Saturday 12 December 2015

Survival car

Round 36: July 2043 (Winter)
last update/next update

Charlie Benton is 31, Camilla is 30, Everett and Grace are 13 and Eliza is 8 months old. 
(Marcus is 14 and Daphne is 12)

Narrated by Everett Benton

Dad wasn’t really around much when Grace and I were babies - he had just started uni classes when we were born and was living on campus - but he’s really loving having Eliza now.

While Mum was pregnant, Dad went out and bought all these baby books and he reads them constantly.

Mum thinks it’s pretty funny. She never read any books when she had us and just picked it all up as she went along.

Dad’s faith in those books is totally unshakable though, so she hasn’t said anything. 

Grace and I have to pitch in with Eliza every now and then too, so we’ve been getting some experience dealing with infants. 

Somehow, Grace is always the one who ends up changing nappies, when that needs to be done. 

She complains about it but she’ll just have to get better at disappearing when that smells starts wafting over, like I do. 

I haven’t been able to avoid all the grossness though. Note to self: don’t play with Eliza right after she’s eaten.

I thought our cousin Zoe was kind of boring as a baby so it’s sort of surprising to me that I’m having fun with Eliza around. 

She’s pretty cute sometimes and she’s not too annoying, which I have to admit I was worried about. 

And I still have my own room, which was my main concern before Eliza was born!

I’ve been trying to show Eliza my fish, just to see if I can build some early interest. No one else in the family is all that interested, so I figured I’d try brainwashing. 

I’m used to doing most of my nature stuff on my own though, so it won’t be so bad if she’s never into it either. 

I actually enjoy it sometimes. I like setting off on hikes on my own and knowing I don’t have to worry about anyone getting bored and complaining. 

I would rather have been doing that last weekend but instead, I had to go shopping with Mum for a new suit for Aunt Lila’s wedding. 

I tried to shorten the trip by saying I didn’t need to try anything on but Mum insisted. She said she wouldn’t have her son wearing an ill-fitting suit at her sister’s wedding.

I wished Mum could have just made me a suit to avoid a shopping trip but she said doesn’t make men’s wear. 

That was annoying. How hard could it possibly be?

At least it wasn’t as bad as my last shopping trip, when I was with Dad and totally humiliated myself in front of Daphne Kirby.

Grace is a little irritated with me, because her friend Jacinta has a crush on me and she wants me to go out with her. But I really only like Daphne.

Daphne isn’t nasty to me or anything - I’ve never seen her be nasty to anyone. But at the same time, she’s made it pretty clear she’s not interested in me that way.

I would say she’s friendly with me but we’re probably not quite friends. 

My friend Marcus thinks I should give up because she’s obviously not into me.

He thinks he knows everything about girls because he’s a year older. He hasn’t got any more experience than I do.

I just don’t pay much attention to him when he starts getting all smug with me. 

Grace absolutely loathes him. She’s always talking about boys with Jacinta but I doubt Marcus is ever included in that, unless Jacinta brings him up. 

Not that I blame her. He thinks there’s nothing more hilarious than surprising her with a noogie whenever he comes over to hang out.

When he gives me a hard time, I don’t bother saying anything but I really hate it when he picks on Grace. Maybe if I pull him up on it enough, he’ll lay off one of these days. 

Notes:
  • Title is from Survival Car by Fountains of Wayne.
  • Kind of bummed I didn't schedule these guys for after Eliza's birthday, but oh well. I got to try out the baby pose box I downloaded, so it wasn't a total loss. 
  • Grace and Marcus absolutely loathe each other. Negative bolts in my game actually seem really rare, at least among sims who are likely to interact with each other. But Grace and Marcus have a very low score indeed and it shows!
  • Everett has two bolts with Daphne though, so he might be right not to give up just yet. He might want to wait a little; most of my 12-year-olds aren't allowed to date, unless their parents are pretty lax (which is not how I see Jacob and Claudia). 

12 comments:

  1. Lovely update, loved seeing it from the teens persceptive and how cute is he trying to read all the parenting the books :)

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    1. I had to do this one from Everett's perspective, given his currently unrequited crush on Daphne! I've been really excited to play him because of it.

      I'm so happy to see Charlie enjoying having Eliza, seeing I mainly let them have another kid just for him. :) He didn't get to enjoy the early days with the twins.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. Ha ha, I love Everett trying to brainwash his baby sister! That is too cute. That would be really sweet though if she did grow up to like the nature stuff. I bet these two are a big help with a new baby around, even if they don't want to be.

    Daphne is so lovely! I don't blame him for holding out hope.

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    1. Ha, glad you liked it! I haven't figured out Eliza's hobby yet, so Everett is definitely in with a chance. :) It'd be a nice little bonding thing for them.

      Daphne turned out so pretty. She got all the best features of Jacob and Claudia. Everett could have some competition on his hands. ;)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. Charlie is super sweet with Eliza, I love that he is reading parenting books. What a sweet guy! And Everett with his crush for Daphne is just adorable. I hope that he gets a chance to date her, they are both so young. As for Marcus, pfft. I'm glad he's not taking heed to that nonsense! One year old does not make one wiser especially when one lacks experience just the same. Poor Grace, must be rough having your brother's best friend be someone you greatly dislike. Hopefully they can find an amicable peace in the future.

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    1. I basically never use the perk that comes with studying parenting but I always let sims study it if they want, because it's so sweet to me. Especially when Charlie looked over at Eliza while he was reading! <3

      I think it's possible Daphne's just not interested in any boys yet. Lots of my teens don't roll romantic wants until they're 13 or 14, so I think Everett is still in with a shot. He is well used to ignoring Marcus at this point, I'd imagine. Not so easy to do for poor Grace!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. Everett was so cute, that picture of him holding Eliza up to his face is so sweet (not the one where she probably spit up on him :-)) And I love the glimpse of him in his suit for the wedding. How funny that he wondered what there could actually be difficult about sewing a suit, very adolescent-boy like.

    I actually used to use that parenting perk a lot- doesn't it let the parents tell what the baby needs? I kind of liked it, for sims that were the kind to really read up.

    Marcus made me realize how much I miss Sims 2 teens. They were definitely younger-seeming than mine now, and they could have those facial breakouts, which was a great touch, although I always felt badly for them because I had such bad breakouts in 7th grade that I was embarrassed to go out.

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    1. Everett is a good kid but he's still a teenager, so he does have a bit of a predilection towards whininess sometimes. ;) The suit is bought now though and unlike real life teens, the suit will stretch with him as he grows...so no more shopping will be necessary until he ages up!

      Yeah, the parenting perk lets you know what the baby's lowest need is. I just don't find it very useful. I mean, there are very few things a TS2 baby needs. It's obvious when they need a nappy change, so I just change them and then feed and play/snuggle with them immediately after. I don't even remember how to use the perk! I think I tried it out once or twice when I first got FT and then never bothered with it again.

      Oh, I would give you all my teens' pimples for your TS4 game if I could! I've had it up to here with them, lol! Once my teens get them, they seem to be stuck with them until they age up. Which I guess is realistic but it never used to be like this in Sullivan 1.0, so it's bugging me! I actually just put a WCIF on N99 to see if anyone knows of some sort of mod for it. Grass is always greener, eh?

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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    2. Ha, nice that the suit will continue to fit him! True, the babies don't have a lot of needs, and it was never difficult to fulfill them, but I liked for the parent to be extra-in-tune with the baby sometimes and if I remember correctly when they use that it also boosts the relationship faster than regular baby-parent interactions. Anyway...

      Ha, so funny about the pimples! I remember being aggravated with them too! But I do miss them. The grass is ALWAYS greener, it's a fact of being human I think.

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    3. Didn't know that about boosting the relationship faster! That shows you how often I used that perk, lol!

      I actually just found a replacement for the pimples which makes them a little more subtle. Maisie linked me to it and I was very excited! Someone in the thread said EA got the scale massively wrong, which turned the pimples into boils and I'd have to agree with that. I forgot to check what they look like in game but I'll do that later, when I go in to make Chloe have her baby!

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  5. Great update! I love the freckles in this family. :) It will be interesting to see who little Eliza will look like the most and if she will have those gorgeous freckles too. She is a very pretty baby and already looks a bit like Camilla.

    I always find writing from teen sims POV fun because you can be a bit more relaxed and amusing with what happens to be going on their lives. ;)

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    1. Eliza is set to inherit the freckles as well but I'm also really interested to see who she resembles more. Everett is a Charlie clone and Grace looks most like Camilla, so it might be fun to see more of a mix. Eliza is a pretty baby but they all are - babies all have exactly the same face! Her toddler birthday (in November) will be telling.

      I like teens too. They're growing and changing all the time and it's fun to see what they get up to. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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