Lovette - Round Two
Welcome, all! Winter has settled in on Arcadia, and we find ourselves back with the Lovette family, where Things Are Happening! Kind of. Fall saw the opening of Arcadia City Hall, by Maeve Lovette, and at the end of the rotation, Maddeleine St. Claire opened the First Bank of Arcadia, making loans now available to all sims of the town!
This one is going to seem short (for my standards lmao) at 95 pictures, because uhhh I guess at some point fraps boycotted me and stopped taking pictures even though it most definitely was open but WHATEVER :/ We miss some moments but I'll make up for it okay. D:
In the night, winter falls on the Lovette household with the first snow of the season.
Maeve and Grover wake and share a chilly morning breakfast together.
Grover takes adorable fascination with the snow, marveling at how soft it looks falling from the sky.
A BUDDY COMES BY!!!!!!!
Evidently, Grover is quite enchanted by the snow and dons his cold-weather gear to go outside and play in it. Before his snowman can be finished, though, the snow stops and much of it melts away. Awww.
Wait, who was this and what was she doing at the Lovette residence? What a pretty lady!
Though Grover and Delilah's relationship seemed to be on the cooling side, growing quite tepid compared to the raging romances blossoming around them, he greets her with flames kicked back to life.
And somehow they have their first kiss.
The renewed vigor of their confusing relationship puts Grover in a playful mood - but it's instantly shut down. Awww. :/ On the bright side, his reputation is really good, a stark contrast to that of Maddeleine, who may be the only other Sim to have a reputation pop up!
His good reputation is not really consoling, though. (OUCH MY HEART. THAT FACE. AWWW BABY ;A;)
He asks Delilah to go steady, before taking the much bigger step of engagement and... it doesn't go so well. Apparently things are still very confusing within their romancing, and though Delilah rolled the want last rotation to become engaged with him, she seems to be having second thoughts. Poor Grover is a family sim, though, and can't help his nature. D: He just wants a big family!
Still, he tries to carry on, as though his pride and ego (and SENSITIVE FEELINGS!) are not so wounded. Delilah is clearly a fickle being, and if he wants to have any kind of relationship with her, he supposes he must roll with the punches. (Also, he apparently never changed back into his regular clothes. As you do, sir.)
Clearly the case is simply that Delilah isn't certain she wants to be committed fully, yet. Or take that step. Or whatever. Grover can't fully understand it - after all, she is the only one he wants right now! But if waiting is what she needs then. Well. They can find ways to make it work. (Oh the ways.... for instance, a want rolled to woohoo with Delilah...)
After the ups and downs of Maeve's political career last round, she comes home from work with a promotion to Intern! The setbacks and doubts from fall seem to be clearing up; Maeve knows she's where she belongs, and she can't wait to work her way up higher, to better improve Arcadia.
She just wants to use the phone, guys.........
They move their romancing and Maeve fastidiously ignores them.
The broken tub gives Maeve so much trouble, Grover has to finish it off for her.
Another day, another visit from Delilah. Grover seems to be either entirely obsessed with her, or totally tepid - perhaps in response to her waning and waxing temperaments towards him.
Clearly, Grover has some Big Plans for this visit... A Sim burning with desire can only burn so long.
Speaking of desire... Maeve and Maddox burn pretty dang hot.
Unfortunately, romance needs to sit on the back burner; Maeve has come to City Hall for more important things - that is, her mayor-to-be duties. She tries to call attention to the Arcadians, telling them about the most recent changes to Arcadia and their budding government. She talks about how loans may now be acquired through the First Bank of Arcadia.
Grover is... not terribly inspired. (He's so LAZY he's always lounging on couches!)
Somewhere, from the point at City Hall to here, pictures just.... didn't happen. They were taken! But somehow they didn't save? It's not the first time this has happened but very frustrating that some pivotal moments were lost. ;_________; For example, a lot of snow fell and Grover went back out, determined to actually finish this snow man this time (I believe he did not)
Oh yeah, and THIS.
A very engaged, and also very pregnant Maeve Lovette waddles out into the snow! Though pregnant, she still has things to do - like venture off to City Hall, where the fine citizens of Arcadia will marvel and wonder that a first pregnancy has occurred already, and that it's their inspiring leader’s.
Maeve is nothing if not dedicated to her role and her people, and she engages them from behind her podium.
But uhhh........ the people of Arcadia don't seem to pay her much mind... (At some point, Maddox apparently stayed out too long in the snow, holy crap!) (I have no idea how to get people to pay attention to her at the podium, tbh! Maybe the sermon ones are better for this?)
She perseveres to the end, though, hoping the Arcadians take some of what she's said to heart - or that somehow they manage to retain something she's said, for Watcher's Sake this isn't life or death but it's rather important! Their fledgling town now has children, they have much to do for it to become a proper town and maybe even secure an education grant!
Things follow accordingly, as expected.
Rory Ceret congratulates Maeve on her pregnancy and wishes her well on it. With no proper hospitals yet or even a clinic, it might seem a little scary and dangerous to bring children into the community, after all.
A tiny addition is made to City Hall to accommodate a small kitchenette. Eventually it will be expanded with a bigger fridge and stove brought in, but for now, they have to make do with the little space they have. The more eventual future plans to see a second story added, with offices for the treasurer and architect. Perhaps, too, Maeve's office will move upstairs, to provide more space downstairs and maybe even a more proper, seated space for the city hall meetings.
The kitchenette is broken in, and a feast of grilled cheese sandwiches are had.... outside.... in the cold and dusting of snow.... Perhaps City Hall eventually needs to aspire for three floors, so a cafeteria, rather than a kitchen, may be added...
Actually, City Hall may also want to eventually invest in public showers as well............
Maeve bids goodnight to everyone before she and Grover head home for the night.
She and Grover discuss the new addition over breakfast. As a Family Sim himself, he's quite overjoyed about his nephew to come. Also, as one aspiring to make a career of education, he's eager for the children of Arcadia to grow up so he can, perhaps, run a school - should Arcadia qualify for a grant of sorts.
Butterflies returning means that spring must be on the horizon, despite the thin coating of snow still desperately clinging to the ground.
Inspired by - or perhaps jealous of - Maeve's engagement and family addition, Grover bites the bullet with Delilah. Though he understands that she might be confused or uncertain what she wants, he knows what he wants, and the longer he puts it off, the less time he has for it. If he doesn't ask Delilah, then they'll probably continue at this snail pace forever, and it's not what he wants. If she says no, then she says no and he'll know - but he has to make an attempt.
His earnestness takes her by surprise, and it must affect something deep down within her.
She accepts his ring and slides it onto her finger and Grover can't help but swoon a little. After all their hot and cold, he couldn't be sure she'd actually say yes, or that she'd know for sure it's what she wanted. They're euphoric!
They celebrate as one might expect.
Social bugs!
Spring settles over Arcadia, though not quite warm enough to melt through the blanket of winter, but with promise of many things to come for the sproutling town. As it is with nature, spring brings the promise of new life - and new families! Already, Arcadia is shifting for changes to come and hopefully for the better. :3 But first, we must visit the other families!
NOTES I'M SO MAD ABOUT THE MISSING PICTURES!!!!! Though admittedly it's a much easier write up to make when I don't have 200+ pictures. I really need to learn to curtail myself but it's DIFFICULT! This was such a fun round, though! I feel like on the one hand nothing much happened - I believe Maeve had an unpictured promotion, which made the expansion to City Hall feasible - but on the other - two engagements, a pregnancy bump! I was truly upset that Maeve couldn't give birth this round and having to wait was KILLER! But also I'm so excited that a nooboo is on the way! *O* Both Grover and Dempsey want to be in the education field, so I was thinking perhaps should there be enough need, maybe Grover can run an at home daycare - just something simple, nothing quite like the incredible Darkestdawn runs, but just until tots grow up into children, where he'll take over with acting principal of the school, maybe, with Dempsey. As they get older I may make one a primary school teacher and the other high school (Dempsey for high school, certainly). I'd originally played around with the idea of elementary and high school being separate but that sounds..... like a lot of work lmao.
I have so many big plans for City Hall, but it'll require a lot of money. D: I think three floors is going to be what it needs, though. The top-most floor would house the mayor's office, treasurer's office, and also the architect's office. I feel like someone else is supposed to eventually be housed here, too, so maybe I'll leave some room for that. The second floor would be an open cafeteria and communal showers/bathrooms, I think, because when they spend all day at City Hall, sims get stinky! And then on the ground floor they'd have an area for Maeve's speeches as well as a bunch of community items as they do now. I've tinkered with the idea of eventually having an actual community center, so eventually people gather less at City Hall and utilize it more for, well, the obvious civic duties. Perhaps they'll eventually sell some tourist-y things - it just feels too soon to do it yet. Obviously, though, it'll take us a while to get there.
(If I knew how to do weddings on community lots I might even spring for that as well, hah!)
I'm so excited about what I'm doing with them, though! I recall feeling a little bored with Grover, because I wasn't sure what to do with him yet, but I'm also so very fond of him. I'm really glad I have some ideas blooming for him. :3 He just seems like he'd make a very sweet day care provider!
I hope you guys enjoyed! Please stay tuned for the Greene's winter round! ♥