For week 8, click here.
The Powers-Sharpe household live in the place that originally belonged to General Grunt and his sons.
Roxie Sharpe, her younger brother Edwin and her partner Jonah Powers are all elderly Sims and all on Permanent Platinum. Roxie and Jonah are 81, Edwin is 74.
I have not moved them to the Senior Residence last round, because Jonah is eagerly awaiting his half-Alien daughter Perseida's return from college.
As before, Edwin does more than his fair share of the house work. I do not direct him or the other two unless it is to greet a neighbour or pay the bills, and occasionally have the fridge restocked.
sOn this Monday morning in early autumn, Perseida does indeed return from college. She has graduated Magna Cum Laude in Drama; actually, she did not need a college degree for her lifetime want, but it helped: She wanted to have 20 best friend, and that was made easier there with her co-students.
Now she is on PP as well, and as there is plenty of money in the family, she won't have to find a job. What will she do now with her life?
First things first! She changes out of her sports gear into something more sensible and spends some time upstairs in her old room, writing her diary.
Sadly, that same evening, first her Dad Jonah...
...and then Roxie both die at the age of 82.
Now Edwin and Perseida are on their own. "Poor girl," Edwin thinks. At least they have each other in their grief.
Half-Alien Sims are often very neat, as we all know. Perseida is no exception and cleans one of the two upstairs bathrooms on her own accord on Tuesday morning.
She wants to invite someone over, and although I do not need to fulfill any more of her wishes now that she is on PP, I let her ask half-sister Lilo Landgraab and her husband Prezioso over as well as Callum Capp.
There are no 3-bolt-men in her relationship panel, but she seems totally smitten by Callum and constantly follows him around :-)
Very quickly, Prezioso discovers the model railway in the back garden, and his wife the hot tub.
When hours later Edwin returns from work, once again he is accompanied by Bianca Monty-Capp, the lady who died many years ago but still appears as a colleague, at least for a second or two, before she turns into a ghost and vanishes.
Edwin's car pool will not pick him up until mid-morning, and so early on Wednesday, I send Perseida and Edwin to buy groceries.
Serveral other New Maximilianians are at the shop, such as Circe Beaker here, browsing the magazines.
Back home, Perseida starts trimming the rose bushes on her own accord, but stops after just one because she has a coughing fit (I really do hate the flu/myserious disease/cold!).
But her good example motivates Edwin, and he stays at it until he is picked up for work.
I decide to let Perseida try and find a 3-bolt-man with the Matchmaker's help, but she gets "only" a two-bolt-NPC man and ends the date as quickly as possible.
Instead, she throws a party - a wish of hers, and I don't see any reason why I should not play along with it. Most of the guests are not only her best friends, but also half-siblings. I am sure you recognise them all :-)
Calendula Capp and Meike Riley are the only ones with no Alien blood, and not related to Perseida.
While half of the guests gather in the kitchen for a game of kicky bag, Perseida and Giselle toast each other for their successful graduation from college. Calendula has never been to college, as she was originally a PlantBaby (Tybalt Capp being her father) and skipped the teenage years that would have allowed her to go to college, but she still joins in the toast.
On Thursday morning, Edwin and Perseida meet in the living room to talk. Edwin suggests he move to the Senior Residence; after all, he is in his late 70s now, and Perseida should settle down in her former home without an "oldie" intruding on her personal life all the time.
Perseida wants to hear nothing of it. "Uncle Edwin, you are the only family I have left! I know we are not blood relations, and that New Max is full of my half-siblings, but you are one of the great people I grew up with, and with my Dad and Roxie gone, there's just us now. Please don't leave!"
And so Edwin stays.
When he is out for work, Perseida greets Pablo Picaso. They don't get along; any subject that comes up in conversation is rejected by the other one, and so Perseida acts as if she were on her own and Pablo spends hours in the hot tub without his host even showing her face out of the back door.
Very early on Friday morning, Edwin decides to prepare turkey for breakfast.
Meanwhile, I have sent Perseida jogging. Apparently, the run has given her a boost of energy, as she starts trimming the rose bushes right away.
Later that day (with every last rose bush trimmed!), her best friend and half-sister Jacqueline Newson (nee Jacquet) comes visiting.
Neither Perseida nor Edwin have regular sleep patterns, and so it is in the very early hours of Saturday that Perseida is up and about. She discovers a pile of dead bugs right at the end of the back garden and sweeps it up on her own initiative.
After only a few hours of sleep, she gets up again - it is still dark outside.
Some more cleaning is in order.
It has snowed enough during the night to cover New Max in a thick white blanket.
Perseida spends most of the afternoon resting on her Dad's and Roxie's bed.
On Sunday morning, Perseida and Edwin cheer each other up with the school cheer.
Edwin writes in his diary.
For the first time this week, they use the hot tub. But once they're in it, they soak for hours!
Finally, Edwin goes to bed. He is now 81 and probably won't live longer than another day or two. Perseida, nicely warmed up by the hot tub, plays with the model railway for the first time this week.
She does not even stop when snow falls thickly on the model landscape! She only goes inside when the phone rings.
Thus ends this week at the Powers-Sharpe household.
It was relatively boring, as the two were largely uncontrolled and left to their own devices. Good thing they are both relatively neat and kept on top of the gardening and household chores! Once Edwin is gone, I don't know yet what to do with Perseida; she does not have anyone special in her life.
