Defiance of the Hart genes isn't the only thing making Proxy a force to be reckoned with in her own right, already.
That is one estimation that Sandy takes completely for granted. Yes, she is smarter than Rhett. Not really an accomplishment and in some sense that's just as it should be so she presumes upon him and anyone else recognising that automatically. (Another trait that trickled down to her firstborn.) Of course, she couldn't/wouldn't actually say anything to that effect (it hardly needs saying anyway) but in the next part when she interjects a little modesty, not entirely false, it's not in response to Rhett.
Sandy needs to get over this attraction she's got to men with zero nice points and she needs to do it in a hurry. (No wonder she can't get Hamilton off the brain, he's the only one who doesn't fit her pattern.)
Some of Val's stresses will be resolved, which, of course isn't to say they won't be replaced. Val's relationship with Daytona is progressing in ways neither one of them really intended or anticipated so there will certainly be some things to work out because they are neither of them likely to be willing to let go (not without a fight). We haven't seen Day around the house apart from that one recycled "Awkward!" shot, partly because "Costume Changes!" but also she wasn't at all stalkeriffic this round, further confirming my belief that was a glitch rather than straight maxis behaviour (otherwise, why should the door jump open long before she got to it, surely it wasn't Angel inviting her in!) But Day will be around, just not until Part 3. Val was over there almost every night and thus far she's got her own preoccupations to sort.
Candy doesn't really know how to make friends, not with women or men, but with men she at least knows how to claim and hold their attention. Her only confidante ever was her mother and of course there was a phase during which Angel was the last person she wanted to talk to (and the one person she really needed to be talking to). She and Val also have a unique bond but he's her father and that line between father and friend was firmly cemented after the Hot Tub Dome, nothing like that would ever be allowed to happen again. If Candy could step back enough to allow Goldie to step forward, that'd be best for them both, but, just as Val is somewhat invested in their immaturity, she's invested in Goldie's baby sister mode, it's what gives her access to those best of her instincts.
Since Val and Goldie are the only ones really capable of self-censoring I've got a pretty good idea what Angel sounded like and considering how she was about her baby boy, Sandy and the Hart "imposter" might've been out on their ears unless age mellowed her or Rhett took up for them.
Sandy is trying to find a productive niche for herself, she saw a need and wasted no time filling it. Daughter-in-law, satellite to Rhett, isn't quite the right fit for her so it's a balancing act. And it's that "or whatever" that'll getcha every time.
Angel can speak pretty loud from beyond the grave if you let her, as I found when I was writing the text files that flash back to the Hart youth and she took over for pages at a time. You only have to start thinking, What kind of woman could raise these kids, and be married to this man, and leave them in this state? And she is off and running! I'm a little surprised she hasn't haunted Sandy here, but her haunting is an erratic thing from neighborhood to neighborhood. She refused to manifest at all during development; in the hood I'm playing properly she's a fairly benign presence; in the GSUberhood Challenge Hood she's actively tried to kill Mary twice.
I think Sandy needs somebody a little abrasive around - even Hamilton's only got about three nice points - which is fine, I'm like that myself, but there's such a thing as Overdoing It. She certainly has landed in a place with no oversupply of nice points. She's likely to spoil Proxy rotten, I'm afraid. Being smarter than Rhett is no big accomplishment, no - but for Rhett to acknowledge that, and talk her up as a threat to his Pop's natural right to Win All the Things, that's a separate accomplishment, and not a trivial one.
I like to think that Rhett would stand up for her and Proxy, if it comes to that. It's what he was trying, or thought he was trying, to do that time he accidentally triggered the divorce; and if he did, it'd be the making of him. I'm sure even Val would prefer to see that, in the end. But he's failed, or barely squeaked by, every test life's thrown at him so far, so I won't be surprised if he disappoints me.
I'm going to go check and see if you posted Part Two while I was writing this now.
Oh how I wish I could slap these things together in an hour or two and have done! (And still have them as they are, as I rather like them, that's the hitch.) I was aiming for this weekend, mentally, but I've just remembered that's going to be pretty busy so I'll say Part 2 should be up within the week. (Definitely not another month. Eking out Part 1 means the work's actually more than a third done.)
Ultimately, Sandy might be able to handle herself but there's abrasive and then there's controlling and crazy. She needs to get better at differentiating or at least at calculating acceptable risk. (Being part or all of the allure that'll be tricky but I'm sure she can do the "math".) To be fair to Rhett, though, his dearth of niceness seldom manifests, as such. He's an all around jackass but that's also part of his charm. And of course, his youth goes a long way toward making it seem like charm. He's just not a mean sim; even Val with his 3 nice points (and I'd forgotten Ham had 3, I knew it wasn't many, but I guess Sandy sure stays on theme) is more likely to initiate a less than friendly gesture (as is Candy, and she's got 6! Nature v. Nurture. Sims are pretty good at demonstrating how they blend.) And Rhett isn't always as clueless as he seems. He knew what Sandy meant by metaphorical ghosts, for instance, despite claiming not to understand because after seeing Penny and still not getting any closer to getting her back on the hook he didn't want to discuss any of that.
I'd hesitate to claim too much for him, however. With the chess game, while stating the obvious, that Pop doesn't know her well, he's reaffirming that he does and claiming her for his team. She's adjunct to him so when she wins so does he...and a victory against Pop by any means is a welcome boon. More challenges in store for the boy wonder. Jailbait and toddlers and Pop's unreliable conscience...oh my. And where would we be if he ever skimped on the comic relief?
I figured how fast you could get Parts 2 and 3 up would depend on the point at which you decided where the break points were and started focusing on Part 1. If you got the whole thing roughed out first you'd be able to get Part 2 out faster than if you'd recognized where Part 1 needed to end as you came to it and polished that up before proceeding. Since you did the first with the Beech episode, I figured it wasn't out of the question that you'd done it again. Besides, I keep checking even when I know better.
I don't think Rhett's in any danger of letting up on the comic relief. I don't see him changing his style much even when he matures - despite what Candy and Penny are telling him, there's no doubt that the braggadocio and apparent overconfidence are working for him as much as against him. He probably has to fake more confidence than he has just to get out there and be his father's son day after day; if amping it up a bit more even than that makes people find him funny rather than obnoxious; maybe gets him in under their guard; makes them roll their eyes instead of punching him - well, that's all good, isn't it?
And Rhett with a toddler is always cute as blazes, because they have so much in common!
I gave the female Hart more nice points than the males because "niceness," as it plays in the game, is mostly about how accommodating, conflict-avoidant, and ready to please other people you are, as opposed to how self-assertive and indifferent to public opinion. I'm sure I don't need to explain how those traits are gendered in Western society! So if Candy isn't using her nice points on somebody, odds are good it's somebody she doesn't need anything from, and who she fears will try to use resources she needs to hoard for her and hers. The exception here would be Rich, who requires a finely calibrated balance between compliance and defiance to keep him in the sweet zone - and that has to be exhausting. I for one can't blame her much for letting it all hang out when she goes home, where love is not contingent upon behavior; but she doesn't need to actively target Sandy.
One thing that makes Nelson scary is that, if and when Rich decides he has a use for Sandy, Nelson is the natural instrument for delivering the threat, bribe, or baited trap. I wonder if that's occurred to Sandy at all? She needs to quash whatever attraction she feels, and complain to the family about the creepy guy who keeps showing up. She hasn't actively encouraged him to date, so she has high ground, but she could easily lose it. Complaining about him would make it much harder for him to maneuver her into a situation that Rhett and Valentine could misperceive. Let's channel some of the excess testosterone kicking around that house to a useful purpose! I grant you it'd be awkward if Rhett decided to pick a fight with him, but that's the worst case scenario for going public; while the worst case for keeping quiet could be dire indeed.
But Sandy is not great about applying her smarts toward people; it's the great tragedy of her life.
I never have any idea how many pics I've taken until I start the sorting and when I collected shots for the Harts I was simply staggered. The decision to do three parts was made just so that I could begin. Two and three were sectioned off, but that's it, still more undone than done. Busy weekend carried over but I'm working on it.
Rhett. Oh Rhett. 'Tis all. At least until I've got out Part 2. Although now I'm thinking I may push back the Proxy stuff and more or less give him Part 3, mostly so I can use one of the extras as the header pic and title the chapter after it. The main problem is that Part 3 doesn't follow Part 2 (not according to my math) and I wanna show it, dammit! Yes, I could try to get faster...I won't get faster. Ah well, will see how the arranging goes.
With respect to "niceness", its meaning is rather deliberately imprecise, pertaining at times to particularity or fineness of discrimination yet deriving from words meaning quite the opposite of 'knowingness' (noesis...yet not really; it sounds like it should be so, niceness/noesis, but IIRC the etymology cannot be tracked thataway, which was once a sore point to my adolescent craving for the patness of all things) and most often now being used as some sort of non-committal descriptor just on the right side of neutral. "That's nice". Nice women are respectable (which makes it interesting to consider that I haven't ever and wouldn't use the word to describe myself...but then there's still the trap of the "good girl"), nice men are unobjectionable. Not exactly ringing endorsements for a personality but I'll take the nice/mean scale here over TS3 style good and evil any day. And on the sim side of life I've just remembered how I roared with laughter to discover that, despite Proxy being the mean one, Una with all her nice points is the one who's already made enemies of the entire toddler population in Widespot (save Proxy). Unwanted huggles. Is she Woody's niece or what?
That hasn't occurred to Sandy, at all, no. She's not afraid of Rich. Intimidated possibly, at the thought of being too much in his power, and perhaps attracted but not properly wary. (Another reason antagonising her may not be completely consequence-free for Candy, not that she's especially concerned with what Rich gets up to with other chicks but there are a few choices that'd get under her skin and Sandy's one of them. Rich messing around with Mary would irritate her life, even if it did serve Junior right for marrying her but at least that's one horror I don't see ever happening in my hood.) And it's unlikely that Sandy will be complaining about Nelson. She wants to keep him around and, even if she wants more than just another bed buddy, when that romance secondary starts kicking in Sandy is not above settling for what she can get or leaping first and regretting afterwards.
That is one estimation that Sandy takes completely for granted. Yes, she is smarter than Rhett. Not really an accomplishment and in some sense that's just as it should be so she presumes upon him and anyone else recognising that automatically. (Another trait that trickled down to her firstborn.) Of course, she couldn't/wouldn't actually say anything to that effect (it hardly needs saying anyway) but in the next part when she interjects a little modesty, not entirely false, it's not in response to Rhett.
Sandy needs to get over this attraction she's got to men with zero nice points and she needs to do it in a hurry. (No wonder she can't get Hamilton off the brain, he's the only one who doesn't fit her pattern.)
Some of Val's stresses will be resolved, which, of course isn't to say they won't be replaced. Val's relationship with Daytona is progressing in ways neither one of them really intended or anticipated so there will certainly be some things to work out because they are neither of them likely to be willing to let go (not without a fight). We haven't seen Day around the house apart from that one recycled "Awkward!" shot, partly because "Costume Changes!" but also she wasn't at all stalkeriffic this round, further confirming my belief that was a glitch rather than straight maxis behaviour (otherwise, why should the door jump open long before she got to it, surely it wasn't Angel inviting her in!) But Day will be around, just not until Part 3. Val was over there almost every night and thus far she's got her own preoccupations to sort.
Candy doesn't really know how to make friends, not with women or men, but with men she at least knows how to claim and hold their attention. Her only confidante ever was her mother and of course there was a phase during which Angel was the last person she wanted to talk to (and the one person she really needed to be talking to). She and Val also have a unique bond but he's her father and that line between father and friend was firmly cemented after the Hot Tub Dome, nothing like that would ever be allowed to happen again. If Candy could step back enough to allow Goldie to step forward, that'd be best for them both, but, just as Val is somewhat invested in their immaturity, she's invested in Goldie's baby sister mode, it's what gives her access to those best of her instincts.
Since Val and Goldie are the only ones really capable of self-censoring I've got a pretty good idea what Angel sounded like and considering how she was about her baby boy, Sandy and the Hart "imposter" might've been out on their ears unless age mellowed her or Rhett took up for them.
Sandy is trying to find a productive niche for herself, she saw a need and wasted no time filling it. Daughter-in-law, satellite to Rhett, isn't quite the right fit for her so it's a balancing act. And it's that "or whatever" that'll getcha every time.
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I think Sandy needs somebody a little abrasive around - even Hamilton's only got about three nice points - which is fine, I'm like that myself, but there's such a thing as Overdoing It. She certainly has landed in a place with no oversupply of nice points. She's likely to spoil Proxy rotten, I'm afraid. Being smarter than Rhett is no big accomplishment, no - but for Rhett to acknowledge that, and talk her up as a threat to his Pop's natural right to Win All the Things, that's a separate accomplishment, and not a trivial one.
I like to think that Rhett would stand up for her and Proxy, if it comes to that. It's what he was trying, or thought he was trying, to do that time he accidentally triggered the divorce; and if he did, it'd be the making of him. I'm sure even Val would prefer to see that, in the end. But he's failed, or barely squeaked by, every test life's thrown at him so far, so I won't be surprised if he disappoints me.
I'm going to go check and see if you posted Part Two while I was writing this now.
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Ultimately, Sandy might be able to handle herself but there's abrasive and then there's controlling and crazy. She needs to get better at differentiating or at least at calculating acceptable risk. (Being part or all of the allure that'll be tricky but I'm sure she can do the "math".) To be fair to Rhett, though, his dearth of niceness seldom manifests, as such. He's an all around jackass but that's also part of his charm. And of course, his youth goes a long way toward making it seem like charm. He's just not a mean sim; even Val with his 3 nice points (and I'd forgotten Ham had 3, I knew it wasn't many, but I guess Sandy sure stays on theme) is more likely to initiate a less than friendly gesture (as is Candy, and she's got 6! Nature v. Nurture. Sims are pretty good at demonstrating how they blend.) And Rhett isn't always as clueless as he seems. He knew what Sandy meant by metaphorical ghosts, for instance, despite claiming not to understand because after seeing Penny and still not getting any closer to getting her back on the hook he didn't want to discuss any of that.
I'd hesitate to claim too much for him, however. With the chess game, while stating the obvious, that Pop doesn't know her well, he's reaffirming that he does and claiming her for his team. She's adjunct to him so when she wins so does he...and a victory against Pop by any means is a welcome boon. More challenges in store for the boy wonder. Jailbait and toddlers and Pop's unreliable conscience...oh my. And where would we be if he ever skimped on the comic relief?
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I don't think Rhett's in any danger of letting up on the comic relief. I don't see him changing his style much even when he matures - despite what Candy and Penny are telling him, there's no doubt that the braggadocio and apparent overconfidence are working for him as much as against him. He probably has to fake more confidence than he has just to get out there and be his father's son day after day; if amping it up a bit more even than that makes people find him funny rather than obnoxious; maybe gets him in under their guard; makes them roll their eyes instead of punching him - well, that's all good, isn't it?
And Rhett with a toddler is always cute as blazes, because they have so much in common!
I gave the female Hart more nice points than the males because "niceness," as it plays in the game, is mostly about how accommodating, conflict-avoidant, and ready to please other people you are, as opposed to how self-assertive and indifferent to public opinion. I'm sure I don't need to explain how those traits are gendered in Western society! So if Candy isn't using her nice points on somebody, odds are good it's somebody she doesn't need anything from, and who she fears will try to use resources she needs to hoard for her and hers. The exception here would be Rich, who requires a finely calibrated balance between compliance and defiance to keep him in the sweet zone - and that has to be exhausting. I for one can't blame her much for letting it all hang out when she goes home, where love is not contingent upon behavior; but she doesn't need to actively target Sandy.
One thing that makes Nelson scary is that, if and when Rich decides he has a use for Sandy, Nelson is the natural instrument for delivering the threat, bribe, or baited trap. I wonder if that's occurred to Sandy at all? She needs to quash whatever attraction she feels, and complain to the family about the creepy guy who keeps showing up. She hasn't actively encouraged him to date, so she has high ground, but she could easily lose it. Complaining about him would make it much harder for him to maneuver her into a situation that Rhett and Valentine could misperceive. Let's channel some of the excess testosterone kicking around that house to a useful purpose! I grant you it'd be awkward if Rhett decided to pick a fight with him, but that's the worst case scenario for going public; while the worst case for keeping quiet could be dire indeed.
But Sandy is not great about applying her smarts toward people; it's the great tragedy of her life.
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Rhett. Oh Rhett. 'Tis all.
At least until I've got out Part 2. Although now I'm thinking I may push back the Proxy stuff and more or less give him Part 3, mostly so I can use one of the extras as the header pic and title the chapter after it. The main problem is that Part 3 doesn't follow Part 2 (not according to my math) and I wanna show it, dammit! Yes, I could try to get faster...I won't get faster. Ah well, will see how the arranging goes.
With respect to "niceness", its meaning is rather deliberately imprecise, pertaining at times to particularity or fineness of discrimination yet deriving from words meaning quite the opposite of 'knowingness' (noesis...yet not really; it sounds like it should be so, niceness/noesis, but IIRC the etymology cannot be tracked thataway, which was once a sore point to my adolescent craving for the patness of all things) and most often now being used as some sort of non-committal descriptor just on the right side of neutral. "That's nice". Nice women are respectable (which makes it interesting to consider that I haven't ever and wouldn't use the word to describe myself...but then there's still the trap of the "good girl"), nice men are unobjectionable. Not exactly ringing endorsements for a personality but I'll take the nice/mean scale here over TS3 style good and evil any day. And on the sim side of life I've just remembered how I roared with laughter to discover that, despite Proxy being the mean one, Una with all her nice points is the one who's already made enemies of the entire toddler population in Widespot (save Proxy). Unwanted huggles. Is she Woody's niece or what?
That hasn't occurred to Sandy, at all, no. She's not afraid of Rich. Intimidated possibly, at the thought of being too much in his power, and perhaps attracted but not properly wary. (Another reason antagonising her may not be completely consequence-free for Candy, not that she's especially concerned with what Rich gets up to with other chicks but there are a few choices that'd get under her skin and Sandy's one of them. Rich messing around with Mary would irritate her life, even if it did serve Junior right for marrying her but at least that's one horror I don't see ever happening in my hood.) And it's unlikely that Sandy will be complaining about Nelson. She wants to keep him around and, even if she wants more than just another bed buddy, when that romance secondary starts kicking in Sandy is not above settling for what she can get or leaping first and regretting afterwards.
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