The Marshalls (2) household is a packed one. Eldest of the Marshalls kids, Meadow, her sister Lilian, their partners (Joseph Kraemer and Nicholas Burke, respectively), one child (Don, Meadow's son from a random townie who she's passed off as Joseph's kid), two toddlers (Aiden, Meadow and Joseph; Heather, Lilian and Nicholas), and Lilian is pregnant. Seven sims, and I have a mod to allow up to 50 in a household.

Despite living in Danport, my little farming community where housing is the cheapest, none of the adults make enough money to be able to move out on their own. Not that they mind too much -- the organised chaos reminds Meadow and Lilian of home, and living together means they have a lot larger house than if they were living separately. With four adults in the house, there's also always someone around for childcare; at the moment, it's Lilian.

I don't honestly see this household settling down any time soon. Meadow has risky pregnancy odds of 18%, Lilian 21%, and with Lilian also wanting 5 children, I imagine they're going to be deep in diapers for a long time to come.

Job and LTW summaries, motivation levels:

Meadow, Celebrity Chef, currently Record Store Clerk (Slacker level 4), low motivation.
Nicholas, Max skills, Roadie (Music level 6), average motivation.
Lilian, Golden Anniversary, no job, low motivation.
Joseph, Visionary, no job, average motivation.
Don (child), average motivation.
Aiden (toddler), low motivation.
Heather (toddler), high motivation.

Lilian's newest baby was a boy, Garth, bringing in some interesting very light brown eyes (which are possibly from his maternal grandfather). Joseph wasn't too pleased at being the only other adult in the house but he dealt with it.

Meadow got two Charisma points for picking the right band on a chance card, promoting her up to Party D.J. (slacker level 5), the highest she can get on her own. It also means she's now working nights which we'll see how that works out for her.

Meadow is also another sim with a numbered woohoo want; she's currently at 7 and wants 10. I'm debating between seeing whether she should chase another sim in her relationship panel, or cheat and utilise the public woohoo memory glitch.

I allowed Lilian to try for baby while not married, with the expected result that she got pregnant on day two. Naturally, the next day it meant that Meadow had to go and get pregnant as well via risky woohoo, and failed both abortion and adoption rolls. Looks like the Marshalls (2) household will be getting at least two new family members next rotation!

Thankfully, with Joseph getting as a File Clerk (Law level 1) there's a little more money in the house. If it also means Joseph is out of the house and Meadow can invite a few woohoo partners around? Well, that's just an added bonus.

Don brought home Madeline Kraemer from school (technically they're a little out of the way to know each other, but I allowed it) and the two became friends just before the end of the rotation. Word of warning, Don and Madeline -- if you two end up having chemistry together, it might be an idea not to look to your parents for inspiration on when to have kids...

Also at the end of the rotation, Aidan became a child and Garth became a toddler. Garth is a semi-angular, slightly fierce looking toddler, but I don't judge until they become teens. Some of the most awkward-looking toddlers have made pretty fine adults.

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I am really glad that the Lawrence household consists of two male sims who are highly unlikely to roll wants for babies as it makes a nice relaxing play after the Marshalls (2) household. The family consists of Luke Lawrence, a sim who aged out of the adoption system, with the LTW to become a Visionary. He's average motivation and with a job as a Freelance Photographer (Slacker level 8). He lives with his husband, Jack McCollum, who wants 50 Dream Dates, is average motivation, and has a job as a Gold Farmer (Gamer level 4). They just recently moved to a new, larger apartment in Springvale (my Downtown area) and also got a roommate -- Meghan Mann who works as a Social Worker.

Luke got a promotion up to Freelance Web Designer thanks to a lucky chance card; only one from the top! Too bad it isn't his LTW career. He did roll the want to get to the top of the Slacker career, so that's what he's going to be focusing on unless he gets a position in his LTW career (Art).

Jack got promoted up to Flag Capturer, giving the household a bit more income yet again. And...yup, that was it. Quiet household

No need to worry about how Rosencrantz Roth (I love that name!) would do in his new home; Stella and Xander wanted to be friends with the new kitten straight away, and Rosencrantz himself, while missing Maxx, was happy to chase butterflies and loll in the sun in the front yard. Morty had the day off and had flu, so after planting tomatoes in the greenhouse, he went to bed...only to be awakened by Xander, fresh from the bath in his school uniform, plopping down in the recliner in the bedroom and turning on a cooking show on the TV. Heh, that old shopping spree of Morty's at Electronics Supercenter and Ramirez's Fine Furniture wasn't such a good idea, was it, Morty? However, the school bus and Stella's carpool soon arrived, so after dancing on his newly-awakened father's feet, Xander was out of his hair.

Xander got an A and went to cheer about them to his snoozing-again father when he got home, then did some homework and went to hug Stella when she got home from work. As he was dancing on her feet, Morty woke up and came down to belatedly cheer his good grades...in his leopard-print underwear. Kooky, but Xander was in his raincoat and pirate hat due to a brief shower, so he didn't care about his odd old dad. Stella, startled at how fast he was growing up, gave her little boy one last hug while he was still a little boy, then went to call her co-worker and friend Patricia Wan to find out if there were any interesting scoops to be found in the facts they'd been checking. Xander, as soon as her back was turned, grew into a teen -- Popularity runs in the family and he's very close to his mother, so that's him, and with his liking of charisma and formalwear, he looks like he's made to be a political groupie. He took over care of Pollyanna, got a job as a gamer, has an LTW to be a Rock God, and distressed Morty by hanging a poster of a scantily-dressed but well-adorned model posing for a jewellery advertisement in his bedroom, next to his racing flags. Then he invited over Sandra and her fellow Greeks for dinner (garden salad, made by Morty), and playing with Pollyanna and Rosencrantz. Morty thought very well of Sophie and Max, though he might not have been so happy had he seen Sophie and Sandra canoodling by the pool.

And where was Stella this time? Still on the phone in the upstairs hallway, covering one ear against the noise from downstairs as Patricia spilled the details of what she'd heard about the Greenman family's new additions into her other ear. She chewed her lip in annoyance -- why had Morty said nothing about these two "chocolate babies, and the newest one pretty dark according to Gabe" Patricia was telling her about? He'd seen both Asher and Lillian... However, the guests didn't leave until late, and she couldn't very well question him in front of them, and by the time Sandra and Sophie said goodnight, Morty was asleep. A good thing, as it probably averted the fight that would have resulted from Morty's saying what he thought, which was that it was none of his business, and that in a family with a pale green mother, a paler green daughter, and now a greyish-blue-white father, were two brown kids that odd? Add to that that two of the members of that family had fangs, and he wasn't going to say anything that might be considered inflammatory about them...

((Did you realize that Sandra Roth is, by appearances, the darkest-skinned Riverblossom native? I only did while trying to figure out who would politely neglect to notice Asher and Lillian's darker skin (since they don't know what Rose's skintone is under the symbiotic algae) and who would try to make a fuss about it. Morty clearly would keep his mouth shut, but Stella and Patricia wouldn't, and Daisy, not realizing what people would think, gave Gabe a detailed description of his new niece over the phone -- having already seen Asher, he would have told Patricia... Anyway, what does the non-diversity of Riverblossom Hills say? Combined with the wealth of the native households and the name of the town, I'm going with "gated community without the gates" which makes Asher and Lillian's storyline even more interesting...and brings on ideas of how easily the Riverblossm Capps could wear out their welcome should their poverty become too apparent and too clearly not quaint. And no, when you think about it, Stella shouldn't be digging into the parentage of kids darker than their parents, but I guess Sandra's quirky genetics aren't enough to be noticed, are they? ))

Yesterday I played two of my empty nesters. Now that Lilly has moved in with Dakota, Stephen and Vanessa are alone. They can now spend some quality time together, now that I think of it they've never really been alone together for too long except for when Lilly went to college. When they first got married they were living with Stephen's sister at their family home. Since they have extra cash to spend they decided to redecorate their house. They turned Lilly's room into an office and got a new bedroom set for their room. They re did the bathroom and started on the kitchen at the end of their session. Nothing too exciting happened, they threw a party and invited their close friends and family over. This is when I realized Stephen has technically never met Lilly's husband Dakota so I got them to chat each other up asap!

At the St. Julien household, Maxwell headed off to college. Not without getting a promotion to paralegal first! Even though he technically needs a degree for that, the office is letting him do the work (even though he just technically isn't certified) since he's been with the firm for so long. Of course before leaving home there was some drama between his (divorced) parents. I couldn't figure out how the finances for college should work out since Andrew is paying child support but I decided they would just do half and half. (Andrew might have to take out a loan considering he's about to have his second child and is buying a new home soon) Maxwell moved into the Plaza Dormitory and wants to major in Art & Design since he really wants to get into the Gaming career.

Oh and I quick recap for the Morgan family. Lilly moved in and they had a wedding at the chapel. That same day Dakota's sister Alissa went to college so Dakota and Lilly took over her room. His younger sister Kate will be going to college next time, though I'm still debating on that because they don't really have the money for that and her LTW is to get to the top of the dance career so its not necessary.

Cameron Swift may have been discrete enough to keep his many affair lovers secret while he was engaged to Chloe but once they were married and baby Liv born he threw caution to the wind and soon enough Chloe caught him making out with his long standing friend/roommate/lover, Sandy. Since Chloe had lost her job a day earlier and didn't want to stay dependent on her husband she let the matter rest for a while. She didn't want to deprive her daughter of a perfect life. However by the end of autumn she had caught her husband cheating twice more and ended it. She moved out taking no more than the $3500 she'd earned from her low paying job her daughter, the crib and Liv's bunny toy before searching for somewhere else to live. Her closest friend Exa Rivers has a full house with her brother, adoptive son/restaurant slave (aka the child they adopted to avoid paying a waiter at their restraunt) and Exa's illegitimate child with Cameron. Sleeping on the couch of her other close friend, Alecia Glass while Alecia and her family played happy families was also not very appealing. So Exa found herself with no where to go but the cheap run down housing complex provided to families with no where to go. Accommodation that wouldn't even have fit Liv's crib if Chloe hadn't gotten special permission to modify the one room 'house'.

Not a great deal happened at the Wan household, though of course Patricia had Stella Roth over to have a long gossip about the newest Greenmans. Cleo spent the day painting and playing the piano, wondering if she really wanted to marry money or earn more herself. Not that they were mutually exclusive, of course... It was pretty dull, but there's always one or two households like that in a rotation.

~

In Pleasantview, however, there was more of interest. Nina Caliente found Dina crying out in the truck, and insisted on finding out what had happened. When Dina told her what little she remembered of her experience in Strangetown after Don gave her something he said would calm her nerves, Nina didn't really see what she was so upset about...but she did see an opportunity. "Don't even think of going to the police," she said. "You don't need that kind of publicity...and neither does he. Mortimer's going to make his first payment for Katrina today, but wouldn't you like some money from Don too? Raising a kid's going to cost, and both of us know we'll need a lot of nannies to put up with her."

Dina was startled by what her sister was saying, but it did make sense... "Blackmail?" she asked. "Nina, I don't think I can...I can't talk to him, not after..."

"I can," Nina said sharply. "You're already the beauty, just let me be the brains. Just because I like playing the town slut doesn't mean I can't make things pay too."

First, though, she had to have some fun to lighten up after that dreadful conversation. Plopping Katrina in the new camouflage-print stroller in the living room, she went to call Gabe O'Mackey and invite him over again. He came gladly, bringing Jules and Heidi, and while Jules made small talk about Katrina with a still-shaky Dina, Nina asked Gabe to get in the hot tub with her. They cuddled, and he realized he really did have some needs she could help with, and they soon had WooHoo -- Nina was delighted, for though she didn't care all that much about him as a person, he was the much-desired fifth notch on her garter belt.

Dina was inviting over Ajay Loner at this point, and he brought a townie woman who is apparently very good with babies; she changed and cuddled Katrina, and actually showed her more kindness than anyone else had in her whole life. Dina wanted to tell him what Don had done to her, but she couldn't get it out, and he had his own issues that were upsetting him...agreeing that they both needed some stress relief, they went to have WooHoo in Nina's bed. Neither of them had any real desire for it, but they saw it as therapy for their stressful lives -- and Dina was thankful that the psychological effects of Don's exploitation hadn't ruined her ability to enjoy WooHoo!

Later, as Dina entertained Jules, Gabe, and Heidi by playing dramatically in the bathtub, Nina had a sharply-worded and very coded (somebody might have tapped either of their lines, as they both knew) telephone conversation with Don. She managed to get her message across, she thought, and she agreed to go to Strangetown to pick up his "gift". She went to talk about train schedules with Gabe while Dina picked up Katrina (who was smelly again!) and helped her grow into a toddler. She is quite the little Goth-spawn, even having black hair (I thought her eyebrows were blond when she was born, but it was quickly clear they weren't), Mortimer's pale skin and brown eyes, and a rather interesting little nose. She's wearing a pale blue and tan dress that looks properly shabby for a not-exactly-cared-for child, and she looks so cute now in the camo stroller...which is where her mother put her down before getting dressed and heading Downtown, not wanting to deal with the kid.

Dina went to Maple Springs Pool and Spa, played darts with a townie, ate hot dogs, bought a cell phone, and ran into her niece Cassandra. That encounter went very badly, with Cassandra asking if Dina was moonlighting as a streetwalker, Dina asking through gritted teeth why in the world she would ask that, Cassandra pointing out Dina's revealing outfit, and Dina lashing out and saying that just because Cassandra was jealous of Dina's ability to keep in shape through pregnancy didn't mean she couldn't wear what she pleased. Cassandra then lashed out at Dina for trying to break up her family, Dina told her her family was a joke, Cassandra poked Dina and told her to stop trying to steal Mortimer's money, and Dina slapped Cassandra and told her that if she thought she could put her half-sister out on the streets, she could think again. Cassandra shouted that she knew Dina was only using the kid for money...there might have been a big fight had not PT#9 Smith, who had been playing chess with a townie, decided to stop this unsavoury scene. He walked over, greeting Dina by name and saying he'd always respected her grandfather. Dina couldn't resist asking which one, he said "Pollination Technician 7, of course," Cassandra gave the two of them some serious stink eye and walked off, and PT#9 quickly got Dina to come sit on the couch in the first floor of the spa building and talk with him about her little-known alien ancestry. He told her her father was the first hybrid baby born on her planet, which made Dina feel vaguely important, and she felt even better when he told her that he see could a bit of PT#7 in her face. She showed off on the electro-dance sphere for him, and though she flashed her underwear and fell off very quickly, she got fit from it. PT#9 told her she really should wear something slightly less vulgar, and from him, it wasn't insulting, so she bought a pretty (and still sexy) suit at the shop before they went to Red’s Famous ‘50s Diner for an early breakfast. She was pretty pleased with herself, especially when she got PT#9 to pose for a set of photobooth pictures with her so that she could show off having met him to Nina. They ran into Vidcund Curious, who wasn't very interested in talking to them, but did play pool with Dina.

When she got home, Dina was willing to read a story to Katrina, which kept them both occupied enough that neither of them noticed her late husband's ghost giving them dirty looks...

This is what happened in the Greenman household last night.. Rose and John went to greet their new neighbors, Ricky Clark the lumberjack, and Sarah Lee the Hooters girl. Sarah Lee flirted with John and Rose was sooo mad! She kicked over The Clark's Trashcan. And they left.
Rose returned home with John and a broken heart. Who knew her husband was a player? John saw the green flag to do whatever he wanted, as he was upset Rose had slapped him. He invited his side chick, Daetisha Jackson to move in. They went on a dream date, WooHoo'ed in their green Suv, then Tried for Baby back home with Rose watching! Daetisha got pregnant. John couldnt have Rose Slapping up his Baby Mama, so he banished Rose to a closed off room with a lit fireplace, and a cheap recliner...
we all know what happened next.. Daetisha and John got engaged while the firemen came, and married shortly after Grim left. Daisy grew up and tended to the lemon trees, and soon enough baby Daeshawn Greenman was born. Ahh, happily ever after. lol

This is too funny.

So I'm playing the Asylum Challenge http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=335041 and my Sim, a girl named Steve (hence why she's in the crazy ward), got a job but because of a lousy chance card was docked a days pay. The fridge ran out and I ordered it full forgetting I didn't have enough funds. The jerk took my bathtub! So now I have a bunch of stinky Sims clamoring for the kitchen sink and medicine cabinet I put above it. Green smoke everywhere lol

And oh yeah, the sink is broken and I just put in a coffee maker. Let the bladder contest begin!

The Marshalls (3) household is another quiet one. The sole resident at the moment is Rowan, who is determined to make life work in his way. His LTW career requires a Master's degree and he's only completed High School? No problem! He lives in a tiny little apartment with money is parents gave him? The apartment's his! He has a crummy part-time job earning $300 a week? It's all his!

His girlfriend is Robyn Brown, a cashier clerk, but Rowan is following in the footsteps of his older sister and wants another love; current target is Veronica Stultz, a high-flying sim from Cresdale. Who cares that she has a boyfriend? Rowan's going to try and see if he can win her over anyway.

Veronica refused Rowan's advances every time he tried, and he stopped trying. Instead, he invited over his girlfriend a few times over the rotation. Nothing else of note occured -- Rowan still has a couple of rotations before he becomes an adult.

-----

Emmanual Mann is another sim aged out of the adoption system, in the apartment block acorss from Rowan Marshalls in Springvale. He has the LTW to earn $100k which may be a little tricky with no college education and career options of criminal and gamer only.

Emmanual's girlfriend is Liza Goodrich from the halfway house -- as squicky as that may sound to some, the teens in the halfway house are pretty independant from each other, more like roommates than family. Liza does have a risky pregnancy of 20% but so far they've avoided having a kid (of course, I learned a little while later that that was because Liza had her token set to disallow pregnancy).

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Speaking of the halfway house, that's the next one on the rotation. The halfway house consists of Jackson and Judith, and their two children Liza and Adam. There haven't been any children in the adoption house for a while, so the halfway house is quiet. From the way things are shaping up, Adam will be the one taking over the halfway house.

Liza did end up pregnant via risky woohoo twice, but rolled for an abortion both times. Baby-free for a little while longer, it seems.

Adam is another low motivation sim who doesn't really see the need to get an education. He'd currently got a D grade and the fear of going to school -- seems like he's going to follow Joseph Kraemer in the whole "being a self-made sim" thing. And besides, I have no education requirements for the sims that run the adoption and halfway houses, so...

-----

Off at University, April Wenger is on her last year of her Master's degree. Being high motivation, she's guaranteed a job in Education (her LTW career) within three years of getting that degree, and with the money her family has she'll be moving back as heir to a nice large house. I do love that, with her younger brothers both being in uni, they tend to drop by her house on a regular basis.

April has her life pretty much planned out -- graduated with a 3.9GPA, a house lined up, inherriting some of her parents' businesses, and with a boyfriend who she'll be marrying and bring in the next family heirs (yeah, I've been waiting a long time for April to graduate so she can marry Doyle).

Then something unexpected happened.

Because April had been going between two people (the afore-mentioned Doyle and Jared, who has the same face structure as April's mother), when I asked her to invite Doyle over seconds later she did a booty call to Jared. Naturally, they turned up together despite me cancelling the booty call, and while April and Jared were busy woohooing, Doyle was chatting to the friend he'd asked if he could bring along.

April and Jared woohooed, and because April was going steady with Doyle...he saw and was not happy. Thankfully, despite the relationship taking a hit Doyle wasn't too furious, and some explaining smoothed things over (as well as adjusting the crush & love flags between April and Jared). Thankfully April only had a 2% risky pregnancy chance; I don't know what I would have done if she'd gotten pregnant and failed her abortion/adoption rolls o_o

And after paying tuition for her master's degree, April moved back to Cresdale.

-----

So, onto Riley and Jason at university, April's younger twin brothers. I had some errors when I played this the other day, so I had to cheat to invite in a new Greek House member ahead of Riley and Jason moving out (as the game didn't like adults staying in the Greek House). Because nothing of note happened the previous time, I sped through their last year.

Riley has the LTW to get into the Law profession, which requires a Master's degree; Jason just wants to get into Music and went to university because it was expected of him. He's still waiting around for his girlfriend, Veronica Stultz, to head to university; Riley's wife is at university as well, and he and Melody Lyndhurst will be moving back to the Lyndhurst family home when they get their required degrees.

Jason ended up with a C+ in his final year, a GPA of 2.5; Riley ended up with an A+ in his final year, putting his GPA at 3.7 and guaranteeing he'll get a position in LAw 3 years after nabbing his master's degree.

Just before the end of the rotation, Jason found a job as a Record Store Clerk (Music level 1). LTW, here we come!

The Ottomas house was a complete mess, with every piece of plumbing dirty and broken, still no stove due to Sharla having a meltdown every time replacing it was mentioned, the yard thick with weeds, and Adam merrily giving Anna a few thumps on her bald head before escaping into the weed-jungle to play in puddles created by the rainstorm. The newly-arrived Escalus Prince grabbed the squalling bald toddler, put her in the high chair, and quieted her screams with a bowl of food, then called in reinforcements. With all his playable officers crowding the house, he ordered Paris to garden, Lola to clean, and Chester and Chloe to repair, threatened Tommy with the truant officer if he didn't get on the school bus with Sharla, told Peter that Tommy refusing to wear shoes was minor and he should get off to work himself...and then Escalus kissed Dora, said "Let me take you away from all this," and called a taxi.

The nanny thought Chief Prince's cleaning crew was a good joke, but she thought it was less funny when Lola gave her a scolding for fawning over Adam while ignoring his less attractive twin. The nanny said something unpleasant under her breath about aliens, which only ensured that while the others made their escape quickly, Lola stayed until late at night, chattering with Adam over his rabbit head and tickling and feeding Anna. They ran out of food, so Tommy ordered some groceries, and Sharla spent some time over cold sandwiches complaining bitterly to Lola how great it was going to be that all the girls in the family were hideously disfigured. Sharla's own -- er -- strong features were not enhanced by the scarring, and Anna was not only completely bald, she had cheekbones so high they almost hid her eyes. Lola pointed out that both scars and baldness could be hidden a lot easier than green skin and alien-black eyes, and look at Chloe, engaged to Paris Prince! Besides who was to say that the scars wouldn't fade, and that Anna wouldn't grow hair and grow into her face?

Cheered a bit, Sharla said goodnight to Lola, put the kids and her father to bed, and slipped out for the bus Downtown. She went to the Corner Shoppes, where she bought herself and the twins some clothes, bought herself a game player, and tried to ask everyone around on dates. However, they were all adults, and none were at all interested in her, not even Gilbert Delarosa, not even when she tried to make up for her face with too much perfume...until she decided to try talking to the salesgirl at the clothing store. Sharla found her beautiful, and the salesgirl at least didn't stare at ther constantly, and Sharla thought it was going well...but when she got home and tried to ask the salesgirl over on a date, she was turned down rudely. Crushed, Sharla asked Dina Caliente to come over, and managed to joke about horrible toddlers enough to make best friends with her. They're quite a pair...Sharla thought Miz Dina's new suit was so much nicer than the stuff she'd bought for herself, and wondered why she hadn't thought of getting something like that when she was shopping.

As for Tommy, he knows how to make lemonade in more ways than one -- when he got up just before dawn, he donned his wetsuit, flippers, and swim-ring to go jump in puddles in the upstairs bathroom. (Well, it was my idea, but he was very willing to do it!)

~

As for Escalus Prince and his bride-to-be, they moved into a sweet little cottage at the clifftop, just across the street from the Peteran church. It's a small lot to fit on the cliff, but has a pond and trees in back, a deck with a good view of the town (Escalus likes feeling in charge) and some apple trees in front. Escalus and Dora quickly asked their sons to come help them with wedding shopping, but Paris had some reason or other to not show...wedding-shy much? Peter came to the clothing shops with them though, and while he caused a minor scene by trying to flirt with Cleo Shikibu, Escalus was reassured by Dora's smiling fondly at her son's misbehaviour. Peter and Paris should get along just fine, he thought as he tried on his new "Just Mr Prince" clothing of jeans and tropical shirt -- at least they were blue, thanks to Dora's teasing insistence that he remain her "boy in blue". In the next changing booth, Dora was giggling as she tried on dresses. She didn't want him to see her wedding dress until the wedding, but she'd asked if he minded her wearing white; he'd said he'd feel she was cheating herself if she didn't! Oddly, he'd found getting a suit the easiest part of this shopping...

The shopping done, they headed home, stopping at the church across the street at Dora's insistence -- as she pointed out, it was Spring Day (Easter-ish for that particular family). He hadn't known what he expected to see in a Peteran church, but he hadn't expected Dora to disappear into a back room, reappear in an old-fashioned dress, and deliver the sermon. Peter, seeing his bewildered expression, informed him that both he and his mother were elders in the church, and there wasn't really anyone else to act as a pastor... Escalus just zoned out, trying to make sense of Dora's insistence that money was worth nothing as she stood on the very-well-decorated stage the lectern was on. This was the first time he'd sat still long enough to hear any sermon in a long time...

"Mom wants me to get ordained so I can do your wedding," Peter said afterwards. "Don't worry, it's not a big deal, but you know how little spare time I have, so if you don't want it, tell me now." Escalus escaped to the restroom, wondering how to handle this little wrinkle. He certainly wasn't a good Jacoban -- never had been -- but he didn't like the feeling he'd had of being drawn into an Ottomas plan so quickly. Not that he could have ever imagined that scared-looking, rat-faced priest marrying him and Dora -- he'd actually imagined a civil ceremony with Erin Beaker officiating. He'd never expected it to matter to Dora.

Back home, Escalus invited over Paris, Chloe, and Erin, and over spaghetti -- Dora was savouring having a stove! -- he tried to explain himself. This didn't go well, especially since it transpired that Dora wanted him to join their church. Give Paris an excuse to make a joke about, in his words, "having a good time in the holy hot tub," and any chance at serious conversation is out the window and over the cliff. (The church I'm using for Pleasantview is this one -- it was the most dully suburban I could find -- and yes, it does have a "holy hot tub". The description the creator gave is much better than any attempt at explanation I could make, and I can certainly see great potential for using it ironically!) Giving up for the time being, Escalus went to the phone and adopted that dog who'd been taken from the pet-hoarding Capp girl. Cleo was happy to have this nice little place with no puppies to share it with, and Escalus got her a security job.

Escalus and Dora went on a date to Bluewater Village that evening, going to Le Magnifique, where they quickly ended up arguing about her intention of converting him. However, the arrival of his burger and her omelette smoothed things over, as did her blowing kisses at him at the table, and after the meal, they were on such good terms that they made out in full view of the restaurant. The excitement was a bit too much for Dora, who had really had to use the toilet after that meal, and she wet herself in front of the late diners! She was mortified, and Escalus was unexpectedly sweet, hugging her anyway and telling her that she shouldn't be upset by what came of being older than him. They went home, her brooding about what he'd said -- she was a lot older than him. Was it fair, even at his age, for him to marry an old woman who couldn't even get to the toilet on time? The whole situation put a damper on the evening, and though they snuggled up together in their new double bed after Dora took a shower, snuggling was all they did.

I realized that my uberhood was bordering on overpopulation making it not a good place to start legacies. I extracted my favorite sims and started a new neighborhood comprised of Berry Bay island, Tarlia's clean Downtown, and Tarlia's clean Belladonna Cove as a second downtown. I like having sims live downtown because when they get invited on outings I have to wait through one less load screen. I couldn't have the Tricous in my uberhood because only the first downtown you add to a hood will have sims in it, but my new hood has the Tricous and the Downtownies, who are surprisingly attractive and a lot of whom have non-template faces. I sorted the Adults and Elders into the AL social classes using Inge's teleporter. The Downtownies are... a colorful bunch... one of my extracted sims, who has 9 nice points, just lost a fight and made an enemy. And Rainelle Neengia, well don't let those puppy-eyes fool you.

Alternate universe Tara DeBateau lives with all the other teen runaways (moved-in and madeover teen Downtownies) in Belladonna Cove's trailer park.

This girl gave like 4 different people their first kisses, gotta love Romance sims.

First kisses everywhere

Apparently my runaways eat pills for dinner? What kind of weird custom food do I have...

Oh, Rainelle

This does not look safe! This stray husky's name is Killer lololol. Hortense Delasofa (opposite personality Florence Delarosa) encourages his Running Around Crazily because she's devious.

This barista looks so frikkin cool.

The breakdancer is so pretty! She has one of AlfredAskew's facial templates and one of (I think) Lilith's towniefied skins

Alternate universe Sally Caer (Riley) lives with her single mom Olivia, who is super pretty. What a waste that she's normally dead!

Love Jennail and Kvornan

The pretty gypsy matchmaker is named Joy Fuchs hehehe

I had to save Laeticia Worthington Goth and her family, just look at her omg.

Gvaudoin rolled as lesbian with ACR. <3

Thais Goth is thoroughly unamused with her 9 nice point aunty Zina's pathetic attempt at fighting. She knows that, with her 10 active points and 1 nice point, once she's old enough she'll be kicking everyone's butts.

Its been way too long...

23.2.14
Recap:
- The sorority girls held tryouts for potential girls to enter, the lucky candidates that made it through were: Jade Trent, Deborah Duncan, Makenzie Derrickson, Sarina Buckner, Carol Ryan and Cecily Kipling.
- Heather managed to get off academic probation and finally enter her junior year; Angela also called her dad to inform him that she managed to get into her sophomore year with a solid B and wouldn’t need to think about pulling her out of university just yet.

Brit got her last trait of a ‘snob’, which really suits her well.
Griffin got his last trait of Social disaster, which his need to pick a fight with everyone and his bad reputation its not at all surprising to know he got that trait.

Griffin got the second LTW of Jack of all Trades.
Brittany got the second LTW of swimming in cash.

Griffin’s reputation had taken a hit with his short temper and his constant need to get into fights with people, in truth we all just believe that Griffin is frustrated with his life at the moment and is therefore taking it out on everyone else that is all. This would explain how he got his last trait in life. But despite that, Griffin was promoted multiple times that day he became ‘Head of Construction Company’ of the downtown branch and brought home fellow apprentice Neil Chambers (the guy that happens to live in Elle Alioto’s apartment complex). Those two hit it off and some became fast friends. When Griffin went to work again later that evening he came home with a new promotion as ‘Architect Apprentice’ and brought home Linda Barthelet, whom spent the evening talking to Brit while Griffin was looking over the broken sink.

But Griffin isn’t the only one getting promotions, Brittany also got a promotion to ‘Designer Assistant’ and got free clothes samples to take home with her that evening. Talk about perks of the job.

Jerome Alec Whitaker grew up into a toddler that evening. Jerome is a Scorpio, is grumpy like his parents. Has a distaste of money and Politics and only cares about the sci-fi and animals.
---
Ashley and BFF Josh went to the campus park to hustle and earn some money and be on the look out for any girls to hit on and seek out any potential guys to join the frat. Unfortunately, the only guy that Ash or Josh seemed interested in left before they could speak to him as he seemed the part. His name was Angelo Robbins who seemed to play a mean Bass guitar and had good fashion sense.
Ash decided that they would do what the girls did and invite over a bunch of guys to see who would be taking over the two extra rooms in the frat, but also his room when it comes time to leave at the end of winter.

It also seems that the potential girls of the sorority are making themselves known around campus, with Josh having bumped into a Sarina Buckner at the park, and Penelope Day who tried out for the sorority and is in the maybe list also stopped by the Frat and got to know the guys a bit.

The lucky guys to be invited to the exclusive party were:

Oscar McFadden – having already been asked to pledge and having slept with one of the founding members (Ashley), Oscar is almost guaranteed a spot in the Frat.

Xander Frost – one of the lucky guys to be the first to get a makeover by Queen Bee Heather at the Sorority it only seemed right that he be invited too.

Angelo Robbins – this guy catching the eye of Ash at the park meant that he of course needed to be invited. At the request of Ashley himself – but unlucky for Ash he seems straight as an arrow and won’t crumble under Ash’s charms.

Brent Morana – a tough looking hard boy. Maybe he can bring in more of that kind of crowd into the Frat house. But does seem to be a bit quite – maybe he’s the quite tough guy that girls fall for.

Caius Meier – Ashley’s other lover at campus. Although they have only hooked up a couple of times and Ash seems more interested in Oscar it does seem risky for Ash to invite some of his lovers to the same party. Maybe Ash liked playing with fire.

Hamilton Anderson – seems to be sort of out there and by chance had heard about the party. In order to try and get himself noticed he decided to attend the party, although he seems somewhat of a geek he seemed to get on fine with the likes of Kevin and other party member Cole Jones.

Cole Jones – with sharp features and blonde hair and blue eyes like most of the party members seemed to get along fine with Hamilton Anderson and other party goer Brent Morana. But he did seem to be sort of out of his comfort zone, sticking to the TV and lounge area and not adventuring into other parts of the household.

Jade Trent and Penelope Day – of course Ash also had to invite his other lover Jade as once again Caroline couldn’t make it. (Maybe she’s realizing how much of a love rat Ashley really is!) Either way Ash is going to be spoilt for choice on who is going to be warming up his bed at the party. Penelope on the other hand, spent most of the party talking to Josh and Castor and getting along very fine with them, let’s just hope that Penelope doesn’t get too close to them, as one does have a girlfriend and the other is trying to get his girl to see that he has potential to be her boyfriend.

Thomas Waters – the kid with the mowhark hair seemed to be really sweet with Kevin. But unbeknown to everyone, it seems that Thomas has the hots for Ashley’s lover Oscar and seems to have a crush on Ashley.
Of course as the party went on some hearts were broken, Ash made the ultimate no no and kissed Caius in front of Jade whom had just fallen in love with Ash.

But for Ashley it didn’t take long for him to apologize and get back in Jade’s good books again. All it took was a flutter of his long eyelashes and his deep blue eyes to get her back on his side.

The guys to potential make it into the frat:
Oscar McFadden
Thomas Waters
Angelo Robbins
Xander Frost
Brent Morana

Castor finished his junior first semester with a C+. Josh entered senior year with a C-, and Ash has officially graduated with a GPA of 2.5 in B.S. Mathematics. Well Ash was never interested in Maths anyways.

--
Both Martin and Allegra have let life get in the way of their studies, although Allegra has the excuse of being pregnant. It seems that Martin seems to be having trouble staying focus on his studies; both Martin and Allegra were put on academic probation for their first semester as juniors and need to be quick about making the grade up. Looks like it will be back to long nights at the library studying their little butts off.

While Martin and Allegra were at the student union, Martin couldn’t help but notice that Kevin Beare and Deborah Duncan were getting on famously while playing pool and joking about. If Martin didn’t already have the suspicion that Kevin may bat for the other side, he would have thought they would have made a great couple. Heather that evening came over to give a makeover to Martin, and somehow got Allegra to have a small makeover too.

Both Martin and Allegra managed to get off academic probation and get into their second semester of junior year Allegra only got a c-, but Martin managed to keep his solid B grade intact.

As it was officially Christmas day, Martin decided to invite Heather over as well as Gordon so that they could all spend their first Christmas together. It was weird for Ally not to have Jane in the house to celebrate with them, but after talking on the phone to her it seemed to satisfy her want to hear Jane’s voice again.

Martin decided it was time to get Heather to committee to him and asked her to be his girlfriend finally…which she accepted. But will Heather stay faithful to him? Or is Heather to caught up in the adventures of college life to see what’s right in front of her?

Ash Getting Busted by Jade Trent

Love Penelope Day's face - she's so like 'Ehh.. not surprised'

Martin giving Heather her Xmas Present


Martin and Allegra working hard in the library to get back on track with their studies


Martin playing the Paino at the Student Union - looks good does he?

Both the Dreamers had a day of skilling and fixing the plumbing, and have gotten onto a very nerdy sleep-pattern of waking up in the early morning, doing productive things, going to work and coming home exhausted, and going straight to bed before waking up around three in the morning again. It works for them, although it doesn't help their social life...ah well, they're nerds, with the jobs to prove it. Dirk got a logic point from a successful strategy for dealing with orcs in a game, which made him very happy indeed. Darren is starting to show his age a bit, but he didn't mind the wrinkles one bit.

~

Though none of the Goths want to let a nanny in their house, they are not really up for the task of looking after twins. Mortimer was the only one who had the sense to autonomously bathe his darling little Chandra when she got smelly -- Bella and Cassandra just complained that she stunk and walked off. Alexander tried to help out, but made the mistake of playing with Kepler rather than changing him, got puked on, and got so overwhelmed that he felt far too depressed to go to school. Sorry, no choice; he was hauled out of the bath, into his school uniform, and onto the school bus by a mother who wasn't taking excuses! With him out of the house, Mortimer had Dina Caliente come over, and gave her his first child-support payment for Katrina (a grandfather clock, which will be sold as soon as they're next played). He expressed no desire to see his youngest child, and after arguing with him a bit, she got hit by lighting in the storm that was going on, so she left in a hurry!

While Alexander was at school, Cassandra went to nurse the twins and found Kepler missing from his crib, though a diaper was on the floor (thank you, Bella...the changing table was right next to the crib, and you couldn't use it?). She went looking for him, and found him being bottle-fed by his grandmother in the kitchen. She took that as an insult to her mothering abilities rather than the attempt to help it was intended to be, and they did a bit of passive-aggressive baby juggling, each trying to pay more attention to him than the other...while Chandra, hungry, was left in her crib until a higher power got irritated at them and sent Cassandra back up to nurse her. (Seriously, I checked twice to be sure free will was on, because nobody was acting very competent on their own!)

Unfortunately, the biggest problem for the Goths is not dealing with twins, Cassandra's continued tendency to walk around in her underwear (she claims her clothes don't fit her very well any more), Katrina, or Alexander's depression (he's been wanting to be saved from death, though he's only confided his feelings to Bellona). Mortimer is growing weaker, and has also been seeing a large blue rabbit that nobody else sees. He offended Bella by refusing to go on a date with her (he was tired and uncomfortable), and then apparently laughing at her; he was actually laughing at the Social Bunny, but she couldn't see it and it looked like he was laughing at her. Cassandra and Alexander spent the sunset hour lying in the yard in their underwear and watching clouds, and after it got cold, they tickled each other, then went in to get coffee. Imagine their horror at finding Mortimer passed out on the hall floor when they walked in. Cassandra's shriek roused him, and he quickly got up, claiming he'd just tripped over the piano stool; he didn't want to tell anyone about how he'd grown dizzy and fainted, because he didn't want them to know about his heart problems. They were dubious, but they wanted the coffee, so they let him be. However, later that night, Cassandra found him standing in the nursery, laughing loudly at thin air, and while she passed it off as him just being funny for the twins, it worried her. She went downstairs to find that Bella had invited over Buzz and Buck Grunt and Baron, while Alexander had invited over a teen townie boy who brought PT#9 Smith; the townie and PT#9 arrived just after the Grunts had gone to eat the fish dinner Bella made, and Bella was frantically motioning for Alexander and Cassandra to keep PT#9 out of their sight. Cassandra dealt with that by inviting the townie to play kicky bag in the part of the living room out of sight of the dining-room table, which PT# was glad to watch, since she was still in her underwear. Alexander made sure that the Grunts didn't come in, Bella gave them a tour of the garden after dinner, and while Buck and Baron stayed until late, Buzz didn't like the gloominess of the place and soon left. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Buck, who had seen PT#9 and tried his best to keep his father away from him, went to join in the kicky bag game. Bella smiled, hoped Alexander would make some friends his own age, and went to bed.

After the guests had all left, Alexander went to eat the leftovers of the fish. Mortimer had the same idea, and got to the table first...and immediately passed out in his plate of fish. Again, he awoke quickly and said he was just tired, but as Alexander and him ate, Alexander got the feeling his father wasn't just talking to him, and that he was looking over his shoulder rather than at him, giving Alexander the feeling there was someone, or something, more interesting than him standing just behind him...which there was, at least to Mortimer, since the Social Bunny was standing behind Alexander's chair, occasionally juggling. However, someone with Alexander's dark view of the world, who had grown up in a house so haunted it sometimes felt like a gateway to the afterlife, with a family like his...he came to another conclusion altogether about what was sharing the room with them, and went to bed terrified. Buffy came in and lay at the foot of the bed, and she and Bellona watched him cry himself to sleep.

Not much is going on in my game... Inspiration is lacking, which happens sometimes. I have been playing a little bit, so here are the fruits of my labor:

A few recaps on some families that I've played recently:

Harris Family (II): I realized Calissa and Aiden lived in a house way too big for them. Its only them and their daughter Suri and they live in a huge two story house with four bedrooms. They decided to downsize and move them into a smaller home. It also gave them extra money to pay off some medical bills/loans that they have when they had fertility treatments (that unfortunately failed).

Milad Family: Ethan is retired but still has three businesses that he runs. He makes very good money for his family, about an average of $20,000 a day. His wife Cosette had a birthday and aged to the elder stage. Unfortunately she had a bad birthday because she got demoted via chance card. Their oldest son is at Sim State University so its just their two teenage boys who CONSTANTLY fight with each other. I'm not sure why they hate each other so much. They haven't had the same crush on a girl or anything, nothing in their memories that shows why'd they'd be mad at each other. I'm stumped!

Reyes Family: Gina got a promotion! Alan got his recently college graduated son, Christian, a job in the school district he works for. Although it was good money he quickly got a job in his ideal career (Business) His fiance, Rosemarie just graduated high school (yes you heard right!) and is working on her bachelors degree already through online classes at home while also working as a paramedic at night. She wants to be a scientist but I can't even remember if she has the motivation to get to that level. Either way, she's a hard worker and just because she's a teenager who's engaged already doesn't mean she's meant to fail! Daniel left for college so Rosemarie and Christian took over his room. Alan makes pretty good money but with a mortgage and three kids he can't spend recklessly so he's made an agreement to pay for half of the children's college fees. Rachel is the same age as Rosemarie (which makes the phrase, "You could be my sister" hit really close to home for Christian ) and also just finished high school. Right now she's just working full time saving up some extra money for college. Both Rachel and Daniel want to become Mayor so maybe there'll be a friendly rivalry in the future? (Right now none of my sims are Mayor so the 'spot' is open)

WARNING! WARNING! SWEEPS WEEK! VERY SPECIAL EPISODE AHEAD!
Er, that's what would be going on if this was a TV show...I guess. Er, you may understand when you realize the Pleasants and Brokes were the only Pleasantview households I hadn't played yet, and that was because I was anticipating/dreading what would happen at them.

At the Pleasant house, the usual morning schedule was going on; Mary-Sue insisted on going to work (she wanted to make money!) and so she and Daniel both went to work. Coral decided a dog would be nice, and so she adopted Brutus, late of Capp Manor. Angela was ravenous, and ate three leftover cheese sandwiches before running to throw up. As she realized she was both hungry and sick at the same time, she knew what had happened during their lovely date...oh, this was not how she'd wanted to get married! She and Dustin had been going to go to college together, and come back and have a lovely white wedding, and... So much for Angela's plans! She debated whether to call him and tell him, but decided to cook the bass she'd caught at the Riverblossom Capps' pond instead. She might as well start eating well, since she was going to gain weight no matter what! The fish went down better than the sandwiches, and sated, she went to bed for a nap.

Coral played with Brutus, tried to stay out of Kaylynn's way, and was asleep in a chair in the living room by the time Daniel got home, bringing a townie co-worker with him. The townie was male, so Daniel ignored him and instead asked his dear Erin Beaker if she could spare the time to stop by for a little date, and apparently she considered him worth the trouble, for she agreed. As she showed up, two other things happened -- first Angela woke up and got her first bump, and at almost the same time, a backyard tree was struck by lighting and caught fire. Eirn freaked out, but by the time Daniel got out there, the rain had put it out. They played catch in the rain (she's very good at catch thanks to Escalus' training!) while I checked that the preg morphs I'd got for teen clothes worked (they do wonderfully, meaning I don't have to try to find some other clothes for Angela!), and were hanging out in the still pouring rain when Mary-Sue got home. While I was half-expecting her to have the baby as soon as she got out of the car, she went to bed instead, and I let her be. On with the date, which was going pretty good -- lots of kicky bag, flirting, and dirty jokes. Angela went to eat the rest of the fish, Coral awoke to join her, and Angela, tugging her nightshirt nervously over her belly, wondered if she should tell her grandmother first. I was watching them to see if she did, but no, she didn't, and instead claimed to be tired and went to bed early...and then everything went chaotic as dusk fell.

Erin and the townie had been swimming in the pool, and both were struck by lightning. The townie left, Erin wet herself, and Daniel made a face at her stink. Two trees were struck by lightning and burst into flames, the storm picked up intensity, and Mary-Sue got out of bed screaming. Daniel heard her and rushed inside, and Angela hurried downstairs, but Coral was not leaving her fish dinner for anything. Erin complained that Daniel didn't care about her needs and left in a huff, making the date horrible -- hey, it's not all about you! Still, with the lighting and the fire, it was somewhat justified.

Daniel looked a bit too smug as he stood on the other side of the bed and watched his wife have another man's baby, and was no help at all; Angela ran into the room just as the cutscene started, and was not happy to have to assist in the birth of her (half-)brother in her current condition. She stalked off to take a bath right away, while Mary-Sue and Daniel looked at the baby -- with black eyebrows and green eyes, it looked, for the moment at least, like he was a child of theirs who hadn't gotten Daniel's hair. Damian Pleasant felt like an appropriate name for a child born amongst storm and fire, cheating by all parties and a horrible date.

Mary-Sue and the baby were seen off to the hospital just as Bella Goth called to ask Daniel if he wanted to go Downtown with her. He did not, but she showed up at the house anyway, though not on a date -- and thanks to me finding it in the Goth closets and finding it funny, she'd decided to throw on a nice green dress for spring...the adult version of Angela's dress! Daniel thought she was deliberately trying to snub his princess, and when she broke the toilet, he lectured her. She wasn't happy -- who dared to lecture her, Bella Goth? She went to play with Brutus, Coral sat down to watch TV and think about her first grandson, Daniel went to bed, and Angela, who didn't care if Bella copied her style anyway, went to get the mail. In it was a love letter from Dustin, which she kissed and put on top of her wardrobe. Tomorrow was another day, she thought. She'd tell him, they'd tell their parents together, and they'd have a quick, but still nice wedding in her family's backyard. Oh, poor Angela, how little she knew...

~

What Brandi Broke did was Consort's fault. He was frustrated and bored, tired of her slovenly ways and placid guilt-tripping. What use was this human, he thought, other than as a source of blood? Dustin could be of use as an errand-runner, and the little boys were charming and already being moulded to his desires, but their mother -- ugh. He wouldn't even use her to sate his hungers for other things than blood...well, except for violence, which was close to blood. As well as feeding off her, he slapped her for everything from walking from bed to the bathroom in her underwear to leaving a pile of chewed-up homework on the floor from where Otis had eaten Dustin's last homework. When she dared to poke him in return, he slapped her so hard that her head slammed into the doorframe of the room that had been Dustin's before Consort put his coffin there, and that was only the start of his beating of her. Dustin stood in his old room, trying to suppress his sobs as he heard his mother's body being slammed into the door repeatedly, hearing her cries for help but not daring to take on Consort. Thankfully, Beau was at school, Otis at work, and Skip Junior slept through it all in his crib. When Consort's ride to his "activities" arrived, he left Brandi to hobble to her bed. Still crying, Dustin went to tend the lemon tree planted over the body of Marisa Bendett.

Beau and Otis got home at the same time, Otis with a promotion to seeing-eye pet, and Otis very nearly got hit by Beau's school bus! Regardless, he decided to go to sleep in the middle of the street, though he did so at a crosswalk. Beau went to sleep on the bed next to Brandi, and while he tried to be quiet, his weight on the bed awoke her. Clutching her aching head, she looked at him, then at the fading sunlight. Consort would be home soon. She couldn't go through another night of this. She needed help, and she knew -- knew intimately -- someone who claimed he could help. John Burb sounded convincing, and he was her only hope. The police wouldn't believe her, and Consort would kill her boys even if they did show up. But now...maybe there was time...Dustin was in the bath...

There wouldn't have been if it wasn't for Dustin. As Brandi greeted John on the front porch, a car pulled up to the trailer, and from it stepped Consort. Seeing the two of them, he switched to bat form, flying straight at John's face. John dodged into the trailer, putting him exactly where Consort wanted him -- inside, with Consort also inside and between him and the door. Brandi panicked as she realized Consort intended to kill John as he had Marisa, and that she had unwittingly set a trap for him. She lunged at Consort, who was still a bat, and surprisingly, so did Dustin, who was just leaving the bathroom. Together, they chased him into Dustin's old room, slamming the door on him -- but inside, he returned to humanoid form, and began methodically pounding on the door, aiming to destroy it.

"You a cop?" Dustin demanded of John, who was looking as if he'd just realized he was swimming in a tank of sharks.

"I...I want to be." John said.

"He's a security guard," Brandi said. "Your buddy's going to have that door down soon..."

"Mom, why'd you have a mall cop come here?" Dustin demanded. "I thought you were calling the police when I heard you on the phone, so I...we're all going to die now, aren't we?"

"I think calling the police would be a very good idea," John said. "I don't think my gun from work will be much use against that creature, but I should be able to hold him off until they arrive." He snorted a humourless laugh. "Tell them to send Animal Control too. Open the door. I'm going in."

"No!" Brandi snapped. "Better it's me, he likes torturing me. He'll take longer to get tired of me. If you think they'll really come...I mean...a vampire..."

John agreed with her doubt, but he was thinking of what Herb Oldie had said about Chloe Curious getting her wrists gouged by a vampire. "I've got an officer's personal number," he said, wondering if Brandi was brainwashed, stupid, or just very, very scared.

Dustin was already on the phone as John slammed the door after Brandi. Chloe Curious was very willing to believe his that a vampire/human domestic violence situation was going on -- that was how John had told him to put it -- but Dustin didn't feel confident she could bring help. He also called Gordon King, begging him for help, and so summoned aid from both sides of the law. Gordon didn't know what this was about, but he wasn't going to leave his friend in a house with a rampaging vampire, Capp or not.

Gordon arrived at the same time as Chloe, her partner Chester Gieke, and Lola, who, despite being off-duty (i.e. out of uniform due to having been out on her own business just before I saved the police station) had heard the call and refused to even consider letting her twin face a vampire without her. As Chloe and Gordon eyed each other doubtfully, Dustin hurriedly explained matters on the front steps, and Consort, not realizing what was going on, enjoyed giving Brandi an even harsher beating for her disobedience, Chester dared to flirt with Lola. To his shock, she reacted well, and he felt a moment of bliss -- before he realized, to his horror, that Lola was wearing a red shirt. No time to think though; Consort had decided he wanted out of the room, and they all had to rush inside as he slammed open the door despite John's resistance.

Things were quickly looking bad for both cops and robber. Consort insulted everyone, Bleh!-ed Lola into tears, grabbed Chloe and fed from her, and generally acted unbeatable. Chester tried to keep himself between the vampire and Lola, wishing something would just get Consort away from other people for just one minute... Brandi quietly took the little boys into the bathroom. And in Dustin's old room, a ghost was standing in the pinball machine she'd died next to -- Marisa Bendett had chosen quite the time to make her move! Nobody saw Marisa's ghost float into the kitchen area, but when she jumped out at Consort, he lurched away from Chloe, not quite sure what he was backing away from. Had he had a beating heart, he felt like it would have stopped...and then there was a gunshot from behind him. He felt the searing pain in his back, lancing into his chest, and vaguely wondered if the SCPD now carried stake guns...

"What the..." Chloe asked vaguely from where she was slumped against the wall. "Chester, you shot...wait, is that working?" Consort was looking wobbly, his mouth moving without sound, and then he fell against the counter.

"Silver-coated bullet -- pure silver doesn't fire right -- blessed by the representatives of several major religions, recently washed in holy water given to me by Father Laurence, and rubbed with garlic extract just before being loaded in the gun." Chester sounded like he'd rehearsed that, but he wasn't taking his eyes, or his gun, off of the collapsing vampire.

"Where'd you get that idea?" Lola asked, looking extremely impressed. "Something seems to be working, at least." Consort was immobile on the floor, and was starting to crumble to dust.

"Something had to, I assumed," Chester replied. "Please stay back, Lola; your clothing is tempting fate, and I would very much like to go on a date with you if we survive this."

"All hail the geek," muttered John, who thought the evening was finally looking hopeful. He was going to ask Lucy to recommend some books on vampires if he survived this.

So Consort Capp crumbled to dust, with nobody who could have saved him having any inclination to do so. Skip Junior crawled out and was heartbroken, as were Otis and Beau, and Lola made a note to make sure the whole family got some serious therapy. However, all was not saved...oh, not at all.

The microwave, which had been hovering unnoticed above the counter, crashed down with a loud noise. Marisa's ghost leaped out of it at Lola, and this scare made her wet herself. As she was running out of the trailer in embarrassment, Chester tried to busy himself checking the safety of the rest of the place, and found Brandi collapsed on the bathroom floor. The massive bruising, both new and older, on her pallid face told the story, and he wasn't surprised to find her limp and pulseless. He called for an ambulance and did what he, John, and Dustin could, but it wasn't enough, and Marisa didn't even leave the death scene any dignity it could have; as everyone crowded around, she scared the already-distraught Beau, John, and Dustin. John felt he'd caused this mess, and that the house was now trying to kill them since Consort hadn't managed it. Actually, he wasn't giving credit where credit was due -- it was Marisa's revenge. Unable to face his mother's death, Dustin walked out to the hallway to try to console Beau, and walked right into another scare from the ghost; this one was too much for his already-broken heart, and he fell into the arms of Gordon King as Marisa turned to scare Chloe.

Chester watched his epic save-the-day turn into an epic disaster, but he wasn't going to give up. He tried to resuscitate Dustin, but failed as much as he had with his mother. The night had not ended well at all...and Marisa was satisfied as she watched John numbly put a wide-eyed, silent Beau to bed, then sit with him until social services showed up to collect the children and Animal Control to collect the dog.

((Whew, that was a lot of writing! And yes, things ended very badly in the Broke trailer, and not much because of my actions. Consort autonomously attacked Brandi brutally after feeding from her, and with her very low aspiration, total fury at Consort, and long-lasting want to interact with John Burb, I had her invite him over. Then Consort showed up, and since Dustin wasn't too happy with him after his behaviour toward Brandi and Gordon had called earlier asking if they were friends any more, I had him call in help. Consort did spend all the time before the cops and Gordon arrived attacking Brandi for being in the same room as him, and once I got them all greeted and in the trailer, I set him to getting everyone to dislike him, while free-willing the Brokes. Marisa did show up then, and after Consort had acted very beastly, he was unexpectedly scared to death by her! That's revenge, but doesn't really make sense for a vampire, so in-story it was Chester, who was behind him and would be over-prepared, who took him out. All the other scaring was as I wrote it, and Brandi was scared to death by Marisa before I could get her needs up during the confusion after Consort's death. Dustin's pleading didn't work, Marisa then went on a scaring spree, and her second scare on Dustin killed him. Chester wouldn't have just let Dustin die, so I made him selectable to plead, but it didn't work...and now he's got the memory of losing Dustin being his fault! Wonderful in-story!

I wouldn't feel too sorry for the boys; there's a lot of good families that will rush to adopt the poor little darlings, though Lola's right about the therapy. In fact, everyone who was in that house could use some therapy... And as for Otis, at least Bottom will be happy to have him back!))

So it's over now, right? Over tragically, but over? Consort's gone, so maybe the feud can end?

Yeah, right! I've got a bridge in SimCity to sell you if you believe that!

The final Uni household is the Lyndhurst twins at Merwin Dorms. However, they didn't stay in the dorms too long -- like Jason and Riley Wegner, Junior year means moving into a house and getting Danport's sorority set up!

The fraternity and sorority are set up with exactly the same layout, the only difference being that the sorority has hammocks where the fraternity has juice kegs.

With two sims who have all the skills needed for their junior year there's not too much call for skilling up in preparation for class. Harmony invited over a friend for initiation into the Greek House, just to make sure it would stay running after she and Melody graduated.

Melody rolled wants for a fair few parties in the Greek House, but seeing as they seemed to be a cover for meeting with her husband during their busy schedules, well...

(Oh, and Melody almost got pregnant again before I switched the ACR settings to disallow autonomous TFB while in the house. Don't mind accidentals so much, but deliberately trying for a kid when she's needing a master's degree for her LTW?)

Mainly due to her upbringing, as a low motivation sim Harmony coasted along in her college education, getting a GPA of 3.2 by the end of the rotation. By contrast, Melody -- who is high motivation and aiming to get to the top of the Law career -- had a GPA of 3.7 by the end of the rotation.

Aaron Lyndhurst has high aims for all of his children, and so far Melody is the only one who looks like she'll live up to their father's expectations. Harmony just wants a nice quiet life with a bunch of grandchildren, while Chelsey is becoming quite a difficult sim (two risky pregnancies before going to uni, really?).

-----

Back around to the top of the rotation to the main Marshalls family house. With no toddlers at the beginning of the rotation, things were a little quieter -- the Marshalls had a habit of having multiples meaning a large number of toddlers to take care of at the same time.

The Marshalls family is in Danport, the farming community and headed by Elise and Kevin currently. Neither started with job-related LTWs and so ended up being the premier family for home-grown produce and also became a veritable tribe.

Elise had a LTW of 6 Grandchildren, and after her fourth child rolled up the Impossible Want for ten children which was reasonably easily fulfilled. She currently has the IW of 20 Grandchildren, and with eight so far (and at least one more on the way) it's a want that should be easily fulfilled. Kevin's LTW was to max out all skills which, again, was an easy want to fill between skilling up and eggplant juice.

Third child and house heir is Rosaline and one of the more ambitious sims. She went to university, got a degree, and is a Pop 'n Lock Performer in her LTW career (Dance). She is having some time off while expecting her and her boyfriend Ryan's first child. Ryan himself has the LTW to earn $100k which, with Rosaline's parents' business, should be doable.

The other sims -- twins Flora (LTW TOC Entertainment) and Forest (LTW 5 Top Businesses); Violet (LTW TOC Music); twins Clover (LTW Marry off 6 Children) and Eden (LTW Marry off 6 Children); and twins and technical grandchildren to Elise and Kevin Andrew and Caitlynn -- make a house full of eleven, which makes mealtimes chaos (I have to turn free will off otherwise anyone who is not hungry starts putting leftovers away with a mod I have).

Rosaline ended up having a single girl, Cassandra, with brown hair, a similar (if not same) skintone, and her maternal grandfather's eye colour.

Rosaline also ended up with a promotion to Dance Video Star (Dance level 5) by the end of the week, and Elise threw a celebratory party with everyone (toddler and above) that could make it. A buffet was laid out and everyone left to their own devices to mingle and chat. at 25 sims and couting, the Marshalls are certainly going to make their mark in Cresdale.

Cassandra grew up to a toddler at the end of the rotation, and as if on schedule Rosaline rolled a want for another baby. Of course, Elise rolled up wants to teach Cassandra everything, and also to get a new grandchild. Cassandra is an average motivation sim, although just teetering on the edge of being low motivation with a score of -4.

And also as if planned, Rosaline got pregnant (autonomously) at the end of the rotation, leaving another baby to be born next rotation.

-----

The Storm household was pretty quiet, despite having four teens in the house. Cecilia, Evonne, and Duncan all don't have potential spouses, leaving only Stella with an active romance. Wilbur had finished up a Master's degree via correspondance and with a reasonably good mood he got promoted to Investigatory Journalist (Journalism level 8) on Saturday, and Magazine editor (level 9) on Sunday.

One minor thing I did notice -- all the children are part Fortune sims. Cecilia? Fortune/Family. Evonne, Popularity/Fortune. Stella, Knowledge/Fortune. Duncan, Fortune/Popularity.

-----

Like the Storm household, nothing to report for the Stultz household. Twins Tony and Veronica are still skilling up in preparation for university, even though there's still three more rotations to go before they get there. Being high motivation has given both strong motivation to do well, and while Tony may not make his LTW (Max 7 skills) by the time he gets to uni, he probably won't be far off.

I'm halfway through the second rotation in hood, deciding that after this rotation is over, I am going to stop rotations and play freely - it was much more fun for me that way. I am also going to be merging/separating different households, and taking the neighborhood in a completely different direction, hoping to spice things up a bit.

Anyway, as of right now, there are a lot of new babies in the hood and the promise of a lot more. There is also a new family in the hood - a redheaded man named Liander MacDougal, his mutt Wallace, the wolf DD, and Wallace and DD's two adult pups Rothbart and Rogers (named so because of my daughter watching the Swan Princess when the pups were born ) He has struck up a Romance with Elwyn Vida, but since he is a Romance sim, she will not be the only female he strikes up a relationship with.

There has also been a death in the hood which I was dreading and happened way too soon. Zion Vida - the patriarch of the Vida Clan - passed away due to the flu despite his daughter trying to save him. Over half the 'hood are his descendants or lovers so the whole town was depressed for a few days after his death. He will have a special resting place in the cemetery and will be greatly missed by all who knew him...

I've been taking advantage of the very relaxed Sims passage of time. Some months ago I opened up Rivendell, and sent in Elrond and his teenage daughter Arwen. In the course of time Arwen worked her way through college, met and married Aragorn, and had his son. Then I referred to the book, 'The Lord of the Rings', and realised that Arwen had two brothers, Elladan and Elrohir; but their mother had not been born! Well, the sims game allows for wild time lapses. So, off to Galadriel's flet I went, and persuaded her and Celeborn to conceive Celebrian. In time she grew up, worked through college, met and married Elrond. It was a grand state occasion, and every character in the story attended, exept for Saruman and Gollum. Today, at long last, Celebrian gave birth to Elrond's twin sons, Elladan and Elrohir. They will be soldiers, bent on wiping out orcs. Phew! That was an odyssey.

Now, according to the book, Celebrian was later abducted by orcs and tortured. Though she was rescued and cured, she never again found joy in Middle Earth. She took ship for the western isles - the elf version of dying. Well now, I have marauding orcs in the shape of Saruman's collection of aggressive zombies. Yes, they could get her, and eat her brains. But, but, but ... she is my own sim. I oversaw her begetting and her growth. I like her much more than I like Saruman's zombies. In fact, she's the most beautiful sim in my game. Shall I follow the book, and let Celebrian die, or wrench Tolkien's plot to my own wishes? Decisions ...

Contrary to her foster family's intentions, Jill Barrett didn't want a birthday party, but Buck Grunt figured out a way to get a lot of people to her birthday anyway. He invited over Tank, Daniel Grey -- telling him to bring the whole frat, not knowing that meant Johnny Smith! -- Ripp and Ty, and Denise Jacquet. He was quite pleased with the effect and as Buzz came downstairs from his shower, he waited to see if his father was really going to start a fight with the whole crowd. Buzz did stalk around wanting to poke people, but Denise soon distracted him with a joke, and Buzz spent most of the occasion cracking dirty jokes at the other guests' expense to her. She thought he was very funny, Tank managed to avoid having anyone comment on his sunburn or ask him how he was doing in school, Ripp and Daniel spent their time kissing by the swing, out of Buzz's sight, and Jill grew up Romance. Yeah, I decided Popularity would be too predictable, so now she's a love-bug like Ripp, only with a desire to be a general -- that stuck! -- and a place on the football team! Yes, she got got on the football team and won star player award on her last day of elementary school, and considering she's Buzz Grunt's ward, nobody's going to refuse to let her on the high school team because she's a girl! She does like pink, however, and is very proud of her flowing red hair.

After the guests left, Jill took Baron to Comandgo Emporium to buy a few more clothes and see who she liked flirting with the most. She successfully flirted with a townie woman, bought the clothes as well as a cell phone, game player, and music player, watched TV with PT#9 (who doesn't know who she is or where she lives) and ate hot dogs. Then she realized that Baron stunk and General Grunt would be angry if she took him home like that, so they went to Bluewater to go to the pet store and give him a bath and a black collar. By that point, Jill really wanted to have her first kiss, and when she got home, she tried it out on Buzz. He politely but firmly turned her down, realizing that the girl had some serious daddy issues; Buck was sitting in the recliner watching this with a sleepy smile on his face. Affronted, Jill walked over to Buck as soon as Buzz left the room, asking in a downright hostile way whether he liked kissing girls or boys. Buck had to admit that he didn't know, and Jill asked if he'd ever tired. He said he hadn't really had anyone to try it with, and she pointed out that she was right there and really wanted to know what kissing felt like...so they had a beautiful first kiss in the living room, falling in love during it. Their relationship looks kind of weird considering that she's really still a tween, but Buck is emotionally immature, she's precocious, and it's good to see him with someone -- he and Jill Smith haven't encountered each other much in this megahood, and he was starting to look like he'd spend his teen years with no romance in his life at all. It's pretty clear that Jill Barrett (I'm going to have to start calling them Jill S and Jill B!) is the dominant party in this relationship, but then, Buck is the cute pudgy guy with the big nose and the good intentions...

And nobody noticed the hippies building something out of old trailers down the road...

~

At the Smith house, Ophelia moved in, with the band's old instruments in the yard (they must be waterproof to have survived on the roof that long!) and went to work earning her keep by cleaning and cooking. Unlike Guy Wrightley, she was not considered a boarder by PT#9, and over brunch he made it clear that what he wanted from her was a grandchild. She tried to laugh it off by reminding him he was about to get another child, but with Jenny off at work (she'd insisted on going, and wore her pyjamas there!) she didn't have too much backup. He had already invited Johnny over, and Ophelia, feeling that her father-in-law deserved it if they were going to live here, suggested they break in the new double bed in the blue room for them. They tried for baby, and there was a lullaby; when they got up, they found a party going on, since Guy and Jill had decided to ignore PT#9's complaints and throw one for all his old friends. Much eating, dart-throwing, swimming, and SSX-playing was done, and in the middle of the party, Jenny got home from work, still in her pyjamas. She got out of the car, walked around to the side of the yard outside the fence, and proceeded to have the baby; cue the entire party and a few walkbys charging around the block to go hysterical. As Jenny had feared, he not only had green skin, he had alien eyes, and his eyebrows are red! With looks like that, Jasper fits his name, and he may look a lot like his sister/aunt Chloe! It started pouring just before he was born, and just after, a tree caught fire; cue everyone running back around the block to go hysterical over that, leaving him on the grass he was born on! Even Abbey made a big fuss over the fire!

PT#9, not very pleased by greeting a son who was going to need even more defending than Johnny, devoted himself to worrying that Jenny and Jasper's health would suffer from the circumstances of the birth. She didn't want to go to the hospital, but he insisted, though she refused to go to the nearer Strangetown one on the grounds that it was understaffed (she's right). It's just as well she went, because Ophelia was not well at all, and she would have felt she had to look after her rather than herself. Ophelia came close to having a miscarriage before she even realized she was pregnant, and she was so tired that night that she went to bed without even kicking Guy off of it (he was napping on the "invisible loveseat" on it). She didn't know why he was there, and she didn't care to ask; she thought he was drunk, but in fact he was just avoiding Jill's insistence on having the radio on loudly in his room so she could dance.

I'm having a lot of issues with the game and not playing as much right now T_T but as of late:

In Strangetown, Avi and soon-to-be-stepbrother Newton a.k.a "Newt" have finally hit best friend status. Pascal and Nervous are planning on marrying soon, but a surprise baby is stalling the wedding. Nervous is thrilled. Pascal's just sick.

Meanwhile, Vidcund Curious continues to study his nephew under the guise of being "that one uncle who doesn't talk much" and who Newt sometimes plays chess with. He can give off an unnerving vibe. Just. Staring at you. Poor Newt is never sure what Uncle Vid is angry at him for (surely anyone who stares like that must be secretly torturing you in their thoughts). However, Vidcund was surprised to find himself actually bonding with the boy during one particular chess game. He's interested in seeing how much the boy can learn...and maybe what his brain looks like. Still having no luck with the aliens, Vidcund's angrily abandoned his futile stargazing. His relationship with his brothers is all well and good (except for the fact that he can't stand Nervous. Vid's always furious with him and will *find* a reason to antagonize him), but the newest development for him is the sudden friendship and spark he shared with Cassandra Goth, who recently left Don Lothario after seeking solace in the arms of her best guy friend (the gossip of the town right now). A date was had, and Vidcund has found himself...dare he say it (how odd)...smitten. Not everyone is pleased with this. Upon learning who his daughter would be having dinner with, Mortimer Goth paid the Curious house a visit and slapped Vidcund around (I was so surprised! One minute, Vidcund's asking Cassie on a date. The next, Mortimer runs into the house and starts pushing him around. It was kind of hilarious). He's a little more cautious now, but otherwise undeterred.

Now Cassandra is also the finding herself the subject of VIdcund's calculating stares. After the rocky on-again off-again trysts he had with Circe ended a while back , Vidcund hasn't thought twice about pursuing romance. The thought has left him unnerved.

Or maybe it's a different feeling.

Lazlo is expanding his scientific horizons. Not with much success. He's come to the conclusion that he has a relatively boring life and is seeking to remedy that.

Cassandra Goth and Don Loathario called it quits after living together for a little while. While Don did admittedly try to straighten out, Cassandra also began to realize how incompatible they were once they shared a roof and a bed. Or maybe she knew it all along, and it was foolish hope that kept her going. On Don's end as well. For Don, Cassandra was safe. She was everything he was supposed to want. She was good, she was caring, she was there for him, something he rarely had. For Cassandra, she thought she saw everything she could have in Don, if she tried hard enough. The end result was disastrous. It happened after Cassandra came to regret her decision of taking a morning after pill. Something Don encouraged (out of fear), but ultimately left up to her. Things got rocky. After a house warming party was held, Cassandra found solace in the arms of Darren Dreamer, and was caught by Don, who flipped. After an explosive fight, the two parted ways on bad terms, and Cassandra is living with her dad, and Vidcund Curious is catching her eye.


Don Lothario found comfort in the arms of longtime flame and best friend Nina Caliente. A night of passion gave way to an unexpected development, and Nina found herself pregnant. Still slightly unsure of where they stand romantically, but very comfortable and sure around each other otherwise, the two moved in together, and recently welcomed daughter Pia into the world.

For Don, Nina gave up a couple lovers, one of whom remains a best friend (had to edit that relationship out of love/crush zone in simPE), the very cute townie elf bartender I made into a playable sim named Hagan Jinks, and the new town ladies man giving Don a run for his money, Caspian (Cass) Nova (ha), who took the break up rather hard and is still kicking over her trashcan in retaliation. Needless to say, Don and Cass have already struck up a heated rivalry.

Dina Goth gave birth to twin daughters Sophia and Lydia. Mortimer is proud. Now that she's got her body back, Dina's looking at Malcolm Landgraab (and his estate) while Mortimer's changing diapies.

Alexander has found new confidence, and a new girlfriend, in the lovely Greer Gable (Marvelann's Pauline).

The Curious guys had a quiet day, since Sirius was busy with his first day of school and Lazlo was despondent over having apparently been abandoned by Cassandra after she got what she wanted from him. Vidcund made friends with Moody, and Sirius had a good day at school. Not much of interest there, however...

~

At the Beaker house, by contrast, too much was happening! Circe taught Demeter to talk in one sitting, while Jim was licked by Allegra the white wolf after falling asleep on one of the cat beds on the front terrace. Circe was feeling sick, so after Loki hurried off for work, she left the Subjects to cover the windows and archways in newspaper while she retreated to one of the two coffins installed in the pit. Nervous got told he could sleep upstairs with Pascal, since his old bed and most of the stuff in the pit was discarded or moved upstairs to make room for the large, bulky, dramatic coffins -- most of my vampires prefer the Coffin Crew coffin to the Maxis one, but the Beakers aren't settling for modest.

The newspapers are a good patch-up, but the house really needs a redesign if the Beakers are to be safely out of their coffins in daytime. Loki got home, found his little girl left in her high chair with a dirty diaper, went upstairs to change her and put her to bed, and then went to berate Nervous for neglecting her...but because Nervous was in the Subjects' room putting Jim to bed, Loki decided to get there along the balcony. Everyone's used that as an extra corridor before, but he couldn't take the sunlight after having had to dash back to the house from his car, and he was in flames as he staggered into the room. Nervous panicked, Grimalkin woke up from his nap on the floor and began howling, and Circe, who had just woken up from her coffin-nap, heard the noise, surmised something was wrong, and rushed upstairs. Loki was nearly dust by the time she got there, but the sniffling, bewildered Nervous was a nice big transfusion bag to her eyes. She lunged for him, ripping open his pyjama top, her fangs making a gouge across his arm from which she directed the pulsing blood into her husband's crumbling mouth. As Loki arose, he too turned on his terrified lab rat, hungrily feeding from Nervous until he nearly drained him. Though only some of the blood was needed to restore him, he fed until Pascal walked in and rushed to his beloved's rescue -- something the Beakers found funny. Loki chased Pascal out, Circe tended to Nervous's wounds and put him to bed, and Pascal, once he was finally able to sneak back into the room, decided that this was a situation they had to end quickly, before it killed them. However, Circe was behind him, feeling hungry, and he was soon unconscious, lacking a large amount of blood, and dumped on the bed beside Nervous.
((Yes, Loki did turn to dust, but Circe was able to plead for him and I had him go for Nervous right after he came back, so I'm saying she used his blood to save him. I really do need to enclose that front balcony!))

Loki went to train Grimalkin, while Circe fixed a broken toilet. Then the toddlers needed feeding, and they decided to give their meals a break for the evening, but they were unwilling to give up much of their time to deal with Jim's propensity for eating dog food and sitting in piles of trash, so they called a nanny for the evening -- she was rather useless, but she cleaned a lot at least.

~

Remember those hippies I mentioned doing something with trailers? Those trailers are the Trailer Commune, a slightly modified version of Phaenoh's Redneck Mansion, and the "hippies" are the rest of Ophelia's cohort from leaving college, who have decided a commune is a good alternative to the boredom of conventional society (and they're dressed the part). Roxie Sharpe and Jonah Powers got the bottom-level red trailer with the double bed, which they used for WooHoo as soon as they arrived. Jared Starchild got the pale blue trailer with blue decor and put a planter of tomatoes on his landing, Brittany Upsnott moved into the dark blue one, Jasmine Rai loved the leopard-print and gold of the other pale blue one, and Tiffany Sampson wanted no more or less than the tiny orange one -- she intended to spend most of her time in the communal areas anyway. And there's still plenty of room left!

Jared adopted Benny, late of the Capp Manor, and like Cleo, the pup seems to do better in this environment. Jared then invited over Ripp and Ty, who showed up at the same time as Alabama the wolf and a determinedly-smiling Angela Pleasant, who was jogging by, her belly hanging out of her green tracksuit. They were all invited to check the place out, and then the welcome wagon showed up, consisting of all the best people in the area: Patrizio Monty and Bella and Cassandra Goth! They were greeted and invited to join in the communal brunch being prepared, and so was Hermia Capp, who was reading the newspaper. Hermia and Patrizio avoided fighting, since Hermia was obsessed with getting to play with Benny again, and while Cassandra was clearly wondering if she dared eat the food in this place, Bella thought it was such a clever idea to pile up trailers like that. Bella, despite her unfortunate choice of spring dress, managed to win over Angela, and told her that if there were any difficulties with her family, the Goths were always willing to help.

Roxie got a matchmaker date with Remington London, who was actually a very good match for her once he got an ACR token. They just had a fun little date, playing kicky bag and chatting with Bella and Hermia in the Love Tub Jared brought from school, but after the date, she invited him to come talk with her on the bed in her trailer. Despite a line that was forming to use the shower in that trailer (they don't all have showers, so there's a little bit of smelliness and negotiation involved -- but what would you expect?), she was able to get him to make out with her, and despite neither of them really being that interested in WooHoo, she convinced him to give her her "magic sleep-well spell", as she called it. Jonah was in the shower while this was going on, with the door between the bathroom and bedroom stuck open, and he got out during their WooHoo, waited politely for them to finish, then walked through the bedroom on his way to the TV, making a "good for you!" gesture at the underwear-clad Remington as he got out of bed. Roxie and Jonah are so made for each other, and for this place! Later that night, after the guests left and Jonah finally went to bed, I caught them cuddling sweetly...awww!

~

At the Old Specter Place, Lilith was feeling bad about not being able to go to college. She was convinced Angela was already there...ha ha ha. To distract herself, she went to work examining the witchy stuff in the house, and found herself drawn to the spell book and the old wand she found. Then she started making potions with the cauldron, and after drinking one, she felt a bit more creative. She invited over Sam Thomas, who brought Tiffany Sampson, and they were in favour of her learning about this stuff, so she thanked Sam by testing out a spell that was supposed to give creativity on her. It worked, and Sam thanked her profusely, again saying she'd be great in the sorority. Again Lilith pointed out that that wasn't an option, and that she'd be happy just being a witch, as it seemed she was becoming. (And indeed she is blessed with the same talent as Olive and Ophelia, and much more receptive of it than the latter. Defiance and disgust at her family were not the only reasons she was drawn to darkness and mystery. Actually, since this is a Harry Potter-inspired mod-set I'm using, I suppose the question is whether Lilith is a Muggle-born witch or Mary-Sue a Squib adopted by Muggles -- Daniel is so clearly boringly normal that he couldn't carry the magic.)

~

So that leaves Strangetown Medical Center, where the day featured Don Goth giving Nina Caliente her sister's pay-off in the form of a very expensive ($20,000!) police car sculpture that came with my police station lot but which I replaced with actual FreshPrince cars as soon as I put the lot Downtown. The thing was just sitting there, so why not use it for such an ironic use as a pay-off? The money wasn't acquired through any cheating either; no20khandout actually worked in Don's favour when he left the Goth house, since he brought a nice chunk of cash with him. I'm not sure Mortimer will be too happy when he finds out what some of it was used for -- the twins are double-dipping from what is ultimately Goth money, and while the pay-off was this copious because it's only supposed to be a one-off, unlike child support for Katrina, I suspect more will end up being paid. At any rate, Katrina can get a few toys out of this...and so can her mom and aunt.

Jason juggled a bunch of cold and flu cases that needed treating, Mortimer Goth yet again insisting on seeing him when Don was at work at the other hospital, and Goneril Capp being sent for a assessment of whether there was anything physically wrong with her. She managed to wander into the room where Antonio Monty was waiting to have his cold treated, start a screaming match with him, and then run outside to beg at the empty sidewalk. She is almost certain to get an, erm, personality adjustment when the asylum is next played!

Oh, and Don managed to set the kitchen stove on fire making pop-tarts (yes, actual Pop-Tarts I downloaded, not toaster pastries, though they are cloned from them) early in the morning, necessitating a visit from the fire department and making him think he was cursed to cause minor fires one way or another -- Cassandra's rice pudding, the lights-left-on Christmas tree, and now this!

After working for two days trying to get a mod edited to my liking and using poor Micah Zeeman as a test subject, I finally decided to allow him his rotation and move on with or without the mod. Micah had a Good Date with pregnant fiancee Lydia Vida, but otherwise had a rather boring rotation.

Next up was his pregnant sister Amelia, her husband Phillip Vida, and two children. Amelia is my only 'fat' sim, always retaining her larger build no matter how much I try to get her into shape she falls right back into being overweight. I have come to the conclusion that having so many kids right on top of each other in a house far from big enough for her family has made her become a stress eater, causing her to have so much trouble losing weight. Perhaps when the kids are older she will be able to get control of her eating habits and get back into shape.

Anyway, I only played a couple hours of their rotation, just until daughter Elizabeth was born. She has her grandfather's (Zion Vida) eyes and blonde hair from both of her grandmothers, even though her father has black hair and her mother has brown. This is the second family I have ever had to have sibling born with three different hair colors. The oldest has brown hair, the middle child has black, and Elizabeth has blonde! However, Grandpa Vida's eyes are apparent in all three children as well as in most of Zion's descendants.

I just started playing the new "Old Town" neighbohood, which recreates the full neighborhood from the original game, including binned families like the Roomies, and special downloadable families like the Hatfields! God I've missed my wretchedly poor rednecks.

I only had a few minutes to play tonight, but it began with the Newbies, of course. It wouldn't be proper to play The Sims 1 without starting with the Newbies, at least for me. Bob took a job as a baker and was promoted twice in one day; his and Betty' visitors included Bella Goth, who Bob has bolts for. I appreciated that because in my original game, I tended to pair Bob and Bella together; in fact, the first time I loaded Hot Date, it was Bob and Bella who went on a date together. I think Mortimer and Bob wound up switching spouses.

Over at the Goths, Mortimer decided to take a commission in the Army .Eventually he'll go into science, but all Goth men must do their bit for king and country. It's so nice to have the Goths altogether. I've had Sims 2 versions of the Newbie, Goth, and other TS1 houses for years, but they're not the same without the families, and this is a double dose of familarity. Not only do the houses closely resemble their TS1 counterparts, but the genes for the Sims have been taken from The Sims 2, so this is the Cassie and the Mortimer I know and love from TS2.

There being no affordable real estate in town, I put down some apartment buildings that blended in with the New Orleans theme of Old Town (in an appropriate spot) and moved him in. He's a lot whiter than I expected, as are Claire Charming and the Valentinos. They were all Medium skin tone in the original name, now they're light. Ah, well, I'll get used to it. Michael took the first job open, which was a student assistant in City Planning. Melissa and Chris Roomies live right next door. Chris wants to be an all-star sports player, but she'll have to settle for being a librarian. Everyone is starting out desperately poor, especially the Pleasants, who moved into the one house in the town open to someone with only 20,0000. It has two rooms besides the bathroom, so I hope Jeff and Diane (...two 'merican kids growin' up in the heartland?) get promoted quickly. DIane found a job as an EMT, which is wonderful because I always made her a doctor. Also interesting: the first visitors they had included the Burbs. Of course little Jennifer will have to meet the Burbs' son Johnny..

I have no idea where I am going to take everyone, and I haven't even played Ms. Charming or the Valentinos. There are some families I'll leave alone, like the Agents in the White House reproduction Maxis made (pretty on the outside, godawful on the inside if memory serves; I've not seen this one yet) or the MAXIMUS families. I'm looking forward to the Hicks and Hatfields, though.

I spent the evening listening to The Sims 1 music, just to make it more special. :D

bEAKER hOUSEHOLD

So after fingeling some stuff with my Sim Blender, Loki now wants to be a mad scientist and Circe wants to be a criminal mastermind. Good stuff.

So one day Circe walked up to Loki and randomly broke up with him for no reason whatsoever. I have a mod found here that allows me to do that and no one moves out. So she did and actually rubbed her hands together and laughed before she did, the little b-tch.

After that Loki attacked her and his daughter simply couldn't take it and ran upstairs. Arman, seeing this was the perfect time to "comfort" her, did just that. He found her in the bathroom, washing off the mascara and began to "comfort" her.

"Now that our parents aren't married anymore, we aren't step siblings! We can totally be together! It's like someone PLANNED this!"

And apparently Loki and Circe totally agree with this. I had the kids make out RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM and they both NODDED.in approval. These ain't scientists, they hillbillies!

They went to college and Glass needed plastic surgery to change her fugly so-much-like-Loki face.

So after blazing through college cheatcheatcheatcheat the kids came home engaged to be married. Circe decided she wanted Loki after all and cheatcheatcheat fell back in love with him. They got engaged.

Glass threw a lovely wedding party and wouldn't ya know, invited mostly fam members. Some Curious bros, and her finace's daddy, Vidcund.

Enter a double wedding and it was really quite lovely. Double cake for everyone and no last name changes (banjo music)

The party was scored as Great and right before that memory it says Had a Family Reunion. HELL YEAH YOU DID!

So both couples went off to...couple and a little song played for one of them...oh no, not the newlyweds...no...

They gonna have a sibling that is related to both of them very soon...

DUELING BANJOS

I have pics to prove

Got back to my uberhood, and saw that the Dreamers hadn't been played yet. So loaded them up, shipped Darleen's tombstone off in Mortimer Goth's inventory, and of course Dirk wanted to make money, so snagged a job for Daniel Pleasant's team. Darren used that bit of cash they had to pay all the bills, and Dirk wanted to talk to someone, Darren wanted to talk to someone, they got in a quick gossip and Dirk ran off to school, and Darren gave me a whole want panel of jobs. Okay, guess that's what he wants. There wasn't much available in Pleasantview--most of the jobs listed were located at the military bases, and Darren's not interested in moving. Nothing to do with Cassandra Goth, of course: it wouldn't be good for Dirk to move right now. He found a job working in the lab, though, and that was one he wanted.
So he rolled up a skill point want and a be friends with Sandy Bruty want, and ran off to work, and came back with a panel of earn-money type wants--counterfeit, entertain freestyle for tips, work in a cafeteria, all stuff he'd be lousy at. Instead he got to get a skill point off the tv, which of course rerolled to normal knowledge sim skilling wants, and gave Sandy a ring.
Dirk got home, hadn't quite made the $100 he wanted, but got Lilith over for a date, so that was all good. He didn't get his dad to help with homework until three am, but hey, he was platinum from the date.
The next day both guys got promotions, and right as Darren was getting out of the car pool Ivy Copur (the adult) walked by. She matches one of Darren's turn-ons--black hair, so he said hi, and they played chess for a bit so he could get a logic point for his next promotion, Lil walked by all on her own accord, so Darren said hi to her, and she hung around waiting for Dirk to get home. Ivy picked on her, but Darren was upstairs studying cleaning and didn't see it. Lil told Ivy a joke, and got the 5000+ aspiration points that come for having a good reputation, and then Ivy started picking on her again. What the heck, Ivy? I've never seen a sim pull the irritate argue without being commanded to. I'm sitting there thinking that if they throw down, Lil's got a bunch of body points and has a lot of practice fighting (and winning) and Ivy's going to loose, but Dirk got in and played red hands with Lil and Ivy went to surf the web.
Lil brought by a big TV as thanks for the date the first day, which immediately replaced the tv in their living room. On the third day, Dirk's grades fell to a B, he got a restorable car, and got promoted to level three of the athletic career. He needs to pick up some skill points fast, though, or his grades will keep going down. Since he wants to go to college, by my rules I can order him to skill and do homework so his grades don't fall too low. Darren wants to be friends with Ivy now and with Betty Goldstein, and best friends with Sandy. His secondary is family. He's not rolling any Cassandra-wants, but I don't know if that's because he hasn't seen her or because he figures he doesn't have a chance, but all those platonic be friends with various unattached or semi-unattached women (Betty's kind of taken but wouldn't tell a middle aged man she just met that she has a boyfriend who's in college) wants tell me he's lonely but concerned about bringing in a step-mother for Dirk. Ivy walks by constantly when the guys are out, as does Lilith, so I think she might be hoping to pick up the cute widower. He's got two bolts with the whole lot of them, including Brandi Broke whom he made it clear to that he wasn't wanting to date her.
Dirk and Lilith both think the other is heart-thoughts worthy, but the bolts aren't there, and the age difference means Lil will leave for college a while before Dirk, while Dirk doesn't roll wants for her unless they're actually on a date, so at this point I'm thinking it's one of those teen romances that won't last. But one never knows with sims! They've both rolled first woohoo wants with each other, but they haven't/most likely won't act on them, at least not for a while: for one, they don't last past the end of the date, ever, and for another, they have an adult involved in their lives (Darren) who is actively encouraging them to wait.