Psst, Lara... that's not your husband...
"chapter" I've ever written for this story (totally got carried away there, lol!), I've decided to start doing these extras by chapter from now on, instead of by year.
Okay, so let's see what other extras, misfits, and outcasts we might have from the spring/summer 2083, "come undone" chapter...
February 2083, Nova home, Lake City: You actually won't hear from these guys until the end of the round - I've been keeping them quiet intentionally because I have something very special planned for them. It's not every day a Sim character earns their place in a real story, but Pat and Lara have inspired a fantastic little short story that I just couldn't resist! My intentions are to finish it up and get it out there in the real world, so I won't be able to post it here on this blog, but I will definitely share it with you all once I find it a home :)
Ideally, I'd like to share the story in place of their turn when it comes around - but if that doesn't work out in time, maybe I'll do a little photoshoot for them instead. But anyway, Skye aged up every bit as cute as Raine was at that age, so I wanted to share her.
March 2083, Roseland home, Lakeside Heights: This was the night Charlie and Natty fell in love (or well, realized they were in love, we'll say, since they seemed to be pretty smitten since the first night they met). They wouldn't have their first kiss for a few months still, but she went to his house for a study date, and he ambush-hugged her - it was inevitable from there :)
April 2083, Riley-Kim home, LCU Campus, Lake City: Just a quiet evening, hanging out with a robot.
Keri and Justin were the first couple I ever saw use that super-cute new tender kiss that I think we've concluded comes with ACR 2.0. This was soon before she was called off to war, so it couldn't have come at a better moment!
Awww, can't get enough!
At Keri's graduation, Lily, with both of her grandmothers. I always enjoy it when a child has both sets of grandparents in my hood, since it doesn't happen very frequently.
May 2083, Fort Bluewater, Bluewater Township: At the military send-off, Tyler made little Zach cry, lol! It brings out the mother-hen instinct in Aurora though, she was about to bite his head off. Dude, I
would have bit his head off if it were my kid!
Sheesh, Tyler, didn't you ever hear, "Pick on someone your own size?"
May 2083, Harris home, Lakeside Heights: Sometimes you just want to round them up and take pictures of them like they were your own children :)
Sam is twelve now, by the way, and I think he grew up cute as a button! He looks a lot like his uncle Joel.
June, 2083, college orientation day, LCU Campus, Lake City: Dallas gets quite the shocker for his introduction to college life. Iris gets a better eyeful though, while Fenton doesn't seem moved by it at all...
June 2083, Brant Street, Lakeside Heights: Lucy, just out with her future mother-in-law, buying some of Gabby's lemonade and having a casual little stroll. They totally hang out together, lol! I guess they've been
pretty close for some time now?
June 2083, Lakeshore Marina, Lakeside Heights: This was one of Natty and Charlie's kisses I chose not to use, since it looked a bit "practiced" for a first kiss. So we'll imagine this was their fourth or fifth or something ;)
June 2083, McCullough home, Bluewater Township: Liza was trying on her new bathingsuit in Fiona's room, and somebody totally snuck in there to take a peek! Sheesh, thirteen year-old boys!
They're reading the film magazine. What
kind of films, we might ask? ;)
June 2083, Deppiesse home, Lakeside Heights: Just some more random Robbie and Liza picspam. They never make it into the story because they're always off in some corner, goofing off or getting into other kinds of trouble together.
July 2083, Watts home, Bluewater Township: Liza making dinner in the kitchen. Supposed to be feeding the kids, Liza! I guess she got hungry.
Felicity, looking like she's spent a little bit too much time out running in the fields with Connor.
Even the little girls are in love with Tyler Jackson!
But nobody loves Tyler Jackson as much as Dakota Deppiesse! We've
known this for some time now, of course.
But she's not about to stop about it any time soon, lol!
July 2083, Modern Robotics, Lake city: A shot from inside Orion's robot shop, which was played "off-camera". There's not too much going on there yet. They're only up to rank 1, I think, and Orion can only make the basic toy robots so far, so they're selling laptops too.
I really did try to take Delphie and Dakota out for a little adventure, but man, they were
so boring!!! So I spared you all from that, lol! They did sit by the marina for a bit though, and it was a nice day, pretty scenery 'n stuff ;)
Like I promised, I did get all the Deppiesse kids together for pictures before Dallas left :)
And as if you needed any more Dallas and Lucy spam... I have framed copies of these to hang in their houses, by the way.
And I have so few good pictures of my neighborhood founders, but I just came across this one in my archives: Becca Harris, who would be Lucy's great-grandmother - don't you think Lucy looks just like her?!
Maybe I'll make that my next prequel mission, to search inventories and such for better pictures of my founders, lol!
Dakota is getting to know herself and who she is, unique from her sister, and phase one of her therapy homework is finding a new hobby she enjoys... so since she keeps rolling wants for stereos, wanting to learn more creativity, and because she has a tinkering OTH, I figured she's be more electronically inclined with music - so I think she's telling me she wants to be an aspiring DJ! :)
So this is what she's doing with Dallas's old room. She decides to keep the dark walls, and her parents won't enjoy the noise, but I figure they'd do anything to make her happy.
She's very bad at it right now, but you know, we all have to start somewhere ;)
I thought Lucy would want to keep the big news quiet at least long enough to wonder how and when she'll tell her own mother, but it seems she had to spill it to someone... and this happened about the next morning, lol!
I figure Violet probably already knew, since Dallas does seem like the type to seek advice from his mommy on such things. Violet can't really have many concerns about the matter, she and Orion were also very young when they got engaged. And well, Lucy and Violet are best buddies and all.
And finally, this was Dallas's very first experience in Takemizu, before he unpacked, before he even got something to eat from the kitchen, he wanted to toss a coin into the fountain... let's just hope this isn't a bad omen... :/
***
And one more final note - I've been waffling around different posting paces lately, and I think I'll be committing myself to a strict four-day posting schedule from now on. I tried to do three-days for a while, and I
loved that pace, (Lord knows
how I managed to do two-days in the beginning?), but it just got too overwhelming. With the time it takes to actually get all the pictures in game (my computer is
SO slow!), to the photoshopping, to the writing and polishing, and then comments afterwards (not that I would want you all to stop - I
love your comments!), it's enough to take up just about all the free time I have. And I have to remind myself that this is my side-project, and not my full-time job, you know ;)
I hope that's not too slow for you all. I know there's a fine balance with these serialized stories between fast enough to actually progress the story, not so fast you can't keep up with it, and not so slow you lose interest. I think a four-day pace might be a good balance.
Love the outtakes and I hope your short story finds a home. Don't worry about the posting schedule, most simmers are pretty understanding with the whole idea of blogging and playing is a hobby-not a paid job.
ReplyDeletethese extras were great!
ReplyDeleteabout posting schedule, don't worry. I think since everyone sims, they know it's just a hobby and just the fact that you care enough about your readers to be concerned is fine. I'd be happy with once a month, as long as you didnt stop writing. :)
I have a question: are you far ahead of the story if you were already in the McCollough and Nova houses?
And the two grandma picture was cute. I know she's non playable, but I would love to see more of Cynthia (I think that's her name) even if she's just in the background.
Oh and sort of random, but since you mentioned prequels, is your next one going to be what happened to samantha bradshaw? I'm dying to know, lol!
Oh, also (sorry if im annoying you!) did Orion and Violet say goodbye to Dallas? I figured it happened off camera, but was wondering how they felt about him being gone for so long.
Apple, thanks! I know you guys understand :)
ReplyDeletebbop, that's a good question, about the houses. It's a weird process, the way these stories eventually come together. Each month, there's 2-4 families to be featured, but I'm also usually doing other things behind the scenes, simple stuff like little makeovers, or aging up toddlers - or even more complex stuff, like checking up on pending storylines. Many of my families get checked on in between their featured updates, as needed, even if it's just for an hour or two. This is how a lot of my mini-updates emerge, and this would also be the gameplay part of this story, and when I do any actual free-play of my Sims.
But then the actual story (plotted, outlined, and/or even written out in many cases) is drafted pretty far ahead. Like into the next round even. And that's inspired in part by all this gameplay stuff I go around collecting, while the rest emerges naturally from the story.
Then finally, I go through each update as it's due and collect the pictures mostly in storytelling-mode, like directing and posing and such.
OMG, lol, now you know why it takes me so long to finish an update! :)
Justin's parents will actually show up in one of his updates, in the coming winter. And LOL, so you remembered that Samantha Bradshaw prequel? I think I was just eager to move on and it got swept under the rug, but I do still have it drafted somewhere, so I can dig it up if you're interested.
Yes, Dallas and his parents was an off-camera kind of thing. You can kind of conclude Violet's feelings from this update.
Don't worry about your posting schedule. I think you've been doing fine. It's always been really easy for me to keep up without getting impatient between updates.
ReplyDeleteThat, and I can't say much. I used to have a weekly schedule for my serious stories... but that fell by the wayside with the most recent one. I have no schedule at all anymore, LOL. And I'm not even employed... yet. Kind of scared what's going to happen when I am in Feb. :(
And how awesome about the short story! Best of luck, I hope it finds a good home. :D
Mao, thanks, it's good to hear that you don't feel rushed or impatient. It's hard to keep all these things going at once, huh? :)
ReplyDeletei love the pictures! HAHA! such nice surroundings!
ReplyDeleteanyway, care to check out my sims 3 story?
http://simsfantasyworld.wordpress.com/
I love these kinds of posts where we just get a bit of all around goodness. Like icing.
ReplyDeleteLooking over all the picture certainly brings back memories. All of these characters are so distinct that I don't think it matters when you update. I'll always remember them. Good stories are just like that. Though it is handy that you put those links at the end. I always enjoyed looking back at old entries.
Good luck to Pat and Lara's story!
PinkPolkies, hi and thank you!
ReplyDeleteLunar, awww, thank you! I like reading back sometimes too, does that make me lame? lol! It's like nostalgia or something :)
I've been wondering about the Novas! Is the short story about Pat and Lara the same one you were mentioning on Twitter the other day or is that a secret? ;)I hope you can find a home for it, whatever it is!
ReplyDeleteSigh, I still love that tender kiss! I'm having more luck recreating it lately too. I wonder why EA didn't make that the default one. It's so much better than the chin holding one!
I thought of Joel right away when I saw Sam! I can't believe Sam is so big now! *sniff* They grow up so fast! I love all the family portraits and I love the one of Dallas and Lucy - those two are so sweet!
I read back on my Sims all the time, so I hope it's not lame! I just like to remind myself about all the things that have happened before. I do it on other people's blogs too. :D
I love looking at the pics from out-takes. It is interesting to see bits of pieces which were not in the story.
ReplyDeleteWoah you must truly need lot of time for all that planning and writing, it all sounds very extensive. I struggled with Phoenix previously so much, hope I will have better luck this time around. Real life just wont let me have as much free time as I would love to have for sims and blogging.
Carla, thanks! Yup, same story :)
ReplyDeleteI'm also wondering about the origins of that tender kiss - was that something coded into ACR (which I wouldn't think likely) or something hidden in the game code. And yes, if it's already in the game, why would they keep it hidden? So weird!
Sam is my last kid to age to teen for a long while. The next is Devon, and she's only seven right now, I think, so five more years!
Which is actually the planned end of this story - five more years. OMG, I don't think I've announced that yet, lol! But true, two more rounds after this one... which at my pace will probably take two years :)
Speechless, lol, I think I probably make it sound even more complicated than it really is, but I am quite nit-picky. Good luck to your new hood - your homes are gorgeous, as usual :)
Wow I didn't know you were planning to end the story! Aww, makes me a little sad.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind the posting schedule. It sounds like you do a lot of work behind the scenes!
Loved Aurora's reaction to Tyler at the send-off. And oh man does Dakota have it bad for Tyler!
maisie, yeah, all things must come to an end, naturally. I'd rather let it end planned and properly than let it fizzle out and get lame, lol!
ReplyDelete