Maxis Taste Dare #26
So, the maxis taste dare this time is about second chances, about giving another lease of life to that premade family, house, etc that you never liked. For me, it's the Tricous. There are a few families who I don't play enough and deserve a second chance, but the Tricous definitely need more attention from me.
This has taken me a while to do because my laptop is very slow at the moment; it took me a whole real life day to play one sim day with these guys, so that's what I've got. But I had fun anyway. :)
Part of what originally put me off the Tricous is the whole resurrecting thing, but this time I just went with it. Unfortunately, that means I was so worried about the resurrections and getting it right that I didn't take any pictures of that bit. But I'm hoping that anyone who's played the family knows the deal, so we'll have to jump in from where I did start taking pictures.
The guy in the front is Mort. He was moved into the House of Fallen Trees first, and resurrected Jon Smith Tricou, via various cheats and a bone phone. Jon Smith then did almost all the rest. Of course, there are 8 Tricous, so there was no space for Mort once 7 of them had been resurrected, and he moved out. In the background you can see the family and the house pre make-overs, with their, ahem, 'lovely' maxis make-up.
Mort looked rather pleased to be getting out of there when they all started arguing and shouting, he looked right at the camera and grinned. Once he was gone, Fricorith resurrected his Grandma because he had the Want to, and then they were all back.
So, post make-over, first we have Jennicor and Jon Smith. One thing I didn't know until I played them this time is that Jennicor has elf ears, so I trawled my grey hair folder until I found one that showed them. Jon's a strange one though, he rolled a Want to resurrect every family member except his wife, but as soon as she was back, he couldn't keep away from her. Out of sight, out of mind, perhaps?
Then we have the happy side of the family, who all came back pretty friendly with each other, and only angry at the family members who hated them. Jennail is at the back with Kvornan, and Fricorith is in front. Fricorith got to keep his outfit as I can't think of any sim it would suit better; but he needed long hair in my opinion, as did his Mum.
On the other side of the family there's Jennail's sister Nylissit and her man Kiernan; who most people in the family were mad at, although he was friends with them all. He also kept his Maxis outfit, but Nylissit got a complete make-over. She needed it. :)
Her make-over definitely took the longest, her daughter Gvaudoin was admiring herself the whole time I was trying outfit after outfit on Nylissit, trying to get across a personality. But eventually we got there. :)
So yes, Nylissit and Kiernan do have a daughter; Gvaudoin. However, other than the obligatory 'you're my friend because you resurrected me' points, she pretty much hated everyone when she came back, except her cousin Fricorith. It's giving me a lot to work with, and I'm already thinking of featuring her and Fricorith in my challenge story at some point in the future, so angsty or not, they're winning me over already.
She is very pretty, too.
But she is the root cause of the other reason I don't tend to play this family. The vast majority of sims I play end up happy, with Wants fulfilled and massive family networks; I knew that would take a loooong time to achieve in this family, something my laptop wasn't going to co-operate with.
But I did my best, sat them all down in the newly decorated living room and let them chat away. Some people made friends again, others...didn't.
At that point, I turned my game off for the night and had a thought as to what to do with them next.
The first thing I do with teenagers usually is check their autonomous gender preference; both Fricorith and Gvaudoin like men, although being a fortune sim, Gvaudoin's Wants are usually about money rather than other sims.
After that it was time for my favourite bit, finding everyone's hobbies. Nylissit with her neat points was easy, and she fell right into her personality, dreamily looking at the sky. Although that did remind me of Drusilla in one of my favourite Buffy The Vampire Slayer scenes, as the bit where Nylissit's standing is actually under a balcony; she can't see any stars from there...
A lot of them got hobbies with book skills involved: Kvornan's cooking, Jennicor's nature, Fricorith's film and lit, and Jennail got sport. It kind of took over the living room a bit, having the TV blaring out the sports channel, but hey, she was happy.
Not that it put Gvaudoin off from growling at the ants. Perfect animations for her lack of nice points.
So, the next morning, Nylissit and Jennail went to work, as they have the same LTW of becoming chief of staff. They were quickly followed out of the house by the kids going to school.
Kvornan took the opportunity to test out his new love of cooking, but by the time he got the pancakes ready, the house was half empty.
Possibly the most awkward breakfast table ever? Neither of the boys really have a relationship with their in-laws, and it was looking rather tense.
Nothing to break the tension like three *really* sloppy eaters! :D
I loved the wary looks those two were giving Jennicor, they both looked like they were on the edge of their seats the whole time.
Jon Smith not so much. :)
Kiernan and Kvornan spent the afternoon getting to know each other again and having fun, they were pretty close to being friends anyway so it didn't take long.
I had to watch Jennicor like a hawk though. Because of the resurrection, she sees Jon Smith as family, but not as a romantic interest. She doesn't see either of her son-in-laws as family, and she has 1 bolt for one of them and 3 for the other. So I sent her outside to garden, hoping she'd leave them alone.
It distracted her enough, although she does look a bit menacing digging around in the soil!
By the time the teens got back it was pretty happy and calm in the house, although as soon as she got home, Gvaudoin went to the job she gained the night before.
I'm guessing because Nylissit and Jennail got home as Gvaudoin was going to work, she just used the carpool that was available, but it did look very comical.
Being the water girl for the football team must be serious work, she looks like she's expecting them to pass out from exhaustion, going to work in an ambulance!
So, with Gvaudoin off to work to earn money, Nylissit and Jennail working towards their LTWs, Kiernan and Kvornan friends again and Jon Smith and Jennicor being romantic, that left one sim not yet fulfilled.
Fricorith the popularity sim had Wants to meet someone, make a friend, have a best friend, etc, so I thought I'd just fulfil all those in one go - blind date! :D
He got David Ottomas, which made me laugh. I was so, so close to doing this maxis taste dare with the Ottomas family, it was the perfect date drop.
They're so cute together, it immediately made me want to move David's family into Downtown and play that side of it; so technically, this could end up as two second chances.
<3
They ended up with two bolts, a first kiss each, and in love by the end of the date. Not a bad afternoon for a teenage boy!
Fricorith just got his first kiss in before Gvaudoin came home from work. If this was real life, these two would not want to be doing their homework. A fortune sim who just got their first wages, and a pop sim with a new best friend and love, something tells me neither one of them is concentrating. :)
Hopefully I'll play this house again in the near future, probably when my laptop's got a bit more memory to spare. The adults still have a lot to achieve, and the teens will be appearing in my story at some point, so I'd say this was a second chance well deserved for the Tricous.
And after all, there's one last mysterious tombstone still in their garden; I've got to come back to work that one out, if nothing else!