From Rags to Riches ~ A Hobo Legacy Challenge
*WARNING!!!* tasteful?! pixel nudity!After running away from home at the early age of 16, Owen Heath was not new to hardships. He finally had had enough of all the abuse his father always dished out. EVERYTHING bad was always Owen's fault! So, if dad had a bad day at work, he would come home and take it out on Owen. If the bills weren't paid in time and something got repossessed, it was Owen's fault. If dad drank the last beer for breakfast and then forgot to pick up more on his way home from work...you got it...Owen's fault!
Owen's mom died in child birth, so he didn't have any memories of her. But it does explain why dad blamed him for everything. In his mind, baby Owen took away the love and joy of his life!
By the time Owen had turned 15, dad was pretty much lost to his smokes and the bottom of his bottle! There was rarely a day that he managed to stumble out of bed only to collapse in his chair with his beloved beer in hand. He missed so many days of work that the last time he did manage to make it in, he returned home shortly after leaving with only a pink slip and his last measly check! Guess what?! That was Owen's fault too!!!
Owen took it upon himself to clean the house, do the laundry, cook dinner, and make sure dad had his supply of beer and cigarettes. He even took on a part time job! All while trying to keep up with his studies and go to school! Unfortunately, the older he got, the harder he found it to make it to school. The bills were piling up and he had to work as much overtime as he could to try to make ends meet.
But there's only just so much a young teen can, and should, take!!!
At his wits end after a terrible fight with his dad that came to blows, Owen finally snuck out late one night after his dad had passed out. He had managed to put aside a small sum of money, not much, probably enough to buy a couple hot dinners, so he'd need to find a job or two wherever he ended up. He grabbed his duffle bag and shoved a couple pairs of clothes in it, then slammed his favorite knitted beanie on his head and crawled out his bedroom window. He ran to the train station, but he couldn't afford a ticket. So, he pretended to leave, but when no one was looking, he jumped into an empty storage car.
That was 5 years ago now! He'd been running for awhile, but Owen felt it was now time to settle down and find someplace to call home!
He hadn't acquired much in the past 5 years. Working odd jobs here and there, mostly to pay for something to eat, Owen didn't stay in one place long enough to make many friends or connections. But there was one place he remembered coming to that caught his eye! Arbordale! It was a little hillier than preferred, but the folks there were rather friendly, and he had a sense of coming home.
Owen told the foreman he was working for at the logging company that it was time for him to move on. He would work the customary 2 weeks if needed, but he was ready to leave. He had managed to save up a very small sum of money, maybe he would be able to find a nice piece of land to call 'his'! To build a house! Maybe even find a wife and start up a family! The more he thought about it, the more excited he got about returning to Arbordale!
So, return he did! And as luck would have it, he DID find a small parcel of land that he could afford! Unfortunately, he couldn't afford much else, but Owen was used to living on next to nothing, so nothing new. He did manage to find a couple items he could use at the local dump though. He dragged an old park bench and a used cooler that he could store a few essentials in onto his lot. He also found several gently used magazines he could read to pass the time between shifts when he found himself a job.
Owen was a good man, or so he thought! ;) He wasn't very outgoing, not really into having a bunch of friends, just one or two good buds at his side and he was good!
(Ignore the nice looking giant refrigerator!!! I did find a nice and 'used' cooler after this round of pictures was taken! 1st shot was 'doctored'!) ;)
Owen sat down with his paper to check the want ads. Looking for anything that he could do that would pay well, and lo and behold, he found a decent paying job as a standup comedian! :D
'Making others laugh! haha That outta be interesting!' he thought. 'But, heck, if it brings in some money! Might as well start working on my punch lines!'
While he was reading his paper, he had some guests show up. A motley crew these!
But, he had a sense of peace that he hadn't had in a really long time! Even if his new neighbors were rather odd, he couldn't deny how friendly they were! And for that, he was extremely thankful!
Later that afternoon, he bid everyone 'good day' and headed off to his first day...of the rest of his life! :D
He got home later that night...
...and he was bored! 'I think I'll walk into town and see what I can find to do.'
He found this little karaoke bar called the FM. Owen was not looking forward to singing karaoke, but he needed to build up his charisma one way or another! (karaoke builds charisma mod @ MTS) Thankfully they were all enclosed in individual rooms.
He got so carried away that he quickly lost his self-consciousness. It was easy to do in a room all by himself!
A little while later when he left the karaoke room, he ran into this beautiful little gal...
And if possible, she was even more shy than he is!
Unfortunately, she soon left and he can't even remember her name!
After a hot meal, purchased with his new hard-earned money, he went back home, 'Nah, Home! I finally have a place to call mine!' and snuggled into his new 'well used' park bench for the night.
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Out walking the next day and he met this cute little ginger and her blonde sister that just moved into the neighborhood too.
Their names were Tracie and Sharon Caldwell.
(And of course, where there's chemistry ~ or not, ACR will kick in! I just sat back and enjoyed the show!!! LOL!)
It's actually kinda funny! Sharon was heart throbbing over Owen here, but she actually doesn't like him at all!!! I think she was just jealous of her sister! You see, Sharon is a family sim and she really wants to find herself a husband and start a family. Whereas on the other hand, Tracie is a romance sim and just loves the attention she gets from the male populace!
I added several female sims into the 'hood for possible love interest for Owen, and then after allowing them to skill a little and get a job, I sent them out as townies! :D I got rather tired of seeing the same geeky looking townies in this town that I'm in the process of updating/making over in Sedona Valley! :/
Back to Owen...
Well, Owen got to work 1 day! And then he had 2 days off! :/ 'Not a very good way to make money so I can build a house!' he thought. 'I'm bored!'
So he marched off into town again! He thought he'd try his hand at poker, but it turns out Tracie's a card shark! :/
She didn't stick around long though. She cashed in her chips and left. Well, Owen wasn't feeling too lucky at the moment, after losing to the hot ginger, so he cashed in too and went upstairs where he then found a DJ booth. He was able to convince the DJ to take a break and let him give it a whirl for a while. After much deliberation, the DJ finally agreed, but only because it was the middle of the afternoon and business hadn't picked up yet!
Owen was having a blast! He made a few mistakes, but thankfully there was no one around to witness it!
And heck! He even managed to make a decent little amount of simoleans, too!
But he quickly got tired and stretched out on the sofa for a wee bit of R'n R before heading home.
When he arrived home, he was met by some chic claiming to be a leader of some secret music society.
"Ummm...? Thanks? I guess."
"Oh, do come and visit us soon, Owen! We have so much in common! And we have all kinds of various instruments that you could practice on!"
She didn't stick around long, and Owen was finally able to 'crash' onto his bench.
He felt good! He might not have had to go into work today, but he still made roughly $500 simoleans this afternoon. :DDD
Later that afternoon, after a much needed nap, Owen started working on building his house. By the time the sun set, he had a couple walls up. It wasn't much, but it was enough to support a roof! :D He was also able to afford a fire pit to keep the cold at bay at night.
He even managed to get the water working so that he could wash the stench of hard work away!!!
The next morning, he was feeling lonely. While he was out the other day, he managed to swing in the phone store and signed up for service, so he was able to call up Tracie and ask her over. Thankfully, she didn't have to work that morning and she wanted to see him too, so she hurried right over.
She didn't let any grass grow! She leaned right in and planted a nice wet sloppy one on him!
"HmmmUmmm! I loves me a man with facial hair!"
"Hahaha! You are a character, Tracie! You're hilarious! You wanna toss some ball?"
But they were soon interrupted by another female that caught Owen's interest!
He had seen this beautiful Akita wandering around the neighborhood earlier in the week. 'I wonder if she has a home?'
But she didn't stay long.
He found Tracie jumping rope in the shade of his newly built shelter. She apparently had been busy while he was petting the Akita, on the table he spotted a jar of captured butterflies. 'I wonder where she found the jar?' he thought.
Owen cooled off with a quick shower while Tracie continued her workout. After he finished, he was able to convince her to join him on the bench for a little TLC, or PDA! ;)
Which led to a hot and bothered make out session!
As the sun was setting, they jumped up from the bench and treated each other to a good ol' fashion, relaxing backrub.
That in turn, led to a hammering game of pillow bashing!
It quickly got dark, so Owen lit a fire in the fire pit. He hadn't managed to get the electricity hooked up yet, so firelight it was! Besides, it was rather romantic.
Of course, romantic firelight always seems to lead to other romantic adventures...
"You are sooo beautiful, Tracie! You have managed to capture my heart in the short time that I've known you! But capture it you most certainly have!!! But, I don't want it back! I would much rather capture YOU instead!" Owen proceeded to drop down to his knee. "Tracie Caldwell, would you do me the GREAT HONOR of becoming my wife?!"
"OH YES OWEN, YES!!! A THOUSAND TIMES, YES!!!" she exclaimed as she jumped into his arms.
"You have just made me the happiest man alive!!!" he whispered in her ear as he nibbled on her neck.
By this time it was quickly approaching morning, and Tracie had to get up fairly early for work. And since there wasn't a true bed for her to sleep in, they regrettably said their goodnights so that Tracie wouldn't be totally exhausted at work later.
Owen settled onto his bench once again, with wonderful dreams dancing thru his head. He couldn't wait to provide Tracie with a proper place to call home! He had a lot of work to do over the next several days! It's a good thing he got to go back to work later this afternoon. He needed to make as much money as he possibly could. He swore to himself that he would NOT subject her to this kind of life! He would get the walls up and make sure that the roof was secure and not leaking, but he also refused to marry her until he could provide her with a proper bed and a real toilet!!! No peeing on bushes for his future wife!
Meanwhile, Tracie just had to come back after finding a 24 hour florist that could make her a beautiful bouquet!
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Details:
I'm, trying!, to follow along these rules for the homeless/hobo challenge. It's a legacy challenge, and if I can actually manage to make it to gen. 5 w/o anything happening, I'll be surprised! My attention span is...not the greatest...shall we say! LOL! I think in my 5 1/2 almost 6 years of simming, the farthest I've managed to get any of my families before I either get totally bored or computer disasters strike was the beginning of gen. 3! Sooo, we'll see! Of course, if ya'll encouraged me, maybe I might just make it! hahaha
Anywho, in the rules of the challenge, it states that your 'hobo' can get married only after he/she has built up a house with 4 walls and a roof. Well, I'm taking it a step farther, he also has to have a real bed and a toilet!
Also, because I'm dealing with a romance sim here (Tracie), I have added to the rules! Once they are married, they can ONLY try for a baby when BOTH of them roll the want for one! Once they roll the want, I can lock it in UNLESS they also have a fear of having a baby!!! So, with the fear I can't lock it in, but if they both roll the want than the deed can be done and if they keep the want, GREAT, if not, ehh, at least they had the want...right?! ;) (I hope that makes sense, it's after 4 am!)
Merry Christmas! Next chapter probably close to 2 weeks out! ;)
Anyway, ENJOY!