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Comments
You did a marvelous job of revision. Redrafts don't always have to be the way to go. I was less shocked with this version. Nice job.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
Things are as they are. Always hope. But never expect.
I just hope from now on if I see angel food cake I won't start blushing or doubling over from laughter.😁
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Funny thing is, I can't stand angel food cake... but I love dancing.
I had everybody together for some last minute planning. Londyn grabbed her laptop and was ready to make reservations for the big surprise, when it hit me. I haven't come up with a name for the ristorante where the proposal is going to happen. I have had a ball wasting the last two hours googling ideas and inspirations for names to give a romantic little Italian eatery.😁
Edit: When I originally placed that little restaurant it was only going to be there long enough to shoot the proposal and maybe stick around for a short time afterward. I've used that lot for a couple of different venues during the story so far. Now after putting all the effort into renovations it's going to become a permanent fixture. I've started working on a backstory for the place. I do have a name, Mantegazza's Cucina Toscana, if I used Google translate correctly that is Mantegazza's Tuscan Kitchen. The backstory will tell the story of the family that founded, owns, and runs the place. That means some new characters at some point. My cast continues to grow.🤪
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Or what was so exciting.
But girl, in just a few short hours, Matteo is going to give you a present more beautiful than that rose. Far more beautiful.
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I did notice something weird and it's probably mod related. I merged all three households into one so I could have control over everybody. When I did that and joined the new mega-household, Danielle suddenly had a sad moodlet saying someone had hurt her feelings. But I couldn't figure out who. I used my cheats to remove it and then I sent the ladies on ahead to the restaurant. When they get seated, suddenly buried way down in Danielle's stack of moodlets she had an angry one about somebody physically hurting her. I was puzzled and started around the table checking the others and Summer had a simmering rage moodlet for the same thing.
They had recently been together at the Huntley residence and I had been with them the whole time and nothing happened, everybody had a fun time sitting around the kitchen table just having a girls gab session. I exited without saving, went back in and had everybody gather again but I didn't merge the households and there's no sad or angry moodlets. Everything is fine. It's a love fest, everybody is cool with everybody else. I merged the households in manage households since I haven't reinstalled MCCC. Something strange is happening whenever I merge the households into one. Awhile back I mentioned an angry moodlet between two very friendly sims in my werewolf save, and thinking back that moodlet popped up after I merged households in that save too.
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Not sure if that's what's happening to you but I know it's hard to keep a big household managed without autonomy.
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My Dad used to tell us of study wherein they put a great many rats together into a space too small to confine them. They turned on each other. He often suggested a larger house would help us all get along better, based on that study. It makes sense. Every living thing needs their own 'space', if you will. Perhaps, you've crammed too many Sims together?
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
I have a few ideas I want to try. I hadn't thought about the house size since they were never meant to spend even one night living under the same roof. It was only supposed to be long enough to get the shots I wanted and then exit without saving. I reinstalled MCCC with the latest update and I want to see if I merge them together that way if it happens again. Another is to have each household arrive one at a time and ask to join that particular household and see if it repeats. This is more or less an experiment now. Once I have the proposal done I can exit without saving, like I've been doing, and go back to the main save. I won't have any reason to merge households there and this shouldn't be a problem anymore. That said I'm making a note of this since it could possibly bubble up over there from some other trigger. I had been having issues with Londyn suddenly coming up with a sad emotion bomb moodlet even though she
didn't have that quirk.
ETA: My worry at the moment with this is I don't want that moodlet to suddenly become the one that sets their mood and spoil a shot. I went through that with the scene on the couch with Travis, Summer, and Liberty. I can use a cheat to go in and instantly remove the unwanted moodlet, but I have to stop and check to make sure everyone is still cool instead of focusing on what I came to do.
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I was curious about what was happening around our little group of friends. There were no other guests in the downstairs main dining room or out on the patio. They were all in the upstairs dining room and lounge. I did spy something very interesting upstairs. Keep in mind this is all happening in the backup save, so this all disappears when I go back to the main save. I spied a familiar blonde bob and black dress through the archway on to the balcony at the front of the restaurant. I also instantly noted that the man she was with was not her husband.
I sat there for a minute or two with my jaw hanging open and the game still paused. What was Danielle's mom Jennifer doing there with Marcus Flex? I should have left the camera on them and unpaused the game to see what was actually happening. I got impatient to see, so I switched to her household but that interrupted their conversation, dinner, tryst, whatever was going on. They had only the most minute sliver of green in their friendship bar and no romance bar at all. I'm 99.9999% sure it was totally innocent...but...the split second I paused the game to have a look around caught them in a pose that could have any number of different explanations. I could have sworn Jennifer and Blake had a faithfulness agreement, but it wasn't showing in their traits panel. I did pull the mod out briefly for a test a few weeks back and then put it back. That might have removed their agreement. And there is no proof they were doing anything even remotely romantic, but there is still that possibility. And her husband was inside dancing merrily, her daughter, daughter-in-law, and two women who've known her their entire lives were downstairs. That would be outrageous even by sims standards to openly cheat in that setting.
This all disappears now that I'm headed back to the main save, but it was a 'things to make you go hmmm' moment.
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Yeah, sims are shameless. I recall a Welcome Wagon where Gwen's dad, Doug Brown, started flirting outrageously with Summer, with his wife Lillian sitting at the table with them. Lillian was not amused. Summer was.
I often find myself struggling with what to do with these subplots the the game just hands me. Sometimes they make interesting side stories (or even completely change the direction of my main story) and other times I just sigh and think - no, I can't use that. Too distracting.
The parents aren't main characters so I'm open to allowing their stories to wander where they will. So maybe this is the time to just let this possibility linger. Danielle and Londyn are together forever, same for Matteo and Liberty. I want Summer to have a fairy tale romance and marriage and I think Darian is the right one, but I want to watch them some more before I commit and say their bond is as strong as the others. There's definitely love and passion there but somehow it feels a wee bit less strong in comparison. Before I turn off wants each time I check to see what they currently are. Darian has a want for proposing, but it's generic. It's the same for Summer. If both get a specific want to propose to the other that's my sign, unless they are as blatantly in love as Danielle and Londyn.
Sorry for the novel but I felt like showing a little of how I view my main cast and some of the supporting characters.
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I'm not planning on doing a lot of pictures on his meetings with the ladies to lay out his plans and to get their help and input. I have all the shots I need for the proposal itself. If I don't decide to go back to and stage more scenes then I should have this wrapped up tonight or tomorrow.
As always, I appreciate the fact that so many of you take the time to read my little story. It is so heartwarming to read your comments and feel how the characters have become favorites with so many of you. I never thought this would become what it is when it started, but I feel blessed that it has. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.❤️
P.S., I may have to get a bigger notebook to keep up with all the storylines. There's a new one ready to be revealed in this episode.
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Some things are so right, so beautiful they they feel like universal truths, or we wish they were. For those who are optimists and hopeless romantics, one of those truths is that love will always find a way. Matteo Rossi and Liberty Lee found each other even though they lived worlds apart for most of their lives. Liberty grew up in Willow Creek, not far from the swamps and bayous that dot the area. Many generations of the Rossi and D'Angelo families have lived in the coastal foothills overlooking Tartosa, their homes nestled among the vineyards and wineries. Matteo has spent his entire life immersed in the romanticism of this Mediterranean paradise.
Matteo had every advantage. His dad is a respected architect, and his mom's family runs a vineyard which supplies the best wineries in Tartosa with the grapes they need to make their world famous, and award winning, wines. Best of all he has a sister, Allegra, who he loves dearly. Allegra in turn thinks the sun rose and set in her big brother. From an early age Matteo had a love of cooking and spent many hours learning from his nonna Vittoria. Francesca's mother, Vittoria D'Angelo, was considered by many to be one of the best cooks in Tartosa. She taught young Matteo everything she knew and felt he was truly gifted. They loved spending time together and Matteo used to run home after school to have another lesson from nonna.
Life for Liberty after graduating from high school was going great, for a while. She had a decent house she shared with one of her best friends and the guy she once thought she loved. She had also started on the journey to her dream of being an astronaut. Those dreams would eventually be shattered by Travis' acts of betrayal and abuse. Not long after things went wrong with Travis, Liberty found herself alone as her best friends Danielle and Summer had packed up and moved to Tartosa. Liberty then realized her bosses at the Sims Space Agency had no intention of ever letting her go into space. She found her first lifeline, and it was the one that would open the door that led to Matteo Rossi.
For Matteo life after graduation became difficult and tumultuous, even though at times he thought it couldn't get any better. For the first time in his life he was free to live as he wanted. To come and go as he pleased. His friend from school, Leonardo Ricci, became something more than a friend, he became Matteo's worst enemy. It's not that Leonardo was trying to harm Matteo, or ruin him. Leonardo had always been irresponsible, selfish, and shallow. He was only interested in knowing where the next party was. Leonardo measured success in terms of how much money you have, how much you could spend, and how many women you've slept with. For all of his parents hard work, Matteo soon found himself enthralled with the party life that Leonardo had introduced him to. Matteo had enough money set aside before his parents cut him off in their last ditch effort to save him, that he could keep up with Leonardo. Matteo had found the world of 'sex, drugs, and rock'n roll'.
Matteo's descent into the party life was hard for Davide and Francesca to watch. Their love, all of the lessons and values they taught him, weren't enough to save him from himself. Leonardo continued to show Matteo a world of fun that led him further and further down. Matteo's sister Allegra was the last one to try and save him. Growing up, Matteo loved his sister with all his heart, and in turn she thought the world revolved around him. Things reached a point where even Allegra had to make the hard decision to walk away. She wished, she hoped, and she prayed that someday her brother would find his way back. It was going to take a love greater than her own, and that of their parents, to save him.
As Liberty's life and career were taking off again, Matteo's was nearing rock bottom and he was facing the very real possibility of losing yet another job as a chef. He was running out of chances to realize his dream, at least in Tartosa. Meanwhile, Leonardo had met a couple of women who had recently arrived in Tartosa from far away Willow Creek. Leonardo had started a casual relationship with Summer Holiday and he tried to get Matteo hooked up with Danielle Chabert. There was something bothering Matteo. He could see Leonardo was just toying with Summer and for the first time in a couple of years, someone like the old Matteo was back. He didn't like the way Leonardo was treating Summer like a plaything. He could sense that Summer wasn't looking for a long term romance, but it was still wrong, what Leonardo was doing. Matteo himself wasn't interested in a relationship, not romantically anyway, with Danielle. She was really friendly and charismatic, but there was no spark between them. Matteo sensed there was something else going on with Danielle on a deep, personal level. He also chided himself for thinking that just because Danielle didn't seem attracted to him romantically didn't prove anything.
Everything about her was soothing, reassuring, and alluring all at once. Liberty was beautiful, kind hearted, and intelligent. A woman who is smart and confident, who refuses to play dumb just to impress a man has always been a turn on for Matteo. The things Liberty has endured recently has unlocked that calm self assurance that was always there. Her friends helped her reveal the beauty she used to hide under wacky outfits and awkwardness.
They didn't know it at the time, but just by coming into Matteo's life, Liberty had pulled him back from the brink. With her love and support to propel him, Matteo was back on the path that led to his dreams.
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http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
Fantastic, just fantastic.
I've been working towards this point for a little bit. Let me back up a little and explain how Matteo evolved. He was originally supposed to be a sort of mirror image of Leonardo. They were intended to be bros, hustlers, and players. Leonardo lived up to the idea I had for him, Matteo went off script in spite of everything. He and Leonardo were roommates, but Matteo was always more interested in hanging out and reading books. Leonardo was always playing video games and he loves parties. They were supposed to be a brief fling for Danielle and Summer, maybe Matteo would come back for another date or two with Danielle before she moved on to someone who was interested in a long term relationship. We all know how her story turned out, thank god for Londyn.
When I realized Matteo was actually a character I could sympathize with and enjoyed having around I started creating a rough draft of his backstory. The original idea was supposed to be much sadder. Like I said a few weeks back, that one really was emotionally devastating. That version had his parents and sister dying tragically in a car wreck. I hadn't planned to even create his family, but as I started writing this episode, I got to a point in the first draft where I needed to have Davide, Francesca, and Allegra appear in flashback pictures. I created them and was still planning to have Davide and Francesca die off camera even when I posted their screenshots in the WHIYGT thread. The next day I went back looking at posts, saw them again and it broke me to look at Francesca and think that her character was going to die. So I came up with the party animal/sex, drugs, and rock'n roll story to explain how Liberty saved him. He really was in danger of losing his job at one point and that's how I took an interest in getting him and Liberty close and see what happened. The first time they met he did focus on her out of everybody and that figured in too.
I thought I'd share another little insight into how I go about creating our favorite little group of lovers.
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