Entries for maxis-taste dares 26 and 27
Dare 27 over on the maxis-taste community involved making a house specifically for a premade sim bin family, while dare 26 was to give a family a second chance. Now, I'd never actually played any of the premade bin families before, so this seemed like a good chance to combine the two dares.
The family I chose for this is the Oldies in Pleasantview. I didn't know much about them, other than they're an elderly couple named Coral and Herb, who adopted Mary-Sue Pleasant as a toddler. But that's good enough to start with! Apologies in advance for the build mode pictures, I built it and took pictures before they moved in and didn't realise until the end that of course, there would be gridlines EVERYWHERE.
Here's their humble home, a 2x2 ground-level bungalow they brought when they were younger.
The small size bothered them back then, but now they're getting on a bit, the lack of stairs in particular has turned out to be a blessing. They borrowed some cash to build a little extension to the side - in other words, they couldn't afford this place, so I had to utilise the familyfunds cheat.
The house is very open plan. The front door opens straight into the living room.
The name 'Herb' reminded me of the plants, so I gave them a little cowplant. As it turns out, Herb's OTH is actually Nature, so yay.
I like to think they travelled a bit while they were young, so the corner of the living room has a small set of shelves with a few souvenirs, including their passports and camera, in case the wanderlust rises once again. There's also a few bits and pieces their grandchildren have left lying around.
Next up is the kitchen.
There's a set of double doors leading out to the patio, and the floor-to-ceiling windows let a nice lot of light in.
Just off to the side of the kitchen is the dining room extension they had built so they could invite their daughter and her family over for dinner.
The full length kitchen windows continue around the corner to give a view of the patio, where they can eat when the weather's nice. Or, as it turned out, all the bloody time. The garden itself isn't very big, but there's still room for Mary-Sue's old swing set.
Back inside! The room on the left when you enter is Mary-Sue's old room, now a guest room in case either of their granddaughter's want to stay.
Lilith left her tennis racket behind last time she stayed. And also Mr Snuggles. And... a suitcase? They suspect she may be trying to move in by stealth.
Next to the kitchen is the couple's own bedroom.
Herb used to work in business, so I thought he might appreciate the computer.
However he's terrified of email and Coral got into film and literature, so now she spends a lot of time writing her novels on it.
At the end of the hallway is the bathroom. It's very small and basic.
They considered getting a bath installed back when they first brought the house, but it never happened and now they're kind of glad they just have a shower. Much easier to get in and out of a shower at their age.
In the hallway is a fish tank.
I figured Coral=coral reef=fish. Herb loves the fish almost as much as he loves Coral, so that worked well.
And a floorplan.
I especially like that I remembered to make the corridor to the bathroom two tiles wide, not one, so sims can pass each other without route-blocking the other. It's something I usually forget to consider until I see two sims trying to pass each other and failing horribly.
So! I moved them in and had a nosey round their memories and interests and stuff. Herb's LTW is 20 Simultaneous lovers, which ain't gonna happen. They're too old and sweet to mess around with a LTW as dramariffic as that. Coral, for some reason, has no LTW.
And they've been in the house for less than an hour when someone kicks over the bin. BOO, HISS.
It seems Herb was finding retirement a bit more dull than he'd expected as he instantly rolled three job wants. One of them was available, so he headed off to work while Coral watched a film, revealing her OTH and my wallsdownfail.
I then decided to have her invite over Mary-Sue and the girls for dinner. My plan was to sit them around a dinner table or TV or anything that builds relationships, so that when I get around to playing them, they don't all instantly try to kill Lilith. It didn't quite work.
Coral tries to encourage Lilith to be a little nicer. She's not very receptive to the idea, probably because Angela slapped her first.
Apparently when she's not being smacked about by her family, Lilith doubles as a Bon Voyage spokesperson? Should I be worried?
The fatal flaw in my plan is that someone needs to hang around constantly to keep Lilith occupied so no-one can poke her. Poor Coral turned her back for just a second to clean up the dishes, and Mary-Sue was straight in her daughter's face. Family reunion=big success!
The next day, Herb wanted to go on a date. So I indulged. Everyone knows a perfect date means having a pillow fight with your spouse! Well, they did try going out for a meal, then I realised I had no restaurants in this hood yet. Oops.
I indulged Herb's nature hobby want to catch a bug. Only they caught him too.
A much safer way to build enthusiasm!
Coral wanted to write a novel, but it didn't go so well. She is undaunted though, and rolled the want to write another one right away.
I'm still determined to improve the Pleasants relationships before I play them, but I decided three of them at once was too much, so I had Herb invite the twins out for an outing. Just before they left, Herb found a coupon from his date with Coral earlier that week. Which is great, considering all they did was walk to the park and back again.
I find fishing to be a great social activity. Just click on anyone you like and ask them to join! Only problem was, the pop-up lied and Lilith didn't come. Still, Angela's always been a nature gal in my game, so I'm sure she'll enjoy the trip anyway. Once she stops hooking her dress.
Is it just me, or do Romance sims really, really suck at fishing?
I made the mistake of taking my eye off Coral and the poor woman got mugged.
She's not going to let him get away with that!
It possibly wasn't my best idea.
Still, Herb was mightily impressed with his wife's performance and quickly cheered her up with a slow dance that featured the very first time a sim successfully lowered their hands and didn't get rebuffed.
DAMN, Coral, I know he's a toad, but really?!
Angela had gone to hide in the toilets while her gran got her arse kicked, but she eventually returned just in time to see Herb catch a fish.
After that, I sent them out to dinner. I didn't take any pictures, but it went well, no-one got dinner dropped on them or anything, so the trip ended well. Coral even picked up a cooking skill point out of it!
Can't have an outing with Angela and leave Lilith out in the cold, even though it was her own fault for not coming, so she came over to hang out. Meanwhile, Herb worked on a body skill he needed for promotion.
Then they had some alone time. :)
Next day, while Herb was at work, Coral decided it was time to persuade Mary-Sue to lighten up around Lilith. I was expecting a joke, not kung-fu kicks!
Nothing like a football game to bring people together!
I was so certain of that, that I had Coral influence Lilith to talk to her mother... who was all 'talk to the hand, babe.' SIGH.
Only one thing for it - MORE FISHING. I managed to get the whole family over for this one. It was about time Coral and Herb met their son-in-law.
It all went surprisingly well. No-one tried to attack Lilith and no-one got mugged.
I mean, things aren't hunky-dory over at the Pleasants just yet, but it's baby steps!
As things were going so well, they all celebrated with a meal out. Well, except Mary-Sue, who had somehow vanished from the party. I'm totally not surprised that Lilith was sat at a table on the other side of the restaurant, all on her lonesome. Not that she cared, she just shouted across the room at everyone.
Back home, Coral finished her second novel. It went much better this time.
To round off the week, I decided it was time the Oldies celebrated their golden anniversary. I forgot Herb had work on Sunday, so I had him fake a sickie.
I'd got rid of the patio set by this point because it annoyed me. I even locked the patio doors one day to stop Coral serving the food there... so she strolled past the dining room table, out the front door, around the side of the house and served up there anyway, JUST TO SPITE ME. So there was a nice big space for a buffet table.
And once the guests found the booze and the bong, the party went off with a bang! It was so good, no-one remembers it.
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I found the Oldies to be quite a fun couple - to playtest outings and parties. I don't usually play small households, so when they were on their own, I got a little bored watching them. Especially when Herb was at work and Coral was writing her books. They're a sweet couple though, and although he's a Romance sim, Herb rolled very few romance wants for other people. The woohoo with 3 sims one came up once or twice, but quickly went away in favour of asking anyone on a date or woohooing in bed, things he could do with Coral. That plus the fact that she's the only sim he's ever been out with are what eventually made me give him Family as a secondary. Coral's film and literature OTH combined with constant wants to read and write books got her a Knowledge secondary and a LTW to max out all 7 skills, something I might actually do. I intend to play them again... but not until I can trust the Pleasants to be left alone in a room for ten seconds without ganging up on Lilith. Making sure I kept someone hovering over her at all times was a pain!