Here's a new Mesa Vista update.
I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season!
Welcome back to Mesa Vista and Madeleine Mazza’s household! In Week 3, Maddie’s roommate-turned-lover Neil Cameron passed away sooner than expected, before their daughter Nellie was even born. It was a devastating blow that sent her into aspiration failure, but the following week she found a second chance at happiness sooner than she had ever imagined with Ryan Wheeler.
Also of note in Week 4, Neil’s ghost still hadn’t made an appearance, but obviously that was about to change…
Madeleine continued to pursue her love of sewing and was able to fetch a decent price for her creations and therefore felt no need to join the rat race, especially with a young daughter to take care of.
Madeleine’s current beau Ryan was the only father Nellie had ever known, and after their recent heart-to-heart in the previous week, Nellie blossomed and began to excel in school.
After achieving his primary goal of winning over young Nellie’s heart, Ryan Wheeler pursued another one, namely making the Culinary career available for anyone in Mesa Vista who desired to enter it.
The family of three was making ends meet, although their finances were a bit tight again after paying last week’s taxes, and they were quickly outgrowing the small house and the lot upon which it sat.
“Hmm, better taste test these myself before they melt in the sun *gobble*...”
Proceeds from the raspberry truffle he was trying to perfect didn’t amount to much, but every little bit helped…
Just when I was beginning to wonder if Neil Cameron’s gravestone had somehow gotten borked, his ghost finally made its first appearance.
“Is that you, Dad? What took ya so long?”
“Nellie, is it?”
“Yes, I’m Nellie.”
“Go inside, Nellie.”
“But…”
“Stay away from me, I’m no good to you.”
“But…”
“Go now, y’hear?!”
“Fine!” Nellie sniffed and stomped huffily to the door.
Neil gave a ghostly sigh. He didn’t want any harm to come to Nellie, and the only way to ensure that was to push her away as far and fast as possible.
The phone started ringing and out of habit Nellie yelled, “I’ll get it!” before running inside to beat her mom and Ryan to the punch.
“Hello? No, she can’t come to the phone right now, she already went to bed…”
“Maddie? Just what in the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Oh my God, Ryan. H-he finally, he’s here!”
“Yes, I am here, and I want to know why that is.”
“Uuwhat do we do?” Ryan stammered.
“You do nothing, you stay out of this,” Neil said before vanishing from the room.
Since he couldn’t exactly sit Maddie down and give her a proper talking-to, Neil had to content himself with testing some his new ghostly talents…
“Bah, I don’t belong here.”
And then suddenly Maddie burst into the room with, “Neil, I’m sorry *gag* I’m pregnant and Ryan’s the father” before retching into the toilet.
“Do you think I care about that now?! Get this through that pretty, thick skull of yours: I DO NOT BELONG HERE ANYMORE!”
“Neil, y-you’re frightening me!”
“I take no joy in saying this: I AM A VERY REAL DANGER TO YOU AND NELLIE! Not because of what you’ve done, but because of what I now am. What must I do to make you understand that?”
“I just wanted… wanted you to see your daughter, and her to see her father. Just once…” she said, her voice thick with tears.
“Maddie… very well, you got your wish, and now for our daughter’s sake, you must grant me mine.”
“Yes, anything. What is it?”
“There’s a perfectly good cemetery in Mesa Vista now, next to the Goodie’s church. Do you know where I mean?”
“… Yes, I think so.”
“You are going to take my grave there, and then you are going to take our daughter and move on with your life.”
“I… okay.”
“I want you to be very sure about this. I want you to promise. I want you to swear.”
“I promise. I swear.”
“You okay in there, Maddie?”
“… Yes, Ryan, I’m fine, just feel like a little bath...”
Madeleine knew her and Nellie’s future was with Ryan, but it was still hard for her to let Neil go.
“I’m holding you to your promise.”
“Yes, I won’t let you down.”
“The sooner the better, Maddie. I mean it.”
“I never had an omelet for dessert before!”
“Ssh, we’re pretending they’re crepes shaped like an omelet!”
“Mmm, strawberry!”
“With an ice cream sundae on the side!”
“Honey, get your fingers out of your mouth.”
“Hi, hun. Is everything okay with... um..?”
“… Yes, it’s going to be fine. I have some news for you and Nellie…”
“So, how do you feel about the baby?”
“Good. But how come your tummy’s still so flat?”
“This dumb dress doesn’t have a pregnancy morph…”
“Huh?”
“Never mind, it’ll probably take too long to get it fixed before the baby is born… Are you excited for your birthday this week?”
“Yes! Ryan’s gonna be there this time, right? He promised!”
“I know he still has to work the evening shift, but I also know he will definitely keep his promise.”
“He better!”
“What do think about me and Ryan getting married?”
“I would like that, then he can be my real dad.”
“Yes, and he’s going to take our last name, so we can all be Mazzas. Does that sound good to you?”
“Yeah, of course!”
“There’s one thing I have to take care of, and that’s your other father.”
“My ghost father?”
“Yes. I’m going to take his grave to the cemetery because it will be better for all of us, and he really wants us to move on with Ryan, he told me so.”
“Can I come too?”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Why not? I just want to see where he’ll be living.”
“Er… okay then. I’ll have to figure out the best way to do it.”
I love this picture of Nellie, she looks so happy here.
"That's cuz I finally get to have a real father!”
The following night Neil came a-haunting again, and he clearly wasn’t pleased.
“What do you mean she’s waiting until the weekend?! That's defeating the whole purpose!”
“But I wanna come too, and Mom says there’s not enough time on a school day!”
“Sentimental just like your mother, eh?”
“What’s sentimal?”
“Sentiment... Bah, never mind. Now listen to me, young lady, you get yourself a snack right now, y’hear?!”
“You didn’t have to scareded me,” Nellie muttered but obeyed her ghost father, because all of a sudden she felt pretty hungry…
“Mommy! My ghost father’s back and he scareded me this time!”
“Oh dear, I guess I’ll have to take him before the weekend after all…”
“No! I wanna come too!”
“He tried to warn me, I just refused to really believe it, you know? I’m so sorry, Nells.”
“But I’m okay! He told me to eat a snack, and I ate two big ones!”
“Still, it’s not worth the risk.”
“Not fair!” Nellie sniffed.
“I’ll make you a deal.”
“What?”
“We’ll wait for the weekend as long as he doesn’t scare you any more.”
“Not faaaiiirrr!”
“Nellie…”
“I’m a big girrrrlll, it’s almost my birthday!”
“I’m sorry, Nells, but that’s the deal.”
I freely admit to being dreadfully unfair to Madeleine in portraying her as willing to take a chance with her own daughter’s well-being in order to take Neil’s grave “at the ideal time.” Truth is, I want Mesa Vista’s cemetery to be haunted by ghosts and I wanted Neil to haunt a couple of times on his home lot before moving him there. Plus, after Neil Cameron's earlier-than-expected demise, I wanted to give him a bit more screen time with Maddie and his daughter (yes, call me sentimal too!).
Anyway, Nellie was in good hands, as I’ve seen enough Apocalypses riddled with ghosts to be very cautious with them around.
Madeleine is a good mother, though, and she autonomously tucks Nellie in every night.
“Oh, thank goodness. I was beginning to wonder if there was going to be enough room in there.”
“We’re both fine, daddy.”
After two nights of haunting in a row, Neil apparently resigned himself to Maddie’s timetable and went quiet.
“Woo, I blew ’em all out!”
“That’s my girl!”
Ryan was going to be more than a few hours late to work, but after missing Nellie’s birthday last time, the thought of getting chewed out by his bosses was definitely the preferable choice.
“You look good, you look… very go-go,” Ryan said, grinning.
“Great. Mo-om! Make me something new to wear, please?”
“Let me guess: a World Class Dancer. I mean, it doesn't really specify what kind...”
“Stop! Wrong!”
“I’m stopping. What is it really?”
“I want to be very popular, and I want to own 5 Top-Level Businesses.”
“Whoa.”
“Sorry I have to bug out so soon, but I’m really late.”
“It’s okay. Thanks for keeping your promise.”
“Don’t ditch the outfit completely, it could come in handy for a Laugh-In party or something.”
“I’m gonna get you!” Nellie shrieked, aiming a piece of birthday cake at Ryan’s head.
“Whoa, I’m outta here, I’m outta here. Love you Nellie, love you hun.”
What a guy! I thought it was sweet that Ryan rolled wants to marry Madeleine and be best friends with Nellie.
Shortly after Nellie's birthday, Daniel Mazza was born.
And then Madeleine promptly collapsed in exhaustion, poor thing.
Still, Madeleine and Nellie forged ahead and took Neil Cameron’s grave to Mesa Vista Cemetery.
“Your… ghost father was right, Nellie, this is for the best.”
“Bye, Dad, I hope you like it here.”
“I won’t forget you, Neil. Ever” Maddie sniffled.
“Look, Mom, there’s a church next door. Let’s check it out...”
“No worries, little man, your mommy and daddy and sissy won’t be gone long. No, easy with the hair…”
(I do not understand, nor do I like that the nanny spawned with custom hair instead of gray. Aside from that though, Sun Rousseau was good at her job, at least, good enough to change Daniel’s diaper as well as tidy up after him.
Interesting to note, Sun does not show up in any Mazza’s relationships panel except for Daniel’s, so getting her to Yvette’s salon next week for a makeover might be a bit of a challenge…)
Madeleine sewed herself a vintage dress for their wedding, which at Nellie’s insistence was held at the Good Faith Community Church.
“Are you as happy as I am?”
“I sure am.”
They both had that want locked for a lonnng time.
“Yay, we’re an official family now!”
It had been an exhausting week for Madeleine both physically and emotionally, but she might have been pushing the sacriligeous envelope here.
And of course I didn’t think to check Nellie’s formal attire, so she was sporting a Wicked Witch of the East look.
But Madeleine wasn’t through yet! That’s fire number four for Mesa Vista.
I’ve been low on patience lately, and unless I see a reason not to, babies were being brought to the birthday cake as soon as the option to Grow Up appeared.
“Fetti!”
Madeleine’s LTW is to have six grandchildren. I think one more child after Daniel here will ensure that happens.
But no more kids until they could afford a bigger house.
“Knock ‘em dead… Dad,” Nellie called nonchalantly and then waited.
Ryan paused and closed his eyes, savoring the words drifting out the front door. She’d called him Dad! “I will, Nells, I love you.”
“See you tonight!” she said and waved in his direction before climbing onto her school bus, while Ryan caught his ride wearing a big happy grin.
And finally, it happened - the financial break they had been waiting for! Ryan’s mega chance card bonus would allow the Mazzas to move to a bigger house, with perhaps enough left over to fund Nellie’s first (undesignated as of now) business.
Also, ever since playing the Brandon London/Rebecka Rossi household, I’ve begun to quit the families’ weekly rotations on Mondays after they get back from school and work. I especially like it for those working in the Business career.
And even more money for the family now, Ryan was just one promotion away from unlocking the Culinary career!
(And that’s it, I’m tired of my Sims returning from work in their everyday clothes instead of their work ones. For now at least, I’m retiring the Visitor Controller.)
It might be too early to tell, but it looks like Daniel not only inherited his mother’s skin and eye color, but also her nose (I’m hoping). I don’t get the dark blue eyes very often, so I’m happy about that.
And that’s where we’ll leave the Mazzas for this week and let Maddie get some rest before they move!
BaCC quick stats:
Playable Sims: 69 (68 + 1 grave)
SM: 21
Population: 1449
Thanks for reading and Happy Simming!