Don't let's start

Round 21: Autumn 2014

Ione's last update/everyone else's last update

Next updates: Cordy and Luc's/everyone else
Warning: partial nudity

Luc and Cordy Lane are both 21, Rose Draper and Joanna Gottlieb are both 19 and Gordon Nott and Ione Romilly are both 18.
(Eliot Novak is 28 and Asha Royce is 17)

Since arriving at Novak Hall, Ione Romilly has been feeling a little lonely. Her boyfriend Gordon started at the same time as her but things haven't really gone as she expected them to.


They had slept together not long after arriving and they both thought that would be the first step in becoming more serious. To the contrary, they haven't been spending much time together at all.

Gordon seems to have developed a little crush on Cordy...

...while Ione has taken to moping around the dorm and calls home all the time. She didn't think she would miss her parents as much as she does but she also thought she'd have Gordon to lean on.

Meanwhile, Luc has found that the cheerleader who wouldn't give him the time of day previously is suddenly falling for his charms. Being a senior close to graduation has its perks.

He wasn't really as interested as he might have been a couple of years ago but who is he to resist the lure of a naked woman in a deserted common room at 3am?

Luc's ex Rose and her girlfriend Joanna were far removed from the other shenanigans at Novak Hall. They were happy together and not much has ever got in the way of that.

About the only disagreement they deal with is the debate over whether cheating is okay in a friendly, casual game of chess.

If Luc had it his way, Rose would probably be making her way into his bed. He still holds a candle for her and regrets that he never got her into bed when they dated at school. If it happened now, that would definitely cause a rift between Joanna and Rose. But Rose has made her feelings clear multiple times. It's just not going to happen.

Luc's twin sister Cordy is also at Novak Hall and is missing her recently-expelled boyfriend Eliot.

Cordy and Eliot see each other as much as they can but they have to fit their dates in around Cordy's classes, so they can't meet as often as they'd like to.

Eliot made sure they found the time to fit their date in on this particular night though. He'd been carrying an engagement ring around in his pocket for at least a couple of months.

They both knew getting engaged would definitely be in the future for them - both of them knew it from their first date - but Eliot's proposal was still a surprise for Cordy. He always said he'd wait until she was done with uni first.

Of course, she accepts. She's been waiting for 3 years now. Eliot and Cordy are both excited to be officially engaged.

Most romantic night of her life or not, Cordy is tired. It's 2am by the time they're ready to leave Dragonfly.

Fortunately, Eliot is living with roommates nearby and Cordy crashes at their house for the night. Her classes don't start until 5pm anyway, so there'll be plenty of time to get back in the morning.

The next day at the dorm, Cordy befriends Ione. Ione's glad to have someone to talk to, but she kind of wishes it wasn't the girl who has so captured her boyfriend's attention. Cordy is so nice that it's hard to dislike her though, especially seeing it's not her fault Gordon's eye is wandering.

Later on, Ione sits across from Gordon over dinner, definitely the most awkward meal they've ever spent together. Gordon spends the whole time hunched over his plate, avoiding looking at Ione in the eye and barely a word is uttered.




Maybe they're just drifting apart. Ione and Gordon have both been trying new things lately.

Perhaps the best course of action would be to try dating other people as well. It might be awkward to keep living in the same space together after breaking up, but it's already awkward.

In the end, it's Ione who bites the bullet and ends things with Gordon.

Gordon isn't totally surprised but he's still more upset than Ione thought he would be.

He asks her to reconsider but Ione's had all year to ponder this and she's made up her mind. Deep down, Gordon knows she's right.

It's like a big weight has been lifted from their shoulders now that they're both free to spend their time as they wish. Bumping into each other in the halls is actually less awkward than it was before, not more. With time, Gordon and Ione could probably start to spend time together as friends.

Luc's friend, Asha has been understandably down since the death of her ex-boyfriend about 6 months ago. Luc has taken it upon himself to cheer her up.

She's getting there. Who could watch Luc do that silly slap dance and not laugh?

Up until very recently, Asha and Luc have been "just friends". Asha has had a thing for Luc for as long as she can remember but it's only in the last few months that Luc has shown any interest at all.

They haven't gone any further than kissing so far but Asha is definitely looking forward to Luc's graduation. Having him living nearby in Exeter will make it much easier for her to sneak around behind her dad's back.

Graduation for Cordy and Luc arrives before either of them realise it. It seems like only yesterday that they were walking through the dorm's entrance as 18-year-old freshmen!


Random pics:
In my quest to overwhelm my Sims' homes with family pictures, I took some photos of Luc and Cordy's graduation.

This is the first time Linnea and Debbie have been in the same room since their divorce. I turn off free will when I take posed pictures like this but but I think there would have been fists-a-flyin' if I'd left it on. They still really hate each other but they managed to put that aside for Cordy and Luc's graduation.

I'm going to hang this one wherever Eliot and Cordy end up living when they get married. It's not as off-centre in the framed version!

And I just like this one - they're looking down at Jesse's cat jumping off the couch, if you're wondering!

Notes:

• Let's talk some more about Sims who cringe in response to romantic interactions! Recently, I had Lia's issue with Gordon and Ione's displays of affection. Last night, I noticed that Gordon and Luc reacted negatively to people getting romantic in front of them too (Rose is goosing Joanna just out of frame). These two have very different personalities. Gordon is quite nice and has 4 outgoing points. Luc is maxed out in outgoing and has just one nice point. The action they had queued up was different to Lia's though - hers was "Disapprove", theirs was "Be Embarrassed". In short...I don't know!
• Speaking of Gordon, I never meant Gordon and Ione to be a lasting thing but I wasn't planning to break them up so soon. They were together for 2 years, which is very short for my game! But anyway, they didn't roll any romantic wants for each other and rarely interacted autonomously at all. They just had no interest in each other. So I figured they were drifting apart and broke them up. I used the Break Up interaction but didn't use those pictures. It wasn't that kind of a break up - it was more amicable than that.
• Gordon followed Cordy around like a little puppy dog for her entire senior year.
• 2014 Grades: Luc earned an A+ in his final semester and graduated with a 4.0 GPA, Cordy earned a C+ and got a 3.7. Joanna, unsurprisingly, also got an A+ and has a 4.0 GPA (she also maxed out her skills this round), while her girlfriend Rose earned the same grades. Ione and Gordon's college careers have started out flawlessly - they each earned an A+ and have 4.0 GPAs.
• I have not yet set a wedding date for Eliot and Cordy but it'll probably be early next round. I have Cordy and Luc living with Linnea right now and Cordy won't want to stick around there for very long. I wasn't going to have Eliot propose until after Cordy graduated but on their date, he rolled the want to marry her (so he had both the Get Engaged to Cordy and Get Married to Cordy wants) so I figured he was very eager. Cordy and Luc are both back in the hood and I noticed that Cordy has the want to Marry a Rich Sim. I always forget that she's Fortune. Anyway, Eliot just happens to be a Rich Sim but I'll have to be sure to take his money out of his bank account before they get married, so the want counts.
• I was also going to wait until next year for Asha and Luc but he autonomously did the tender kiss on her so I went with it. They've been in love since last year. It also gave me the opportunity to try out the OMSPs for lining up teen/adult kisses so that they kiss on the lips and not the neck, forehead or the air above their heads! I read about it on someone's blog ages ago and always meant to try it. Anyway, it works really well! When I first lined them up, Asha's hand was floating above Luc's shoulder but once I unpaused, her hand floated down to where it should be and it looked perfect. The only way it looks odd is if it's a full length shot, where the teen will be levitating. But other than that, it's very handy!