After we've already spent a week each with two Monty households here in Veronaville, it is time to visit the core of the clan: Isabella and Patrizio Monty. Maxis has provided us with a little background story and pictures for them.
This one is obviously supposed to be showing Patrizio with Consort Capp, both men being much younger here than when we first meet them in the game. A heated argument is taking place in what looks like the office of an affluent business. This ties in with the Maxis-written household bio: "Patrizio Monty never forgot Consort Capp's broken promise. But now his grandson Romeo has fallen for the Capp heiress. Will the Elders live to see the two families united?"
Patrizio and Isabella had three children. We have of course met Antonio and Bianca, but their other son, Claudio, died. Here, we see him getting married to Olivia, witnessed by Patrizio and Isabella (sitting in the first row to the left) and Olivia's parents (front row right).
Next is Isabella in what could go for a restaurant kitchen, proudly presenting a Baked Alaska, with a birthday cake already on the counter. From Antonio's story we already know that the Montys are supposed to run a family restaurant, in spite of it not existing as a community lot (wouldn't that have been a nice touch from Maxis?).
Her personal biography reads: "Isabella's culinary talents have long been the cornerstone of the Monty clan, but will her secret recipe for the perfect baked Alaska heal old family wounds?"
Sadly, Claudio and Olivia died, leaving their two sons Mercutio and Romeo as orphans. The boys' grandparents took them in, and this is where we find the four of them now.
The Monty Ranch is of a very different style than the Capp Mansion, but equally speaking of wealth.
Only the ground floor is furnished, and the rooms are surprisingly small (making it a bit hard to take pictures with the walls up).
From the front, paved walkways under arcades lead around the entire building as well as to a central courtyard with a tiny water feature, benches and some green. Around this centre, we find a room with the urns of Claudio and Olivia at the top and then moving clockwise a single bedroom, a bathroom, another single bedroom and a small TV room (obviously meant to be the boys' part of the house).
Across the central walkway, we enter an equally small room with a chess board, a kitchen and a dining room with an adjoining bathroom. But where to Isabella and Patrizio sleep?
Off the main house is a small tower-like building, connected via another arched walkway. It contains a double bedroom and a small en-suite. With more than 76,000 Simoleons in liquid funds plus the large piece of land and the house, the Montys can certainly be called rich.
But are they happy? Not really. Apart from the death of their son and his wife, Isabella and Patrizio have never gotten over whatever it is that happened between them and Consort Capp. Isabella's bio we have already read.
Here is Patrizio's: "Through his hard work, Patrizio has become the don of llama ranching, but will his grudge against Consort Capp prevent him from enjoying his legacy?" So, there is not only a mysteriously invisible family restaurant somewhere, but also an equally invisble llama ranch :-)
Anyway, they are both Family Sims, with Patrizio wishing three children graduate from college (sorry, too late for that) and Isabella wanting to have six grandchildren (not impossible, but unlikely for her to live long enough).
Mercutio is the older brother by two years and a typical Popularity Sim, fancying himself as a future Rock God. "Good-natured and warm, Mercutio is the joker of his family. Can his good humor smooth the feuding family's ruffled feathers?" is what Maxis say about him.
Romeo's aspiration is Romance, and he is - I think - the first Sim I encounter this round who dreams of becoming a Professional Party Guest. According to Maxis, "Naturally charismatic and handsome, Romeo's on his way to becoming quite the heartbreaker. Will he meet his match in Juliette?"
It is a Tuesday evening when the game starts. A message pops up, saying that "Romeo is dying to see his main squeeze. He wants to invite Juliette over for a make-out session. Pick up the phone and give her a call!"
I have Romeo do just that, and when Juliette arrives a few minutes later, she is obviously holding a grudge against Mercutio (who has already gone to bed after he has quit his after school job, same as Romeo - neither of them need the money nor the experience for their future careers).
And who should also turn up but Consort Capp! He must have had a suspicion that his granddaughter might have come here to see her sweetheart, and he does not look particularly happy about it, does he.
Still, I have the adults make an effort. Chess is a game that even rivalling kings of old played together, and so it seems fitting that Consort - who started to play on his own accord - is joined by Isabella (Patrizio, like Mercutio, has gone to bed already). With Juliette's grandfather and Romeo's grandmother for a change sitting peacefully together in the same room, the young lovebirds make no secret of their affection for each other. They hug and kiss until Juliette leaves, it being a school night and all, and Romeo also goes to bed.
"When we were young, I really thought Patrizio and I werefriends for life," Consort suddenly says, looking directly at Isabella.
When she doesn't say anything, he continues: "You of all people should know that not everything in life is about money..."
"No, you're right, it isn't", Isabella finally replies. She doesn't look at Consort when she says that love and family are the most important things in life to her, but she smiles. By the time Consort leaves (he is very hungry but nobody offered him anything to eat) and Isabella goes to bed, the two of them are still far from being friends, but maybe next time they come across each other, they won't get into another fight.
On Wednesday morning, Romeo is up early enough for a quick video game with his Granddad. "Eh? Which button? How does this work?" Patrizio seems a little confused, while his grandson is already in the middle of the game.
After the boys have left for school, Isabella and Monty sit down for breakfast, enjoying the fresh morning air, the peace and quiet in the house and each other's company.
At 1:00 pm, the school bus drops off the boys. Romeo brings home an A+, while Mercutio needs to put in a little more effort.
Their grandparents are sharing a romantic moment in the inner courtyard before they help the boys with their homework.
His Nana may be Veronaville's best cook, but her culinary skills have certainly not rubbed off on Romeo.
Still, he has the decency to clean up after having burnt his spaghetti bolognese.
Mercutio follows in his younger brother's footsteps when he brings home his first A+ on Thursday.
Isabella has been busy gardening all morning and then went for a nap alongside her husband. Refreshed, and with her grandsons both having finished their homework, she invites her son Antonio and his children over. The cousins get along well, and Patrizio is happy to see them of course.
Bianca is also asked over, and brings along her husband. Kent may have taken his wife's surname, but to Patrizio, he is still a Capp and therefore to be hated. My hope of them having a normal conversation was in vain - all Patrizio wants is to attack his new son-in-law, and so I send Kent home while Bianca stays with her family for the rest of the day.
And just as Kent leaves, someone else arrives...
Maybe seeing Kent was too much for Patrizio's old heart; he dies there and then, surrounded by his family.
Everyone is devastated, of course, but they still insist on eating Isabella's famous Baked Alaska which she had made for the family earlier in the day.
Not enough chairs around the dining table means that Antonio, Beatrice and Benedick eat in the kitchen, but nobody minds - they still can't get their heads round what has just happened.
Patrizio's urn is placed in the same room with the ones of his son Claudio and his daughter-in-law Olivia. Three candles are lit that night.
Isabella and her son don't need to talk - it is just good that he's there. (Funnily enough, Isabella's wishes are rather conflicting: While she wishes to resurrect Patrizio, she also wishes to get married - without anyone particular in mind. She also wishes for a grandchild, but I am not sure how soon that can happen and whether she'll still be around then.)
Understandably, Friday is a quiet and rather subdued day for the Monty family. The day brightens up a little for Romeo when Desdemona Capp walks by. He certainly couldn't care less about the old family feud and greets the girl in a friendly manner.
"My Grandpa died yesteday," he sighs. What follows is a long conversation with Desdemona, by the end of which the two are friends.
Inside, Mercutio does his best to cheer his Grandma up a little. They play chess together, and he suggests a simply meal for them tonight - Isabella probably wouldn't be cooking today if it weren't for her grandsons.
Isabella takes the boys to "Sims Gone Wired" on Saturday morning. They have worked hard at school all week, and with Patrizio's recent death, a small change of scene is welcome.
A cell phone has been on Romeo's wish list for a while, and now he gets one.
Isabella meets and greets Cornwall Capp. Not a Capp by birth, she does not see him as an enemy; they hardly know each other and just make polite smalltalk for a bit.
Upstairs at the restaurant, while they wait to be seated, Isabella broaches the subject of work with her older grandson. Mercutio doesn't want to hear about getting a job and makes this quite clear to his Grandma. Romeo wisely disappears to the toilets, mumbling something about powdering his nose, before he can be drawn into the argument.
Just as the taxi pulls up in front of the house, Juliette is about to leave - she wanted to see Romeo and was a little disappointed at there nobody being home.
Her sister Hermia has come along, and soon the four teenagers sit around the table, enjoying Isabella's vegetable stew and talking about the latest TV series "simply everybody HAS to watch", according to Hermia.
Isabella prefers to eat alone in the kitchen. Much as she appreciates her grandsons not accepting the family feud as a given, she still feels a little awkward around anyone bearing the Capp name.
For the first time in her life, on Sunday morning Isabella goes jogging. She knows how important it is to keep healthy and wonders if Patrizio could still be alive if they had both taken better care of their health.
That afternoon, Mercutio leaves for college.
"Now it's just the two of us left here," Isabella sighs, knowing full well that Romeo will follow his brother to college next year.
But first things first! Now that he has befriended Desdemona Capp, he wishes to flirt with her, and wastes no time to fulfill that wish. Pink hearts are the result. Interestingly, he has one bolt for Mona but none for his girlfriend Juliette.
Not much happens on Monday. Romeo is off to school, and Isabella potters about the house a bit until she spots Chaz Whippler (whom she met at "Sims Gone Wired" on Saturday) walking by. He comes in for a chat and a light lunch.>
Afterwards, Isabella decides to make Chaz her running buddy - they can both do with losing a pound or five. Immediately after their run, Chaz goes home (probably needing a shower and not having brought his special shower gel) and Isabella drops into bed, exhausted from keeping up with a much younger man.
The rest of the day goes by without anything worth reporting, and this is where the week ends for this household.
We are going to see Mercutio through his first year at college next. Is Isabella going to pursue a peaceful course of action towards the Capp family? Will she meet anyone to fulfill her wish to marry again, or see a grandchild (another big wish)? What's Romeo going to do about Juliette and Desdemona?
