I let the aging be on for everyone, but the long life span (YA and adult is about 97 days long each) . I may make it to aging off for all, if looks like that Melody will age up too soon And then put aging back on to all when it is time for Melody to age up.
This way the others, friends and their kids age about the same time as Melody and Malcolm, and I do not have to worry to age everyone (their friends and kids of their friends) manually
My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
@miss_eulenauge I just manually age up anyone in my world when it makes sense. Like Emmett has three younger siblings - his sister was a child when this challenge started, and his mom was pregnant with twins. Over the course of this challenge, the twins have been born, made one brief appearance as toddlers, and now "off screen" I have aged them up to children and his sister is now a teen. Ruby has aged pretty slowly - she was a baby for around 3 weeks real time I want to say, and she's been a toddler for over a month now, but I like to age slowly for my story purposes. I also play with 28 day seasons and custom pregnancies that are quite long, so personally, I take things slowly. I think you should just age them as it makes sense for your story! I know that some people even have aging turned on for the rest of their world, minus the played household, so they're letting the game do all that work for them in the background.
I have aging on in the world so those outside the played households will age up. I didn't think about setting it to long, so I am going to change that when I get home tonight. Inside the main household, when anyone is born I use the calendar to create a birthday holiday for whichever birthdays they are going to have at home. So Mia's brother Eli was born on Sunday, will become a toddler the following Sunday, and then a Child two Sundays after that. Which will be 3 days before Mia moves out on June 1st. And by using the Holiday setting I won't forget what I decided when he was born. Currently Emily and Jake are marked as played households so they aren't aging yet, but once I change the setting to long for unplayed households, I will marked them unplayed and let MCCC have them for the time stream.
I think the lifeguard job suits Jackson pretty well. I plan on keeping it in Month 2's World. I've been thinking ahead where to send Jackson next. I like your idea of Duane being Makoa's nephew. It definitely works. Small spoiler alert, I did Duane's backstory the way I did to build up an even stronger bond between him and Jackson.
I think the lifeguard job fits Jackson right now. I'm already trying to figure out what to do for Month 2 as he'll have to move to another World. I think I have a plan set up so he can still be in the lifeguard career and it making sense.
I cracked up at your image of Malcolm going to class in his pajama bottoms.
Kava party is my final step for the first Milestone, yeah. I've collected majority of the Sims in this challenge and will use them as party guests for the kava party. I think it'll be fun.
I found some fun lifeguard clothing custom content. But you probably already saw that now in a couple chapters. I looked at some YouTube videos on the Island Living monsoons. You are correct that it will not benefit Jackson to be living his lifestyle in his current state during one. I'm glad you brought it up, so thanks. I jotted down some ideas what to do and create a story behind it.
My Sim doesn't have kids yet, but I'm hoping he'll start a family when he gets to the young adult stage. From there, I'll age up all relationship Sims to match. In fact, I'll probably even start that early and age up the teens to young adults when I age Jackson up to young adult.
@miss_eulenauge The kids that have a relationship with my kids will be aged up around the same time as my kid they're friends with, to keep the story continuity.
My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
Yup, they do look almost like twins! BTW, how did Bryon order the key card on the computer? I don't see that option for Josh and he's Level 6 now. Do they need the dossier first perhaps? Love how you're handling the mystery and explaining all the steps in such a way it makes sense for your story. Great job! Still love Erwin, he's one of the coolest premades in my opinion.
And I see Bryon now has the spore filter, good job Bryon! You'll have Naoki and the twins back in no time. Maybe... o.O
Interesting twist you have going with Max being an alien and the explanation why. Can't wait to find out how this all comes together.
SimRay sure comes in handy eh? Glad they were able to get away safely to the bunker and with the dog, of course. Ugh, those vines. Not looking forward to that part of the mystery. Freaked me out the first time it happened. Had to stifle a scream! HAHA!
I've played after the mystery was resolved a little with my first Hero. It's fun! Especially since he's paranoid and gone a bit bonkers from feeling he's not appreciated for defeating Mother. How dare they send rotten food and dead fish!? Last time I played with him, he was contemplating reviving her. o.O
I didn't let Beast die on purpose, I just forgot about him. Too focused on making Josh a Spellcaster and learning spells. Haven't figured out how to get the key card as military yet. I thought there would be somewhere to get it on the computer, but it's not there.
Ah, okay, that makes sense. Josh and Essa are just truly, deep, madly in love with each other, as the song goes. I didn't get rid of Beast on purpose, he just died from neglect, again. I just forgot about him. Opps! o.O
I like that Sarah and Greg seem to be growing up together, figuring out this thing called 'family' and stepping up to support each other. Especially Greg, letting Sarah sleep in, feeding the toddlers, fixing stuff around the house, etc. I hope their lives keep going in this manner, it makes me smile.
Uh oh, another nooboo on the way. Hope they don't have another set of twins. o.O
Hmm, so the Preacher is working with Mother to infect people. Interesting explanation, I like it! But what's his motive? Perhaps he really doesn't have one though, just under Mother's control. I guess we shall see soon! Doesn't surprise me Roxanne would want to peek in the bag. She's very curious about everything. Can't wait to find out who is the Preacher!
Only a few days until the end of term! Love how Sakura and Wolfgang continue to support each other and think about each other when they are not together. Yeah Jeb, take a number, or better yet, there's no number to get, so look elsewhere Dude! Doesn't surprise me Wolfgang is a chick magnet now, just look at him!
Oh man, sooo many misunderstandings going on in this chapter. I feel bad for both of them and hope they get things worked out before they move in together. Nice of Mila to ask Wolfgang to invite Sakura to Harvestfest. I know she has hopes that Sakura will be part of her family because she likes her, but she's just generally a sweet and caring Mom. Love Wolfgang's plans to tell Sakura how he feels. I hope he follows through with them.
Oh my, those autonomous kiss pictures are gorgeous! Go Malcom! Congrats on finishing the ROM aspirations! Yay!\o/ Great pics of the duels too! Tsk, so not fair Malcom's debate teammate was the judge. Sheesh, way to go game! HAHA! So funny Bjorn bought Morty's painting and was thinking about trash. Maybe he just bought it so he could trash it and never have to see it hanging in someone else's house?
Congratulations to Melody on graduating from Uni! She looks so pretty in her cap and gown. Funny about Judith Ward's dog and Malcom having the same haircut! Did you give her that dog? Fun seeing them together again in Mt. Komorebi fishing again. Oh dear, look out Malcom, Melody looks extremely angry in the bowling alley. o.O GORGEOUS pic of Melody snowboarding, Wow! You know what? Melody still looks kind of pretty to me even Strangified. Am I weird? Yeah, I'm weird. HAHA!
Yeah Damon stopped by with one of the "you've been such a good neighbor I got you this gift" scenarios, so I just went with it. I have a feeling Josh would've beat the stuffin's out of Damon if he had come in the house, or quickly dismissed himself to go do something while he was there so he wasn't tempted to do it. I have plans for Josh's hair to start growing a bit, don't worry. I miss it too!
Okay.. so I apologize. There's a lot of story in this post. A TON happened in one day. And I'm not really guiding the story, I'm just reacting to things that actually happen in game play... and the words just FLOWED today. Once I started writing, there was no stopping me until I ended up with a whole chapter instead of a daily journal post. LOL. Enjoy!
Morning comes, as it always does… and Phoenix is up first. He goes to find something in the fridge, only to find some empty leftovers plates and .. nothing else. Luckily, he finds cereal in the cupboard.. and decides maybe water will work? (Also: the fridge is broken. Again. Poor Marnie.)
Soon, everyone else starts filtering out of the bedroom, with everyone finding the food situation pretty much the same. Phoenix finishes his “breakfast”, and tries to help out Marnie by mopping (however, with a broken fridge.. I’m afraid it’s really just good intentions.)
After everyone has left the building, the twins wake up, hungry, and end up eating some microwaved frozen veggies for breakfast while Marnie tries to get the kitchen back under control. Bennie puts the bed back up and heads downstairs to open the store again, to Marnie’s bemusement. His attempt at having a work ethic has not been missed by her, and she wonders why. (Although he has yet to go back to his entertainment job.. or even call in.)
After school, the kids come home to find the fridge fully stocked with leftovers again – a thing they mostly take for granted (to Marnie’s dismay). Everyone heads off to do their own thing, and Jaz is just taking her cold BLT out to the chess table when she notices Colin, the boy from Phoenix’s club hanging around the store and very obviously watching her.
He wanders over to say “Hey”… and even seems to smile, to Jaz’s complete surprise.
“Um. Hi.” Jaz looks around, and there are no other kids around. “What’cha doin’?”
“Mom sent me to check out the sale, my little sister has a birthday coming up. I heard about your fight with Billie. I just wanted to say I’m sorry. Not everyone hates you, you know.” Colin replied.
Flabbergasted, Jaz just looked at him with her jaw dropped, speechless.
“Hey, I had fun playing chess with you at the park. You wanna try another game? I see you guys have an outdoor table over there…?” he tried again, awkwardly, starting to feel like he’d made a mistake by trying to be friendly to the school outcast.
“Uhh.. Sure, Colin. But won’t your friends pick on you for playing with me?” Jaz asked, looking around like she was afraid they’d get caught, and un-ceremonially stuffing the rest of her BLT in her mouth.
“I don’t really care what they think.” Colin replied. “It’s just a club. Plus, Elsa runs the show in the club, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard her spreading nasty rumours. About you or anyone else. She’s nice, actually. You might like her.”
Mostly speechless again… Jaz awkwardly mumbled an “Oh. Okay.” and nodded towards the chess board. “Let me rinse off my plate and I’ll be right out, alright?”
Colin’s face broke into a smile, and headed out to set up the board for play. Jaz, completely at a loss for words, put away her after school snack dish and went out to play chess with Colin, still unsure whether this was just a cruel joke or not. They played happily for a while, until the sun started going down, and they both noticed the “Open” sign on the store go out.
“I better go help close” Jaz mumbled.. and Colin nodded, then said goodbye and headed home, waving jauntily as he walked away.
Back inside the store, With a morose face, Benji was cleaning up the store at the end of day, after having spent the rest of his afternoon helping with the twins and cleaning the apartment.
Bennie had already headed back upstairs, having no interest in cleaning the store… and completely ignoring Benji’s obvious efforts to “get out of the dog house” as it were.
But apparently, Marnie HAD noticed, and caught Benji at the apartment door. “I just want to say, I appreciate your help. You friend, Cade called and invited you to the Bluffs. I’m over-riding your father on this and letting you off your grounding early. Go – have a good time – but no drinking, okay?”
Benji wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, and immediately headed to Windenburg. He didn’t even bother taking a shower first. It didn’t occur to him to wonder why it was Cade who had invited him out.
“So, friend. I heard you’re lusting after MY girl, huh?” Cade started with, and Benji looked at him in shock.
“Where’d you hear that?” he answered, a bit confused, trying to remember exactly who all he’d told.
“EVERYONE knows, Benji. I thought we were FRIENDS. Friends don’t try to break up their friends’ relationships!” Cade said, clearly already worked up.
Benji growled, having pretty much had enough of this.
“Have I ever tried you break you two up? NO. I think she’s pretty, but that much is obvious. You’re the one attacking me, here, buddy. I tried to get to know her a little bit better, true, but I wasn’t trying to get in your way. I ain’t like THAT.” Benji said.
“Oh, really?? What was that business at the club the other day? I saw you off with Shaylee all alone in the bowling alley!” Cade yelled back.
“Seriously. Did you not hear what I JUST said?? I was trying to get to know her better. NOT break you two up! She’s a club member, too!” Benji retorted.
That, was apparently all Cade needed to hear. He roared and rushed Benji, fists already at the ready. For a brief moment, Benji thought about the fact that it was just the two of them, all by themselves out in the wilderness, basically…. then he shrugged mentally and went all-in.
He wasn’t a stranger to fighting, obviously, and Cade clearly was. It didn’t take long for Benji to get the upper hand, and from there it was all downhill for poor Cade.
Cade held his hands up, and literally cried “Uncle! Alright, you. I give! Sorry. You win. But she’s still MINE!”
“We’ll see how long that lasts, Cade.” Benji said, barely out of breath, and without a scratch on him. Cade had not been so lucky, and was going to be sporting a couple of black eyes to school the next day. (Provided he didn’t chicken out of going, that is….) “FRIENDS don’t attack friends. You’re out. Shaylee deserves so much better than you. Find another club to hang with. That is, if you can, once the school finds out about this….”
Cade held his spinning head. “Wait.. I didn’t mean it like that. I was just defending Shay’s honor!”
“No, I don’t think that’s what that was. You’re not changing my mind, Cade. Good bye. And good riddance.” Benji sneered, and walked away, dusting off already dirty hands. He headed home, his head spinning. How had Cade found out, anyway? The only person other than himself that he’d told was Jay. But Jay wouldn’t rat him out…. would he?? … Someone had some explaining to do.
Benji barely noticed his little brother playing with a soccer ball he’d clearly swiped from the park last weekend… and headed straight for the shower. (A much-needed shower, no less.)
By the time he was done, the water was cold, and everyone except for Marnie was in bed. He didn’t bother saying anything to her, just went straight to bed, still reeling. He’d been best friends with Jay since preschool. He never would have guessed Jay would betray him… but clearly Jay had changed. There was no other explanation.
Marnie finally finished fixing everything that needed it at the moment, and stuffed yet another block of cheese into a trap for the mouse hole. Would those little pests ever go away?! Sighing in frustration, she stumbled off to bed, barely avoiding passing out on the floor before she got there.
You'll get into a groove with how you want to post daily and what's easiest for you. I tend to revert to a simpler commentary style a lot, just since I feel like I can post more quickly that way. I also don't like to type up way too much text if I can help and let my screenshots speak for themselves when I can, but there's some days when I just have a lot to say, haha, or I'm really in the mood to write like I'm writing a novel or something haha.
Haha, I love how Sarah is doing her digital art while potting training the kid, definitely multitasking at it's finest! And another baby! I'm not surprised, but I'm overwhelmed for their sake How are Greg and Sarah gonna have the energy for another kid, lol? I guess if you age up the twins soon, they'll be a bit easier and less demanding though. I wonder when you'll decide that your challenge sim is born too, I'm excited for that
Hahaha, I hope Frank isn't cheating on Bendy. He doesn't seem like the type. I love that Essa is still trying to set the plants on fire. Wish it actually could help, that would be cool. I'm assuming that she's plants she destroyed on the plateau will re-spawn eventually...and Josh does look nice in his new uniform! So official! Cute romantic shots of the two of them with him in that uniform too And hello there Damon! Nice of you to tie his random gift giving in with a late housewarming gift, haha. And a lawn sprinkler is actually a fitting gift for the climate there! I love it when the game is accidentally spot on with stuff like that. Yeah, it was probably good that Damon and Josh didn't end up interacting. Even though Damon is on the path to redemption, I'm sure Josh is still pretty angry with him....
This is all my best attempt to write a mystery that ties in with my overarching story, haha. But as I've said, writing mysteries is not my forte, and I do admit it's gotten a bit crazy at some points, but by the time I realize that I'm a little overwhelmed by my story, I've already gotten my screenshots and I'm like, well, no turning back now So I'm trying haha...for the most part I'm still having fun, even when some bits and pieces don't fit together perfectly and things get a little out there
Also @Skeilah might be able to shed some light on how to use the military keycard option since I know she did that with Bryon
Playing someone in the military is the way to go for writing a Strangerville story! Your story is really just flowing nicely these days, and it's nice that Bryon has an excuse to be around the lab. I mean, not that the game would ever try to kick you off...but Jules totally has to avoid the lab these days since she has no business officially being there, haha. Kind of funny to me though how easy it is just to walk around the lab in the game though. It would be nice if there were some NPCs that made it harder or something, haha.
Bryon is working so hard to get all his loved ones back. Poor guy
Yay, another milestone complete! I like that you're taking it slowly. The beach life aspiration is pretty low key, so it will be nice for it to take up some of the month as he explores more of Sulani. I like that you're even tying simple things like him eating a coconut into the story. I tend to sometimes just blast through milestones and not even bother to tie them into the story sometimes, haha
I love that you can see the monster under the bed when you have the kid selected. Great daily shot! Fun that she made friends with Elsa too - I'll be interested to see if Elsa sticks around as her friend later on in this challenge!
I love how you are using all these female sims flocking around Wolfgang to make him a ladies man, haha. And poor Sakura, can't even focus on her poetry reading, she's so in love with him. Man, these two have a lot of complicated feelings to work through...I keep forgetting that Kiyoshi and Sakura are still technically dating, HAHA. And poor Wolfgang, he can't just wait forever for her....It looks like Jeb might be another nice friend for Wolfgang to confide in though, and perhaps he'll be a little less crazy than River haha. I like that you added a tv and came console to the Britechester commons too. That place really does need some love. Cute of Mila to stop by and give Wolfgang a gift too - totally in character for her. She'd totally be the mom who would send the best care packages that everyone else would be jealous of. It looks like you might be slowly getting setting the cogs in motion for Sakura and Wolfgang to get together eventually
Aw, yay, Jaz finally has a friend - well, at least, the beginnings of a friendship! Elsa would probably be a really sweet friend for Jaz too. Will she be joining the League of Adventurers, perhaps?
Benji just needs to go home and take a long shower haha. So much teenage drama in his life, I love it though
Life for Essa and Josh was repetitive for a time, but enjoyable. Every night when he returned from the base, she greeted her soldier home with a warm embrace.
Josh continued to practice spells and his hair began to grow out just a little. It wanted to curl and wave, but he didn't mind. Essa thought it was sexy so that was good enough for him.
He reached another level in his Spellcaster skills and was now Adept with a new set of tomes to study. The Adept tomes seemed more special than the previous ones., they would float, sparkle and glow above his hand. Essa told him it wasn't the tomes that were special, it was him. The tomes recognized and honored his power.
Every night the last thing Josh would do before bed was practice giving speeches. Being an officer demanded more oratory rather than physical skills it seemed. Nonetheless, Josh still kept himself in tip top condition as well.
Josh left for the base the next morning and Essa decided to do some painting. She hadn't done anything just for her own personal enjoyment lately.
With a large Abstract masterpiece worth over 7K, Essa surpassed the million simoleans mark in household funds! Wow! I've only had one other Sim ever reach that amount, but not during regular gameplay. The previous time was for the Rosebud Challenge and I purposely focused only on grinding to earn simoleans and nothing else. To be fair, Essa didn't do it all on her own, the last interest payment Josh received was over 46K for the week. I wonder how much she and Josh will have at the end of the year.
Essa hadn't tried to paint anything by reference outdoors in StrangerVille yet, so she took her easel to the side yard by a cliff to give it a go. It looks blown out, but that's just because there's a heat wave right now.
Essa's been knitting some objects and baby/toddler clothes lately in preparation for future offspring and decided to try making a third stuffed bear toy. As she was enjoying this relaxing task, she felt the house shake under her feet and heard a loud rumbling noise that seemed to come from town. Gazing that way, her heart dropped at what she saw.
A plume of smoke was spiraling up through the sky. Was there a fire? An explosion? What happened and where?
Essa quickly sent Josh a text asking if he knew what had happened. She waited for his reply, but after 20 minutes and no reply, decided to try calling his office on base instead.
The phone just rang and rang. It seemed nobody was there which was odd. Josh's office was very rarely left unattended. His staff rotated hours so someone was always there.
She tried again after a few minutes and finally someone that sounded out of breath picked up the line. Essa was told there had been a small explosion at the Lab and everyone had been quickly evacuated. She was told this wasn't the first time the Lab had an explosion, there had been a rather large one in the past.
This one was minor in comparison, but they were in the process of taking care of the few injured and doing a headcount to make sure everyone was accounted for and where they were supposed to be.
Lieutenant Hunter had not been located yet, but she was told not to worry, his orders did not include working at the Lab. They would let her know as soon as he was found.
(I'm sure he's fine.)
(He better be!)
(I should just sit tight and wait for Josh or someone else to call me, right? But...why hasn't he checked in with his office or called me? He knows I'd worry.)
(I can't. I just can't. Something's wrong. I'm not going to just sit here. No way Jose! I need to look for him myself.)
May 10
No time for story mode today and I didn't play much at all, just worn out lol. But we know Roxanne is listening in on Rubanoid this is what she heard. Not sure if it's part of the story but it made me giggle.
Sakura had studied at UBrite Commons practically all night. She had finally walked back to the dorm, and gone to bed. She got up and headed to the mailbox to mail a letter she had written to Kiyoshi last night. She still kept up the daily communication with him, and she received his letters as well. Last night's letter had been especially hard to write as she had finally told Kiyoshi about the Resident Supervisor position at the Rival House. That part had been easy. The hard part had been telling Kiyoshi that Wolfgang was moving into the house with her, and that he would be helping out as Resident Supervisor as well. She did mention that they had their own rooms, though. She just wanted to be honest with Kiyoshi, and wanted him to trust her. Just like she was trying so hard to trust him while he was away.
She dropped the letter into the mail slot and heard the elevator open behind her. It was Wolfgang!
Wolfgang: "Sakura! You're here! Oh my gawd! I came to the dorm last night, but you weren't here..."
Sakura: "I was at UBrite Commons most of the night. What are you doing here?"
Wolfgang: "I came to apologize for last night. I got so tied up in a conversation with one of my E-Sports teammates about gaming strategies, that I missed your poetic reading. And I feel really bad about it. And I didn't even tell you how proud I was of you for doing that reading in front of that crowd of students. And I didn't get you a tea or spend time with you. And the worst part was that I left UBrite Commons and I didn't even say goodbye. I could give you all kinds of reasons for why it happened, but it shouldn't have happened. I should have put you first last night, and I didn't, and I apologize. My mind has been all over the place lately, and I don't want this to come between us. I'm so sorry, Sakura."
Sakura smiled. So it had been an E-Sports teammate that he was talking to about gaming strategy. The way Wolfgang was so intently talking to her, it just seemed like he was so interested in her. And, of course, he was, he was interested in her gaming strategies. Sakura felt foolish for having thought anything else. She wished that Wolfgang had just told her that at UBrite Commons last night.
Sakura: "I think the stress of everything just got a bit too much for both of us last night. It was bad timing to even go to that event. And, yes, I was feeling upset at you because I thought you were ignoring me. I'm sorry, too. We should have just planned a study session together..."
Wolfgang autonomously caressed Sakura's cheek, "I just want you to know Sakura, that I don't want any misunderstanding to come between us. I'll make it up to you. But right now I have to run off, or Professor Lana will be texting me wondering why I am not at the final exam."
Sakura: "Good luck in your exams, Wolfgang!"
Wolfgang gave Sakura a hug, "You, too, Sakura, and I will see you afterwards. Can't wait to move in with you...um...you know...to move to the new house..." he said as he went into the elevator and waved good-bye.
Sakura stood there for a moment smiling and felt like all was right between them again.
Sakura looked at the clock, "Oh my gosh! I have to get dressed and get going, too! Yikes! I have to get to my final exam!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sakura got dressed in a rush and ran out of the dorm and headed down the elevator. She hadn't even combed her hair. She practically ran across the central quad to get to her exam on time. And she was miraculously early, so she took out her coursebook and read until it was time to head inside. She saw Sofia and wished her luck, too. She had two exams and they were back-to-back.
[Note: And this is where my game seemed to glitch on me. For the two exams she had just written, all of a sudden, it said that she had homework to do in both of them. She had completed all of her requirements for all of her courses before she went into the final exams, and now suddenly it said she had homework. Gah! I quickly had Sakura do the first course homework, but she didn't have time to finish the second course homework, because suddenly, BOOM...her grades appeared. Unfortunately, I don't know what Wolfgang got for his individual course scores, but he does have an A+ GPA, so he must have done well on the exams, too.]
After her class and while she was waiting for her final grades to be posted, she called up the other members of the soccer team thinking that perhaps they could get together to study some soccer plays. But it seemed they were all busy, so Sakura just sat down and studied plays by herself.
And then...her grades! Woot! Term 1 was officially over, and she was now enrolling in Term 2. She was going to stay in soccer until after the game tomorrow night, and then she was going to resign. Then she would have her weeknights free to concentrate on her painting and violin, and join the Art Society, which is what she wanted to do.
And then it was time to move out! Wolfgang had come over to Sakura's dorm to help her. Some students were staying and some were also moving out.
Sakura greeted Wolfgang with an autonomous kiss on the cheek.
Wolfgang was surprised: "I should help you move more often if that's my payment. So, I guess I am forgiven for last night?"
Sakura smiled: "Well, I just want to forget about last night. I just want to make a fresh start. To maybe do some things differently..."
Wolfgang: "I agree with everything you said. I really want to do some things differently, too. But I still want to make it up to you. I sort of have planned something for tomorrow night for the two of us. I hope that's okay...after your soccer game, of course..."
Sakura smiled shyly, "Really? I had sort of planned something for the two of us, too..."
Wolfgang looking at Sakura surprised, "Really? You were planning something, too?"
Sakura: "Yes, I wanted it to be special...just the two of us...before we were bombarded with roommates again..."
Wolfgang: "Yes, just the two of us...that sounds really nice..."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ans it looks like a new roommate was making themselves at home in the lounge already. Is that you Frank? Are you going to uni now?
One of Sakura's roommates asked Wolfgang if he wanted a sandwich.
Wolfgang: "Um...sure...might be good to have a snack handy..."
Wolfgang autonomously cleans up Sakura's dorm.
Wolfgang and Jeb kick around the soccer ball in the bathroom. Okay, time to go!
And before she knew it, she and Wolfgang were standing in front of their new digs! They didn't have much time to unpack, as Sakura was off to soccer practice and Wolfgang was off to his E-Sports meeting. But Wolfgang took a moment to hold Sakura close to him.
Wolfgang: "It feels so good to have you here with me, Sakura," he said as he hugged Sakura.
Sakura: "I'm so glad that you're here, Wolfgang. This feels like home to me."
Thank you! That makes sense to age up the friends in the same timeframe as the kids in the household. But how are you aging these up?
Like, @sassytxbrat already said she was doing 7day baby, 14 days toddler... and then what?
Chloe and Skeilah were hard at work, examining the strange plants around town that seemed to multiply and grow rapidly. They appeared to be the key to unlocking a viable vaccine.
So they explored the plants, taking cuttings and harvesting the fruit, so they could use what they found in their research.
Their team had also developed some scanners to help them locate the spores more easily, so they began to collect the spore clusters, since they seemed especially useful for developing a vaccine.
The local church in Strangerville had offered their basement as a place for the scientists to stay as they worked, since lodging was limited in the town.
(My screenshots seem to always get a bit blurry when I try to take nice scenic shots of buildings and the surrounding area, maybe one day I'll master the art of a scenic screenshot haha)
In the church basement, the team of scientists had set up their equipment. The other scientists and doctors on their team were out tending to the infected citizens of the town, while Chloe and Skeilah began the research for an effective vaccine.
"We're gonna need a lot more spore clusters," Chloe informed her once she ran the data.
Emmett stopped by later to check in. The girls were still hard at work, though they were beginning to run low on spores. They asked Emmett if he could bring a scanner to Jules, figuring she could scan the area near the plane wreckage without too much detection, as long as she was careful. The more spores they could gather, the better.
Emmett went to stop in at the bunker later that evening.
And then he gave Jules the scanner that Skeilah had given to him. He couldn't stay long though. The military was especially especially demanding these days. It was clear that several of his commanding officers were in league with the aliens, whether they were willing participants or not, since the military had such a hand in thwarting anyone who tried to properly investiage. It stressed Emmett out to be an involuntary asset to all this, but they all agreed that they needed someone on the inside, and it would look suspicious for him to try to quit now.
That night, once checking the area to make no one was around, Jules began to scan for spore clusters, glad to have found a way to make herself useful.
Outtakes
So for non-cheating aspiration purposes, Jules went to the bar and got an infection scanner by fighting a soldier. Didn't get any screenshots of that though. Lol.
Anyway, for that screenshot above, I wanted it to look like Emmett was handing her the scanner, the same way I did with Chloe, so I had to have him scan the area for that effect. Didn't realize that if a person was standing in the radius, it would scan them though. I mean, it is an infection scanner after all, it makes sense it would be able to detect infected people, lol. I guess since Jules has been infected briefly already, this triggered it again - I honestly haven't played this pack enough to know how the possessions actually work.
Then she and Emmett autonomously got into a fight Even deranged and infected, Jules still won. She has yet to lose a fight haha.
Emmett was able to snap Jules out of her possessed state and she was fine after that.
I didn't include this as a part of the official story since Emmett "scanning" wasn't meant to be part of the story, just screenshot material, but it was entertaining, as most unplanned parts of this game are, so I thought I'd share
Also I spotted the first challenge sim so far this month, wandering around town. Don't worry Roxanne, we'll get you cured soon!
I went to the Curio Shop, only to find someone else standing in there.
(Bryon) “Excuse me... Where is Erwin?”
(Man) “He has the day off, but if you need him, he’s probably working in his front yard.”
The guy points towards the trailer park. Erwin lives in a trailer?
As I walked inside the park, I saw him being busy in his ‘front yard’.
(Bryon) “Am I interrupting?
(Erwin) “Look who we have here! No, you never interrupt!”
(Bryon) “I got the Spore filter.”
(Erwin) “Awesome! Please, come inside. The Hazmat suit is already waiting for you.”
There was barely enough space for the both of us to walk in his trailer, but I have to admit, it’s a cozy little place if you’re on your own.
(Erwin) “Hmm... In which drawer did I put it...? Ah, here!”
(Erwin) "Here you go!"
(Bryon) “You even packed it?”
(Erwin) “Of course! Try it on!”
(Bryon) “Now?”
(Erwin) “Yeah!”
And so, I tried it on.
(Erwin) “That’s a perfect fit!!”
(Bryon) “Thank you so much, Erwin.”
I changed back into my own clothes and said goodbye to Erwin with a high five.
(Erwin) “The best of luck to you. I hope you find your boyfriend!”
(Bryon) “I’ll keep you updated.”
There I go. Off to the crater. (After changing into my military outfit at home, or else I’m not allowed to go there)
(Bryon) “Here goes nothing...”
With my new Hazmat Suit on, I stepped into the blue smoke.
(Bryon) “It seems like I’m not affected... You did a great job, Erwin.”
And then, I saw it. A door. The door.
(Bryon) “Naoki... Are you behind there?”
I noticed a key card system on the right side of the door.
(Bryon) “Would my key card work on that door...?”
Only one way to find out: I tried it, and yes, the door slowly went open.
(Bryon) “No way...”
I had my guard up while I was walking in that hall, but it seemed like I was the only person here...
Suddenly I saw Naoki, but something was wrong with him. He's possessed.
(Bryon) “Naoki... What did they do to you...?”
I started hearing voices. People that have access to this part of the building are coming down the stairs. I have to hide. Maybe behind that door.
(Naoki - Mother) “Don’t you dare going through that door, human. Didn’t I tell you to never come back? You must be so lucky that this man is locked up...”
I decided to ignore the thing that took over Naoki to talk to me, and ran towards the door. Naoki fell on the ground as if he fell asleep.
(Bryon) “Oh boy, that was close...”
(???) “What was close?”
I barely managed to not scream. For some reason, doctor Noelle was right behind me.
(Noelle) “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you or something. You must be lucky that it’s me in this room and not one of the others.”
(Bryon) “And why would I be lucky? You’re the one who pretended to help us, but you snatched our babies away.”
(Noelle) “I’m so sorry for that. It’s not that I wanted it to go that way. It’s just the way things work here. I really liked the way you started loving those aliens as if they were yours.”
(Bryon) “They are ours! And I’m going to take them back! And Naoki too! So, where are they?!”
(Noelle) “... In there.”
I turned my head to where Noelle was looking. What I saw then made me almost pee my pants.
(Bryon) “What’s... That...”
(Noelle) “Mother. The keeper of our babies, the brain master behind the infected Sims and the Queen of the aliens. If Mother says something, we obey.”
(Bryon) “this giant thing is behind the infections... and it has my babies?!”
(Noelle) “Yes, this ‘giant thing’ has your babies inside of her for them to grow faster. She uses the infected ones to have a voice. Aliens can talk to her with their brains, and she can talk back to us that way, but you wouldn’t hear her unless she takes over an infected Sim and talk to you via the Sim.”
(Noelle) “She says she already warned you twice to get out of here and never come back. Why are you back here again?”
(Bryon) “I’m here to get Naoki and my babies back.”
(Noelle) “... The only way to get the babies back is to defeat Mother, and there’s no way you could do that on your own.”
(Bryon) “Can I free Naoki? And... Is there a way to defeat Mother?”
Noelle didn’t react. Of course she didn’t, but something in her eyes told me that she was answering me ‘yes’. I suddenly realised that Noelle isn’t as bad as the rest of those aliens. I mean, I would’ve been captured like Naoki if I bumped into someone else.
The next moment, she disappeared like she was never there in the first place.
(Bryon) “I can’t take the kids on my own if they are INSIDE of that... Thing... But she just allowed me to take Naoki, right?”
I peeped around the corner. The other aliens had left the room, so I took my chance.
I opened the box and got Naoki on my back.
(Bryon) “We’re going home. We need to find a way to defeat Mother and get our babies back. I’ll be back, Mother.”
*Updated my May 10th post above! I stayed up way too late playing. I apologize, but I need to get some rest. I'll comment when I'm online again later. Hope y'all have a great day/night!
Jackson wakes up around 6:00am to a loud thundering noise. He also notices he is all wet and quickly jumps to his feet. There’s a thunderstorm happening and Jackson is caught in the middle of it. He didn’t plan on this happening and quickly moves inside his tent. His internal alarm was about to wake him up anyway.
Jackson(to himself): “I guess no jogging before school. Hopefully this lets up by then. I don’t want to have to run to school in a thunderstorm. I heard about others getting struck by lightning.”
Luckily for Jackson, the thunderstorm turned into a light drizzle by the time he needed to make his way to school. He changed into much drier clothes. The rain kept coming down on and off during Jackson’s classes. It was heavier when he arrived back at his beach. The raindrops were warm to the touch. There was no wind to blow the rain around.
As a child, Jackson loved to go outside and play in the rain. Because there was no thunderstorm, he spread his arms out and let the rain fall upon him. Soon, the rain came to a stop. The skies were a little dark signaling the rain could start back up again any time. Jackson waded into the ocean until he couldn’t walk any further. He watched as the fish were jumping around as if they were also enjoying the rain.
There wasn’t going to be any exploring today for Jackson, he knew. So, he spent much of his time inside his tent or having some food from his cooler while viewing the ocean as the fish continued to perform their own show for him.
Side Notes:
On The Sims Forums under the thread for this challenge, I got to typing with someone who was curious about how Jackson is going to deal with monsoons with his tent. I hadn’t really thought about it. In today’s chapter, Jackson get to experience a monsoon and I get the privilege of coming up with some type of writing around it.
Things are going to be a little slow for awhile. I’ll try and make it up with more bonus images. I think looking at screenshots are kind of better than reading about them to be honest. But I still want this to be a type of SimLit. Major events in Jackson’s life will entail a larger storytelling piece.
No need to apologize, I think we all know that feeling. Hope you'll be able to catch some sleep during the day!
As for your post: Oh boy, the Drama never ends... How'd you make that explosion appear ingame? I'm just as worried as Tessa now!
Thank you for that comment! I really was intent on having a dysfunctional family, but I guess I don't like conflict in Sims any more than in RL, so that probably will not happen. At least it'll make you smile...
I assure you that these won't be twins - I need them to have another kid later in the month so there will be a needy toddler overshadowing our Challenge Sim. The first twins were from the game, but this time I have definite plans. I'll probably check before birth, and should she have twins again, I'll tell MCC that there is only one baby in Sarah's tummy, and let the game figure out the baby's gender.
I'm happy that Jules found a way to help! So fun how different all of you are playing this storyline...
The challenge Sim has to have their toddler birthday on the 1st of June. Right now I have two days of baby-hood and 3 days of pregnancy in my game, so that's the schedule I am planning with. (And should I be off one day in the end, I'll cheat so they will still age up on 1st of June.) The time until then will be spent with the twins (who should be teens in June), the baby and another baby later in the month. I want to leave one spot open for a potential little sibling/twin (who knows, that depends on how chaotic the household already is when the challenge sim arrives) and for risky Woohoo (feels a bit cheaty to me without, so that's why)
Whoa, these are good grades! I think she'll be really happy when her schedule lightens a bit... Definitely seeing some chemistry with Wolfgang there, but she has loads of memories with Kyoshi as well. Wonder how he'll react to that letter? (Side note: Why did you decide to have Kyoshi go to that remote training camp? To open up possibilities with others? And when is spring break?) Glad that they were able to talk through last night's misunderstandings. Does Wolfgang have any kind of potential love interest, like Kyoshi with Kaori?
What a drama! Teenage rivalry (will Jay plot something to get back at Benji?), Jaz makes a friend (Elsa sounds friendly too), and everything else is just the usual chaos. Would you consider getting Jaz a pet?(Yes, this is my pet-loving little heart speaking that tries to compensate not having Cats&Dogs myself)...
The option is called 'Requisition Key Card'. Does Josh also have the Strangerville Aspiration? I think it'll only appear if that's the case. You need the dossier to finish the aspiration, but not to requisition the key card. At least I didn't.
Fine-tuning this commentary format today. Thank you to anyone doing this kind of post, I was happy to have some reference!
I think I like this format much more than yesterday's "Let's just throw everything that happened in one little piece of text without any connection or meaning to the sentences". Gonna have to practice what pictures I take a bit more though. Usually I mainly take story-relevant or cute pictures and write the post hours later. This time there was so much daily activity missing that I had to figure out what had happened completely on my own...
How come there isn't any drama in these posts nowadays? But truth to be told, I don't think I have the energy for more drama. We had a literal heat wave, and I'll be having two exams and one lecture in the next weeks... (NOT looking forward to that!) And perhaps I'll be doing my highway driving lesson tomorrow, which needs 2-3 hours as well I hope I'll be able to do it! (I've been working on speed for months, and never was above 90 km/h until now. To go on the highway, I have to drive 130 km/h, and that's quite scary for me... )
I'm kinda looking forward to the Main Sim having their teen birthday so I can leave this family behind and focus on their story and development, without the family to care for as well. So I think I will definitely try to speed up the childhood timeline a bit, we'll see how much exactly. Don't get me wrong, I love the family and the chaos that is involved... (And think it will definitely make one valid reason for the Main Sim to move out, shouldn't I be able to come up with one with more drama.) Just... I was reading through the thread in the evenings instead of a novel and got envious at all of you who had the freedom to do whatever with the characters without a family in the background last Update | Overview post&rules Update 7 - Bridgeview
Sarah's Diary
The day started early with me editing that stupid picture yet again. I swear, I have already edited it five times so far! At least they didn't tell me to start completely over... Greg then went to his course.
Then, I had to fix the toilet. I was quite hungry (and it was already past 9am), but someone decided that had priority over breakfast. (Well yeah, that's because you kept leaving your breakfast to mop that puddle... I just had you properly fix it!)
I gave myself a pep talk before I felt up to tackling the new day with the twins. (Still going crazy with all the kids and the money trouble? Yep, sure looks like it!)
Then, I finally got breakfast - at 10:21 am. Which is why I am looking so annoyed at everything in this photo.
Sophia and Mark had already been up for quite some time and had played in their room like they usually do in the morning - apparently they weren't hungry yet. (Or did they eat something? And why didn't I take a picture? Perhaps my pictures got scrambled again... Oh well. Edit: They got scrambled, so I tried my best to sort them in the correct order)
Mark and his cute little good-morning-Dance...
Sophia actually came downstairs while I was in the bathroom. "Fridge, give food! Now! Or I tell Mommy..."
I love that little toddler dance! Mark does it quite often, even without music... Since I found this old radio in the attic, I figured: Why not turn it on and let them listen to some kid's music?
In the afternoon, Joey came to visit during a thunderstorm. I invited him in and told him that I sadly wouldn't have time to look after him, but if he wanted to play with the twins for a bit...?
This bathroom actually is my favourite place to paint. (Could that be because you always start paintings after you went potty and then never liten to me when I tell you to go sit somewhere?) It's just so quiet, and away from the kids...
Or is it? I guess I spoke too soon there! Classic parent life...
After Greg got home, he made some calls to be listed with an agency like mine as Freelance Programmer. He definitely is qualified now, having reached Level 4 of Programming and Level 3 of Logic...
He then went on the Computer to do another tournament, and came in Second. (Looks like it really is possible to get other results than "lost this tournament...") I was so glad Sophia didn't disturb him too much, asking what he was doing there... Then, he chatted with a client for his first gig.
My belly is huge already! I'm so glad that between me and Greg we managed to pay the bills. Only 43$ left now, but I'm sure we will get more money soon. (Actually MCC autopaid them. Forgot I still had that setting on... I'm not mad this time, but I actually had planned for them to not be able to pay the bills and get a power cut, so the Twins would spend the night with Granny and they'd snuggle a bit and start with kiddo 3. Whew. )
The kids had been in bed for hours already when I heard Sophia crying because she was hungry... So a midnight snack it was. I'll really have to watch that, I needed over an hour to get her back into bed! She insisted she was "not a bit sleepy" and it was "morning already" anyway, so she "just wanted to play blocks like a quiet little girl"... And I wanted her, Mark and me to get more sleep!
Just when I had gotten up on the next day to pee (Gee, Pregnancy and bladder capacity...) Mark woke up because of a nightmare and decided to wake Mark instead of coming to me. I like that the kids see us both as parents now, and Greg is grumpy in the morning anyways. I'll be curious to see how he reacts!
Characters
--Gallery (Sims and houses): Hashtag #onemonthoneworldoneyear, Name "One Sim - Fam. Britton". My gallery name is Noctuara.
Parents: Sarah and Greg Britton. They live on the 20x15 "Comfy Cubby" in Bridgeview, Newcrest.
Kids: Sophia & Mark (Twins)
Greg Britton - Greg is a young adult who has a strong interest in Gaming and Computers and is quite a Geek. Unfortunately, he also is a bit slobby and mean. Due to his history, he is a bit troubled, has Bad Manners, is Irresponsible, Argumentative and Insensitive. But he can be nice as well... if he tries his best... (and I help him by x-ing out all his autonomous mean&mischievous interactions from the Parenthood traits) He was working in business, but hated it. So he enrolled for a Programming course and is now a freelance programmer listed with an agency. On the side, he participates in Novice Tournaments.
Sarah Britton - Sarah on the other hand wants to be the best parent possible, even though she is a Young Adult herself. She is very neat, good and loves being with her family. She found a job as Freelancer Artist to try and keep the two of them afloat.
Sophia Britton - The firstborn, and the twin of Mark. She is a toddler now, and is very independent.
Mark Britton - The secondborn and the twin of Sophia. He is a toddler now too, and is a little charmer.
unborn baby
others:
Gary Whelan, a friend of Greg from high school. Lives on "Oak Alcove", 20x15, Bridgeview. He is a Bro, Geek and Active. He works as a Game developer.
Fam. Aldrich, the neighbours and friends of Sarah. They live on the 30x20 "Fernpark" in Bridgeview. Elderly Pamela lives here with her Grandchildren after both parents died in a plague at young years. Pamela loves to Garden, cook at spend time with her Grandchildren. And if she had the time (and I the money), she'd love to learn to knit. Readhed Alexia, already a Young Adult, is the image of her mother. She loves to paint, channeling all her emotions on the canvas. She feels heavily responsible for her younger siblings, Tessa and Joey (twins). Tessa loves to make crafts like her big Sister and is very creative, while Joey has a lot of Energy and is very much into sports.
and anyone else who would like to know why Kiyoshi is at the remote Olympic camp, and how my storyline has evolved to date.
"Whoa, these are good grades! I think she'll be really happy when her schedule lightens a bit... Definitely seeing some chemistry with Wolfgang there, but she has loads of memories with Kiyoshi as well. Wonder how he'll react to that letter? (Side note: Why did you decide to have Kiyoshi go to that remote training camp? To open up possibilities with others? And when is spring break?) Glad that they were able to talk through last night's misunderstandings. Does Wolfgang have any kind of potential love interest, like Kiyoshi with Kaori?"
The reason I decided to have Kiyoshi go to a remote training camp was because in the Sims 4 storyline for that family, Kiyoshi's parents were Olympic gold medalists and want Kiyoshi to be a gold medalist, too. Kiyoshi has a lot of family pressure on him to be perfect. I wanted to just play Sakura for the next worlds, and that is why Kiyoshi was "away" with no contact, so that they wouldn't go on dates, etc. I just wanted to concentrate on Sakura and her aspirations and story. I had a whole other storyline about Kiyoshi and Sakura meeting again after the 3 months were up (as young adults), but then Wolfgang happened. Wolfgang and Sakura were totally unplanned. From the moment they met, Wolfgang has been totally smitten with Sakura. I had never played Wolfgang before, nor the pre-made clubs they are in, Paragons & Renegades. Wolfgang has been snarly to Sofia and Sergio, who were Paragons, but never once was he that way to Sakura, who was also a Paragon. (The pre-made club for both the Paragons and the Renegades has the be mean to the other club in their club activities) So Sakura and Wolfgang started to become the Romeo and Juliet of my story. And so, this is how the love triangle happened because Sakura is dedicated to her boyfriend, Kiyioshi. However, now that Kiyoshi has cheated on her with Kaori, (in the Sims 4 background story, Kaori is Kiyoshi's crush, and she does have some pink in their relationship when you first download them), Sakura doesn't feel quite the same about Kiyoshi as she did before. Sakura is falling in love or already in love with Wolfgang (and we already know that Wolfgang loves her but hasn't told her yet); however, Sakura is not the type of sim who would break up with Kiyoshi in a letter, nor is she the type of sim who would cheat on him while she is still his girlfriend. Sakura was very much in love with Kiyoshi (before he cheated on her - and Wolfgang also doesn't know Kiyoshi cheated on Sakura), and she is trying to forgive him, but finding it quite hard to do so. Kiyoshi has also never told her he loves her. And no, there will not be another love interest for Wolfgang. He is in love with Sakura, but knows that he can't be with her right now because she is being faithful to her boyfriend. Wolfgang is her best friend. Wolfgang is giving Sakura some time to sort through her feelings. Things sometimes just randomly happen, like Wolfgang talking to that female sim, and it just is a good opportunity to explore how Sakura feels about Wolfgang. There is a bit of a twist coming before she heads to Mt. Komorebi, though.
Ahhhh, a little cliffhanger! How did you manage to get that explosion shot? Always curious about the behind the scenes stuff for like that. It looks like Essa might finally be ready to delve headfirst into this mystery. Nice that you took so much of the month though to get them prepared for this - Josh being a high level military soldier could be useful for sure, and getting his spellcasting skills up too will make for some cool opportunities. Cool daily shot too!
As usual, really nice job of tying everything together. I love that you gave Ewrin a little trailer to live in, and Bryon the line about Bryon almost peeing his pants was great, they do look like they'd wet themselves from fear upon seeing the Mother plant for the first time haha. I'm glad Noelle seems to be on the good side now, hopefully she can help out! And great use of poses to have Bryon carrying Naoki out on his back! I'm glad that Naoki will be able to help with the final battle now.
I do enjoy what the end up hearing if you bug a sim...fun little update whether or not you'll include Rubanoid being up to something for the official story or not. I guess if he is in league with the aliens, then it would make breakup/divorce easier if that's the direction you're going haha
Aw yay, one semester under Sakura's belt! Nice that she sent Kiyoshi a letter - the sooner they can talk, the better. Wolfgang and Sakura are so autonomously flirty with each other, it's so cute! And even if it's not all autonomous, you always choose good interactions for them that show how close they are getting. Is their pink bar maxed out at this point? Emmett and Jules have about half a pink bar at this point, and that's mostly just because I have them use the romantic "embrace" every time they see each other. So I'd imagine Wolfgang and Sakura's must be pretty high.
Awesome grades too, especially since you've been trying to play Wolfgang too! It will be so nice to have them both in one household now!
Those thunderstorms are intense in Sulani! I do love watching storms over the ocean though. That was a sweet moment for Jackson to remember playing in the rain as a kid
It is always fun to see how differently we all play the same pack/aspiration! That's been one of the fun parts of this challenge for me. What you see @Skeilah doing is pretty much how the mystery is supposed to be played though, she actually really has Bryon doing all the milestones and is showing them pretty well as part of her story. I'm doing more of my own thing and having Jules actually get her aspiration dings more behind the scenes, just since that's what has made sense for my story so far.
Have you considered having your challenge sim be a teen by June 1st and just starting the challenge officially then?
Haha, great daily shot of mommy and daughter both using the potty, love it! Very "real" moment Toddlers dancing are the cutest, I agree. And nice of Sarah to "find a radio in the attic" - I love adding in little details like that to my story. Good luck with your driving! And like I said, you'll find a groove with your story soon
Just a note to everyone playing the Strangerville Mystery (or who will be playing eventually) - I'll put this in a spoiler in case those who haven't played this pack don't want to know.
So I've played around with the death by Mother Plant with a few sims, just to experiment lol, as I enjoy doing. In my experience, the Grim Reaper never shows up with a Mother Plant death, your sim is just devoured and that's that. Just a warning in case you weren't aware. So save accordingly. Or mentally prepare yourself. (Though I believe the two times I've triggered death for a sim this way have been since they fought the Mother plant alone and twice in row, so I don't think it's super likely to die when battling it with a group THOUGH DON'T QUOTE ME ON THAT ) I just know that I'd want to know in advance that my death flowers wouldn't be useful in this scenario
@permanentrose I have considered that, but that would mean to probably have them earlier and throw that 4th kid overboard and everything. It is just so much unlike I expected! And seeing how full my May just got, I should probably stick with the plan to allow myself to even put two days into a post or something, in case I really have no time. Like, at this point, they'll need some more story to build up to having the next kids, and aside from that I could just post a daily pic, a recollection of the day and some shots of toddler cuteness without much effort.
Besides, I want him/her to get Top Notch toddler, finish all 4 kid aspirations and perhaps also the scouts career (will probably leave that one for the teenage years to try and do it like the other people starting with "fresh" teens aside from the four childhood aspiration reward traits they'll hopefully get)... And I want to do all that without cheating or needs potions, and without ignoring the whole rest of the family. Like, if I wanted to make a super sim as fast as possible, I could just go do that challenge and optimize everything to be as perfect as possible. (Btw - who am I kidding, I will SO make the challenge sim a girl, I somehow like playing girls a lot more )
I might try to have them ready in July already, then I'd be a literal half year behind the first people to start the challenge.
@SoulGal7 Thank you for the long explanation! I'm at roughly mid-february now and I was starting to ask myself whether the "meet with Kyoshi"-Situation had happened between then and now or whether it was still to come. You look at the posts back then with a whole different angle if you know the Wolfgang from May...!
This day has started off way too early. Mia is woken up again by the monster under the bed, so she decides to clean up the dirty dishes instead of finding a place to get more sleep. She will regret this.
While Mia is at school, Skye has a busy day taking care of Eli, recording videos to upload, and watching television. Of course, she also plays with toys and then leaves them laying around the house instead of putting them up.
She schedules another audition and this one is going to require some fitness skill. She has none, so it is time to get moving. She has to reach level 3 before the audition at noon on Thursday. Eli’s birthday is not scheduled until Sunday, so he still has a few more days as a burrito.
Jogging is too hard, says Skye and me. So she buys a treadmill to run on. Her logic is not mine. I just don’t run at all. Running is bad because you fall down and then things hurt. Skye isn’t any more impressed with the treadmill than she is with jogging on the street.
Mia comes home from school, does her homework, cleans up the dishes, and calls it a night. It is 6pm and she never made it to bed.
When she wakes up on the floor of the kitchen, one might think she would go to bed. But not our girl.
Of course, there are two, three problems here. One, the 🐸🐸🐸🐸 monster is back. Tonight Mia is able to make friends with it. That doesn’t mean it won’t come to wake her, just that she won’t be scared. Two, one would think that I would have bought her a night light after the monster showed up the first time. Especially, I would have bought the night light after the second time. But no, it takes three times before I have the idea to add a nightlight to her room.
Three, she house is getting dirty again but instead of cleaning up the dust bunny, she makes nice and in return it brings her a plant – a trash fruit specifically. Of course, she should be sleeping but she is still scared. Skye has been trying to get here to put her back to bed, but Eli was screaming and the toileting was overflowing. And she simply had to have another cup of coffee.
Finally, Mia is back in bed and she should have enough time to get a good sleep before school on Thursday. Skye gives Eli a diaper change and then she heads to bed, hoping she can sleep through the night, remembering at the last moment that she still needs to improve her fitness skill. In the morning, she will do that in the morning, before the audition.
Comments
This way the others, friends and their kids age about the same time as Melody and Malcolm, and I do not have to worry to age everyone (their friends and kids of their friends) manually
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
@Ellupelluellu
I cracked up at your image of Malcolm going to class in his pajama bottoms.
Kava party is my final step for the first Milestone, yeah. I've collected majority of the Sims in this challenge and will use them as party guests for the kava party. I think it'll be fun.
@miss_eulenauge
My Sim doesn't have kids yet, but I'm hoping he'll start a family when he gets to the young adult stage. From there, I'll age up all relationship Sims to match. In fact, I'll probably even start that early and age up the teens to young adults when I age Jackson up to young adult.
I now stream the Sims 4 on Twitch!
My Discord Server - A place to discuss my challenges, or the Sims in general
ETA: I was too hasty, sorry, @SoulGal7
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
And I see Bryon now has the spore filter, good job Bryon! You'll have Naoki and the twins back in no time.
@permanentrose
SimRay sure comes in handy eh? Glad they were able to get away safely to the bunker and with the dog, of course.
I've played after the mystery was resolved a little with my first Hero. It's fun! Especially since he's paranoid and gone a bit bonkers from feeling he's not appreciated for defeating Mother. How dare they send rotten food and dead fish!?
I didn't let Beast die on purpose, I just forgot about him. Too focused on making Josh a Spellcaster and learning spells. Haven't figured out how to get the key card as military yet. I thought there would be somewhere to get it on the computer, but it's not there.
@miss_eulenauge
I like that Sarah and Greg seem to be growing up together, figuring out this thing called 'family' and stepping up to support each other. Especially Greg, letting Sarah sleep in, feeding the toddlers, fixing stuff around the house, etc. I hope their lives keep going in this manner, it makes me smile.
Uh oh, another nooboo on the way. Hope they don't have another set of twins. o.O
@Hermitgirl
@SoulGal7
Oh man, sooo many misunderstandings going on in this chapter.
@Ellupelluellu
Congratulations to Melody on graduating from Uni! She looks so pretty in her cap and gown.
Yeah Damon stopped by with one of the "you've been such a good neighbor I got you this gift" scenarios, so I just went with it. I have a feeling Josh would've beat the stuffin's out of Damon if he had come in the house, or quickly dismissed himself to go do something while he was there so he wasn't tempted to do it.
Day Ten
Soon, everyone else starts filtering out of the bedroom, with everyone finding the food situation pretty much the same. Phoenix finishes his “breakfast”, and tries to help out Marnie by mopping (however, with a broken fridge.. I’m afraid it’s really just good intentions.)
After everyone has left the building, the twins wake up, hungry, and end up eating some microwaved frozen veggies for breakfast while Marnie tries to get the kitchen back under control. Bennie puts the bed back up and heads downstairs to open the store again, to Marnie’s bemusement. His attempt at having a work ethic has not been missed by her, and she wonders why. (Although he has yet to go back to his entertainment job.. or even call in.)
After school, the kids come home to find the fridge fully stocked with leftovers again – a thing they mostly take for granted (to Marnie’s dismay). Everyone heads off to do their own thing, and Jaz is just taking her cold BLT out to the chess table when she notices Colin, the boy from Phoenix’s club hanging around the store and very obviously watching her.
He wanders over to say “Hey”… and even seems to smile, to Jaz’s complete surprise.
“Um. Hi.” Jaz looks around, and there are no other kids around. “What’cha doin’?”
“Mom sent me to check out the sale, my little sister has a birthday coming up. I heard about your fight with Billie. I just wanted to say I’m sorry. Not everyone hates you, you know.” Colin replied.
Flabbergasted, Jaz just looked at him with her jaw dropped, speechless.
“Hey, I had fun playing chess with you at the park. You wanna try another game? I see you guys have an outdoor table over there…?” he tried again, awkwardly, starting to feel like he’d made a mistake by trying to be friendly to the school outcast.
“Uhh.. Sure, Colin. But won’t your friends pick on you for playing with me?” Jaz asked, looking around like she was afraid they’d get caught, and un-ceremonially stuffing the rest of her BLT in her mouth.
“I don’t really care what they think.” Colin replied. “It’s just a club. Plus, Elsa runs the show in the club, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard her spreading nasty rumours. About you or anyone else. She’s nice, actually. You might like her.”
Mostly speechless again… Jaz awkwardly mumbled an “Oh. Okay.” and nodded towards the chess board. “Let me rinse off my plate and I’ll be right out, alright?”
Colin’s face broke into a smile, and headed out to set up the board for play. Jaz, completely at a loss for words, put away her after school snack dish and went out to play chess with Colin, still unsure whether this was just a cruel joke or not. They played happily for a while, until the sun started going down, and they both noticed the “Open” sign on the store go out.
“I better go help close” Jaz mumbled.. and Colin nodded, then said goodbye and headed home, waving jauntily as he walked away.
Back inside the store, With a morose face, Benji was cleaning up the store at the end of day, after having spent the rest of his afternoon helping with the twins and cleaning the apartment.
Bennie had already headed back upstairs, having no interest in cleaning the store… and completely ignoring Benji’s obvious efforts to “get out of the dog house” as it were.
But apparently, Marnie HAD noticed, and caught Benji at the apartment door. “I just want to say, I appreciate your help. You friend, Cade called and invited you to the Bluffs. I’m over-riding your father on this and letting you off your grounding early. Go – have a good time – but no drinking, okay?”
Benji wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, and immediately headed to Windenburg. He didn’t even bother taking a shower first. It didn’t occur to him to wonder why it was Cade who had invited him out.
“So, friend. I heard you’re lusting after MY girl, huh?” Cade started with, and Benji looked at him in shock.
“Where’d you hear that?” he answered, a bit confused, trying to remember exactly who all he’d told.
“EVERYONE knows, Benji. I thought we were FRIENDS. Friends don’t try to break up their friends’ relationships!” Cade said, clearly already worked up.
Benji growled, having pretty much had enough of this.
“Have I ever tried you break you two up? NO. I think she’s pretty, but that much is obvious. You’re the one attacking me, here, buddy. I tried to get to know her a little bit better, true, but I wasn’t trying to get in your way. I ain’t like THAT.” Benji said.
“Oh, really?? What was that business at the club the other day? I saw you off with Shaylee all alone in the bowling alley!” Cade yelled back.
“Seriously. Did you not hear what I JUST said?? I was trying to get to know her better. NOT break you two up! She’s a club member, too!” Benji retorted.
That, was apparently all Cade needed to hear. He roared and rushed Benji, fists already at the ready. For a brief moment, Benji thought about the fact that it was just the two of them, all by themselves out in the wilderness, basically…. then he shrugged mentally and went all-in.
He wasn’t a stranger to fighting, obviously, and Cade clearly was. It didn’t take long for Benji to get the upper hand, and from there it was all downhill for poor Cade.
Cade held his hands up, and literally cried “Uncle! Alright, you. I give! Sorry. You win. But she’s still MINE!”
“We’ll see how long that lasts, Cade.” Benji said, barely out of breath, and without a scratch on him. Cade had not been so lucky, and was going to be sporting a couple of black eyes to school the next day. (Provided he didn’t chicken out of going, that is….) “FRIENDS don’t attack friends. You’re out. Shaylee deserves so much better than you. Find another club to hang with. That is, if you can, once the school finds out about this….”
Cade held his spinning head. “Wait.. I didn’t mean it like that. I was just defending Shay’s honor!”
“No, I don’t think that’s what that was. You’re not changing my mind, Cade. Good bye. And good riddance.” Benji sneered, and walked away, dusting off already dirty hands. He headed home, his head spinning. How had Cade found out, anyway? The only person other than himself that he’d told was Jay. But Jay wouldn’t rat him out…. would he?? … Someone had some explaining to do.
Benji barely noticed his little brother playing with a soccer ball he’d clearly swiped from the park last weekend… and headed straight for the shower. (A much-needed shower, no less.)
By the time he was done, the water was cold, and everyone except for Marnie was in bed. He didn’t bother saying anything to her, just went straight to bed, still reeling. He’d been best friends with Jay since preschool. He never would have guessed Jay would betray him… but clearly Jay had changed. There was no other explanation.
Marnie finally finished fixing everything that needed it at the moment, and stuffed yet another block of cheese into a trap for the mouse hole. Would those little pests ever go away?! Sighing in frustration, she stumbled off to bed, barely avoiding passing out on the floor before she got there.
I now stream the Sims 4 on Twitch!
My Discord Server - A place to discuss my challenges, or the Sims in general
Haha, I love how Sarah is doing her digital art while potting training the kid, definitely multitasking at it's finest! And another baby! I'm not surprised, but I'm overwhelmed for their sake
@Karababy52
This is all my best attempt to write a mystery that ties in with my overarching story, haha. But as I've said, writing mysteries is not my forte, and I do admit it's gotten a bit crazy at some points, but by the time I realize that I'm a little overwhelmed by my story, I've already gotten my screenshots and I'm like, well, no turning back now
Also @Skeilah might be able to shed some light on how to use the military keycard option since I know she did that with Bryon
@Skeilah
Bryon is working so hard to get all his loved ones back. Poor guy
@LegacySims2017
@sassytxbrat
@SoulGal7
@IllusoryThrall
Benji just needs to go home and take a long shower haha. So much teenage drama in his life, I love it though
Notes
Life for Essa and Josh was repetitive for a time, but enjoyable. Every night when he returned from the base, she greeted her soldier home with a warm embrace.
Josh continued to practice spells and his hair began to grow out just a little. It wanted to curl and wave, but he didn't mind. Essa thought it was sexy so that was good enough for him.
He reached another level in his Spellcaster skills and was now Adept with a new set of tomes to study. The Adept tomes seemed more special than the previous ones., they would float, sparkle and glow above his hand. Essa told him it wasn't the tomes that were special, it was him. The tomes recognized and honored his power.
Every night the last thing Josh would do before bed was practice giving speeches. Being an officer demanded more oratory rather than physical skills it seemed. Nonetheless, Josh still kept himself in tip top condition as well.
Josh left for the base the next morning and Essa decided to do some painting. She hadn't done anything just for her own personal enjoyment lately.
With a large Abstract masterpiece worth over 7K, Essa surpassed the million simoleans mark in household funds! Wow! I've only had one other Sim ever reach that amount, but not during regular gameplay. The previous time was for the Rosebud Challenge and I purposely focused only on grinding to earn simoleans and nothing else. To be fair, Essa didn't do it all on her own, the last interest payment Josh received was over 46K for the week. I wonder how much she and Josh will have at the end of the year.
Essa hadn't tried to paint anything by reference outdoors in StrangerVille yet, so she took her easel to the side yard by a cliff to give it a go. It looks blown out, but that's just because there's a heat wave right now.
Essa's been knitting some objects and baby/toddler clothes lately in preparation for future offspring and decided to try making a third stuffed bear toy. As she was enjoying this relaxing task, she felt the house shake under her feet and heard a loud rumbling noise that seemed to come from town. Gazing that way, her heart dropped at what she saw.
A plume of smoke was spiraling up through the sky. Was there a fire? An explosion? What happened and where?
Essa quickly sent Josh a text asking if he knew what had happened. She waited for his reply, but after 20 minutes and no reply, decided to try calling his office on base instead.
The phone just rang and rang. It seemed nobody was there which was odd. Josh's office was very rarely left unattended. His staff rotated hours so someone was always there.
She tried again after a few minutes and finally someone that sounded out of breath picked up the line. Essa was told there had been a small explosion at the Lab and everyone had been quickly evacuated. She was told this wasn't the first time the Lab had an explosion, there had been a rather large one in the past.
This one was minor in comparison, but they were in the process of taking care of the few injured and doing a headcount to make sure everyone was accounted for and where they were supposed to be.
Lieutenant Hunter had not been located yet, but she was told not to worry, his orders did not include working at the Lab. They would let her know as soon as he was found.
(I'm sure he's fine.)
(He better be!)
(I should just sit tight and wait for Josh or someone else to call me, right? But...why hasn't he checked in with his office or called me? He knows I'd worry.)
(I can't. I just can't. Something's wrong. I'm not going to just sit here. No way Jose! I need to look for him myself.)
(Wait...why am I running? I'm a Spellcaster!)
No time for story mode today and I didn't play much at all, just worn out lol. But we know Roxanne is listening in on Rubanoid this is what she heard. Not sure if it's part of the story but it made me giggle.
She dropped the letter into the mail slot and heard the elevator open behind her. It was Wolfgang!
Wolfgang: "Sakura! You're here! Oh my gawd! I came to the dorm last night, but you weren't here..."
Sakura: "I was at UBrite Commons most of the night. What are you doing here?"
Wolfgang: "I came to apologize for last night. I got so tied up in a conversation with one of my E-Sports teammates about gaming strategies, that I missed your poetic reading. And I feel really bad about it. And I didn't even tell you how proud I was of you for doing that reading in front of that crowd of students. And I didn't get you a tea or spend time with you. And the worst part was that I left UBrite Commons and I didn't even say goodbye. I could give you all kinds of reasons for why it happened, but it shouldn't have happened. I should have put you first last night, and I didn't, and I apologize. My mind has been all over the place lately, and I don't want this to come between us. I'm so sorry, Sakura."
Sakura smiled. So it had been an E-Sports teammate that he was talking to about gaming strategy. The way Wolfgang was so intently talking to her, it just seemed like he was so interested in her. And, of course, he was, he was interested in her gaming strategies. Sakura felt foolish for having thought anything else. She wished that Wolfgang had just told her that at UBrite Commons last night.
Sakura: "I think the stress of everything just got a bit too much for both of us last night. It was bad timing to even go to that event. And, yes, I was feeling upset at you because I thought you were ignoring me. I'm sorry, too. We should have just planned a study session together..."
Wolfgang autonomously caressed Sakura's cheek, "I just want you to know Sakura, that I don't want any misunderstanding to come between us. I'll make it up to you. But right now I have to run off, or Professor Lana will be texting me wondering why I am not at the final exam."
Sakura: "Good luck in your exams, Wolfgang!"
Wolfgang gave Sakura a hug, "You, too, Sakura, and I will see you afterwards. Can't wait to move in with you...um...you know...to move to the new house..." he said as he went into the elevator and waved good-bye.
Sakura stood there for a moment smiling and felt like all was right between them again.
Sakura looked at the clock, "Oh my gosh! I have to get dressed and get going, too! Yikes! I have to get to my final exam!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sakura got dressed in a rush and ran out of the dorm and headed down the elevator. She hadn't even combed her hair. She practically ran across the central quad to get to her exam on time. And she was miraculously early, so she took out her coursebook and read until it was time to head inside. She saw Sofia and wished her luck, too. She had two exams and they were back-to-back.
[Note: And this is where my game seemed to glitch on me. For the two exams she had just written, all of a sudden, it said that she had homework to do in both of them. She had completed all of her requirements for all of her courses before she went into the final exams, and now suddenly it said she had homework. Gah! I quickly had Sakura do the first course homework, but she didn't have time to finish the second course homework, because suddenly, BOOM...her grades appeared. Unfortunately, I don't know what Wolfgang got for his individual course scores, but he does have an A+ GPA, so he must have done well on the exams, too.]
After her class and while she was waiting for her final grades to be posted, she called up the other members of the soccer team thinking that perhaps they could get together to study some soccer plays. But it seemed they were all busy, so Sakura just sat down and studied plays by herself.
And then...her grades! Woot! Term 1 was officially over, and she was now enrolling in Term 2. She was going to stay in soccer until after the game tomorrow night, and then she was going to resign. Then she would have her weeknights free to concentrate on her painting and violin, and join the Art Society, which is what she wanted to do.
And then it was time to move out! Wolfgang had come over to Sakura's dorm to help her. Some students were staying and some were also moving out.
Sakura greeted Wolfgang with an autonomous kiss on the cheek.
Wolfgang was surprised: "I should help you move more often if that's my payment. So, I guess I am forgiven for last night?"
Sakura smiled: "Well, I just want to forget about last night. I just want to make a fresh start. To maybe do some things differently..."
Wolfgang: "I agree with everything you said. I really want to do some things differently, too. But I still want to make it up to you. I sort of have planned something for tomorrow night for the two of us. I hope that's okay...after your soccer game, of course..."
Sakura smiled shyly, "Really? I had sort of planned something for the two of us, too..."
Wolfgang looking at Sakura surprised, "Really? You were planning something, too?"
Sakura: "Yes, I wanted it to be special...just the two of us...before we were bombarded with roommates again..."
Wolfgang: "Yes, just the two of us...that sounds really nice..."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ans it looks like a new roommate was making themselves at home in the lounge already. Is that you Frank? Are you going to uni now?
One of Sakura's roommates asked Wolfgang if he wanted a sandwich.
Wolfgang: "Um...sure...might be good to have a snack handy..."
Wolfgang autonomously cleans up Sakura's dorm.
Wolfgang and Jeb kick around the soccer ball in the bathroom. Okay, time to go!
And before she knew it, she and Wolfgang were standing in front of their new digs! They didn't have much time to unpack, as Sakura was off to soccer practice and Wolfgang was off to his E-Sports meeting. But Wolfgang took a moment to hold Sakura close to him.
Wolfgang: "It feels so good to have you here with me, Sakura," he said as he hugged Sakura.
Sakura: "I'm so glad that you're here, Wolfgang. This feels like home to me."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Like, @sassytxbrat already said she was doing 7day baby, 14 days toddler... and then what?
time zone: Berlin, Germany - EA Gallery ID: Noctuara
So they explored the plants, taking cuttings and harvesting the fruit, so they could use what they found in their research.
Their team had also developed some scanners to help them locate the spores more easily, so they began to collect the spore clusters, since they seemed especially useful for developing a vaccine.
The local church in Strangerville had offered their basement as a place for the scientists to stay as they worked, since lodging was limited in the town.
(My screenshots seem to always get a bit blurry when I try to take nice scenic shots of buildings and the surrounding area, maybe one day I'll master the art of a scenic screenshot haha)
In the church basement, the team of scientists had set up their equipment. The other scientists and doctors on their team were out tending to the infected citizens of the town, while Chloe and Skeilah began the research for an effective vaccine.
"We're gonna need a lot more spore clusters," Chloe informed her once she ran the data.
Emmett stopped by later to check in. The girls were still hard at work, though they were beginning to run low on spores. They asked Emmett if he could bring a scanner to Jules, figuring she could scan the area near the plane wreckage without too much detection, as long as she was careful. The more spores they could gather, the better.
Emmett went to stop in at the bunker later that evening.
And then he gave Jules the scanner that Skeilah had given to him. He couldn't stay long though. The military was especially especially demanding these days. It was clear that several of his commanding officers were in league with the aliens, whether they were willing participants or not, since the military had such a hand in thwarting anyone who tried to properly investiage. It stressed Emmett out to be an involuntary asset to all this, but they all agreed that they needed someone on the inside, and it would look suspicious for him to try to quit now.
That night, once checking the area to make no one was around, Jules began to scan for spore clusters, glad to have found a way to make herself useful.
Outtakes
Anyway, for that screenshot above, I wanted it to look like Emmett was handing her the scanner, the same way I did with Chloe, so I had to have him scan the area for that effect. Didn't realize that if a person was standing in the radius, it would scan them though. I mean, it is an infection scanner after all, it makes sense it would be able to detect infected people, lol. I guess since Jules has been infected briefly already, this triggered it again - I honestly haven't played this pack enough to know how the possessions actually work.
Then she and Emmett autonomously got into a fight
Emmett was able to snap Jules out of her possessed state and she was fine after that.
I didn't include this as a part of the official story since Emmett "scanning" wasn't meant to be part of the story, just screenshot material, but it was entertaining, as most unplanned parts of this game are, so I thought I'd share
Also I spotted the first challenge sim so far this month, wandering around town. Don't worry Roxanne, we'll get you cured soon!
Link to the post on my blog
Bryons Diary
I went to the Curio Shop, only to find someone else standing in there.
(Bryon) “Excuse me... Where is Erwin?”
(Man) “He has the day off, but if you need him, he’s probably working in his front yard.”
The guy points towards the trailer park. Erwin lives in a trailer?
As I walked inside the park, I saw him being busy in his ‘front yard’.
(Bryon) “Am I interrupting?
(Erwin) “Look who we have here! No, you never interrupt!”
(Bryon) “I got the Spore filter.”
(Erwin) “Awesome! Please, come inside. The Hazmat suit is already waiting for you.”
There was barely enough space for the both of us to walk in his trailer, but I have to admit, it’s a cozy little place if you’re on your own.
(Erwin) “Hmm... In which drawer did I put it...? Ah, here!”
(Erwin) "Here you go!"
(Bryon) “You even packed it?”
(Erwin) “Of course! Try it on!”
(Bryon) “Now?”
(Erwin) “Yeah!”
And so, I tried it on.
(Erwin) “That’s a perfect fit!!”
(Bryon) “Thank you so much, Erwin.”
I changed back into my own clothes and said goodbye to Erwin with a high five.
(Erwin) “The best of luck to you. I hope you find your boyfriend!”
(Bryon) “I’ll keep you updated.”
There I go. Off to the crater. (After changing into my military outfit at home, or else I’m not allowed to go there)
(Bryon) “Here goes nothing...”
With my new Hazmat Suit on, I stepped into the blue smoke.
(Bryon) “It seems like I’m not affected... You did a great job, Erwin.”
And then, I saw it. A door. The door.
(Bryon) “Naoki... Are you behind there?”
I noticed a key card system on the right side of the door.
(Bryon) “Would my key card work on that door...?”
Only one way to find out: I tried it, and yes, the door slowly went open.
(Bryon) “No way...”
I had my guard up while I was walking in that hall, but it seemed like I was the only person here...
Suddenly I saw Naoki, but something was wrong with him. He's possessed.
(Bryon) “Naoki... What did they do to you...?”
I started hearing voices. People that have access to this part of the building are coming down the stairs. I have to hide. Maybe behind that door.
(Naoki - Mother) “Don’t you dare going through that door, human. Didn’t I tell you to never come back? You must be so lucky that this man is locked up...”
I decided to ignore the thing that took over Naoki to talk to me, and ran towards the door. Naoki fell on the ground as if he fell asleep.
(Bryon) “Oh boy, that was close...”
(???) “What was close?”
I barely managed to not scream. For some reason, doctor Noelle was right behind me.
(Noelle) “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you or something. You must be lucky that it’s me in this room and not one of the others.”
(Bryon) “And why would I be lucky? You’re the one who pretended to help us, but you snatched our babies away.”
(Noelle) “I’m so sorry for that. It’s not that I wanted it to go that way. It’s just the way things work here. I really liked the way you started loving those aliens as if they were yours.”
(Bryon) “They are ours! And I’m going to take them back! And Naoki too! So, where are they?!”
(Noelle) “... In there.”
I turned my head to where Noelle was looking. What I saw then made me almost pee my pants.
(Bryon) “What’s... That...”
(Noelle) “Mother. The keeper of our babies, the brain master behind the infected Sims and the Queen of the aliens. If Mother says something, we obey.”
(Bryon) “this giant thing is behind the infections... and it has my babies?!”
(Noelle) “Yes, this ‘giant thing’ has your babies inside of her for them to grow faster. She uses the infected ones to have a voice. Aliens can talk to her with their brains, and she can talk back to us that way, but you wouldn’t hear her unless she takes over an infected Sim and talk to you via the Sim.”
(Noelle) “She says she already warned you twice to get out of here and never come back. Why are you back here again?”
(Bryon) “I’m here to get Naoki and my babies back.”
(Noelle) “... The only way to get the babies back is to defeat Mother, and there’s no way you could do that on your own.”
(Bryon) “Can I free Naoki? And... Is there a way to defeat Mother?”
Noelle didn’t react. Of course she didn’t, but something in her eyes told me that she was answering me ‘yes’. I suddenly realised that Noelle isn’t as bad as the rest of those aliens. I mean, I would’ve been captured like Naoki if I bumped into someone else.
The next moment, she disappeared like she was never there in the first place.
(Bryon) “I can’t take the kids on my own if they are INSIDE of that... Thing... But she just allowed me to take Naoki, right?”
I peeped around the corner. The other aliens had left the room, so I took my chance.
I opened the box and got Naoki on my back.
(Bryon) “We’re going home. We need to find a way to defeat Mother and get our babies back. I’ll be back, Mother.”
Story:
Jackson wakes up around 6:00am to a loud thundering noise. He also notices he is all wet and quickly jumps to his feet. There’s a thunderstorm happening and Jackson is caught in the middle of it. He didn’t plan on this happening and quickly moves inside his tent. His internal alarm was about to wake him up anyway.
Jackson (to himself): “I guess no jogging before school. Hopefully this lets up by then. I don’t want to have to run to school in a thunderstorm. I heard about others getting struck by lightning.”
Luckily for Jackson, the thunderstorm turned into a light drizzle by the time he needed to make his way to school. He changed into much drier clothes. The rain kept coming down on and off during Jackson’s classes. It was heavier when he arrived back at his beach. The raindrops were warm to the touch. There was no wind to blow the rain around.
As a child, Jackson loved to go outside and play in the rain. Because there was no thunderstorm, he spread his arms out and let the rain fall upon him. Soon, the rain came to a stop. The skies were a little dark signaling the rain could start back up again any time. Jackson waded into the ocean until he couldn’t walk any further. He watched as the fish were jumping around as if they were also enjoying the rain.
There wasn’t going to be any exploring today for Jackson, he knew. So, he spent much of his time inside his tent or having some food from his cooler while viewing the ocean as the fish continued to perform their own show for him.
Side Notes:
Bonus Images:
Aspirations Completed:
Traits:
Skills:
As for your post: Oh boy, the Drama never ends... How'd you make that explosion appear ingame? I'm just as worried as Tessa now!
Thank you for that comment! I really was intent on having a dysfunctional family, but I guess I don't like conflict in Sims any more than in RL, so that probably will not happen. At least it'll make you smile...
I assure you that these won't be twins - I need them to have another kid later in the month so there will be a needy toddler overshadowing our Challenge Sim. The first twins were from the game, but this time I have definite plans.
The challenge Sim has to have their toddler birthday on the 1st of June. Right now I have two days of baby-hood and 3 days of pregnancy in my game, so that's the schedule I am planning with. (And should I be off one day in the end, I'll cheat so they will still age up on 1st of June.) The time until then will be spent with the twins (who should be teens in June), the baby and another baby later in the month. I want to leave one spot open for a potential little sibling/twin (who knows, that depends on how chaotic the household already is when the challenge sim arrives) and for risky Woohoo (feels a bit cheaty to me without, so that's why)
time zone: Berlin, Germany - EA Gallery ID: Noctuara
@miss_eulenauge
I think I like this format much more than yesterday's "Let's just throw everything that happened in one little piece of text without any connection or meaning to the sentences". Gonna have to practice what pictures I take a bit more though. Usually I mainly take story-relevant or cute pictures and write the post hours later. This time there was so much daily activity missing that I had to figure out what had happened completely on my own...
How come there isn't any drama in these posts nowadays? But truth to be told, I don't think I have the energy for more drama. We had a literal heat wave, and I'll be having two exams and one lecture in the next weeks... (NOT looking forward to that!) And perhaps I'll be doing my highway driving lesson tomorrow, which needs 2-3 hours as well
I'm kinda looking forward to the Main Sim having their teen birthday so I can leave this family behind and focus on their story and development, without the family to care for as well. So I think I will definitely try to speed up the childhood timeline a bit, we'll see how much exactly. Don't get me wrong, I love the family and the chaos that is involved... (And think it will definitely make one valid reason for the Main Sim to move out, shouldn't I be able to come up with one with more drama.) Just... I was reading through the thread in the evenings instead of a novel and got envious at all of you who had the freedom to do whatever with the characters without a family in the background
last Update | Overview post&rules
Update 7 - Bridgeview
Sarah's Diary
The day started early with me editing that stupid picture yet again. I swear, I have already edited it five times so far! At least they didn't tell me to start completely over... Greg then went to his course.
Then, I had to fix the toilet. I was quite hungry (and it was already past 9am), but someone decided that had priority over breakfast. (Well yeah, that's because you kept leaving your breakfast to mop that puddle... I just had you properly fix it!)
I gave myself a pep talk before I felt up to tackling the new day with the twins. (Still going crazy with all the kids and the money trouble? Yep, sure looks like it!)
Then, I finally got breakfast - at 10:21 am. Which is why I am looking so annoyed at everything in this photo.
Sophia and Mark had already been up for quite some time and had played in their room like they usually do in the morning - apparently they weren't hungry yet. (Or did they eat something? And why didn't I take a picture? Perhaps my pictures got scrambled again... Oh well. Edit: They got scrambled, so I tried my best to sort them in the correct order)
Mark and his cute little good-morning-Dance...
Sophia actually came downstairs while I was in the bathroom. "Fridge, give food! Now! Or I tell Mommy..."
I love that little toddler dance! Mark does it quite often, even without music... Since I found this old radio in the attic, I figured: Why not turn it on and let them listen to some kid's music?
In the afternoon, Joey came to visit during a thunderstorm. I invited him in and told him that I sadly wouldn't have time to look after him, but if he wanted to play with the twins for a bit...?
This bathroom actually is my favourite place to paint. (Could that be because you always start paintings after you went potty and then never liten to me when I tell you to go sit somewhere?) It's just so quiet, and away from the kids...
Or is it? I guess I spoke too soon there! Classic parent life...
After Greg got home, he made some calls to be listed with an agency like mine as Freelance Programmer. He definitely is qualified now, having reached Level 4 of Programming and Level 3 of Logic...
He then went on the Computer to do another tournament, and came in Second. (Looks like it really is possible to get other results than "lost this tournament...") I was so glad Sophia didn't disturb him too much, asking what he was doing there... Then, he chatted with a client for his first gig.
My belly is huge already! I'm so glad that between me and Greg we managed to pay the bills. Only 43$ left now, but I'm sure we will get more money soon. (Actually MCC autopaid them. Forgot I still had that setting on... I'm not mad this time, but I actually had planned for them to not be able to pay the bills and get a power cut, so the Twins would spend the night with Granny and they'd snuggle a bit and start with kiddo 3. Whew. )
The kids had been in bed for hours already when I heard Sophia crying because she was hungry... So a midnight snack it was. I'll really have to watch that, I needed over an hour to get her back into bed! She insisted she was "not a bit sleepy" and it was "morning already" anyway, so she "just wanted to play blocks like a quiet little girl"... And I wanted her, Mark and me to get more sleep!
Just when I had gotten up on the next day to pee (Gee, Pregnancy and bladder capacity...) Mark woke up because of a nightmare and decided to wake Mark instead of coming to me. I like that the kids see us both as parents now, and Greg is grumpy in the morning anyways. I'll be curious to see how he reacts!
Characters
Parents: Sarah and Greg Britton. They live on the 20x15 "Comfy Cubby" in Bridgeview, Newcrest.
Kids: Sophia & Mark (Twins)
- Greg Britton - Greg is a young adult who has a strong interest in Gaming and Computers and is quite a Geek. Unfortunately, he also is a bit slobby and mean. Due to his history, he is a bit troubled, has Bad Manners, is Irresponsible, Argumentative and Insensitive. But he can be nice as well... if he tries his best... (and I help him by x-ing out all his autonomous mean&mischievous interactions from the Parenthood traits) He was working in business, but hated it. So he enrolled for a Programming course and is now a freelance programmer listed with an agency. On the side, he participates in Novice Tournaments.
- Sarah Britton - Sarah on the other hand wants to be the best parent possible, even though she is a Young Adult herself. She is very neat, good and loves being with her family. She found a job as Freelancer Artist to try and keep the two of them afloat.
- Sophia Britton - The firstborn, and the twin of Mark. She is a toddler now, and is very independent.
- Mark Britton - The secondborn and the twin of Sophia. He is a toddler now too, and is a little charmer.
- unborn baby
others:time zone: Berlin, Germany - EA Gallery ID: Noctuara
and anyone else who would like to know why Kiyoshi is at the remote Olympic camp, and how my storyline has evolved to date.
"Whoa, these are good grades! I think she'll be really happy when her schedule lightens a bit... Definitely seeing some chemistry with Wolfgang there, but she has loads of memories with Kiyoshi as well. Wonder how he'll react to that letter? (Side note: Why did you decide to have Kiyoshi go to that remote training camp? To open up possibilities with others? And when is spring break?) Glad that they were able to talk through last night's misunderstandings. Does Wolfgang have any kind of potential love interest, like Kiyoshi with Kaori?"
Josh’s new hairstyle is also cute!
@Skeilah
@Hermitgirl
@SoulGal7
Awesome grades too, especially since you've been trying to play Wolfgang too! It will be so nice to have them both in one household now!
@LegacySims2017
@miss_eulenauge
Have you considered having your challenge sim be a teen by June 1st and just starting the challenge officially then?
Haha, great daily shot of mommy and daughter both using the potty, love it! Very "real" moment
Just a note to everyone playing the Strangerville Mystery (or who will be playing eventually) - I'll put this in a spoiler in case those who haven't played this pack don't want to know.
Besides, I want him/her to get Top Notch toddler, finish all 4 kid aspirations and perhaps also the scouts career (will probably leave that one for the teenage years to try and do it like the other people starting with "fresh" teens aside from the four childhood aspiration reward traits they'll hopefully get)... And I want to do all that without cheating or needs potions, and without ignoring the whole rest of the family. Like, if I wanted to make a super sim as fast as possible, I could just go do that challenge and optimize everything to be as perfect as possible. (Btw - who am I kidding, I will SO make the challenge sim a girl, I somehow like playing girls a lot more
I might try to have them ready in July already, then I'd be a literal half year behind the first people to start the challenge.
@SoulGal7 Thank you for the long explanation! I'm at roughly mid-february now and I was starting to ask myself whether the "meet with Kyoshi"-Situation had happened between then and now or whether it was still to come. You look at the posts back then with a whole different angle if you know the Wolfgang from May...!
time zone: Berlin, Germany - EA Gallery ID: Noctuara
May 11
Week 2, Wednesday
While Mia is at school, Skye has a busy day taking care of Eli, recording videos to upload, and watching television. Of course, she also plays with toys and then leaves them laying around the house instead of putting them up.
She schedules another audition and this one is going to require some fitness skill. She has none, so it is time to get moving. She has to reach level 3 before the audition at noon on Thursday. Eli’s birthday is not scheduled until Sunday, so he still has a few more days as a burrito.
Jogging is too hard, says Skye and me. So she buys a treadmill to run on. Her logic is not mine. I just don’t run at all. Running is bad because you fall down and then things hurt. Skye isn’t any more impressed with the treadmill than she is with jogging on the street.
Mia comes home from school, does her homework, cleans up the dishes, and calls it a night. It is 6pm and she never made it to bed.
When she wakes up on the floor of the kitchen, one might think she would go to bed. But not our girl.
Of course, there are two, three problems here. One, the 🐸🐸🐸🐸 monster is back. Tonight Mia is able to make friends with it. That doesn’t mean it won’t come to wake her, just that she won’t be scared. Two, one would think that I would have bought her a night light after the monster showed up the first time. Especially, I would have bought the night light after the second time. But no, it takes three times before I have the idea to add a nightlight to her room.
Three, she house is getting dirty again but instead of cleaning up the dust bunny, she makes nice and in return it brings her a plant – a trash fruit specifically. Of course, she should be sleeping but she is still scared. Skye has been trying to get here to put her back to bed, but Eli was screaming and the toileting was overflowing. And she simply had to have another cup of coffee.
Finally, Mia is back in bed and she should have enough time to get a good sleep before school on Thursday. Skye gives Eli a diaper change and then she heads to bed, hoping she can sleep through the night, remembering at the last moment that she still needs to improve her fitness skill. In the morning, she will do that in the morning, before the audition.