The Baldwin Family: Week 6

 The Baldwins still live in the same house where they started.

But since their father's death, the siblings are on their own. Marcus wants to become World Class Ballet Dancer and uses all his spare time towards this goal.

His older sister Sofia once dreamt of being the Hand of Poseidon, but changed her mind and now sees herself as future Head of SCIA.

Monday morning of their sixth week starts with a broken computer. No problem for Sofia.

Marcus had fallen in love with Pauline Aspir while they were both studying at university. Their one-bolt-attraction apparently has not survived beyond campus boundaires; neither of the two rolls any wants for the other one all week. Instead, Tina Traveller appears, and there seems to be more than just friendship between these two.

Being a good host, Marcus prepares drinks for everyone.

Meanwhile, Tina amuses herself - and her host - at the piano.

After a while, Sofia takes her place, and Tina suddenly finds herself standing rather close to Marcus, while his sister plays a slow, seductively romantic tune. The fire is crackling away in the fireplace, warming Tina's bare legs and exposed left shoulder.

Tina can't help herself - overcome with the urge to kiss Marcus, she does just that. Sofia just keeps playing; she seems to be unaware of the goings-on behind her back.

On Tuesday, Marcus wakes up wanting to study physiology.

Downstairs, Sofia finishes off yesterday's remaining drinks.

It has been snowing heavily all night.

That does not stop Marcus from flying the kite that has been around for a long time.

The siblings spend the rest of the day indoors, having meals, skilling and talking. Also, I make sure they ring three friends every day to maintain the friendships they have already made.

On Wednesday, Marcus works on improving his charisma.

Sofia greets Carla Reamon.

Marcus finishes a snowman his sister has started to build.

When Sofia returns from work that night, it is with a demotion to Double Agent, "thanks" to a wrong decision with a chance card. She heads straight back to work again, and indeed is reinstated in her position as Elite Operative the same night.

While all this was happening at Sofia's work place, Glenda Greenman joined Carla Reamon and Marcus for chili con carne.

It is Thursday, and brother and sister enjoy a game of chess.

It is also spring now, and Sofia changes out of her warm clothes into an outfit more suitable for the season.

I can not remember who of the two caused the shower to break, but they both are off to work before I can tell someone to repair it. The clean bot (a present from Angela Pleasant, I think) starts mopping up, but then unfortunately breaks, too, and starts spitting out trash all over the top floor. Nobody is home to switch it off.

Late in the evening, Marcus returns from his last performance as a Flamenco Master: He is now a World Class Ballet Dancer and has reached his lifetime want 18 days from Elderhood. Well done, Marcus! Of course this means I am not controlling him anymore - which in turn means he will neither repair the shower nor the clean bot.

I still halfway expect him to start picking up the trash, but he prefers to stay downstairs where he rests on the settee, looking rather pleased with himself.

Actually, I don't blame him for not wanting to go upstairs...! Hopefully Sofia will come home soon, and I'll tell her to fix the shower and the bot.

Well... it was not to be. Sofia does come home, yes, but now she, too, has reached her LTW and is not controlled by me anymore. 11 days before Elderhood, she is made Head of SCIA. And what does she do? Go upstairs to do some ballet exercises, of all things!

Both siblings go to work on Friday. At least for a few hours, they will escape the chaos.

And chaos it is!

The broken clean bot is still active. Nobody has switched it off yet, and Sofia even sleeps amidst the noise and dirt and smell.

Marcus does not like the piles of smelly rubbish, either, but does he do anything about it? No, he simply goes to work.

Beau Broke returns home with him that night, but although sometimes visiting Sims do some gardening for their hosts on their own initiative, Beau does not go near the top floor where chaos reigns.

Saturday sees the situation unchanged. By now, the siblings have abandoned the use of their assigned own beds and just sleep where they happen to be closest when they are tired.

My hopes are up again when I catch Sofia spraying the bugs that have started to appear. Less intelligent Sims merely stamp on them, but Sofia sprays them.

Her brother passes out on the pavement after the limousine has dropped him off after work.

Sunday morning sees Sofia close to starvation. All that complaining about smelly rubbish and crying because of the bugs has lead to her not taking care of her needs anymore.

Somehow, she manages to go downstairs to have a drink...

...and a sponge bath.

After being cleaned up and dressed, she even has a bag of cookies (there is still enough food in the fridge for a proper meal, of course).

It is now Marcus' turn to spray the bugs.

And he even sweeps up the dead ones. But that's all he does - no further cleaning is done that day, and of course still nobody has switched off the bot.

How long can the two of them survive like this? Is someone going to save them - for instance, Sofia's three-bolt-love Brent Broke, or Marcus' new girlfriend Tina Traveller? Stay tuned :-)

The Aspir Family: Week 6

Round 6 begins with the first surname on the alphabetical list of Maxis-made families: The Aspirs. They are just where and as we left them at the end of their fifth week. Well, almost. Something has changed:

Pauline, who was well on her way to reach her lifetime want of becoming Hall of Famer, now wants to be Chief of Staff.
Therefore, the first thing I have her do is to look for a job in the Medical career. She is not lucky on this Monday, though.

Her mother, Elizabeth, is 68 and has been on Permanent Platinum ever since she earned 100.000 Simoleons five "years" ago.

Pauline's father and Elizabeth's husband, Victor, is one "year" younger at 67. He, too, has been on Permanent Platinum for a while: He became Education Minister when he was 59.

Later that Monday, Elizabeth is back on her former job as CEO. Last round, she was demoted to President when she took the wrong decision with a chance card.

The round is off to a firey start when on Monday night, lightning strikes one of the trees in the Aspir's back garden and sets it on fire. However, the rain quickly puts out the flames, and the only consequence is that Pauline needs a bath. She has, by the way, just made her Bronze Sewing Badge.

Tuesday morning, we find Victor and Elizabeth sharing a joke.

You know my policy of not controlling my PermaPlat Sims except for having them greet fellow New Maximilianians as they walk by. Some Sims are better than others at taking care of their personal needs, or their households. Victor is one of the better ones. Here, you can see him clearing up old newspapers on his own accord.

He also does the gardening without me telling him to.

When Pauline returns from work, Castanea Landgraab comes visiting...

...followed by Paola Picaso. Is it just me or has Paola put on some weight since we last saw her?

Maybe she has developed an eating disorder... she heads straight to the converted garage where Luis Aspir used to live, and eats the smelly leftovers nobody remembered to clean up from last week.

On Wednesday, Pauline makes her Silver Sewing Badge. Other things happening that day are a visit from Prezioso Picaso and Tina Traveller...

...and Corydal Capp coming home from work with Victor, who looks not very happy here. I wonder what happened at the Ministry today to warrant such an angry face!

Since Pauline is the only household member fully controlled by me, it is she who has to deal with broken appliances such as the toilet. Of course I could have her ring the repair service, but mechanical skill will come in useful at the new job she will hopefully find before the week is over.

The next morning, Thursday, it's the bath tub that needs repairing. It's a bit like real life, isn't it - one thing at home breaks, others follow.

Bottom Summerdream, a friend of Pauline's, pays her a visit later that day.

The two young women have lunch meat sandwiches and talk about work. "You know, I don't actually want to be promoted in my athletic career anymore; I really want to start working my way up in the medical field," Pauline tells her friend.

At 6.00 pm, just as Elizabeth stops to look at the portrait of her daughter as a teenager, someone  suddenly gets between her and the painting.
She dies at the age of 71/72, after a good, long life filled with work, a happy marriage and family life.

Victor is devastated.

Pauline misses her mother a lot, too. Friday morning, she sits at the sewing machine and thinks of how her Mom used to teach her how to make potholders.

On Saturday, Pauline finally manages to grab a job as Nurse. Hardly surprising, she is promoted to Intern on her very first day, and heads back to work straight away, hoping for another promotion.

Just before she comes home from her second time round, Victor dies at 72/73.

Pauline, who has just returned with indeed yet another promotion (she is now a Resident), is looking forward to her dinner and has not yet realized that her father is gone now, too.

But when it hits her, it hits her hard.

Autumn has just started on Sunday. Pauline, now in an outfit better suited for the lower temperatures, does some gardening - now that her Dad is not there anymore to do it.

She is grateful to have work to distract her. When a chance card pops up, she takes the right decision and is promoted to GP.

How many more days until she will reach her LTW? Or is it going to change again next round?
Will Pauline stay all on her own in the rather big house, or is someone going to move in with her? (All week, she has not rolled one single want about her sweetheart from last round.)