearthfire stories! I'm SURE all of you who play Skyrim but don't have Hearthfire are LOVING this... (Don't eat me please!)

Anyway were almost done here so, bear with me.

Okay so last story.

I decided it was time for Lucia to have a change of wardrobe, so when I saw her playing outside with the other children of Windhelm, I walked over and gave her a blue dress to wear.

The colour left my face when I saw her yell "Thanks mama!" And ran off naked with her friends. As an embarrassed mother I ran after her through the streets as snooty elves and drunken nords gave me disapproving stares. When I finally caught up to her, I told her to go back to Hjerim Hall since all her clothes were in her cupboard. She refused this until I gave her a stern order. At home, I gave Lucia a green dress to wear and let her go play.

It was a small glitch but I still find the though of Dova-mom chasing her scantly clad daughter around the streets of Windhelm. I just hope I don't get a pile of angry letters from the disapproving parents of Windhelm, complaining about my nudist daughter.

Now the children of Skyrim might seem like annoying little brats, but once you get passed all the asking you to play with them during dragon attacks, badgering you for gifts, and feeling the need to let you know every 30 seconds that they work with their mother to sell fruits and vegetables and that it's fun most day but hard work, theyre actually the sweetest little things ever, and I find that they're a big park of the immersion in Skyrim.

Heck, Skyrim has to be one of the very few games I've played, that tug on my heart so hard, that I feel like if I leave my children home for a few days while I'm on a quest, they'll be lonely. I even went so far as to when I knew I'd be away on a quest for a long time, I left Lucia at Windstad Manor (Veraana's previous house) where Lydia was now living as her steward, just so she would have Lydia to keep her company, and of course her little bunny as well.

Hearthfire was better than I expected it to be and I love the fact that you can adopt children (because let's be honest, some of these orphans stories are terribly sad, and it just breaks my heart to see them sleeping outside on the cold hard ground of Skyrim.)