Ribbons and bows

Round 26: Spring 2024

last update/next update

Arianna Weaver is 69, Liam is 61, Jonas Lachance is 46, Tatiana is 41, Dominic is 14, Audrey is 12, Edward is 9 and Brendan is 1.
(Jesse is 39, Hope is 13 and Charlie and Jack are 12)

Narrated by Audrey Lachance

Mum has always been a bit of a tomboy, so she was surprised when I said I wanted to take up ballet. I've always been interested in it in the back of my mind - Grandpa used to dance when he was much younger, so I guess I sort of picked it up from him. I've been practising a lot this year.

When Brendan was born, my parents converted the barn (which we weren't using) into a bedroom and study for Dominic and right now, that's the only place I have to dance. Now that Dad his arcade up and running though, Mum says we can start looking around for a proper dance studio I can go to!

Lachance Arcade has been open for a couple of weeks now. The building used to be a fire station and Dad and Uncle Jesse put a lot of work into converting it.

Dad and Uncle Jesse are both there full-time but Dad is looking to train him up enough so that he can be manager and Dad will be free to spend a little more time at home.

Even though Dad hasn't been open that long, he's already getting a ton of customers...

...of all ages!

It's a good thing most of Dad's customers are past pre-school, because he's such a sucker for little kids. Our family would probably go broke - he's always giving them free prizes from behind the counter.

Mum hasn't really played video games in a long time but even she's come in a few times. Some of the games Dad has are pretty addictive!

The arcade is right behind the high school, so Dominic and I stop by a lot after school. We don't have to pay but we bring our friends, and they do!

Dominic hasn't had as much time for video games lately, because he's got an after school job at a convenience store.

That leaves me to help out with this little guy!

I'm not complaining. I wasn't old enough to help out with Edward but I always sort of wanted to.

Mum says he's much more mischievous than any of us ever were.

But Mum and Dad do all the hard and yuck stuff with him, like nappy changes and making him go down for a nap when he doesn't want to. I just get to read him stories and keep him occupied.

I try to hang out with Edward too. He always wants someone to play catch with him and I think he sometimes feels like Dominic and I are always too busy for him.

We often are and I feel a bit guilty about it occasionally.

When he's home, Dominic is usually busy with his girlfriend, Hope. They've been going out for a few months now.

I was a little scared of her at first. Hope is really loud and she says whatever comes into her head, so you never really know what to expect from her.

Mum says she reminds her a lot of her mother. I'll take Mum's word for it, because I know she and Mrs. Collins are good friends.

But anyway, after I got used to Hope, we actually became friendly. She's a lot of fun and she's got a great sense of humour. I'm still a little scared of her sometimes though!

I shouldn't have told her about how Jack and Charlie both kissed me! I'm always scared she's going to say something in front of them.

Charlie and Jack are still acting totally normal around each other, so I don't think either of them know that the other also kissed me. I want it to stay that way. I really like Jack and Charlie. I've been friends with Jack for longer but I've thought of them both as my best friends for so long now. I don't want to come between them.

Hope says it's bound to happen eventually and that I should just push it along to get it over with. I don't know if she's bored or what. She seems pretty happy with Dominic but she always wants there to be some kind of excitement around.


When we were all hanging out at Lost Generation the other night, Charlie kept wanting me to go outside with him, so we could talk alone. I was worried he was going to try to kiss me again, or ask me out but he didn't.

Jack didn't really talk to me much at LG but he's been coming by our house a lot, without Charlie.

Every time Jack is over, Dominic seems to always be hovering nearby. He doesn't say anything. He just narrows his eyes and watches.

I'm pretty sure I know whose idea that was! Dad has noticed Jack hanging around a lot and wanted to talk to me about waiting a little while longer before I start dating!

I'm more than okay with waiting on that; the whole thing seems too confusing right now! Grandma thinks Dad is being too strict and that I should be allowed to date if I find a boy I like. I didn't tell them there are two boys I like.

I told Mum about Jack and Charlie, just to talk to someone whose first reaction wasn't to squeal about how cool it was that I'd kissed two guys. She looked a little worried but she calmed down when I said I wasn't ready to actually go out with either of them yet.

Mum thinks I should try not to worry about it until I need to and that I may never need to worry about it. I think she's being way too optimistic!

Where the hell was Liam this round?

Most of the time? Slobbing around in his robe waiting for Dominic to make him comfort soup. He had the most persistent flu and he required multiple bowls of soup to get better. But I had enough going on in this update, so I cut out most of the pics of that!

Extra pics:

The arcade is fairly basic but just in case anyone wants to see some more pics, here are the extras I didn't use in the update.

The prize counter, where customers can cash in their tokens for these lovely useful prizes. That gate is locked and anything behind the counter is just there for show. Anything on the counter is for sale. I find it hard to build up stars with venues, so I decided to have some stuff for sale too.

The pinball machines, which are just across from the prize counter.

And the video games. There are 24 of them. I may have gone overboard.

Notes:

• Title is from Ribbons and Bows by You Am I.
• The arcade really was a fire station. It's one of StephSim's Simtopia lots at MTS with the top storey lopped off. It's a little laggy, unfortunately. I suspect the arcade machines. I'm going to try removing a few of them and replacing them with some kind of cool decor that I have yet to find and see if that helps at all. It's really not a very big lot and there weren't that many people there, so the lag was odd. The arcade is, of course, part of Jonas's ROS this round, which was Ugh, this 9 to 5 blows! You quit your job to be your own boss. Good luck to you!
• That picture of Jonas and Louisa, where he's crouching down to her level? I've seen that once before, years ago, when I first had OFB and I've tried to replicate it so many times and failed. Turns out that's what Sims do when they're using the Offer At... sales interaction, which I never tried! I tried Basic, I tried Hard Sell, I tried Dazzle. Duh. Anyway, I'm glad I figured it out finally! I think it's adorable.
• Jack, Charlie and Audrey are all too young to date right now but Jack and Charlie both spend most of their time competing for Audrey's attention. She didn't roll romantic wants for either of them this round but she has previously rolled a want to fall in love with Charlie. This round, she rolled the want to be flirted with, which Charlie ended up fulfilling of his own accord. So she has a crush on him now. Next round should be fun! For me...maybe not so much for them.