Spring has come to Riverview! This is what the snowmen in front of the house looked like as the first day of spring dawned:
By the time the paper boy came, they were already turning into shapeless heaps:
And when Gary was leaving for work in the early afternoon, almost all the snow was gone:
Without distractions from Tilly and Don Lothario, the three spend a few quiet days working.
As soon as the earth is warmed enough for the garden to stop being dormant, Miranda plants some uncommon and rare seeds she gathered earlier. I'm curious to see what they will grow into!
Gary gets another promotion at work:
Miranda revives last year's garden:
And Stevie achieves an "Excellent" reputation at the consignment shop, so the sales she is making are now very good.
Spring has made Riverview warm and green again.
Miranda runs into Tilly at the Spring Festival, and Tilly asks her to help with the "wedmin."
"Wedmin?"
"Wedding admin! You know, invitations, seating arrangements, that sort of thing!"
It is difficult to say "No" to an enthusiastic Tilly, so Miranda agrees she and Stevie will meet Tilly and (oh, no!) Don at the spa. They will do the wedmin together, and then get massages or manicures.
But first, some free hours spent playing tag with Gary on their lawn!
Time for the dreaded wedmin meeting. Stevie and Miranda have arrived at the spa early to discuss tactics.
"You want to leave me alone with Don? That's the last thing I want, Stevie!"
"You know that Tilly will only realise what a villain Don is if she sees it with her own eyes! You will only be alone with him for five minutes, I promise!"
The happy couple arrives, and Tilly wants to go over the guest list immediately.
But Stevie has a better idea. "You know, Tilly, a tan would look wonderful with your wedding dress! Why don't you and I go to the tanning booth, and Don and Miranda can start working on the guest list!"
It sounds like a good idea, so Tilly and Stevie leave...
... and Miranda feels very much like a lamb waiting for the butcher.
"So, may I see the guest list, Don?"
"Why don't we go and sit in the hot tub? It would be so nice and cozy to discuss the guest list there!"
"No, Don. We're staying on the couch."
"Then let me just move a little closer to you!"
("Oh, great," Miranda is thinking.)
Don tries to casually throw an arm around Miranda's shoulder, but Miranda is having none of it.
Meanwhile, Tilly is coming out of the tanning booth, happy and glowing.
Don pretends to yawn and stretch, and once again his arm is heading for Miranda's personal space.
"STOOOOOP IIIT!"
Tilly is back from the tanning booth, and she has seen enough.
"Don! First the air hostess on the flight to Isla Paradiso! Then the lady who works at the nectary! Then that little blonde pianist from Bridgeport! And now Queen Kong!"
Don is trying his best sad puppy-eyed look.
"Trust me, Tilly! It was nothing serious!"
I had to laugh at that look that Miranda had on her face in the screenshot where you're talking about Stevie earning an excellent reputation at the consignment shop. Wonder what it was for?
Wedmin? Seriously?! That is exactly what Miranda wants to do. **rolls eyes** Poor gal. Never living down the Queen Kong moniker and having to deal with Tilly & Don at the spa no less. Miranda will certainly have earned a reward for this!
Oh! I never thought Tilly would see the light and catch on to Don's naughty nature. Good for her, but did she really put up with and excuse all of his shenanigans from before? What makes the air hostess - lady @ the nectary - and the pianist okay to suffer through and then suddenly draw a firm line when he came onto Miranda? I'll go with because Miranda is a friend and ignore the possibility that it was yet one more dig at good, ol' Miranda.
I guess you can't possibly tell which character is my favorite? LOL
Thanks, AD Wilson! Miranda's face in the screenshot with the consignment shop was a reaction to something on TV - they are all watching TV together. I just wanted to have a shot of all three of them with the message, and when she made that face I thought "Lol, that's perfect" and quickly pressed the pause button.
Tilly's reaction to Don is actually paraphrasing something her TV show counterpart said to her cheating fiance Rupert in a similar situation, so I can't be completely sure what she meant, but "because Miranda is a friend" is my preferred interpretation too!
The truth is out in the open now, which is a relief - although Tilly probably doesn't see it that way. She will need friendship and support, but first there are some everyday chores to attend to.
Stevie has gained a few levels in handiness, so she's now able to upgrade the nectar-making machine.
After Miranda compliments Gary's cooking, they have A Moment in the kitchen:
While Gary is at work, Miranda and Stevie visit the island with Simhenge to collect and sell gems, flowers and seeds.
The household gets a tea set, as a cheap and easy way to refill energy and fun. Gary is having some tea before bed after a long day at work.
Since spring started, the garden has been dormant more days than it's been usable, which annoyed me because some of the plants were from mystery seeds and I couldn't wait to see what they are! But a spring gnome appeared in the garden, which is nice.
Finally, the spring thaws the garden soil and the crops wake up, some of them ready for harvest.
That was the good news. The bad news: my household forgot to pay the bills (to be truthful, I was the one who forgot it) and the repo man is on his way!
He comes in, surveys the room...
... the sofa catches his eye...
... and it's goodbye, sofa!
To add insult to injury, while leaving he complains that Miranda is smelly. You would smell too if you'd been working in the garden all morning, repo man!
The repo man's visit gives all three negative moodlets. Gary is the one who has it the worst: he recently completed a culinary skill opportunity which made him a one-star celebrity, and now he's going to be a disgraced celebrity for three days - having your furniture repossessed is, apparently, disgraceful!
The first of this year's crops are ready to harvest. The Spring Gnome seems to love the smell of garlic.
While Stevie and Miranda harvest...
... Gary takes a bubble bath with a rubber ducky until tranquil. This gets his mood a little better, but not yet high enough to start gaining happiness points.
It is Love Day, and the three are meeting Tilly for a girls' karaoke night at the Catania Café. (Gary is not a girl, of course, but he's allowed to come along!)
Miranda and Tilly have chosen to sing a Spice Girls song together.
♪"If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends..."♫
♫"...Make it last forever, friendship never ends!"♪
Ironically, Tilly's ex-fiance did try to get with her friends, but not exactly in the sense intended in the song.
Their singing is not the best, but Gary and Stevie are a very good audience.
Afterwards Gary comes up to Miranda, a little nervously.
"There's a Love-O-Meter downstairs. Shall we try it? Just for fun."
"Of course! Just for fun."
Miranda can't help taking it seriously, and it appears Gary is taking it the same way.
Disaster strikes! The reading they get is terrible.
Miranda's reading is "Frozen Loins":
And so is Gary's:
While Gary stares at the machine, Miranda finds Stevie and tells her what happened.
"Frozen loins! How rude! Look how disappointed Gary looks!"
"Oh, Miranda, don't be silly! The Love-O-Meter is just a toy. It means nothing."
"You said it yourself: Gary is disappointed! That tells you all you need to know."
Miranda can see her point, and goes to sleep feeling much easier.
Overnight, this year's first crop of grapes ripens. The best fruit will be saved for seed, the rest used for nectar.
While Miranda is harvesting the next day, a paparazzo walks through the garden as if he had every right to be here. Another downside of Gary's celebrity status!
With some of the household's earnings, the cellar has been enlarged. They now own two nectar makers and an additional nectar shelf. The next items on their wishlist: a tractor and a greenhouse!
Two of the mystery seeds in Miranda's garden have grown into a deathflower and a lifefruit. I'm pretty excited - this is the first time I've grown these plants in any game!
To get the household closer to their goal of buying a tractor, Stevie takes some of their most valuable nectar bottles to the consignment store.
The sale is successful...
... so during the night, the household gets a tractor and a dirt road. From this point on, all new crops will be planted around the dirt road.
Before going to sleep, Miranda and Stevie try out their new tractor. It's fun!
Over the next few days, the garden around the dirt road gradually gets bigger and bigger. Watering it is so quick and easy!
With the help of these breakfast pancakes, Gary achieves his lifetime wish! While making them, he gains level 8 in cooking and learns the last recipe he needed for the Culinary Librarian LTW. (I was surprised when it happened- I thought he would have to learn them all!)
That evening he also gets promoted at work: now he finally wears a chef's hat and not a woolen cap!
Miranda tries out some new nectar recipes. One, with cocoa and grapes, turns out okay. The other, with one life fruit and two kinds of grapes, turns out terrible, so I'm sorry I wasted the life fruit.
The garden around the tractor path keeps getting larger.
The Al Fresco Street Market helps Stevie find some fruit not available at the grocery store, like cherries and Cherimola Blan grapes, to add to the garden.
The first harvest using the tractor. (It looks more like crop-dusting than harvesting!)
Gary gets a phone call that surprises him. His one-star-celebrity-chef status has reached Shang Simla. He gets an invitation to go there and trade knowledge with other chefs in the Shang Simla Cooking Academy. He might be away from Riverview for months!
He isn't sure how to respond.
Miranda is worried. "Stevie, what shall I do? I got so used to Gary being around every day. I can't imagine being without him for months! What if he decides never to come back?"
"I think you should tell him how you feel. What if he doesn't really want to go? Maybe he's waiting for you to say something!"
"You're right. It won't be easy, but I should tell him."
Before talking to Gary, Miranda gathers courage by visualising the conversation.
She would say: "Gary, I need to tell you something."
"I will miss you terribly if you accept the offer for Shang Simla. I love you."
And Gary would say: "Oh, Miranda, that's what I was hoping to hear! I won't go. I never really wanted to."
But the actual conversation doesn't turn out that way.
"Gary, about your offer in Shang Simla... I know how much cooking means to you."
"It does! It would be so exciting to trade recipes with chefs from around the world."
"Than that's what you should do! I'm going to miss you, but I wish you good luck."
So Gary packs his bags and leaves for the faraway, beautiful Shang Simla.
The academy is full of sims hoping to raise their cooking skill. It's crowded, often messy, but fun!
Gary tries out some new equipment...
... and trades recipes with locals who share his Natural Cook skill. The farm in Riverview seems so distant now - almost like a past life.
Two updates have happened since last peeking in here... nice! Speaking of happened... a lot seems to be happening in the story!
Nice to see Tilly recovering from dropping Don. She's actually being nice to Miranda, which is good to see but might be a temporary thing (time will tell!), and their karaoke song was a good choice.
Oh! Gary and Miranda had A Moment!!! There appears to be snippets of a couple of them. Can't wait to see further developments between the two of them. Tea for two could work in her favor since it appears that Gary really likes his tea
Shame about the repo man and it affecting Gary's celebrity status. I didn't know it could do that.
How awesome is that... getting a death flower AND a life fruit from the mystery seeds. Ooh... and a tractor. That will make things easier all around. Two nectar making machines is a brilliant idea, too!
Love how you're trying all different combinations of harvestables in your nectar making. I'll admit that I've only stuck to the tried and true variations, but branching out like this could be fun.
The opportunity for the Shang Simla Cooking Academy was very well written. Your building for it is pretty amazing! In fact I all the buildings you've created to add flavor to this story! By any chance will they be making their way onto the exchange? Inquiring minds want to know!
Hopefully Gary doesn't want to stay in Shang Simla and recalls a certain young lady who is waiting to welcome him home!
Thank you very much for all the compliments, @ADWilson ! I can upload the Cooking Academy to the exchange the next time I open my game. As for the Riverview buildings, before I started playing out this story I uploaded a save file with all the changes I made to Riverview to mediafire - see this post: http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/14849820#Comment_14849820
The look of the lots I built is very dependent on store content and cc, though, and I know store content won't upload with the save file. I'm not sure about the cc! But the mediafire link is still working, so please, fell free to download the file if you think you'll be able to use something from it.
Thank you very much for all the compliments, @ADWilson ! I can upload the Cooking Academy to the exchange the next time I open my game. As for the Riverview buildings, before I started playing out this story I uploaded a save file with all the changes I made to Riverview to mediafire - see this post: http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/14849820#Comment_14849820
The look of the lots I built is very dependent on store content and cc, though, and I know store content won't upload with the save file. I'm not sure about the cc! But the mediafire link is still working, so please, fell free to download the file if you think you'll be able to use something from it.
Thank you for the very helpful link! MUCH appreciated
No need to rush uploading the Cooking Academy on my account, whenever you have a spare moment and think of it will be just fine.
After the cooking classes in Shang Simla have finished, Gary spends some time travelling around. He collects special seeds to bring them home to Miranda...
... takes care not to venture anywhere dragons might live ...
... learns the fishing skill...
... and visits the local market to bring some fruit home.
He starts chatting with the relic merchant, a cute girl called Biyu Shen. He likes her enough to visit her shop again ...
... but this doesn't go unnoticed!
The other customer in the shop is a paparazzo, and she thinks a shot of the celebrity chef from Riverview visiting the local market might be interesting to her readers.
But the paparazzo is in for a treat: Biyu is very interested in Gary.
"Are you single?" she asks him.
Gary hesitates for a moment. He feels there is a sort of silent understanding between him and Miranda, but neither of them has ever said anything.
He has no idea that the paparazzo is waiting for his answer as eagerly as Biyu.
"Yes, I'm single!"
"Shall we see each other sometime, then? While you're still here?" she asks.
"Yes, I'd love that!"
Neither of them notices that the lady pretending to browse the relics is scribbling in her little notebook...
There is a fortune cookie-making machine at the market, so Gary tries making one.
The cookie is delicious, but the message inside it says:
FOOLISH IS THE MAN WHO GIVES AWAY WHAT HE LOVES
TO GAIN WHAT HE DOESN'T NEED.
This makes him a little uneasy, so he decides to finish his trip a little earlier than he planned, without seeing Biyu again.
He returns to the farmhouse in Riverview, which is thriving in the warmth of late summer.
He pays no attention to the newspaper lying on the ground. The idea that there could be something about him in it couldn't be further from his mind.
Miranda is delighted to see him.
"Gary! I was afraid you would like it there so much you'd never return!"
Gary immediately takes back his old job at the Bistro; when he comes back from work, he tells the girls about the recipes he learned and the fruit and seeds he brought home for them. It looks like life in the old farmhouse is back to normal.
But Miranda wakes up early the next morning and decides to read yesterday's newspaper with her morning coffee.
"Housing prices go up, the Nectary is this night's hotspot... Hey, that's a picture of Gary!"
"Trading recipes from around the world was not enough for dashing celebrity chef Gary Preston - it seems his heart is set on international romance as well! Our reporter heard him confirm to young relic merchant Biyu Shen that he is single and ready to sweep her off her feet in a whirlwind of romance, travel and fine dining!"
Miranda is on the verge of tears, but she knows she can't blame Gary. It's not like she ever said anything.
"Okay, here's what I have to do: accept that Gary is just a friend, and concentrate on working. We need to make enough money to build a greenhouse before the cold weather starts."
A good idea, but choice of work turns out to be unfortunate. She accepts a handiness skill opportunity to fix Vadim Simovitch's stereo: a bad idea, because she has only one skill point in this skill and she's feeling quite upset.
It seems to go well... until the moment the stereo explodes in smoke and flames.
The fire engine is on its way.
By the time the firefighter arrives, the fire is quite large, Miranda and Stevie are panicking around it, and Gary - who has the coward trait - is lying unconscious on the floor.
It isn't easy, but the firefighter takes care of it.
"You are safe now, madam," he says. He hesitates a little, then asks:
"Is it just me, or is there a spark between us?"
Miranda can feel it too, and she thinks it would be a good idea to spend some time with someone who is not like Gary. And a man who puts out fires instead of passing out in fear is definitely nothing like Gary!
"It's not just you. Maybe we could have dinner sometime!"
Oh my! The relationship road just got a bit rockier because of a misunderstanding caused by miscommunication.
What will Gary think and do once he reads the newspaper?
What will happen when he sees Miranda with the firefighter?
Will things get sorted out between them or will there be a chill in the air not brought upon by the weather?
Will the fortune cookie's meaning become crystal clear?
I haven't commented since the last few updates, but I'm seriously loving this!!! I can't wait for the inevitable confrontation between Miranda and Gary
This story is so cute. I've actually been trying to force myself to use skills that I don't usually use, and my current generation has a small garden in the bedroom - I never realized, for example, that a "nice" plant could yield "very nice" produce, which could then be replanted to make a "very nice" plant that could grow "great" produce, and so on... I'm eventually planning on building a nectar cellar and playing around with nectar-making, but for now I'm really enjoying reading about your nectar-making adventures.
For anyone who may want it, I uploaded the Shang Simla Cooking Academy to the exchange. From the outside it's, basically, just a square white building with a pagoda roof; the ground floor interior was the important part to me because I knew I would take screenshots there. One half is the cooking area, the other half a general hangout area.
The cooking poster in Simlish by the door is the one piece of cc I used here - it's from the newspaper kiosk set at ATS.
The upper room is just a dormitory with comfy beds. (In my game no one but my active Sim slept there, although townies very enthusiastically used the cooking objects, bookshelves and computers.)
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By the time the paper boy came, they were already turning into shapeless heaps:
And when Gary was leaving for work in the early afternoon, almost all the snow was gone:
Without distractions from Tilly and Don Lothario, the three spend a few quiet days working.
As soon as the earth is warmed enough for the garden to stop being dormant, Miranda plants some uncommon and rare seeds she gathered earlier. I'm curious to see what they will grow into!
Gary gets another promotion at work:
Miranda revives last year's garden:
And Stevie achieves an "Excellent" reputation at the consignment shop, so the sales she is making are now very good.
Spring has made Riverview warm and green again.
Miranda runs into Tilly at the Spring Festival, and Tilly asks her to help with the "wedmin."
"Wedmin?"
"Wedding admin! You know, invitations, seating arrangements, that sort of thing!"
It is difficult to say "No" to an enthusiastic Tilly, so Miranda agrees she and Stevie will meet Tilly and (oh, no!) Don at the spa. They will do the wedmin together, and then get massages or manicures.
But first, some free hours spent playing tag with Gary on their lawn!
Time for the dreaded wedmin meeting. Stevie and Miranda have arrived at the spa early to discuss tactics.
"You want to leave me alone with Don? That's the last thing I want, Stevie!"
"You know that Tilly will only realise what a villain Don is if she sees it with her own eyes! You will only be alone with him for five minutes, I promise!"
The happy couple arrives, and Tilly wants to go over the guest list immediately.
But Stevie has a better idea. "You know, Tilly, a tan would look wonderful with your wedding dress! Why don't you and I go to the tanning booth, and Don and Miranda can start working on the guest list!"
It sounds like a good idea, so Tilly and Stevie leave...
... and Miranda feels very much like a lamb waiting for the butcher.
"So, may I see the guest list, Don?"
"Why don't we go and sit in the hot tub? It would be so nice and cozy to discuss the guest list there!"
"No, Don. We're staying on the couch."
"Then let me just move a little closer to you!"
("Oh, great," Miranda is thinking.)
Don tries to casually throw an arm around Miranda's shoulder, but Miranda is having none of it.
Meanwhile, Tilly is coming out of the tanning booth, happy and glowing.
Don pretends to yawn and stretch, and once again his arm is heading for Miranda's personal space.
"STOOOOOP IIIT!"
Tilly is back from the tanning booth, and she has seen enough.
"Don! First the air hostess on the flight to Isla Paradiso! Then the lady who works at the nectary! Then that little blonde pianist from Bridgeport! And now Queen Kong!"
Don is trying his best sad puppy-eyed look.
"Trust me, Tilly! It was nothing serious!"
"No, Don. It's over."
Another good read!
I had to laugh at that look that Miranda had on her face in the screenshot where you're talking about Stevie earning an excellent reputation at the consignment shop. Wonder what it was for?
Wedmin? Seriously?! That is exactly what Miranda wants to do. **rolls eyes** Poor gal. Never living down the Queen Kong moniker and having to deal with Tilly & Don at the spa no less. Miranda will certainly have earned a reward for this!
Oh! I never thought Tilly would see the light and catch on to Don's naughty nature. Good for her, but did she really put up with and excuse all of his shenanigans from before? What makes the air hostess - lady @ the nectary - and the pianist okay to suffer through and then suddenly draw a firm line when he came onto Miranda? I'll go with because Miranda is a friend and ignore the possibility that it was yet one more dig at good, ol' Miranda.
I guess you can't possibly tell which character is my favorite? LOL
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Tilly's reaction to Don is actually paraphrasing something her TV show counterpart said to her cheating fiance Rupert in a similar situation, so I can't be completely sure what she meant, but "because Miranda is a friend" is my preferred interpretation too!
Don is so cute.
Stevie has gained a few levels in handiness, so she's now able to upgrade the nectar-making machine.
After Miranda compliments Gary's cooking, they have A Moment in the kitchen:
While Gary is at work, Miranda and Stevie visit the island with Simhenge to collect and sell gems, flowers and seeds.
The household gets a tea set, as a cheap and easy way to refill energy and fun. Gary is having some tea before bed after a long day at work.
Since spring started, the garden has been dormant more days than it's been usable, which annoyed me because some of the plants were from mystery seeds and I couldn't wait to see what they are! But a spring gnome appeared in the garden, which is nice.
Finally, the spring thaws the garden soil and the crops wake up, some of them ready for harvest.
That was the good news. The bad news: my household forgot to pay the bills (to be truthful, I was the one who forgot it) and the repo man is on his way!
He comes in, surveys the room...
... the sofa catches his eye...
... and it's goodbye, sofa!
To add insult to injury, while leaving he complains that Miranda is smelly. You would smell too if you'd been working in the garden all morning, repo man!
The repo man's visit gives all three negative moodlets. Gary is the one who has it the worst: he recently completed a culinary skill opportunity which made him a one-star celebrity, and now he's going to be a disgraced celebrity for three days - having your furniture repossessed is, apparently, disgraceful!
The first of this year's crops are ready to harvest. The Spring Gnome seems to love the smell of garlic.
While Stevie and Miranda harvest...
... Gary takes a bubble bath with a rubber ducky until tranquil. This gets his mood a little better, but not yet high enough to start gaining happiness points.
It is Love Day, and the three are meeting Tilly for a girls' karaoke night at the Catania Café. (Gary is not a girl, of course, but he's allowed to come along!)
Miranda and Tilly have chosen to sing a Spice Girls song together.
♪"If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends..."♫
♫"...Make it last forever, friendship never ends!"♪
Ironically, Tilly's ex-fiance did try to get with her friends, but not exactly in the sense intended in the song.
Their singing is not the best, but Gary and Stevie are a very good audience.
Afterwards Gary comes up to Miranda, a little nervously.
"There's a Love-O-Meter downstairs. Shall we try it? Just for fun."
"Of course! Just for fun."
Miranda can't help taking it seriously, and it appears Gary is taking it the same way.
Disaster strikes! The reading they get is terrible.
Miranda's reading is "Frozen Loins":
And so is Gary's:
While Gary stares at the machine, Miranda finds Stevie and tells her what happened.
"Frozen loins! How rude! Look how disappointed Gary looks!"
"Oh, Miranda, don't be silly! The Love-O-Meter is just a toy. It means nothing."
"You said it yourself: Gary is disappointed! That tells you all you need to know."
Miranda can see her point, and goes to sleep feeling much easier.
Overnight, this year's first crop of grapes ripens. The best fruit will be saved for seed, the rest used for nectar.
While Miranda is harvesting the next day, a paparazzo walks through the garden as if he had every right to be here. Another downside of Gary's celebrity status!
With some of the household's earnings, the cellar has been enlarged. They now own two nectar makers and an additional nectar shelf. The next items on their wishlist: a tractor and a greenhouse!
To get the household closer to their goal of buying a tractor, Stevie takes some of their most valuable nectar bottles to the consignment store.
The sale is successful...
... so during the night, the household gets a tractor and a dirt road. From this point on, all new crops will be planted around the dirt road.
Before going to sleep, Miranda and Stevie try out their new tractor. It's fun!
Over the next few days, the garden around the dirt road gradually gets bigger and bigger. Watering it is so quick and easy!
With the help of these breakfast pancakes, Gary achieves his lifetime wish! While making them, he gains level 8 in cooking and learns the last recipe he needed for the Culinary Librarian LTW. (I was surprised when it happened- I thought he would have to learn them all!)
That evening he also gets promoted at work: now he finally wears a chef's hat and not a woolen cap!
Miranda tries out some new nectar recipes. One, with cocoa and grapes, turns out okay. The other, with one life fruit and two kinds of grapes, turns out terrible, so I'm sorry I wasted the life fruit.
The garden around the tractor path keeps getting larger.
The Al Fresco Street Market helps Stevie find some fruit not available at the grocery store, like cherries and Cherimola Blan grapes, to add to the garden.
The first harvest using the tractor. (It looks more like crop-dusting than harvesting!)
Gary gets a phone call that surprises him. His one-star-celebrity-chef status has reached Shang Simla. He gets an invitation to go there and trade knowledge with other chefs in the Shang Simla Cooking Academy. He might be away from Riverview for months!
He isn't sure how to respond.
Miranda is worried. "Stevie, what shall I do? I got so used to Gary being around every day. I can't imagine being without him for months! What if he decides never to come back?"
"I think you should tell him how you feel. What if he doesn't really want to go? Maybe he's waiting for you to say something!"
"You're right. It won't be easy, but I should tell him."
Before talking to Gary, Miranda gathers courage by visualising the conversation.
She would say: "Gary, I need to tell you something."
"I will miss you terribly if you accept the offer for Shang Simla. I love you."
And Gary would say: "Oh, Miranda, that's what I was hoping to hear! I won't go. I never really wanted to."
But the actual conversation doesn't turn out that way.
"Gary, about your offer in Shang Simla... I know how much cooking means to you."
"It does! It would be so exciting to trade recipes with chefs from around the world."
"Than that's what you should do! I'm going to miss you, but I wish you good luck."
So Gary packs his bags and leaves for the faraway, beautiful Shang Simla.
The academy is full of sims hoping to raise their cooking skill. It's crowded, often messy, but fun!
Gary tries out some new equipment...
... and trades recipes with locals who share his Natural Cook skill. The farm in Riverview seems so distant now - almost like a past life.
Nice to see Tilly recovering from dropping Don. She's actually being nice to Miranda, which is good to see but might be a temporary thing (time will tell!), and their karaoke song was a good choice.
Oh! Gary and Miranda had A Moment!!! There appears to be snippets of a couple of them. Can't wait to see further developments between the two of them. Tea for two could work in her favor since it appears that Gary really likes his tea
Shame about the repo man and it affecting Gary's celebrity status. I didn't know it could do that.
How awesome is that... getting a death flower AND a life fruit from the mystery seeds. Ooh... and a tractor. That will make things easier all around. Two nectar making machines is a brilliant idea, too!
Love how you're trying all different combinations of harvestables in your nectar making. I'll admit that I've only stuck to the tried and true variations, but branching out like this could be fun.
The opportunity for the Shang Simla Cooking Academy was very well written. Your building for it is pretty amazing! In fact I
Hopefully Gary doesn't want to stay in Shang Simla and recalls a certain young lady who is waiting to welcome him home!
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http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/14849820#Comment_14849820
The look of the lots I built is very dependent on store content and cc, though, and I know store content won't upload with the save file. I'm not sure about the cc! But the mediafire link is still working, so please, fell free to download the file if you think you'll be able to use something from it.
Thank you for the very helpful link! MUCH appreciated
No need to rush uploading the Cooking Academy on my account, whenever you have a spare moment and think of it will be just fine.
Sims 3 Blog: Have I Got A Story For You!
Sims 4 Blog: Addy Plays Sims 4
... takes care not to venture anywhere dragons might live ...
... learns the fishing skill...
... and visits the local market to bring some fruit home.
He starts chatting with the relic merchant, a cute girl called Biyu Shen. He likes her enough to visit her shop again ...
... but this doesn't go unnoticed!
The other customer in the shop is a paparazzo, and she thinks a shot of the celebrity chef from Riverview visiting the local market might be interesting to her readers.
But the paparazzo is in for a treat: Biyu is very interested in Gary.
"Are you single?" she asks him.
Gary hesitates for a moment. He feels there is a sort of silent understanding between him and Miranda, but neither of them has ever said anything.
He has no idea that the paparazzo is waiting for his answer as eagerly as Biyu.
"Yes, I'm single!"
"Shall we see each other sometime, then? While you're still here?" she asks.
"Yes, I'd love that!"
Neither of them notices that the lady pretending to browse the relics is scribbling in her little notebook...
There is a fortune cookie-making machine at the market, so Gary tries making one.
The cookie is delicious, but the message inside it says:
TO GAIN WHAT HE DOESN'T NEED.
This makes him a little uneasy, so he decides to finish his trip a little earlier than he planned, without seeing Biyu again.
He returns to the farmhouse in Riverview, which is thriving in the warmth of late summer.
He pays no attention to the newspaper lying on the ground. The idea that there could be something about him in it couldn't be further from his mind.
Miranda is delighted to see him.
"Gary! I was afraid you would like it there so much you'd never return!"
Gary immediately takes back his old job at the Bistro; when he comes back from work, he tells the girls about the recipes he learned and the fruit and seeds he brought home for them. It looks like life in the old farmhouse is back to normal.
But Miranda wakes up early the next morning and decides to read yesterday's newspaper with her morning coffee.
"Housing prices go up, the Nectary is this night's hotspot... Hey, that's a picture of Gary!"
"Trading recipes from around the world was not enough for dashing celebrity chef Gary Preston - it seems his heart is set on international romance as well! Our reporter heard him confirm to young relic merchant Biyu Shen that he is single and ready to sweep her off her feet in a whirlwind of romance, travel and fine dining!"
Miranda is on the verge of tears, but she knows she can't blame Gary. It's not like she ever said anything.
"Okay, here's what I have to do: accept that Gary is just a friend, and concentrate on working. We need to make enough money to build a greenhouse before the cold weather starts."
A good idea, but choice of work turns out to be unfortunate. She accepts a handiness skill opportunity to fix Vadim Simovitch's stereo: a bad idea, because she has only one skill point in this skill and she's feeling quite upset.
It seems to go well... until the moment the stereo explodes in smoke and flames.
The fire engine is on its way.
By the time the firefighter arrives, the fire is quite large, Miranda and Stevie are panicking around it, and Gary - who has the coward trait - is lying unconscious on the floor.
It isn't easy, but the firefighter takes care of it.
"You are safe now, madam," he says. He hesitates a little, then asks:
"Is it just me, or is there a spark between us?"
Miranda can feel it too, and she thinks it would be a good idea to spend some time with someone who is not like Gary. And a man who puts out fires instead of passing out in fear is definitely nothing like Gary!
"It's not just you. Maybe we could have dinner sometime!"
What will Gary think and do once he reads the newspaper?
What will happen when he sees Miranda with the firefighter?
Will things get sorted out between them or will there be a chill in the air not brought upon by the weather?
Will the fortune cookie's meaning become crystal clear?
Another fun chapter that has me wanting more!!!
Sims 3 Blog: Have I Got A Story For You!
Sims 4 Blog: Addy Plays Sims 4
I'm also curious to see what will happen between Miranda and Gary!
@PrincessLala14 , I still have some skills I have never even tried, like mixology, sculpting and inventing. So many possible future games to play!
The cooking poster in Simlish by the door is the one piece of cc I used here - it's from the newspaper kiosk set at ATS.
The upper room is just a dormitory with comfy beds. (In my game no one but my active Sim slept there, although townies very enthusiastically used the cooking objects, bookshelves and computers.)