#Giorgio Mistretta extra

[aheathen-conceivably]

A GioJo baby would be absolutely gorgeous so this is my petition for you to bless this world with them in CAS at least 🙏

Your wish is my command and also now my greatest regret...

This is the the first child generated by them in CAS, no tweaking at all only skin details and a makeover as though she would be in her 20s in the 1950s.

Am I absolutely out of any sort of chill? Do I regret all my choices? Most definitely. So uh, please just have another photo of her in CAS before I lose my cool and go full photoshoot/AU/side plot madness...

#I just #I um #😭😭😭😭 #okay just had to get that out #I will never financially recover from this #like she’s immediately giving West Side Story and we need it right? #*talks self out of the whole ass arc we just went through* #alright alright the train is back on its tracks #I think #….I hope #Giorgio Mistretta extra #Josephine Duplanchier extra

[aheathen-conceivably]

Saw my darling @swiftviolets doing this so I had to hop aboard the bandwagon with our Darlingtons. Alas, they barely fit so Violette will have to wait for next gen’s height chart 😉

(Anybody surprise you? 👀)

#also I know I know historical averages may ruin all of this #but we pretend we do not see it because I just selected their heights with my modern brain #also Summer is TINY bless her 🥺 #and Zelda being taller than Gio is giving me such joy #also also #the height difference between Rosella and George will get me every time #which I actually used to use poses and TOOL to try and show it specifically #Adelia darlington extra #Oliver darlington extra #Florence darlington extra #rosella darlington extra #Georgiana Harrington extra #Virginia darlington extra #Isaiah darlington extra #summer darlington extra #Zelda darlington extra #Antoine Duplanchier extra #Josephine Duplanchier extra #Giorgio Mistretta extra #Darlington extras #whew

[aheathen-conceivably]

jo in 👗!! i feel like she'd be so cool in like rockabilly style or something

👗: OC in something from the 1950s

You are more than right on that front, Nonny. And please forgive me, I may have added a certain someone for us and our girl...

Was all this just an excuse to play with @antiquatedplumbobs amazing diner and listen to the Grease soundtrack? You bet your ass it was…. 🎶🏫

#more musical vibes? on a dress up game? #oops I let my playlists get the better of me and now you get some too 😘 #ask game #simblr ask game #dress up ask game #Josephine Duplanchier extra #Giorgio Mistretta extra

[aheathen-conceivably]

STATISTICAL  CHARACTER  PERSONALITY TEST.   take  the  quiz  from  the  perspective  of  your  character,  then  select  5 - 10  results  from  the  complete  matches  list  that  you  feel  resonate  with  your  character  the  most (I selected the highest match and three more from the top ten)…

Zelda Darlington

Cue your wide eyed protagonist with a tendency to ignore everything around her in favor of getting lost in her own mind. Bonus points for an added dash of innocence, preoccupation with love, and the seemingly unexplainable ability to charm everyone around her despite how utterly distracted by her own thoughts she always seems to be.

Antoine Duplanchier

Did someone order a too-moody-for his-own-good I can fix him love interest? Does he have a tragic backstory and a penchant for withholding his emotions until he explodes on those he loves most? But then he professes his loyalty with grand gestures and declarations of eternal love? Well do I have the story for you…

Josephine Duplanchier

Does your wide eyed protagonist need a bitchy sidekick? Does she have a penchant for manipulating everyone around her but the audience can't help but love her anyway? One thing is for sure, someone’s heart is getting broken, and she’s going to make damn sure it isn’t her own.

Giorgio Mistretta

The internet has officially decreed that Giorgio is the fuck-boy love interest who's too attractive for his own good. Meanwhile his girlfriend bosses him around and he swears he doesn’t like it, even though it’s pretty obvious he does. He has a habit of making really stupid choices; but he did it all for love, right? Right?!

(I was tagged by @citylighten -thanks boo!- and in turn tag @thebramblewood @elderberries-and-honey @antiquatedplumbobs and @surely-sims plus anyone else who wants to!)

#the way I HOWLED at some of these y’all #Kelso for Gio had me dying #but I won’t even lie and say I don’t see it 🤣 #also Zelda and Antoine are giving beauty and the beast so hard like how did I not see this #but I feel called out for my tropes and honestly I am living for it #these are hilarious and wonderful please enjoy and consider yourself tagged if you wanna do them too 😙 #Zelda darlington extra #Antoine Duplanchier extra #Josephine Duplanchier extra #Giorgio Mistretta extra #tag game #simblr tag game

[aheathen-conceivably]

What kind of love are you? 🥀

(Saw the marvelous @igotsnothing do this and I couldn’t resist. So consider yourself tagged if you see this and wanna do the same darlings)…

Love as a Threshold

Your love does not ask for much. Your love does not take. Your love is free, and unquestioned, and here for wherever needs it. When you fall in love, it is as gentle as a breath in the night. It is quiet, and it is effortless. It is tender. If your love was a house, it would readily welcome all who come through. If your love was a hearth, it would warm the hands of whoever stopped by, whether for a day, a month, a year, or forever. When you fall for someone, it is without strings, without conditions, without need. You love for the sake of loving, for the sake of caring for those who need it. You love with a giver’s heart and a giver’s hands and are made so much stronger for it. Being loved by you is to always feel at home. Your love may not always be well-received by those unprepared to linger, but it is unforgettable all the same.

Love as the Dawn

Pastel, saccharine and hopeful, your love rises slow to greet the day. It tiptoes on doe feet and blossoms bit by bit, petal by petal. Love is new to you, isn’t it? A fresh discovery in a world you do not quite understand. Your love loves with bated breaths. Your love swoons and sighs and lingers under awnings. Your love romanticizes. Your love aches as tenderly as a bruise. You’re swollen with desire and idealizations. The perfect kiss, the perfect touch, the perfect partner in life. Your love is wide-eyed and innocent, naive and pristine and oh, so very easily breakable. Being loved by you is to be loved by a child, by a lamb, wooly-eyed and helpless. Oh. I really hope it lasts.

Love as a Force of Nature

Your love is like whiplash –– it comes in with the rain, it blows the doors wide open. When you fall in love, it is sudden and hard and immense. It is powerful. It is earth-shaking and world-ending. Nature is a force, and that force can be destructive if you're not careful. See how the world is doused in gasoline and set on fire –– your love consumes, your love takes, your love burns. You're hot and cold all at once, a hurricane and a wildfire bound together in skin, and when you're in love, it can feel like it's eating you alive from the inside out. When you love, it is with everything you have because it is everything you have. Be careful, darling, because not everyone survives the storm.

Love as Religion

Devotion, that is the name of your love. Your love is an act of worship. Your love is like witnessing the birth of Venus, like seeing the sun come alive, or the stars fall. When you love, it is because you have found God in a lover. You have found the meaning of life itself in the heart of the one you adore. They are everything to you; they are your Maker, and you are their lamb, their flock, their first and holiest worshipper. When you fall in love, it is as a baptism. You are born anew, made a believer in the divinity of the one you love most. Being loved by you is an ascension; it is holy and golden. It is all-consuming, and all-faithful, loyal as the dog. You will never, ever bite back.

(Okay but thank you to the original author of this quiz because I love each and every one of these descriptors and could quite literally not have written them more perfectly for each one of them. As usual I gotta know…who you pickin’? 👀)

#plus music vibes for everyone because I have no chill #like I’m about to start quoting these in posts this is spot on and fantastic I am kicking my feet crying #I’m in my ~relationship dynamics~ era can we tell? #Antoine Duplanchier extra #Zelda darlington extra #Josephine Duplanchier extra #Giorgio Mistretta extra

[aheathen-conceivably]

Even a toxic love has its moments…. 🎶

(Alternatively titled: bonus half-clothed Gio for the stans 😙)

#help I love them #and like I know I shouldn’t #I know I know I know #BUT #look at THEM #literally an autonomous gameplay interaction #which to me reads as Jo will not get outta bed so baby boy lies right back down with her 😩 #just about shed a small tear #the toxicity babes I’m barely even writing it at this point #sims 4 historical #ts4 decades challenge #sims 4 decades challenge #ts4 historical #sims 4 story #ts4 story #Josephine Duplanchier extra #Giorgio Mistretta extra #the darlingtons

[aheathen-conceivably]

I positively had to resurrect AU Giorgio to wish my simblr twin and generally amazing person @antiquatedplumbobs a very happy birthday. Of course that means gifting her with her very own Winter Wonderland, complete with her favorite sad boy amidst the snowy seaside ☃️💙🧣

It’s also now officially canon that this is part of his eat, pray, love journey after Jo left him on that rooftop so go on y’all and help a man mend his broken heart.

#and damn you and how right you were about how stunning Bridleton Bay is in the cold #never IRL #but in sims? oh babes you are right #do we send Gio on a journey? a birthday/self discovery journey 😅 #must resist Gio spin off temptation #must resist #Giorgio Mistretta extra

[aheathen-conceivably]

you know, it's kind of painful to see Jo's internal struggle. But what about Gio? Does he feel this her tension or is he really happy with the way things are?

Hello again my dearest and thank you for your question! You know I haven’t forgotten about my favorite sad boy, and I’m glad to see you haven’t either. Time to grab a chair and get ready for today’s Ted Talk with a Heathen…

Actually we gunna go under the cut cause yall I rambled to oblivion and beyond, who woulda guessed? 🤣

As it stands, Gio is very happy with the way things are. Except he’s only able to do this by more or less ignoring Jo’s feelings (because despite her best attempts to hide it, it’s still palpable to anyone who loves her), or writing it off as something else (which we see him do in the most recent post).

You see, Gio knows he’s at least partially responsible for Jo’s unhappiness. He knows he lied to her and more or less manipulated her to get what he wanted even if he’s able to tell himself part of it was for everyone’s safety/happiness. It’s something that he struggled with during the early part of the decade, but now that she’s seemingly adjusted and very purposefully trying to hide her true feelings, Gio has accepted his actions and embraced their new lives.

Because at least at this point in his life, Gio wants what he conceives to be the American Dream. He thinks it’s the key to happiness and success, and as we’ll see, is very deeply rooted in his own internal struggles and past. Part of this is embodied in his journey out West, the classic American idea that he can own land and “make it” simply through hard work and will. With over a year left on his loan maturation, Gio is happy with his position on his farm. Thanks to Zelda (which he’s very aware of and thankful to her), at least that aspect of his American dream has come true.

Now of course the secondary part of the “classic” American dream is that Gio wants a family. As discussed here, Gio is fine with not having children. Mostly for that reason, their current living situation works very well for him. Gio is gregarious and social, fond of having friends always nearby. He’s living with his best friends and niece, all of whom he loves spending time with and satiates the need to be surrounded by family (since he may have issues with his own 👀).

But beyond that, Gio wants a wife. He wants what he’s been told is the core and central unit to living a fulfilling life and making all his dreams come true. He is also still naive enough to think that it will solve many of he and Jo’s problems, because he’s absolutely convinced that life can be improved by the virtue of certain choices alone. And as Jo astutely realizes in the last post:

Gio has seemingly gotten what he’s always wanted: his own land, a family, and the wife that eluded him so many times before. He’s buried his guilt from what he did to get it, and his life is more or less stable. He thinks he has little to worry about, other than maybe the loan in a year or two, continuing to provide for his found family, and emotionally supporting Josephine so long as it doesn’t pop the bubble that he’s finally gotten what he wanted.

His American dream has seemingly come true. Only he’s sacrificed the women he loves to get it, and he hasn’t realized it yet.

#this story is a sickness #how many paragraphs is that? #how many?! 😂 #anyway I done lost it thank you all for giving a damn #also I picked this captain America GIF before writing this whole thing out and now it’s extra hilarious to me #🦅 #Giorgio Mistretta extra #ask #answered #such a good ask at that thank you boo ❤️

[aheathen-conceivably]

Ok so I read the post on your thoughts on Gio and the American Dream and I hate to say it … as an immigrant, I understand him.

I also come from a culture where women tend to their male partner's needs and I don't believe he wants to turn Jo into a subservient wife. He fell in love with a lively, free, and wild Jo and loves that aspect of her.

At the end of the day she loves him too so why would she leave? I understand she doesn't like to be dependent of him but where else would she go? There are no parties or glamour, which was her whole thing, anymore. At least the farm offers stability in the economic crisis.

Point is, I understand Gio as an immigrant, but don't understand Jo as a woman.

BABES! We’ve got another one…

(As in me being touched and having no other means to say how much I love y’all takes other than to give them a standing ovation in GIF form).

But you know…there’s a whole lot to break down here, friend, especially about Jo. I think you know what that means! Under the cut we go….

First and foremost, I very much appreciate you saying you understand that aspect of Gio. I did in part write him as a commentary on the immigrant experience in America (filtered through his own personality/character of course), and so to know that is relatable means a lot to me. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to tell y’all his journey is far from over, and you can already see the cracks in his outlook beginning to form. Whenever Jo is depressed he says this quite vividly:

Because you are very, very correct. This isn’t about molding Jo into some subservient housewife, or even eroding those exact qualities that he loves in her. This is about Gio attempting to square what he’s been taught/believes will bring his life happiness and meaning with his own experience and emotions. It’s about the myth of the American dream and the perfect housewife and the very real struggle of those things existing as actual, lived realities.

Because at the root of it, Gio is amalgamating an understanding of his own family unit and what he knows he doesn’t want in this country. He has seen another methods of “making it” in America, and so he thinks if only he can make the “right” choices, he can avoid that, and become the respected and happy man that he wants to be.

Now onto Jo, boy oh boy, Jo….

I think one of the core misunderstandings here is that Jo wants stability. This is kind of the crux built into her desire for control and her never-ending failure to achieve it. She wants to control her surroundings, to make sure nothing and no one can hurt her, but she also wants to feel in a way that is hard to find in a stable, heavily domesticated life. On the flip side, despite whatever imaginary dream Gio has, he’s the same way. They both want a life filled with excitement and new experiences, new people and rushes of emotions. This is one of the ways they differ heavily from Antoine and Zelda.

Now on one level, this is simply the way Josephine is. She’s high energy, fun loving, and insatiable. But on a deeper level, this is tied into her experiences not only as a woman, but as a daughter. She has a brief moment of clarity in that last post where she realizes:

Now I have chosen not to go too in-depth on Josephine’s trauma, but you can see her lay out the course of events here and also her deep hesitation to any of it here. Josephine is still only a teenager in that second post. Her mother not only told her things like that (“this is the weight that prejudice and expectation have placed upon us”) but also “what do you want to be then? Some glorified maid to a man?” (Which, frankly, I can write another Ted Talk about the juxtaposition here, but I think ya'll can pull some threads).

So when you see Josephine’s struggle with control, this is heavily rooted in bodily autonomy. Now all things considered, Josephine has managed to make great strides toward reclaiming this and reasserting not only her sexuality, but also her sense of self in her body. Gio knows this. We see him recognize and respect it quite clearly in that last post. He’s been part of that process for her, and that only adds another element of love, trust, and safety between them.

But on a fundamental level, neither Gio nor Josephine has made the connection between that trauma, her own personality, and why she hates her life now so much:

Here’s the issue right now: Josephine doesn’t feel like she’s living her own life. We have seen how she would like to live in the 20s not just in the parties and glamour, but when she was managing bands. She wants to be fulfilled professionally, through helping people/places she believes in and bettering her own life by bettering theirs. That’s how she gets her joy, and that’s what she would chose to do if given the chance.

And right now, she does not feel like she gets to chose. You’re correct in that part of that is coming from the current economic situation. Again, she sees that herself here. She knows what demons are waiting outside her window, and how easily poverty can make them rearise. That only makes it worse. It doesn’t make the smell of bread (domestic security) any better or more comforting. It makes it bitter, because she didn’t chose it. She was backed into a corner by circumstance (and, as she can sense, by the choices men made for her without telling her), and now she feels like she can’t say no. That’s her ultimate trigger.

Now whether or not that loss of control is simply perceived, or should be offset by how “lucky” she is to be in a stable position in such precarious economic times, we might all have different options on. Even more, I’m sure each of us would answer differently for ourselves in that situation. I know I would. But for Josephine? Not only is this a life she will never find joy in, because even without her trauma, she is an ambitious, restless, and outgoing person with different goals for herself; but that added memory and pain makes her reaction to it all the more volatile.

Perhaps most importantly, Jo feels as though her life is being controlled again, whether by Gio, the reality of the world outside her window, or by her own guilt/love that makes her feel beholden to the people around her (just like it did to her mother). Because you’re right, she does love him. She wouldn’t leave because she doesn’t. If she leaves now, it would leave because she panicked, because she feels like she’s lost all the autonomy she worked so hard to regain and she’ll never feel the fulfillment she felt when she was successfully independent ever again. That’s the element I hope we can understand, even if it’s not what we would do.

#okay THAT might be my longest Ted Talk yet 🤣 #which if you’re actually reading you really deserve a tshirt let’s be real #and I’m so very sorry they’re so long #I try and infuse them into all the posts but like to condense it and write it all out clearly can be so helpful sometimes #for me too let’s be real #and like I want them to have a real solid base before we move into ~the great unknown~ #anywho there’s a number of threads I could have touched on here that I didn’t for ~time~ #but if you’d like to go through the #Josephine Duplanchier extra #tag there’s some good stuff there too 😉 #Giorgio Mistretta extra #also #*ahem* #does it REALLY offer stability in the economic crisis? #y’all remembering what I’m remembering? 😬 #ain’t a true American dream without a healthy serving of debt aint it

[aheathen-conceivably]

🍭💜🤍🩶🧸 for jo and gio >:) <3

Ya know, I thought I wasn’t gunna do any more of these but then I got this one and well, who can resist JoxJoe?

🍭 What's something they can never agree on (big or small)?

Ummmm, life? 🤣

Like really in a grand scheme, Gio and Jo do not share a vision for the future. It’s part of the reason they avoid talking about it so much, and what lies behind most of their fights. Both of them want to be the one to decide what the other does, and that idea of “power” insofar as who gets to make the decisions and who’s vision wins out is something that hangs over their heads at nearly all times. The crossroads of peace that they are currently at is because Jo has given herself over to his vision of the future, and much of their best times in New Orleans were because he was doing the same then too.

💜 How do they silently show love or affection towards the other?

I don’t think Gio and Jo are the type to spend much time in silence (oh what a difference to our other couple). They quite literally always have something to talk about or something to say, and are both usually full of energy and liveliness. Even in conversation I don’t think small smiles or looks would suffice, and they’re both people who show their affection through touch.

For both of them, but Jo in particular, she will especially show her affection by staying in bed with him in the morning. She’s someone who wakes and immediately rises to her feet, so to stay there in quiet and just let herself be held is the ultimate display of her love.

🤍 What is their favorite or most admired quality in the other?

So I think that while Jo and Gio have great difficulty agreeing on what they want to do with their lives together (ahem, see question one), they immensely enjoy the other person and want to be around them as much as possible. Both of them are very joie de vivre sort of people who enjoy living life to the fullest and have fun doing so together.

On a deeper level, Jo loves Gio’s infectious positivity and humor. He’s a guy who dreams big, and has no trouble talking about all the things he envisions with an infectious sense of wonder and charm (it’s following through on those ideas and making the right choices in pursuing them that he lacks). Josephine herself is more action oriented, so that wondrous, dreaming side of him is very enchanting to her (and also why she’s drawn to Zelda). She also loves how willing he is to talk about it. Emotional expression comes easily to Giorgio, and Jo admires him for it because she knows it’s a strength she lacks in herself.

Conversely, Gio admires how willing Josephine is to go after what she wants. She lets very little stop her, and does everything with optimism and vigor. Her optimism is particular is something he finds attractive, because even when she’s knocked down she’s able to stand upright and keep walking. It’s why her depression really triggered his guilt, because he finally saw a side of her that he didn’t know existed. But this in turn only strengthened that admiration as he realized that when she does stand up and keep walking, she does it totally and with self determination.

🩶 Which one apologizes first? How do they apologize?

Like actually says “I’m sorry”, owns up to their mistakes and explains themselves? Gio. Only Gio. Josephine will not apologize (although she’s ~kind of~ trying). A full apology is something she sees as a power grab, a moment of “giving yourself up” to that person and she simply will not do it. She has…other methods that she uses to show Gio she’s sorry 😂

🧸 BONUS! Include one of your favorite moments between them!

Y’all ready for another montage? Cue the music…

#Giorgio Mistretta extra #Josephine Duplanchier extra #god I love them help #ask game #simblr ask game

[aheathen-conceivably]

Did I get immensely distracted and do more picrew things? Possibly. So please have What’s in Their Bag? Modern Edition…

Josephine:

Always has mints because she definitely hasn’t been vaping due to stress and who’s two cell phones seemingly never stop ringing. Still keeps a coin purse because it was her mother’s even though there’s nothing in it and she thinks it’s old fashioned. Does she wear driving gloves because it makes her feel like a bad bitch? Absolutely.

Giorgio:

It’s giving 2010s hipster turned professional with a dash of metrosexual. Sure he carries a phone and a tablet but secretly has a thing for writing handwritten letters. Probably drives a Tesla and converted all his locks to electronic. He also definitely stopped to pick up that four leaf clover for luck when he thought no one was looking.

Antoine:

Custom ordered that pen and notebook for writing song lyrics and definitely keeps all his money loose in his bag even though it constantly gets tangled in the three pairs of earphones he has in there. Bought that keychain for himself and Zelda very much unironically years ago. Zelda lost hers and doesn’t even remember when.

Zelda:

Can’t find anything in her bag at any given time, especially since her scarf also serves as a blanket for sitting in the grass. Smaller bag is always full of loose shells and rocks she picks up and really needs to get a new phone but can’t seem to find the time. Only doesn’t have cigarettes because she steals them from Antoine’s bag when he isn’t looking, even though he keeps an extra pack for her. Will not get rid of her iPod for anything.

#hello I love these #zelda’s phone being cracked is pure zelda to me #and like they all came out just spot on? like the little details feel so ~them~ #can I pick a favorite? #no nope not at all #so please let me know yours 😌 #also I’m sorry everyone has to smoke the legacy of the 20s is real #Josephine Duplanchier extra #Giorgio Mistretta extra #Antoine Duplanchier extra #Zelda darlington extra

[aheathen-conceivably]

❤️ Darlington 5-Minute Ships ❤️

Well my lovelies, I have a new little tag game for you all (courtesy of the absolutely marvelous @simadelics and @thistleflower-sims ). Use the template below to put two of your favorite OC’s together (or more, if you can’t choose like me!) and tell us a little bit about their relationship.

I’m going to tag a few of my other dear mutuals, but everyone please feel free to do this and tag me as I would love to see! And if you do decide to give it a go, feel free to tag a few other folks to keep the game rolling!

Template and a bonus Ship below the cut 😘

@cowplant-snacks @simadelics @surely-sims @antiquatedplumbobs @sasaofastora @that-fannerd-with-the-glasses @thistleflower-sims @alainas-sims

#heights are not adjusted for historical averages #whoops #but yes zelda is a tall girlie like myself #and yes Jo will kill all the bugs for you #but she will not cook and she will not drive #plus you get a HEFTY eye roll for each and every pet name #also it is the 20s so no one can drive #but Gio #my man is their chauffeur and their chef #Darlington extras #zelda darlington extra #antoine duplanchier extra #giorgio mistretta extra #josephine duplanchier extra #georgiana harrington extra #rosella darlington extra #simblr tag game #tag game #5 minute ships

[aheathen-conceivably]

Gio you piece of shit. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO THE WOMAN YOU LOVE???? I'm going to go insane what is wrong with him (joking. Kind of) - LGL

Oh, LGL, however did I know this little wrinkle with Grocery Boy would bring you out of the woodworks…

I could literally write a mini essay on this so I’ll try and overview it as fast as I know how because we have some toxic dynamics building up right now, and without seeing that clearly the story may go off the rails very quickly.

Let’s go back to the 1920s. I admit I did not show this dynamic as explicitly as I would have liked, but you can see it in this post. Josephine in some ways delights in knowing that Giorgio is ��below” her, in feeling like she’s the one with the power in their relationship. She gives him just enough emotionally but never all that she knows he needs and craves (see this post too).

Despite this (and perhaps because of it), Giorgio is hooked on her. He’ll never admit it (not even to himself), but in doing this he’s trying to reverse that power dynamic. Now she is the one who needs him, and that’s all he’s ever wanted. At first this was just a desire for his partner to need and rely on him emotionally (again, here), but the more Josephine manipulated that and put him down, the more this evolved into a larger complex.

Of course the reasoning that he gives is not totally fabricated, and Giorgio knows better than any of them just how bad the economic situation is. His father is a mafia leader (which has been alluded to), and it’s clear that he has intel into the larger issues in this era. It’s important to note that while we see this clearly in hindsight, it’s perhaps not as clear to those living it day to day. So when he says that he’s doing it for them, he means it. New Orleans in the 1930s is in horrible economic straights, and he was offering the lifeline he has to his friends and the woman he loves. As we’ve now learned, this lifeline is far from perfect (looking at you barren soil and home loan), but when you consider the alternatives and the value of a home itself, it is at least a base to weather the storms of the decade.

However, he knows that Jo would not accept a lifeline, because it would make her dependent and indebted to that person, therefore giving them power over her (which she admits to herself here). So he told himself that he was obscuring part of the truth for her sake, not his own. But then we’re right back to Gio’s underlying, more manipulative reasons, which now color this new dynamic and put Josephine in a situation that while “safer”, ultimately robs her of making an informed choice and meeting Giorgio on equal footing if she had chosen this on her own.

#of course gotta give this one a #Darlington extras #so much subtext #so much drama #also just realized this is a distant cousin to the ‘my mafia boyfriend kidnapped me for my own safety trope #and that is sending me 💀 #Nonny reacts #gif warning #Giorgio Mistretta extra #Josephine Duplanchier extra

[aheathen-conceivably]

What does Gio mean when he says ‘mi raccomando’ to Jo? I figured it was a pet name but google translate says it means ‘listen to me’ and I don’t feel like that always, or ever? Makes sense when he says it to her

Yes, that's his pet name for Jo! So way back before the first time he uses it (which also heavily recommend y’all click and look at that dynamic after their post today 👀) I did some research into pet names in Italian, as it makes sense to me that he would express his love in his birth language at least to some extent. I liked/chose this one not because it is a "traditional" pet name in Italian, but because it can mean/emphasize certain things depending on when/how it is said.

Literally translated it can mean what you said above, which is "please listen to me," or even "please trust me," "pay attention," or "I really mean it." But in a more emotional sense, it is often used to convey this literal meaning but with an emotional competent of love and familiarity. I like the way this article describes it:

Here's another descriptor from that same article:

Especially in context of this meaning, I think he started saying it to her not as pet name, but simply as a part of language when addressing her. Like we can see above, he would add it to his requests and his entreaties, which in context of their relationship in the 1920s, he was usually the one doing. This is especially relevant as the phrasing itself has ties to the Italian word to entrust oneself to another (or, as is often used, to God). In this context it is often used to mean "to entreat" or "to implore" which would fit his phrasing exactly.

Over time, I think it became almost like a bit of an exchange of love between them, or a subtle way of him expressing his emotions in this one phrase alone, becoming something like an "accidental" pet name through its repeated refrain. This is especially relevant in light of another emotional component to the phrase:

So you can see how also, especially early in their relationship, there is a bit of humor in the exchange, particularly in that Gio would often more of less know that Jo wouldn't listen to him, but it was a way of reaching her sentimental side, reaffirming his care, and poking fun at this with a single phrase.

This is a bit of a double edged sword in their lives now though, because even this term of endearment has undertones of Gio asking/telling her what to do. When she feels comfortable and sure of herself, the dynamic is such that the words feel like an entreaty of love and a reaffirmation of her place above him. But whenever he's the one who seems to be in charge, it can come with a tone of patronization that makes her feel as though he’s telling her/guilting her into doing what he wants.

…can anything ever just be simple with these two? 🤣

#At its simplest though he uses it to mean my love #with an undertone of please #and if you look at basically every time he says that #you can kind of see the ~vibe~ coming through #or at least I think so oop #even if it’s something as simple as #please turn around #or please open up to me #he says it to kind of try and break through her barriers #anywho that’s enough of that they broke my mind #and thank you for this question!! #I realized I never really explained this #Giorgio Mistretta extra #Josephine Duplanchier extra

[aheathen-conceivably]

🍿and 🫦 for Jo and Gio! (Just so I’m not always doing asks about Rosella- I’m branching out)

Well, well, well…look at you straying from your tried and true first loves 😉

🍿 If they had a movie (or other fiction) couple equivalent, what couple would it be and why?

So once upon a time someone made a Bonnie and Clyde reference for them and now that’s all I can see. Do you know this is going to end badly? Probably. Has much of their relationship been spurred on by a mutual, toxic need for excitement? You bet. Would they burn down the whole fucking world for each other? Absolutely. But then would they set the fire under the other one’s feet and blame them all the while for lighting the spark at all? Yep.

🫦 What's something seemingly innocent that the other does, says or wears that turns the other on?

These two, I don’t know, breathe? 🤣

I kid I kid (except not really) but like y’all I will not even lie Gio is in fantasy housewife mode right now. Josephine specifically in not only pants, but his pants would be driving my boy out of his mind. I don’t think Jo is in quite as much of the “driving wild” phase of their relationship, mostly because she’s just come out of that terrible depression and I think a lot of the intimacy she’s getting from Gio right now is less sexual than she’s used to and she’s trying to enjoy that type of vulnerability for once (please see this post and the subsequent spice one where they’re just in love without the heavy sexual undertone of a lot of their other ~moments~).

What I think gets her in this phase of her love is when Giorgio laughs, mostly because it makes her feel young and carefree again. Please return to this question soon enough and your answer may be different 🙊

Got another love day ask? 💝

#ask game #simblr ask game #Josephine Duplanchier extra #Giorgio Mistretta extra

[aheathen-conceivably]

(prev lesbian anon from several months ago here) so wait does gio want children? i understand josephine's perspective but honestly i sometimes feel like i'm watching a trainwreck when jo and gio interact, it seems like its only a matter of time before the train catches fire and explodes. and i'm not just saying that because im anxiously awaiting a potential valcita sighting i promise LMAO -pl

AHAHAHA! Welcome back to the inbox baby. My my I DO think you are rooting for their downfall, aren’t you? Glad to see Val made such a lasting impression 😉

Strangely though, Jo and Gio are actually in decent agreement regarding children. His internal monologue lays out his feelings pretty well, in that part of him simply acquiesced to her on the matter. This is mostly because he didn’t have strong opinions on it beforehand, and is actually in opposition to the idea of progeny due to some issues in ~his past~ (do I smell a flashback? 👀) Even further, he and Jo agree on a fundamental principle, which is that they share an “aversion of having your life taken from you in that way, so that your dreams and your choices were no longer for yourself anymore.”

Ironically, that same aversion is what gives them their train wreck vibes, as they fight one another for control of that vision. However, her not wanting a child is not what detailed them in that post. That honor goes solely to Jo, for feeling the need to reestablish her sense of control through him by telling him none of what was on her mind and specifically using sex to keep herself above him.

Now could his opinions on the matter have changed if she had approached him with her actual thoughts (see rant if you would like ~all~ the info)? Maybe. But there’s also a line I deleted in editing that “she meant more to him than any potential child, so it was never even a consideration.” And that summarizes his feelings on the subject more than anything else.

#and MAM #they have happy times #…sometimes 🤣 #and must a train wreck always catch fire? #what if it just derails? #or happens to see another track it would rather take #but if it does explode… #how many people does it take out when it goes? 👀 #ask #answered #Giorgio Mistretta extra #Josephine Duplanchier extra