OMG OMG OMG - Candy what the hell!? I want a look inside her head. My heart actually leaped up when I saw that bat in Valentine's hand, but it is a little early in the story for Rich to get any true deserts.
Oh, Val and little girls! He just could not leave Annie alone, could he? If they mostly favor Mary he may never stop counting these two as at least provisionally his.
Mary seems to be at least trying to keep control of the situation here, and Valentine mostly kept himself in check, though the reflexes betrayed him in that edged compliment about purple. If she can just stay mad for awhile, and safely out of love with him...I'm curious, is she rolling wants to fall back in love with him? That always plagues me with the most faithful aspirations, the Fortune and Family ones - you get them all broken up with Mr. or Ms. Unsuitable, safely married and settled with Mr. or Ms. Suitable, or even Perfect, and they spend the rest of their lives with Fall in Love with Unsuitable wants popping up at awkward moments. I don't play with ACR so it's simple to avoid filling it, but they just can't seem to get over that first one in their secret hearts.
Quite the Land interlude there. Lana may not be wrong that there's a gleam of a grandmother in Annie, but she probably underestimates Beulah a lot and doesn't necessarily recognize where it came from! It wouldn't surprise me a bit if Beulah starts showing up on the lot and letting herself in from time to time - got to keep an eye on things. And something tells me she and Lana aren't going to bond over shared grandbabies.
Oh, Dixie...well, can't expect old heads on young shoulders, but Daytona or Junior or somebody needs to start stocking rubbers. Actually, Valentine should put a vending machine in his restroom at the Dugout, for the convenience of everybody. (And you'll notice I'm not even wondering about Rhett, we all know he's not thinking. Plus, she's his type - breathing.) Anyway, Dixie could actually be a help to Mary, though that is one more slob in the house. She's a lot more likely to speak up to her in-laws on Mary's behalf than Mary is, for sure, and she's not going to feel like she owes Lana so much as courtesy. But she is in the habit of being the indolent one while Mary works...well, we'll see.
Still processing, and I've got commitments for the holiday Friday I should get going on. I'll probably come back and breathe down your neck some more later, though.
Annie definitely doesn't do much toward stopping Val from making assumptions. If Avery were a solo act he might hesitate, give Junior the benefit of the doubt, but for now, with the two of them, he's not really buying it.
Yes, that pining, even Rich has rolled a Lana want or two, although she's been far too livid to reciprocate. But Mary never actually fell out of love with Val, which works out well for me playing-wise and story-wise. She's not infatuated anymore but she still loves him. From a distance, no cluttering up her wants. Interestingly, she didn't roll any family sim revved up baby wants after the twins were born. She's content to count her blessings for now.
Lana and Beulah bonding is not ever going to happen, if either one of them have a say about that! But Lana and Dixie in the same house should be interesting. Mary having someone in her corner is never a bad thing but there's also the danger that she'll retreat behind Dixie's feistiness, leaving her to be "their" mouthpiece.
Dixie and Rhett, yeah. I may have just such a vending machine in my downloads :-) but I'm not ready to give Widespot access to reliable birth control just yet. I probably won't wait until they have a subhood of some sort as originally planned but not yet. That does mean that Hart genes could make their way into the Land family after all but that's not in my plans. If ACR and risky woohoo catch them up, I guess I won't interfere, but I won't be lending a hand in that direction.
As always, whatever crops up, bring on the commentary! I love talking about the story, as you can see; that's part of the fun. Enjoy your weekend!
Whoa, catching Val with Lana didn't destroy Mary's love tags? That's - wow. I've never had that happen. If the act didn't nuke the love immediately, the relationship always decays enough to do it within a few seconds, usually during the follow-up conversation. I don't have any romantic mods (except the one that fixes the failure to perceive make outs as cheating, which isn't really modding), so perhaps that's a difference there. It's great character stuff, though, that meek innate stubbornness and enormous untapped capacity for love combining to keep hold of him in spite of all the reasons to let go.
I noticed here and in part 1, though, that Mary almost always looks happy in the shots with Junior. Mostly when she doesn't, it's because of something else going on - glaring at Lana, having twins. And they are managing, a lot of the time, to put together an approximation of the life she was raised to expect and wants to have. But they can't be real full partners like her parents are if she doesn't trust him enough to tell him everything and he's still letting other people supply his rudder. So one minute I'm sold on the marriage and the next I'm certain it'll break itself on a rock that should have been avoidable.
Honestly the scene that makes me most hopeful about it is Dixie standing there with her newly-chosen favorite and actually thinking, in so many words, that something's wrong with Mary. The only other person who ever thinks of something being wrong with Mary is Valentine, who with the best will in the world has almost no moves open to him, regarding her, that wouldn't be counterproductive. Dixie's already given Junior one reality check. If she ever gets Mary to open up, gets all the facts into her hands - but there's so many interruptions waiting to happen in that house! And as you say, she can't fight Mary's battles for her.
Sandy's barely glimpsed here, but she remains a wild card. If she starts rolling wants to be friends with Mary - well, they are better positioned to understand each other's troubles than anybody else around, aren't they? From Sandy's point of view, too, Mary may look like a desirable ally. She may not have anything Daytona would recognize as clout - but she has exactly those things that Sandy's lost, love and respect from a good portion of the town. To someone who thinks like a Popularity sim, that spells influence and possibilities for mutual aid that Mary can't even see.
Any idea where you got that vending machine? My Junior does a brisk business in deco condom boxes at the General Store, but I can think of some other places that could use one, in Widespot and Strangetown and Drama Acres...
I'm not surprised Rich rolls Fall in Love with Lana wants, not one bit. Those two were well-matched, and if Candy's trying to be underestimated especially he's bound to miss her. He's probably spent more time being honest and unmanipulative with her than with everyone else he's ever met put together, because there was no need to con her - they would have wanted roughly the same things, most of the time, and even when they didn't she wasn't going to try to turn against him. Until she did.
Let's see, scroll up to the top and see if there's anything I meant to say that didn't get said. Oh, good job on naming the twins! Getting Anyman and Everyman into the same birth is pretty slick. Mary cussing at Junior about being a brood sow is priceless - I bet it wasn't anything censor software would recognize as cussing, though. Has Junior actually changed a diaper yet? Being Daddy does not just mean you get the fun stuff...
I love the invasion of the Lands, making Lana feel overwhelmed and spiteful. (But when does she not feel spiteful?) Beulah knowing about the properties of cheesecake was not something I was prepared for and makes me mad at her, but it's all one with her established behavior toward her favorite child - lovingly and tenderly riding roughshod over her autonomy because Beulah knows best and what Beulah wants she gets. At least she's leaping to help with them. And I think she'll be dismayed if she's ever made to realize what she's been doing.
My game is modded out the wazoo so I didn't even think about it but, yeah, it must've been because it was a casual interaction. Val and Lana are not in love; just barely, or possibly not at all, in lust (by which I mean I'm not sure if they've got the pink hearts). Their relationships with Mary took a hit, Lana's more so because it was already low, but no actual fury on her part. If I'm remembering correctly, that is. Same thing with Dixie when she caught David and Goldie together. She was largely unfazed after the fact, her relationship with David is great--recovered right away--but, again, she's no fan of Goldie's. Perhaps it's a family trait:-)
Mary is pretty happy. Junior's definitely the happiest person in that house but the only time she really came close to regretting her choice wasn't because of anything he did, it was that mother of his. And Valentine being so willing to disregard her completely, so it seemed. I'm partial to, well the look on Mary's face when she found Val at her door, but also the pic of her when Junior's caressing her face after starting to chew her out for eavesdropping in Pt. 1. (in one of the squares of 4). It's hard to be mad at Mary and Junior definitely doesn't want to hurt her but he's going to need more than good intentions.
Sandy is barely glimpsed but I didn't really intend for her to be in it at all! She did a walkby at their house and then when she showed up at the store in the middle of Junior and Rhett's back & forth I had to write her in. Especially because it's a departure for her, she's slowly becoming more willing to show her face around town (in safe, generally Beech-free, spaces) but clearly not yet ready to ditch Hamilton's old shirt...Wonder if Rhett's even noticed?
Mary's pretty loyal to Penny so that friendship may not get off the ground but Sandy and Junior are great friends! Go figure. But Sandy does need a world outside of Rhett--his family, his friends, all conditional, like they're borrowed--or she'll suffocate.
The condom dispenser is from an adult site, Pandora Sims. Got it from the booty. (Wow, in this context that sounds so dirty.) Looks like an old gumball machine. But it's not deco, I should warn you. There's a controller and tokens (and a few hilarious meshes for the dudes to use), and it's pretty old, doesn't look like it's been updated since '06. If you prefer to keep your game clean, I'm not sure if it would throw errors if the controller weren't in your folder but I also don't recall seeing any autonomous condom buying so it could actually function as deco. I generally set up the "anti-sprog devices" on pharmacy-type lots and the dispenser goes in restrooms, like you suggested (The Dugout's is unisex despite the gendered doors), or some seedier establishments, but I think it's even in one of my gift shops. Depends on the hood and/or proprietor and their attitude toward sex.
Rich acted swiftly but losing Lana had not been part of his long-term plans. Not at all. His most pointed barbs tend to be hurtled in her direction probably because he's trying to convince himself that she was past her sell-by date and he is better off without her. Candy, well, can't say too much about that situation yet. Will point out that Rhett's been inadvertently right about a few things he's said regarding big sis.
I'm rather proud of the twins' names, didn't expect I'd manage to keep the puns going. Junior hasn't changed a diaper yet, he doesn't even realise that's expected, Mary's so on top of it. That's the consensus between him and his mom, but she secretly wants to get back to the store. It's as much hers as his and she's had a 'get a job' want locked ever since she was still living "at home". Someone on the outside might not believe Mary could be Beulah's favourite but she absolutely is, it'd break her heart if she knew all the stuff Mary hid from her and that she felt like she had to. If Mary ever gets to a point where she can have an open and honest conversation with her mother, well, that will really be something.
I think Mary and Junior's eavesdropping conversation may be the saddest part of that whole painful installment. It's so small - but if this marriage fails this is the crux of why. Mary doesn't just keep a secret; she tells an outright lie about how much she heard, because she has reason to think she can't trust Junior, based on what else she heard. Junior's abandoned Candy - and what she says about loyalty to friends doesn't seem to give him pause - and he's keeping secrets from Mary - no wonder she's scared! He justifies it, this episode, too, lying to Rhett's face about not knowing who the baby's other possible father is, and the fact that he's probably not admitting to himself how bad his father is, is no excuse. At this point the fact that he's following his mother's lead only make it worse.
It's hard for me to judge how Penny would react to Mary making friends with Sandy, because my Penny is so radically different from yours, and neither her events nor her backstory are paralleled in any other iterations I've seen. But that's not even the right question. Mary'd be balancing loyalty to Penny, and how she believes Penny would react, against compassion for a woman who is in a there-but-for-the-grace-of-God position relative to her own. Plus, it's hard for Mary to shut anyone down. If Sandy came at her, woman-to-woman and mother-to-mother, that'd be hard for her to refuse, I think. It's not even impossible for her to mediate between and create an alliance of Rhett's Babymamas (before which he should tremble...) Or - oh my - with Dixie moved in - Sandy'd see Dixie as a potential lifeline straight to Virgie, wouldn't she?
Um, sorry, storymaker kicked in there...you know what I'm like.
There's always one part I keep rereading and this time it's Valentine's visit to Mary, the smooth talker suddenly almost as awkward as Woody, feeling himself in the wrong for being anywhere near her (in her nightgown for Pete's sake, he never saw her in a nightgown when they were together!) but compelled to be there by urgent duty to somebody else he loves. And then he discovers Annie and gets his mojo back, the little princess relaxing him right into a compliment that goes where he shouldn't go. But now Mary's not too flustered to talk to him either, and not only because she's dressed. It may be too much for her to see him with her baby, but it's too much in the way that drives her forward and she finally delivers her message. You did that well and elegantly. (Someday I'd like to hear them have a conversation about their lost baby; but neither of them could do that now.)
And the second thing I like to go back and look at is Val grabbing Candy up to hug her at the Mannsion, and how that whole sequence is Rhett's POV because Rhett has time to notice things other than - Candy's here and Candy's safe. Val hasn't got room in his eyes for anything other than what's necessary for full-on Daughter Protection Mode. Rhett, for once, is seeing more than his old man is.
And if it turns out that Candy really is selling herself to Rich - Rhett almost predicted that. Not all of it, though; not the part about her being handcuffed in a secret room and terrified that the baby'd have green eyes...So the scene's comic but it's fraught, too, with things that could presage interesting developments in the Hart family dynamic generally, and Rhett's character development in particular.
Junior never got the chance to confront Candy so his dad's perspective, or his sense of it, has dominated and he's basically written her off. He doesn't like to think too much about that whole situation but his last settled impression of what happened is that Candy used him to force his dad's hand and get what she wanted from him the 'real' Rich Mann. The fact that the last time he saw her she was getting slapped around and he hasn't really thought to worry about her, except where it also related to himself, is worrying. On the one hand, he's suggestible, in that she set the tone by how she responded; on the other, he really shouldn't be! That was kind of a big deal. That selfishness he jokingly boasted about runs even deeper than he realises. He's not a lost cause but he was brought up by Rich and Lana.
The eavesdropping scene also reinforces the ways that Mary knows more about him than he knows about her. And whatever her immediate reasons, she maintains that dynamic. It will all come down to trust, whether she's capable of trusting and whether he is trustworthy, which are sometimes separate issues. Sometimes not.
Penny's backstory does give her a bit of an edge, and a blind spot, that she wouldn't otherwise have. It's going to surface later on this round. But, definitely, regardless of Mary's reservations, she wouldn't be able to out-and-out reject Sandy's overtures, if she made any. But so far Sandy's only been indirectly feeling her way, trying to navigate her new social position. She likes Junior, they have no reason not to get along, but she's not inclined to take his word for much. That ridiculousness with Rhett ducking out without so much as a nod while Junior made idle conversation to keep her from noticing or following or whatever they called themselves doing was more likely to convince her that she needs to step back from these young people altogether, find an ally more on her level if she can. Giving Valentine a gift to take to Mary wasn't only, or even mostly, about establishing an opening with Mary.
But, oh my, Penny and Sandy joining forces would be like Rhett's fantasies and nightmares combined. I can't imagine somebody hasn't done the ménage but that's one disaster not waiting to happen in my Widespot.
-Oh, hell, I've gotta dash. Too much Junior musing. I'm going to cut my last wayward paragraph but I'll probably come back to it.-
Junior requires a lot of musing here. I wouldn't take his word for anything, either. He and Rhett are about on a parr, perceptually. They're both capable of figuring stuff out, but it's not the way to bet. And it can be like wrestling Jell-O to get a grip on his character. It's composed mostly of weaknesses, and all those nice points don't do him much good without a strength to hang them from.
It's true that if Sandy wants an effective ally in this town, she needs to set her sights on an elder, and she and Valentine have Proxy for a powerful interest in common. If she can also take advantage of his tenderness toward Mary (however she perceives it) she might as well.
Valentine is the most important, and urgent, person for her to win over, but a lot of lines converge on the house next door, too: Mary for her connections and accessibility, Dixie for her position vis-a-vis Virginia, and Lana as an unaligned elder, who is nobody's first choice for an ally but beggars can't be choosers and maybe they could use each other. (How Lana would hate being lumped in with Sandy as a beggar!)
It will soon become as urgent for Sandy to find her voice as it is for Mary. She never had much of one in the grand scheme of things, and when she did speak up, it resulted in the divorce, which sent her into total eclipse. At the moment it appears that she shares this lack of voice with Candy, too. She says one word this installment, just "Pop," and it could mean anything - plea, warning, admonition. She may, of course, have plenty to say next installment so I may be wrong about that, but it looks as if Rich has managed to silence her. If Valentine is wise (and we know he isn't always) he'll insist on speaking alone with her and on getting Goldie private access to her. Rich won't be on his guard against Goldie, and she and Candy have a strong sisterly rapport. But even then, what she says won't mean as much as how she says it.
Candy's one word is exactly where I was going next! I knew it wouldn't have escaped your notice. It is meant to be ambiguous, that's what Part 3 is for, but in those first few moments Valentine is too focused on the task at hand-getting her out of there, no backtalk, for it to register right away because her silence is less of an issue for him than her not getting a move-on. It actually falls to Rhett to tell her to snap out of it. Of course, Val's also walking a tightrope because he knows how stubborn and defiant Candy can be. His unleashing on Rich is not a new twist on the way their dynamic plays out when Candy's in over her head based on how I reconfigured the scandal backstory. Rhett was too young to have had a role in that mess but his presence is necessary here. Val waited for him, he wanted Rhett with him, so while the comedy comes about because that's just how Rhett rolls, the balance he provides wasn't by accident (even if Val didn't consciously figure that into his thoughts).
Part 3 does have a lot of 'splaining to do! Although, I'm pretty sure it doesn't follow a path that's entirely predictable, at least so far as the details go. But about Sandy and Lana...that's interesting, Lana might actually need an ally even if she's not on the lookout for one. And they do already have a certain stranger in common, he hasn't been featured much since barging in on Sandy and Proxy back at the shack but there is a connection to them both. The awkwardness of those connections might not mark these two women out as natural allies but, as you say, beggars can't be choosers. Sandy wouldn't bother with maintaining a grudge against Lana for turning her away when she first needed a place to stay, Lana's had her own come-down since then, but she wouldn't pursue such an association without a bit of extra incentive. I had the vaguest ideas for them looking to the future but if Sandy did consider making nice with Lana now, as another avenue for insulating herself against Rich, just in case...hmm. In the meantime, if she made enough progress befriending Mary to be comfortable going around her house, Dixie's presence would instantly conjure Virginia, that's how she knows her. But if she were bringing Proxima around, as she would, that'd be a dose of reality Dixie doesn't want.
It hadn't occurred to me, but this does almost exactly parallel how you interpreted the Hot Tub Dome Scandal. (Which didn't need rewriting because I deliberately included no information about it - most people assume Hot Tub + Romance Sim = Sex Scandal, but those four words could mean almost anything, and that was on purpose, because how you fill in that blank is key to how you read Val.) Candy following her instincts and thinking she's handling things better than she is, check. Predatory older man, check. Val getting the memo late, resorting to violence, check. All that's lacking is Val blaming himself for it and maneuvering to take on the worst consequences, and that may be coming up. Or Candy may derail it.
It's a good thing Sandy didn't get moved in to the Harts till their last day, as it gives you time to watch her around town (now that she's showing her face again) and gather evidence for how she plans to proceed. Moving in may have been conceived as an economic move, but it also opens a number of social avenues to her that were less open before. A homeless person approaches everyone as a suppliant; a person with a roof over her head may still be on the ropes, but she has negotiation room. (Just FYI: Aegagropilon and I decided that Sandy's maiden name was probably Shore. In case she decides to revert to it...)
I don't think Sandy will be willing to relinquish that connection to her children any time soon, unless it happens to be in exchange for a new name, but y'never know. First things first, getting her out of those old clothes. She wasn't quite ready for that change either before I moved on to the next house, especially considering that the only options available to her would've come from rifling through Candy's closet. What a different impression she would've made showing up around town in full Candy "regalia"! (Not especially gaudy, actually, or even skimpy, but definitely conspicuous on Sandy.) Not to mention how impolitic in her position, but perhaps she'll have found something comfortable for spring by the time I swing back around.
I was going to leave her curiosity piqued but unsatisfied with her watching Val usher Mary home to give birth but Sandy had ideas of her own. Character development aside, however, the main reason I was delighted by her appearances was that I knew I needed Val back at Mary's to finish their conversation but I didn't have a pretext I liked for getting him there until Sandy popped up at their store.
I suppose it's possible there's a few of Angel's things that it wouldn't break everybody's heart to see used again, but even if they fit, that'd be inappropriate in a whole different way and in any case she needs something that doesn't scream "mendicant in hand-me-downs." Maybe she could knit herself something that, when put together with secondhand items, would make a suitable fashion statement?
Actually, the simplest thing would be for Valentine to retrieve some of her old clothes on a visit to Daytona. Assuming Virginia hasn't shredded them all.
That sentence did originally read that she might knit something light for spring but I'm not so sure about that. I do love the idea of her getting some of her old clothes back, though, but I'm thinking it will be Hamilton's doing. Possibly a teachable moment for Virgie but, at least, a way of putting this all behind him. I think he's ready, or he will be, when I actually get started playing Round 3.
Edited to add: I love that idea so much I just jotted down a little preliminary dialogue. Now I'm eager to see how it plays out!
I'm really fond of those small but significant transitional moments. It's important for Hamilton and Sandy wearing clothes that fit will be different going forward. And even if it doesn't serve as an invitation, the path will be clearer for reconnecting with her kids. Provided Virginia doesn't make a scene.
Oh, Val and little girls! He just could not leave Annie alone, could he? If they mostly favor Mary he may never stop counting these two as at least provisionally his.
Mary seems to be at least trying to keep control of the situation here, and Valentine mostly kept himself in check, though the reflexes betrayed him in that edged compliment about purple. If she can just stay mad for awhile, and safely out of love with him...I'm curious, is she rolling wants to fall back in love with him? That always plagues me with the most faithful aspirations, the Fortune and Family ones - you get them all broken up with Mr. or Ms. Unsuitable, safely married and settled with Mr. or Ms. Suitable, or even Perfect, and they spend the rest of their lives with Fall in Love with Unsuitable wants popping up at awkward moments. I don't play with ACR so it's simple to avoid filling it, but they just can't seem to get over that first one in their secret hearts.
Quite the Land interlude there. Lana may not be wrong that there's a gleam of a grandmother in Annie, but she probably underestimates Beulah a lot and doesn't necessarily recognize where it came from! It wouldn't surprise me a bit if Beulah starts showing up on the lot and letting herself in from time to time - got to keep an eye on things. And something tells me she and Lana aren't going to bond over shared grandbabies.
Oh, Dixie...well, can't expect old heads on young shoulders, but Daytona or Junior or somebody needs to start stocking rubbers. Actually, Valentine should put a vending machine in his restroom at the Dugout, for the convenience of everybody. (And you'll notice I'm not even wondering about Rhett, we all know he's not thinking. Plus, she's his type - breathing.) Anyway, Dixie could actually be a help to Mary, though that is one more slob in the house. She's a lot more likely to speak up to her in-laws on Mary's behalf than Mary is, for sure, and she's not going to feel like she owes Lana so much as courtesy. But she is in the habit of being the indolent one while Mary works...well, we'll see.
Still processing, and I've got commitments for the holiday Friday I should get going on. I'll probably come back and breathe down your neck some more later, though.
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Annie definitely doesn't do much toward stopping Val from making assumptions. If Avery were a solo act he might hesitate, give Junior the benefit of the doubt, but for now, with the two of them, he's not really buying it.
Yes, that pining, even Rich has rolled a Lana want or two, although she's been far too livid to reciprocate. But Mary never actually fell out of love with Val, which works out well for me playing-wise and story-wise. She's not infatuated anymore but she still loves him. From a distance, no cluttering up her wants. Interestingly, she didn't roll any family sim revved up baby wants after the twins were born. She's content to count her blessings for now.
Lana and Beulah bonding is not ever going to happen, if either one of them have a say about that! But Lana and Dixie in the same house should be interesting. Mary having someone in her corner is never a bad thing but there's also the danger that she'll retreat behind Dixie's feistiness, leaving her to be "their" mouthpiece.
Dixie and Rhett, yeah. I may have just such a vending machine in my downloads :-) but I'm not ready to give Widespot access to reliable birth control just yet. I probably won't wait until they have a subhood of some sort as originally planned but not yet. That does mean that Hart genes could make their way into the Land family after all but that's not in my plans. If ACR and risky woohoo catch them up, I guess I won't interfere, but I won't be lending a hand in that direction.
As always, whatever crops up, bring on the commentary! I love talking about the story, as you can see; that's part of the fun. Enjoy your weekend!
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I noticed here and in part 1, though, that Mary almost always looks happy in the shots with Junior. Mostly when she doesn't, it's because of something else going on - glaring at Lana, having twins. And they are managing, a lot of the time, to put together an approximation of the life she was raised to expect and wants to have. But they can't be real full partners like her parents are if she doesn't trust him enough to tell him everything and he's still letting other people supply his rudder. So one minute I'm sold on the marriage and the next I'm certain it'll break itself on a rock that should have been avoidable.
Honestly the scene that makes me most hopeful about it is Dixie standing there with her newly-chosen favorite and actually thinking, in so many words, that something's wrong with Mary. The only other person who ever thinks of something being wrong with Mary is Valentine, who with the best will in the world has almost no moves open to him, regarding her, that wouldn't be counterproductive. Dixie's already given Junior one reality check. If she ever gets Mary to open up, gets all the facts into her hands - but there's so many interruptions waiting to happen in that house! And as you say, she can't fight Mary's battles for her.
Sandy's barely glimpsed here, but she remains a wild card. If she starts rolling wants to be friends with Mary - well, they are better positioned to understand each other's troubles than anybody else around, aren't they? From Sandy's point of view, too, Mary may look like a desirable ally. She may not have anything Daytona would recognize as clout - but she has exactly those things that Sandy's lost, love and respect from a good portion of the town. To someone who thinks like a Popularity sim, that spells influence and possibilities for mutual aid that Mary can't even see.
Any idea where you got that vending machine? My Junior does a brisk business in deco condom boxes at the General Store, but I can think of some other places that could use one, in Widespot and Strangetown and Drama Acres...
I'm not surprised Rich rolls Fall in Love with Lana wants, not one bit. Those two were well-matched, and if Candy's trying to be underestimated especially he's bound to miss her. He's probably spent more time being honest and unmanipulative with her than with everyone else he's ever met put together, because there was no need to con her - they would have wanted roughly the same things, most of the time, and even when they didn't she wasn't going to try to turn against him. Until she did.
Let's see, scroll up to the top and see if there's anything I meant to say that didn't get said. Oh, good job on naming the twins! Getting Anyman and Everyman into the same birth is pretty slick. Mary cussing at Junior about being a brood sow is priceless - I bet it wasn't anything censor software would recognize as cussing, though. Has Junior actually changed a diaper yet? Being Daddy does not just mean you get the fun stuff...
I love the invasion of the Lands, making Lana feel overwhelmed and spiteful. (But when does she not feel spiteful?) Beulah knowing about the properties of cheesecake was not something I was prepared for and makes me mad at her, but it's all one with her established behavior toward her favorite child - lovingly and tenderly riding roughshod over her autonomy because Beulah knows best and what Beulah wants she gets. At least she's leaping to help with them. And I think she'll be dismayed if she's ever made to realize what she's been doing.
And I'm over the character limit.
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Mary is pretty happy. Junior's definitely the happiest person in that house but the only time she really came close to regretting her choice wasn't because of anything he did, it was that mother of his. And Valentine being so willing to disregard her completely, so it seemed. I'm partial to, well the look on Mary's face when she found Val at her door, but also the pic of her when Junior's caressing her face after starting to chew her out for eavesdropping in Pt. 1. (in one of the squares of 4). It's hard to be mad at Mary and Junior definitely doesn't want to hurt her but he's going to need more than good intentions.
Sandy is barely glimpsed but I didn't really intend for her to be in it at all! She did a walkby at their house and then when she showed up at the store in the middle of Junior and Rhett's back & forth I had to write her in. Especially because it's a departure for her, she's slowly becoming more willing to show her face around town (in safe, generally Beech-free, spaces) but clearly not yet ready to ditch Hamilton's old shirt...Wonder if Rhett's even noticed?
Mary's pretty loyal to Penny so that friendship may not get off the ground but Sandy and Junior are great friends! Go figure. But Sandy does need a world outside of Rhett--his family, his friends, all conditional, like they're borrowed--or she'll suffocate.
The condom dispenser is from an adult site, Pandora Sims. Got it from the booty. (Wow, in this context that sounds so dirty.) Looks like an old gumball machine. But it's not deco, I should warn you. There's a controller and tokens (and a few hilarious meshes for the dudes to use), and it's pretty old, doesn't look like it's been updated since '06. If you prefer to keep your game clean, I'm not sure if it would throw errors if the controller weren't in your folder but I also don't recall seeing any autonomous condom buying so it could actually function as deco. I generally set up the "anti-sprog devices" on pharmacy-type lots and the dispenser goes in restrooms, like you suggested (The Dugout's is unisex despite the gendered doors), or some seedier establishments, but I think it's even in one of my gift shops. Depends on the hood and/or proprietor and their attitude toward sex.
Rich acted swiftly but losing Lana had not been part of his long-term plans. Not at all. His most pointed barbs tend to be hurtled in her direction probably because he's trying to convince himself that she was past her sell-by date and he is better off without her. Candy, well, can't say too much about that situation yet. Will point out that Rhett's been inadvertently right about a few things he's said regarding big sis.
I'm rather proud of the twins' names, didn't expect I'd manage to keep the puns going. Junior hasn't changed a diaper yet, he doesn't even realise that's expected, Mary's so on top of it. That's the consensus between him and his mom, but she secretly wants to get back to the store. It's as much hers as his and she's had a 'get a job' want locked ever since she was still living "at home". Someone on the outside might not believe Mary could be Beulah's favourite but she absolutely is, it'd break her heart if she knew all the stuff Mary hid from her and that she felt like she had to. If Mary ever gets to a point where she can have an open and honest conversation with her mother, well, that will really be something.
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It's hard for me to judge how Penny would react to Mary making friends with Sandy, because my Penny is so radically different from yours, and neither her events nor her backstory are paralleled in any other iterations I've seen. But that's not even the right question. Mary'd be balancing loyalty to Penny, and how she believes Penny would react, against compassion for a woman who is in a there-but-for-the-grace-of-God position relative to her own. Plus, it's hard for Mary to shut anyone down. If Sandy came at her, woman-to-woman and mother-to-mother, that'd be hard for her to refuse, I think. It's not even impossible for her to mediate between and create an alliance of Rhett's Babymamas (before which he should tremble...) Or - oh my - with Dixie moved in - Sandy'd see Dixie as a potential lifeline straight to Virgie, wouldn't she?
Um, sorry, storymaker kicked in there...you know what I'm like.
There's always one part I keep rereading and this time it's Valentine's visit to Mary, the smooth talker suddenly almost as awkward as Woody, feeling himself in the wrong for being anywhere near her (in her nightgown for Pete's sake, he never saw her in a nightgown when they were together!) but compelled to be there by urgent duty to somebody else he loves. And then he discovers Annie and gets his mojo back, the little princess relaxing him right into a compliment that goes where he shouldn't go. But now Mary's not too flustered to talk to him either, and not only because she's dressed. It may be too much for her to see him with her baby, but it's too much in the way that drives her forward and she finally delivers her message. You did that well and elegantly. (Someday I'd like to hear them have a conversation about their lost baby; but neither of them could do that now.)
And the second thing I like to go back and look at is Val grabbing Candy up to hug her at the Mannsion, and how that whole sequence is Rhett's POV because Rhett has time to notice things other than - Candy's here and Candy's safe. Val hasn't got room in his eyes for anything other than what's necessary for full-on Daughter Protection Mode. Rhett, for once, is seeing more than his old man is.
And if it turns out that Candy really is selling herself to Rich - Rhett almost predicted that. Not all of it, though; not the part about her being handcuffed in a secret room and terrified that the baby'd have green eyes...So the scene's comic but it's fraught, too, with things that could presage interesting developments in the Hart family dynamic generally, and Rhett's character development in particular.
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The eavesdropping scene also reinforces the ways that Mary knows more about him than he knows about her. And whatever her immediate reasons, she maintains that dynamic. It will all come down to trust, whether she's capable of trusting and whether he is trustworthy, which are sometimes separate issues. Sometimes not.
Penny's backstory does give her a bit of an edge, and a blind spot, that she wouldn't otherwise have. It's going to surface later on this round. But, definitely, regardless of Mary's reservations, she wouldn't be able to out-and-out reject Sandy's overtures, if she made any. But so far Sandy's only been indirectly feeling her way, trying to navigate her new social position. She likes Junior, they have no reason not to get along, but she's not inclined to take his word for much. That ridiculousness with Rhett ducking out without so much as a nod while Junior made idle conversation to keep her from noticing or following or whatever they called themselves doing was more likely to convince her that she needs to step back from these young people altogether, find an ally more on her level if she can. Giving Valentine a gift to take to Mary wasn't only, or even mostly, about establishing an opening with Mary.
But, oh my, Penny and Sandy joining forces would be like Rhett's fantasies and nightmares combined. I can't imagine somebody hasn't done the ménage but that's one disaster not waiting to happen in my Widespot.
-Oh, hell, I've gotta dash. Too much Junior musing. I'm going to cut my last wayward paragraph but I'll probably come back to it.-
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It's true that if Sandy wants an effective ally in this town, she needs to set her sights on an elder, and she and Valentine have Proxy for a powerful interest in common. If she can also take advantage of his tenderness toward Mary (however she perceives it) she might as well.
Valentine is the most important, and urgent, person for her to win over, but a lot of lines converge on the house next door, too: Mary for her connections and accessibility, Dixie for her position vis-a-vis Virginia, and Lana as an unaligned elder, who is nobody's first choice for an ally but beggars can't be choosers and maybe they could use each other. (How Lana would hate being lumped in with Sandy as a beggar!)
It will soon become as urgent for Sandy to find her voice as it is for Mary. She never had much of one in the grand scheme of things, and when she did speak up, it resulted in the divorce, which sent her into total eclipse. At the moment it appears that she shares this lack of voice with Candy, too. She says one word this installment, just "Pop," and it could mean anything - plea, warning, admonition. She may, of course, have plenty to say next installment so I may be wrong about that, but it looks as if Rich has managed to silence her. If Valentine is wise (and we know he isn't always) he'll insist on speaking alone with her and on getting Goldie private access to her. Rich won't be on his guard against Goldie, and she and Candy have a strong sisterly rapport. But even then, what she says won't mean as much as how she says it.
A lot's riding on Part III!
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Part 3 does have a lot of 'splaining to do! Although, I'm pretty sure it doesn't follow a path that's entirely predictable, at least so far as the details go. But about Sandy and Lana...that's interesting, Lana might actually need an ally even if she's not on the lookout for one. And they do already have a certain stranger in common, he hasn't been featured much since barging in on Sandy and Proxy back at the shack but there is a connection to them both. The awkwardness of those connections might not mark these two women out as natural allies but, as you say, beggars can't be choosers. Sandy wouldn't bother with maintaining a grudge against Lana for turning her away when she first needed a place to stay, Lana's had her own come-down since then, but she wouldn't pursue such an association without a bit of extra incentive. I had the vaguest ideas for them looking to the future but if Sandy did consider making nice with Lana now, as another avenue for insulating herself against Rich, just in case...hmm. In the meantime, if she made enough progress befriending Mary to be comfortable going around her house, Dixie's presence would instantly conjure Virginia, that's how she knows her. But if she were bringing Proxima around, as she would, that'd be a dose of reality Dixie doesn't want.
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It's a good thing Sandy didn't get moved in to the Harts till their last day, as it gives you time to watch her around town (now that she's showing her face again) and gather evidence for how she plans to proceed. Moving in may have been conceived as an economic move, but it also opens a number of social avenues to her that were less open before. A homeless person approaches everyone as a suppliant; a person with a roof over her head may still be on the ropes, but she has negotiation room. (Just FYI: Aegagropilon and I decided that Sandy's maiden name was probably Shore. In case she decides to revert to it...)
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I was going to leave her curiosity piqued but unsatisfied with her watching Val usher Mary home to give birth but Sandy had ideas of her own. Character development aside, however, the main reason I was delighted by her appearances was that I knew I needed Val back at Mary's to finish their conversation but I didn't have a pretext I liked for getting him there until Sandy popped up at their store.
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Actually, the simplest thing would be for Valentine to retrieve some of her old clothes on a visit to Daytona. Assuming Virginia hasn't shredded them all.
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Edited to add: I love that idea so much I just jotted down a little preliminary dialogue. Now I'm eager to see how it plays out!
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