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Under The Tartosan Sun

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  • luciusstormluciusstorm Posts: 1,552 Member
    @DaniRose2143, still fantastic.
    Fate is a riddle and we choose our own answer. Wyrd Girls
  • GalacticGalGalacticGal Posts: 28,294 Member
    Once I knew exactly what portions of the original post were over the line I made the decision to edit it and add some new elements to it instead of starting over. An awful lot of work went into the original. I didn’t want to throw it all away, start over, and delay Matteo and Liberty’s big moment any further. A big thank you to @EA_Cade for helping me sort out the edits that were needed, and to you the reader for sticking with this story and the inspiration you give me. We’re just getting started.❤️

    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.
    You can download (free) all three volumes of my Night Whispers Star Trek Fanfiction here: http://galacticgal.deviantart.com/gallery/ You'll need to have a pdf reader. New websites: http://www.trekkiefanfiction.com/st-tos.php
    http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
  • simgirl1010simgirl1010 Posts: 35,708 Member
    I don't have anything to compare it to since I missed the original but I don't see how it could have topped this version. You're a wonderful storyteller and know how to keep your readers wanting more.
  • DaniRose2143DaniRose2143 Posts: 8,661 Member
    @simgirl1010 @GalacticGal Thank you both so much for those sweet words. My heart really wasn't into doing a total reshoot, but I didn't want to leave that part of their story blank. Thankfully it was just a minor edit. But it did give me a chance to add a little bit to the story and make it that little bit better.

    I just hope from now on if I see angel food cake I won't start blushing or doubling over from laughter.😁
  • luciusstormluciusstorm Posts: 1,552 Member
    @simgirl1010 @GalacticGal Thank you both so much for those sweet words. My heart really wasn't into doing a total reshoot, but I didn't want to leave that part of their story blank. Thankfully it was just a minor edit. But it did give me a chance to add a little bit to the story and make it that little bit better.

    I just hope from now on if I see angel food cake I won't start blushing or doubling over from laughter.😁

    Funny thing is, I can't stand angel food cake... but I love dancing. <3
    Fate is a riddle and we choose our own answer. Wyrd Girls
  • DaniRose2143DaniRose2143 Posts: 8,661 Member
    edited October 2022
    Na0ppYC.png

    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.🤪
    Post edited by DaniRose2143 on
  • DaniRose2143DaniRose2143 Posts: 8,661 Member
    I don't know what was so shocking in your game, dear Liberty.
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    Or what was so exciting.
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    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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  • DaniRose2143DaniRose2143 Posts: 8,661 Member
    edited October 2022
    I've had jury duty this week and I haven't been into the game because of it. I'm done and hoping I can get back in the swing of my story. I've been experimenting with the big scene and I'm going to have to go to Plan B. It's actually more like maybe I'll have to go that route, but it isn't looking great for my original idea.

    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.
  • luciusstormluciusstorm Posts: 1,552 Member
    @DaniRose2143, I know the new update introduced some problems with interaction autonomy... when I played today any time I left sims to their own devices they started yelling, insulting and generally being mean... like straight from a selected Kiss to autonomy Insult. I had to use MCCC to turn off autonomy Mean interactions.

    Not sure if that's what's happening to you but I know it's hard to keep a big household managed without autonomy.
    Fate is a riddle and we choose our own answer. Wyrd Girls
  • DaniRose2143DaniRose2143 Posts: 8,661 Member
    I don’t think that’s what I’m dealing with. Nobody has performed any mean or mischievous socials and they haven’t popped up in their queues. It’s weird, but at least this is in one of the backup saves and not the main, and it only happens after I merge everybody into one household.
  • GalacticGalGalacticGal Posts: 28,294 Member
    I don’t think that’s what I’m dealing with. Nobody has performed any mean or mischievous socials and they haven’t popped up in their queues. It’s weird, but at least this is in one of the backup saves and not the main, and it only happens after I merge everybody into one household.

    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?
    You can download (free) all three volumes of my Night Whispers Star Trek Fanfiction here: http://galacticgal.deviantart.com/gallery/ You'll need to have a pdf reader. New websites: http://www.trekkiefanfiction.com/st-tos.php
    http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
  • DaniRose2143DaniRose2143 Posts: 8,661 Member
    edited October 2022
    I don’t think that’s what I’m dealing with. Nobody has performed any mean or mischievous socials and they haven’t popped up in their queues. It’s weird, but at least this is in one of the backup saves and not the main, and it only happens after I merge everybody into one household.

    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?

    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.
  • luciusstormluciusstorm Posts: 1,552 Member
    @DaniRose2143, what you describe is pretty much how I handle big group scenes anymore. Sometimes I have focus more in getting the shots than on playing the game. It's tricky.
    Fate is a riddle and we choose our own answer. Wyrd Girls
  • DaniRose2143DaniRose2143 Posts: 8,661 Member
    @luciusstorm These big scenes are madness. It does help some to put everyone in the scene into a household together and then turn off autonomy completely. No autonomy for anyone. Apparently that only applies to the household because other sims came and went, ate and danced, and the staff performed their jobs. You're still juggling plates in the beginning to get them going. After setting up a few interactions they took matters into their own hands, and most importantly, stayed put until I told them to move. I feel like the control I had was as fragile as a soap bubble, but it worked long enough to get the screenshots I needed.

    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.EvoPlZ3.png

    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.
  • luciusstormluciusstorm Posts: 1,552 Member
    @DaniRose2143, perfectly innocent... business meeting?

    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.
    Fate is a riddle and we choose our own answer. Wyrd Girls
  • mightyspritemightysprite Posts: 5,808 Member
    @DaniRose2143 I really like that side of the Dine Out gameplay, I have to say. Usually you see other families out together, but... not always. It does make you wonder what might be going on even though you know it's probably just random.
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  • DaniRose2143DaniRose2143 Posts: 8,661 Member
    @luciusstorm I probably wouldn't have even considered that they were cheating except for the circumstances. The lot has the romantic lot trait and they were the only table with two sims sitting together that weren't at that moment engaged in a romantic social.
    The two couples at the booths on the other side of that wall behind Marcus were flirting at that moment. We know what was happening downstairs. Circumstantial evidence says it's plausible they were cheating. He's currently married to Mei Prescott and he has a history of being unfaithful, but Jennifer doesn't. Whatever happened it's in the past now, but it does give me something to file away for later. When I check the main save if her faithfulness agreement is gone, do I restore it and keep her and Blake on track? Or do I leave it and see what happens? If they were to be unfaithful it would add some drama. Danielle would be heartbroken naturally. Liberty and Londyn would be too it were their parents, but both David and Clarissa and Ebony and Lewis are as madly in love as their kids are. Summer's parents are free spirits and in love but I have them set up to be flighty.

    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.
  • DaniRose2143DaniRose2143 Posts: 8,661 Member
    edited October 2022
    @mightysprite Dine Out really came to life when I added Carl's Dine Out Reloaded mod. It's playable now, and according to the notes on the latest version as the owner your sims can now staff the place too! I haven't tried that out, but that would be the dream come true.
  • DaniRose2143DaniRose2143 Posts: 8,661 Member
    This next episode is taking more time to put together than I expected. It's already really different from all the others before it in the way I'm putting it together. Usually I edit pictures and start placing them and let them inspire some of the dialogue. I got the inspiration for the opening lines while I was at work yesterday(yeah, I work Sundays😕) so I got on my phone and put them down and saved the draft. I now have six paragraphs written telling the story of how Liberty rescued Matteo from himself and how their love came to be. It also helps to flesh out Matteo's own backstory before he even met Liberty, or Summer and Danielle for that matter. I don't have a single picture in place and I only have one or two on my Imgur that fit with the story to this point. This episode may be a lot more dialogue focused, at least the beginning. I love the way their love story is coming together and I'm sticking with it. The delay may be if I decide to go back and stage some scenes.

    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.
  • luciusstormluciusstorm Posts: 1,552 Member
    @DaniRose2143, speaking as someone who is currently building an entire new save, set 100 years in the past, in order to get pictures for flashback scenes involving immortals... do whatever you feel inspired to do. I am eagerly awaiting in the next chapters of your story but I can wait a little longer. :)
    Fate is a riddle and we choose our own answer. Wyrd Girls
  • DaniRose2143DaniRose2143 Posts: 8,661 Member
    edited March 10
    Chapter Twenty One

    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.
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    Not only are Liberty and Matteo from different worlds, the lives they led took very different paths. For Liberty, growing up was idyllic aside from living in the romantic shadow of her best friends. Liberty's parents gave her all the love and support a girl could ask for. Her dad gifted her his love of video games and the geeky side of life. She got along great with her mom, but Liberty always was a daddy’s girl.

    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.
    xJmbCMq.png

    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 'Rock 'N Roll lifestyle'.
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    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.
    Summer and Danielle were becoming fast friends with Matteo, and that friendship would lead to the best thing to ever happen to him. Their friend Liberty came to visit and on a swim outing with her friends she met Matteo. When his eyes met Liberty’s he knew what a fool he had been. He never met a woman as perfect as the angel in front of him. With his good looks and charm he stood a chance with almost any woman he wanted. But in that moment he knew he didn't want anyone else. He felt his world rearrange itself, and the puzzle pieces snap into place. Matteo lost himself, and found himself, all at the same time in Liberty's dark eyes. He had to keep a grip on himself. Never had he seen a pair of lips so aching to be kissed as hers. He wanted to know exactly how they tasted. Were they as sweet as they looked? Sweeter?
    9hc6kKj.png

    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.
    Ip1VFDw.png

    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.

    Post edited by DaniRose2143 on
  • hellohannah2hellohannah2 Posts: 839 Member
    what a beautifully written chapter - the descriptions are so vivid, I feel like I'm there! i loved reading about Matteo's backstory - what a surprise that he lead such a party animal life! THe way he feels about Liberty is so sweet it makes me wanna cry - what a lucky woman <3
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  • GalacticGalGalacticGal Posts: 28,294 Member
    And that's how it happens. We never know when we will be the 'Angel' that pulls another out of the Pit. What a lovely beginning.
    You can download (free) all three volumes of my Night Whispers Star Trek Fanfiction here: http://galacticgal.deviantart.com/gallery/ You'll need to have a pdf reader. New websites: http://www.trekkiefanfiction.com/st-tos.php
    http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
  • luciusstormluciusstorm Posts: 1,552 Member
    @DaniRose2143, it's strange, I keep getting something in my eye when I read this.

    Fantastic, just fantastic.
    Fate is a riddle and we choose our own answer. Wyrd Girls
  • DaniRose2143DaniRose2143 Posts: 8,661 Member
    edited October 2022
    Aww, now I'm the one who's going to cry. Thank you all very much. I am touched that you enjoyed this so much.❤️🥰❤️

    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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