Random rules

Round 23: Autumn 2017

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Next updates: Lia and Olivia/Gordon/Ione

Warning: partial nudity - Steve and Olivia are just horny little devils!

Gordon Nott and Ione Romilly are both 21 and Olivia Nihill and Lia Novak are both 20.
(Lucia is 25, Steve is 22 and Evan is 28)

Since Lia walked in on Gordon and Jamie last year, Jamie has been calling. A lot. Even though he and Lia are no longer an item, he really doesn't want to see Jamie.


He doesn't really have much of a desire to see anybody, except Lia, but when Lucia Reamon asked him to have coffee with her, he accepted. Maybe it was time to try to move on?

Half an hour into their date, it became apparent that Lucia was having a pretty tough time moving on herself. All she talked about was her ex-boyfriend, Evan Moretti. They broke up 3 years ago. Was it going to take him that long to get over Lia?

So mostly, Gordon hasn't really been dating. He's waking up alone and going to bed the same way.

He's in his final year now, so he has term papers and assignments coming out of his ears. There's plenty to keep his mind off the mess he's made of his personal life.

Lia hasn't quite moved on either. She's trying to get her best friend Ione to be her eyes and ears around the dorm, just to see if Gordon's seeing anybody.

Lia's not even sure why she cares. She and Gordon don't get along very well now. Every time they talk, she pictures him with that girl and she just gets angry all over again.

Sometimes Olivia wonders if she should take it easy talking about Steve with Lia but she usually just can't help herself. She's in love and she'll talk about it to anyone who'll listen.

Olivia even told Lia about what happened on Rose's couch. She knows Lia will be too embarrassed to ever mention it to anyone else, ever, so she's the perfect person to spill to. And Olivia gets kind of a kick out of shocking Lia anyway.

Taking advantage of any quiet, deserted area has become a pattern of behaviour for Steve and Olivia. No one ever goes in the sewing room, unless Olivia has dragged them in there to model for her. So that's a frequent haunt for them.

The only thing in the corridor behind the stairs is the guitar, which no one has touched since Luc graduated.

Given that it houses the only TV in the building, the gym is pretty active at most times but in the middle of the night, it's always empty.

Olivia's not even sure anyone in the dorm knows about the existence of the balcony, so there's plenty of privacy up there too. Hey, Olivia is stuck with a single room - they have to take it anywhere they can get it!

Evan and Ione went to dinner to celebrate Ione's upcoming graduation. Ione wishes they were celebrating their engagement but she's decided not to say anything else. She's dropped hints - big hints. If Evan still doesn't realise where she wants this to go, then he would surely be the most dense man alive.

Besides, he's got his mother nagging him already, given that he's the last of the Moretti offspring remaining single. The last thing Ione wants to do is turn him off the idea of marriage completely.

Lia is having some confusing feelings about Gordon. A few weeks ago, she felt like biting his head off every time they spoke but now she's finding she can't stop watching him whenever he's around.

Gordon has been watching Lia too but that's nothing new. That's just business as usual.

Ione sees what's happening with Lia and Gordon and she's not too keen, honestly. Gordon should be made to suffer much longer than what he has! So she's attempting a little matchmaking - she thinks Lia might get along really well with Finnegan. Lia being Lia, the conversation does not flow easily.

It's not like it is with Gordon. Lia has always found it really easy to talk to Gordon. Well, for a good while after they broke up, talking to him was impossible but lately, she's remembering why she loved him. They're still not friends but they're friendly.

Lia's made a note not to mention any of this to Ione again for a while though. She thinks it's way too soon for Lia to consider forgiving Gordon and besides, what about Finnegan?

Well, after initial awkwardness, Lia and Finnegan are actually able to have a conversation without Lia freezing up or saying something stupid.

He's even kissed her a couple of times.

But there's still Gordon. There's more attraction between her and Gordon but he did cheat on her. Ione's right, she shouldn't forget that. It might be too soon.

Olivia heard about a new sculpture exhibition at the art museum, so she dragged Steve along to Exeter to check it out.

Sculpture is really not Steve's forte. An enormous bronze apple on a pillar? What? Olivia loves it and tries to tell him why but he's not sure he quite "gets" it.

But Steve does try to share his interpretations on a couple of the pieces and that's thrilling enough for Olivia. She's so excited that she has someone to go and see all this sort of stuff with now. Her whole family is mad about sports and fitness and she's always felt like somewhat of a black sheep.

Maybe that was one of the reasons she thought she wanted to join the police force? A subconscious attempt to be more like her family? Olivia is just now realising how wrong that career track would be for her and that trip to the art museum really inspired her. Art! Why didn't she major in art?

Maybe she could go into fashion when she graduates? That would let her be creative.

She's going to miss having Ione as a model after she graduates. Lia is not as co-operative or enthusiastic.

Despite the obvious differences between Olivia and her family, she does love them and is excited for them to finally meet Steve.

It's a good excuse to see her little nephew Josh too. He's growing so fast and she's missing it all! By the time she graduates, Josh will be in pre-school already!

Caterina likes him immediately. Steve's a bit of a pretty boy, which tends to go over well with the mothers.

Ben was a little concerned when his daughter told them Steve was a musician, which made Olivia a bit nervous about the meeting.

Ben was satisfied when he found out that music was just a hobby for Steve right now. He actually has a real job, working at the newspaper. Nothing much now but he's excited to work his way up.

So Steve's met the parents, the parents have given their approval and everyone's happy.

Steve and Olivia are especially happy in her parents' hot tub. They said they were leaving but as they were heading out the door, they spied the hot tub in the backyard and couldn't resist. Her parents had headed off to bed the second they closed the front door anyway, so no one was the wiser.

It was just a quick one, because Olivia had to be back at the dorm in time for Gordon and Ione's graduation. She'd been chosen as the unofficial photographer for the event. She was expecting a more modern style of camera and she won't lie - it was a struggle.

She got some good pictures in the end though, once she figured out the flash.

Even Ione's parents came to campus for her grad. Finn had school and Elspeth was still too little to sit through a long, boring ceremony, or otherwise they would have come as well.

Extras:

(click to enlarge)

Steve is totally serious about Olivia! He rolled the marriage want as soon as they got out of the cab! Olivia is yet to roll a marriage or engagement want but she's not even finished college yet and she's not family or anything. I shall be keeping a close eye on these two!

Ha, maybe Ione should have set Lia up with Lucian instead. The poor boy is pretty desperate. I suppose being an 18 year-old freshman for 100 years will do that to you.

And I just like this one, for no particular reason. Lia always looks so sad to me. I think I'm just projecting my idea of her personality onto the Sim, LOL. I thought it was maybe just the way her face is but Maia's face is pretty similar but she doesn't give me the slightly emo impression that Lia does.

Notes:

• Title is from Random Rules by the Silver Jews. I have no idea why the YouTube video features still photos from The Name of the Rose, except maybe because some people on YouTube are extremely odd.
• Larger pics! And a banner! Yay! My sister is making me some banners right now and kept complaining about my old layout, so we switched to Denim. I don't exactly know why the old layout wasn't working as she was the one fussing around with all of that but this one allows for wider pictures so I'm happy with that. And she took a long, long time figuring out how to make the banner clickable so that it leads back to the home page - that was not automatic for some reason. And she apparently does listen when I crap on about my Sims, because she used Nick, Olivia, Finn and Victoria (and Steve but mostly because he was with Olivia) for the banner without even asking (I just gave her a crapload of pictures of everyone - seriously, there were like 200 pics in that folder!).
• Lia and Gordon's chemistry was negative when I entered the lot - while they were together, they were three bolts. Their chemistry shot up to 3 bolts immediately once Lia was -31/24 with Gordon and he was 33/16 with her. That was surprising to me. I figured it would climb back up again but I thought it would be a little slower. Lia and Finnegan have lower chemistry - 2 bolts but I forgot to check the exact score!
• Once their attraction went back up, I had to cancel multiple ACR interactions (not woohoo, because Lia has that turned off - she's waiting for marriage). And they were all initiated by Lia, even though she and Gordon aren't even friends again yet.
• Grades! Gordon graduated with a 4.0. Ione got all A+s until her last semester, when she got a C +, so her GPA is a lower but still very respectable 3.8. As for our two remaining students, Lia will enter her senior year with a 4.0 GPA while Olivia's is 3.7.
• Steve and Olivia are really just that horny, by the way! None of the woohoos were directed by me. While they were visiting Ben and Caterina, I cannot tell you the amount of times I had to cancel out them woohooing on her brother's bed or her parents' bed or the couch.
• Ione and Gordon will officially move back to the hood in the Winter 2017 birthdays. Gordon is friends with Luc, so he may take Evan's place in the share house. I considered making him a playable NPC, seeing he's Lia's ex but seeing there will be a spot open in the share house anyway, with no one else to move into it, he gets to stay. Ione and Evan will get their own place but I'm not sure where yet. I'll tell you all what I decide when it's birthday time!