28. No Love

Adam think things are going pretty good for him.

He’s dating the coolest girl in school, he’s hanging out with his friends every night, and he hasn’t felt this good in a long time. Unfortunately, his mean streak is rearing it’s ugly head.

He makes one comment at Fallon, and suddenly things start snowballing. He tries to backtrack, but it’s only making things worse, and now Fallon is shouting.

She asks him why he has to be this way, why he can’t just be cool. I let them go. This clearly isn’t the first time Adam’s made a mean remark that’s rubbed her the wrong way, and now they’re arguing.

He pretends not to care. Dismissing people’s moods seems the fastest way to get them angry at you, and Fallon’s already mad. She tells him if he’s so darn apathetic, he clearly doesn’t care about her, and maybe they shouldn’t be together if that’s the case. Adam quickly tries to apologize, but Fallon’s had it.

They’re done, she says. They’re broken up. Don’t talk to her again, don’t hang around. Goodbye. Forever.

Adam’s on a rampage now. He stomps back home only to find his dad has made them dinner and wants to have a conversation. He’s not in the mood.

Roman’s ready to tell his son about having a girlfriend, but he chose the wrong day for it. As soon as he tries to tell Adam about Payton, Adam flips out.

Adam’s angry about his dad keeping a secret, he’s angry about his dad moving on, and he’s angry about Fallon, and maybe he’s angry at himself. Their conversation turns into an argument pretty quick. Roman’s still trying to keep his son calm, but Adam won’t listen.

Roman tells him he’s too old to act like this. Adam immediately shuts down. He doesn’t want to listen to his dad talk about his girlfriend when he doesn’t have one anymore. He tells him he doesn’t want to talk anymore.

This isn’t how Roman pictured this conversation going. His son refuses to say any more to him. So far his fresh start isn’t going so great.

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27. New Love

Adam’s not the only one lucky in love.

Things are going really well for Roman and his lady, Payton. She’s a snob like he is, which is why they’re having this date at the museum. It’s their first official date, which is also adding points towards Roman’s new aspiration.

They look at some art together. Look at how happy they are to judge something. They walk around and look at some art and talk about themselves. Payton’s also good at computers, and she’s read some of his books.

They’re having a good time together. Payton enjoys Roman’s jokes and she’s happy to talk books and fashion and food. Halfway through their first date, they’re already planning their second and restaurants they’d like to try.

Roman’s excited to have someone to be romantic with again. This is the first person he’s been with where he hasn’t brought a ton of baggage along with him, and things are easy. They like the same things, they’re both funny, and Payton is sweet. He likes her a lot.

Roman almost doesn’t want the date to end as they leave the museum. They’re talking about where they want to go next, and an urge comes over Roman. He decides to go for it.

It’s not his first kiss since Irene, but it’s his first kiss that he doesn’t feel guilty about. Time has passed. New love is ready to bloom.

Payton looks happy about the whole thing. Roman’s not ready to full throttle this romance, but he is ready to commit to someone again. Plus, he’s got that soulmate aspiration burning a hole in his character UI. Let’s get some achievements.

26. Besties

Things are going really well with Fallon, and she and Adam hit it off really well. Despite Adam’s mean trait, they don’t seem to be running into any issues, and they spend a lot of time together.

Fallon is very cool and always trendy, but Adam’s actual best friend is her twin sister, Natalie.

The two are fairly different people and as close as can be. Natalie is closer to Adam’s personality, being smart and joining the Knights of the Hedge with him. She’s also endlessly cheerful.

She follows him home from school sometimes, without her sister, and I’m not saying Natalie has a little crush on Adam, because I don’t control her, and Adam’s never flirted with her, but she sure seems to have a little crush on Adam.

They’re laughing and not really paying attention to the movie. Most of my sims seem to hate the movie they’re watching anyway, so if these two are entertaining themselves, that’s alright. Adam only entertains himself one way though.

It takes one snide comment. Maybe he said it about her sister, maybe he said it about her. He might’ve called her mama a llama. Natalie throws her arms up to tell him to stop and immediately storms off.

Adam is alone watching a boring movie while his best friend thumps up the stairs, probably to find a computer to play on. With a sigh, he turns it off and follows after her. He catches her on the upstairs landing and starts to apologize.

“Why are you like that?” she snaps. “We’re having a really good time, and you have to get all mean.”

Adam knows he can say a million things here, from talking about his mom to blaming me for giving him the trait, but he sighs instead and says, “I don’t know.”

He begs her for forgiveness, and luckily Natalie’s in a good mood today. He asks her if she wants to keep watching the movie, but they both know it’s boring, so they chat for a while longer and reaffirm why they’re friends. Adam keeps his comments to himself from now on. He’ll have to if he wants to keep his friends.

25. First Date

Roman’s actually completed his Bestselling Author aspiration, so I went ahead and gave him the Soulmate aspiration (which is what Irene had). He misses being in love, but part of being in love is finding the right person.

Here’s a fun thing I like to do: when I’m having trouble finding friends or love interests for my characters (especially for teens, since they’re nearly impossible to pick out in a crowd), I make a club. I deleted it immediately after, but I went ahead and made a club for Roman to meet some single ladies and give himself a chance at love. They met at the Blue Velvet.

There are definitely some strong candidates in the crowd. He spends some time chatting with every lady, getting to know them, seeing if there was a connection. There’s little flirting at this singles meetup, but Roman’s taking his time. If he wants to find true love, he has to be patient.

He does date though. He takes Jane to Villa Bovine, and the pair of them have a nice night, but he can already tell this isn’t true love. He thanks her for the lovely evening right as she starts getting very flirtatious, but he calls it quits.

Adam is having the opposite problem. There’s one girl in his life he needs to impress, and he’s not really sure how to do that. But he calls her up and heads to the Bluffs.

Fallon isn’t really sure what’s going on. She probably would’ve preferred a nice restaurant or a coffee shop, but it’s hard to beat the views out here. She looks a little suspicious as she approaches Adam.

“I know it’s different,” he tells her as they walk around the empty ruins. “But I didn’t think you’d like an ordinary first date, you know? You probably have a hundred guys asking you out to coffee.”

She laughs at that. “A hundred guys? Adam, I’ve literally never been asked out.”

A little nervousness goes out of him. “I mean, you’re like super pretty or whatever, and way too cool to hang around me.”

She shakes her head. “You are a nerd, my dude, but I’ve never been too cool for anyone. Especially not you. Did you really ask me here on a date?”

“Well, yeah.”

Fallon steps towards him. “Way to catch me off guard. And what’s your plan here? Did you think I’d jump in that swamp water and you’d get a full shot of me in my bikini?”

His whole face goes red. “No! I just–I don’t know. The ruins are cool. And the view’s really pretty. And when the sun goes down, we can light the bonfire.”

For a second he worries she’s mad, but she reaches for his hand and brings it up. “How long until the sun goes down?”

He shrugs. “Another hour or two.”

She’s staring at him with her brown eyes expectantly, pulling his hands closer to her. It’s now or never, he tells himself, and goes for it.

It’s different dreaming about kissing a person and then actually doing it. He wonders if Fallon’s thought about it too. But he remembers that she’s never been on a date before either, and this might be her first kiss too, and he relaxes a little, bringing his arms around her waist.

And they spend their time until sunset.

24. Moving On

Aaaand we’re back! A lot of stuff has happened between last update and now, from moving to getting back to old projects to starting an LGBT pop up library with a friend here in Houston! Good news, I went ahead and got myself a brand new computer, which was basically the only solution to my crashing problem, and now I can keep updating you with what’s going on in this wacky neighborhood. Achievements will be updated every Tuesday as long as I have something to share. Let’s get back to it!

A lot of stuff has changed in the Rainard household. Roman can’t help but feel the house he and his wife bought to raise their family in is emptier than it was ever meant to be. Irene died, suddenly and tragically, and Rosemary ran away in the middle of the night, leaving behind everything she owned, including her journal. It’s been rough for the men left behind.

And men they are. Adam’s become a teen and gained the Mean trait. That along with his perfectionist nature means he’s got little patience for people around him. His time at home is spent mostly doing his homework and playing chess. On the few days they’re both home at the same time, Roman and his son share the table. Roman’s managed to get the Literal Genius achievement for me. He still goes to work every day despite making more than enough royalties on his books, but he likes being social.

Speaking of social, Roman decided to break it off with Dina. It’s not that he didn’t like her, but there’s no real spark there. After their first few dates, he’s looking for something more serious.

Dina is extremely chill about it and lets him know she understands. The two break it off on good terms, and hopefully neither have lost a gym buddy.

Adam’s social group as well has grown up with him, and now he spends more time with his friends.

Fallon and Natalie are still his best friends, and Lucas Munch has joined the table. There’s lots of nights spent at the burger joint, where the four of them can relax and hang out. Natalie’s pretty quickly become his bestie, and the two of them spend a lot of time at the chess tables at the park. But Adam can’t quite shake his crush on her twin sister.

Fallon is basically the coolest girl in the world. She’s funny and always has an interesting story to tell. She and her sister live in San Myshuno, so they know all the best foods and go to festivals every time they happen. Every time she talks, Adam feels his face get warm, and he desperately wants to make a move with her. He just wishes he knew how.

Dad always keeps some sappy romance books around. He decides to take the task of making Fallon his girlfriend the same way he does anything. He studies. There’s got to be something in here. He wants to make her laugh. He wants to buy her stuff. He wants to take her on the coolest date she’s ever been on.

He tries to talk to dad about it, but, well, things aren’t the best between them right now. Roman’s never really home anymore, since his job has him work late, and he’s been trying to stay social. And normally it’s not a big deal to Adam, who also stays out of the house, but when it comes to this girl stuff, dad always gets weird. Adam isn’t sure if listening to him is the best idea.

And at the end of the day, he can’t help but think this would be a lot easier if he had his older sister around. He and Rosemary were never close, but she is a girl. She’d have something for him. She might even take pity on her baby brother.

But lots of things are different now, even his room. He’s taken over the space Rosemary used to occupy, and part of him feels a little… guilty about that. Rosemary wrote in her journal that she didn’t feel like there was any space for her in the house, and now there’s kind of not.

He tries not to think about that, though.

23. Loss

Achievement Roundup #2

I pulled off a big one this time around!

Whimsical	Mischief Mastered	Problem Child

Still plucking my way through the easy ones, though I plan to be more ambitious once the Rainard family starts to expand. Irene earned me Whimsical before she died, may she rest in peace, by playing the piano. I forgot Problem Child is one of those hidden achievements.

I’m going to pause updating this blog for a minute to focus on a few other projects, the most of which is the Accidental Vampire, a Sims story blog that needs a lot more focus from me. I started this blog to be something easy I could pick up and put together without much effort, so I don’t feel bad setting it aside for a while. If you’re feeling spooky this holiday season, I am updating my writing blog with five spooky stories centered around my Victorian monster mash, the first of which can be read here. Dabney Diaries, my other Sims blog, will continue through the end of October before I give myself a break from that as well. I’ve gone through a lot of real life stuff recently, including moving into a new place, which may be the most physically and emotionally exhausting thing I’ve done in a while, so I’m going to give myself a little time to recuperate and refocus.

I will get back to this family soon. Thanks for reading, and I hope you guys are ready for drama!