The Aspir house is the one originally given to them by Maxis.
Pauline has moved back in with her parents after she graduated Cum Laude in Drama. For a while, she worked her way up in the athletics career, but when she had already reached the position of Assistant Coach, she suddenly wanted to give her life a new direction and took up Medicine.Both her parents died during the last round, so the young woman is now all alone in the big house. She is engaged to Benvenuto Broke (the surprise engagement happened at a restaurant) and seems to have completely forgotten about her college sweetheart, Marcus Baldwin. Another detail about her: she has a Silver Sewing Badge.
Monday morning is off to a less than great start when Pauline becomes aware of the broken tap in her bathroom. The water has been running all night, flooding the bathroom floor. After repairing the tap, she has to mop up the entire room.
When she returns from work, she finds that someone has kicked her rubbish bin over. Really not the best day of this week for her!
On Tuesday morning, Pauline has enough time to sit down at her mother's old sewing machine to finish a potholder. A nostalgic sigh escapes her; she learned all she knows about sewing from her late mother, Elizabeth.
She even manages a spot of gardening before leaving.
Coming home from work at the hospital, colleague Cedric Stacks is with her. He is the half-Alien son of Julien Cooke and married to Helena Stacks, daughter of Jane Stacks and Matthew Hart.
Pauline is slightly embarrassed when she realizes she never cleared the old newspapers and magazines regularly delivered to her front porch. Her colleague pretends not to have noticed.
Some more gardening is in order on Wednesday morning.
Today, Pauline comes home on her own, but meets and greets Ana Patel as soon as she gets off her car. "What a nice lady she has become," Ana thinks.
"Since my parents died, I am all alone here. I miss them dreadfully and am glad you came by; it is nice to share a meal with company, Mrs. Patel," Pauline offers over plates of spaghetti.
"Yes, dear, losing your parents must have been hard; but a nice girl like you should have many friends to keep her company," Ana encourages her.
By Thursday, the autumn temperatures have sunk enough for Pauline to wear a coat when she is out raking the leaves in her back yard.
She is promoted to Specialist today.
Early on Friday morning, the first snow flakes begin to fall.
By the time Pauline returns from work, a substantial amount of snow has fallen, covering everything with a neat, crisp white blanket. All week, she has had the wish to have a date - not with anyone specific, but since she is engaged to Benvenuto Broke, she asks him for a date at her own place. Nigel Newson chooses the moment of Ben's arrival to walk by - and of course Pauline is too polite to ignore him.
For her fiance, she had been dressing up in a very sexy outfit, and now she is a bit cold. Good job there is a fireplace in the living room! Benvenuto wonders how long it will take for Nigel to understand there is one person too many in the house right now!
I wish Nig would just sod off, Ben thinks, looking at Pauline in her sexy dress with the daring cleavage. But Pauline doesn't seem to mind Nigel all that much - she asks Ben to move in, and he joins the household. Benvenuto is a Popularity Sim (one of Brandi Broke's twins) who wants to become Media Magnate. He already is the editor of a successful magazine, so I guess it won't be long before he'll have reached his lifetime want.
It is Saturday, and Pauline has the day off. She uses it to brush up on the skills needed for her next promotion. Her Granddad (Luis Aspir) used to live in the converted garage next to the family house, and it is here that Pauline has set up her work equipment, next to her Granddad's drafting table.
Benvenuto is dropped off after work by his driver - with a promotion to Media Magnate! He is 8 days from Elderhood and has now reached Permanent Platinum. Congratulations, Ben; I just wish your dear Mum and step-Dad would still be around to celebrate!
He is rather tired and wouldn't have minded a nap, but Pauline has plans for the evening, and so he infuses himself with some fresh energy by having an espresso.
Pauline drives them...
...to a clothes shop (this is a community lot originally from Pleasantview, 303 Main Street).
While she pays for their purchases, Ben greets Francis J. Worthington.
Their next stop is "Le Magnifique", a restaurant where I rarely play. Ben is really hungry and enjoys his filet mignon, while Pauline has enough with a plate of chef salad.
Finally, the couple settle down for the night.
They have just turned off the lights when an unwelcome visitor appears.
He heads straight for the hot tub - and as far as I'm concerned, he is welcome to it! Most of the time, whenever there are visitors, they end up in the hot tub, which is rather annoying when they are not interested in anything else.
When the burglar gets near Pauline's car, the alarm goes off, and the police officer is there almost instantly. The arrest is made, and the couple asleep in the house never heard a thing!
Over breakfast on Sunday morning, Pauline has a brief moment of "Am I doing the right thing?" when she notices Ben's... erm... rustic table manners.
But she instantly forgets her criticism when he looks at her with so much love shining in his eyes, fondly remembering their surprise engagement.
"It really was the biggest - and best! - surprise I've ever had in my life, Ben!" Pauline says.
Mid-morning, Ben's big brother Beau arrives. He and Desdemona Capp became an item some time ago, and even have children together, but do not (yet?) live in the same house. Desdemona lives with her mother, Goneril (her father, Albany, died some time ago), but they do feel like family and so they are with Beau today.
But this is not just going to be a normal family Sunday! In the large hallway, room has been made for chairs and a wedding arch. The sewing machine and easel have been moved to the converted garage for today, and Pauline is wearing a stunning dress in black and red - she made it herself. "I'll soon have my first kiss as a wife," she muses.
Other guests are arriving while Pauline and Benvenuto wait under the wedding arch. Bottom Summerdream has been Pauline's best friend for a long time; her husband Björn (half-Alien son of Loki Beaker) is there, too.
The new Mr. and Mrs. Broke are applauded by their guests.
Then it is time to cut the cake!
Only six can sit at the dining table, but the other guests find enough seats in the living room and at the kitchen counter.
Later, Ben plays chess with his niece Catherine Capp, watched by Catherine's grandmother, Goneril. "I've lived on a farm most of my life, which was great growing up," he tells the little girl. Now there is only Beau left at the farm, along with three dogs who belonged to their stepdad, Leod McGreggor.
Pauline is happy to catch up with Bottom. Her sort of sister-in-law Desdemona wishes Pauline would include her in the conversation.
Meanwhile Beau, ever the big brother (and neat freak), starts cleaning up some of the party debris.
After everyone has left, Ben autonomously leaps into Pauline's arms, clearly overwhelmed with happiness about them becoming a family.
My Pauline, I love her so much, he thinks.
After a nice hot bubble bath, the two of them have changed back into their everyday clothes and spend the rest of Sunday evening relaxing in the living room, Ben tinkling away at the piano and Pauline musing about life past, present and future.
They both feel their wedding was great, but sorely missed their respective parents who never saw their children get married.
How long before Pauline reaches her LTW? How will Ben fare when I leave him to his own devices most of the time?
I really, really enjoyed this first week back in New Maximiliania! I did not expect it to end in a wedding, but it was Ben's wish to marry Pauline while they were still on the date. So I had him move in, and planned the wedding, having them buy outfits and so on.
Also, I think I'll add another one to my self-imposed rules for playing this town: During each week, the household has to visit at least one community lot. This gives the other residents a chance to interact without my intervention, and could make for some interesting surprise developments.
Next will be the Baldwins - maybe you want to re-read their last chapter to make sure you know where I left off. I know I need to re-read everyone's last chapter; my memory isn't that good!
A wedding that was a nice surprise. I did get worried when she cleared up the leaves, was she going to go up in flames. I don't like going to community lots too much as my computer takes it time. But in Build a city Challenge you have build your own communitys lots so i do quite of lot at the moment. But lovely to see Pauline again did she take Ben's last name or keep her own?
ReplyDeleteBecause it was Ben's wish to marry (Pauline only wanted to date him, and during the date rolled the usual wants such as kiss, make out, flirt, woohoo), the couple have taken his name.
Delete(That's why I wrote with the one picture "The new Mr. and Mrs. Broke are applauded by their guests" :-) )
Didn't see it oops. lol So no more Aspirs.
ReplyDeleteYep; another of the many surnames that have died out (or are going to) in my game...
DeleteI'm a bit late to the (Broke) party. :D
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to start a new round with a wedding. It's such a lovely big house it seemed sad for Pauline to live there alone. I'm so glad she has Ben now. Was it a conscious decision to have her take his name or spur of the moment?
I like the idea of a community lot visit once a round- it does make for some great new contacts as well.
Yes, the Aspir house is nice, isn't it!
DeleteLike I explained to peachy, I decided to have Pauline take Ben's surname because it was he who wanted to get married. She rolled wants about him, but only he had that wish.
I'll just have to remember my new rule and apply it to all households - also on campus!
Ah yes I went straight to leaving a comment instead of reading the others first, :)
DeleteI love Uni students to go off to other lots, makes the time pass quickly, and if they are Uni campus lots they can still go to their classes and they come back to wherever you were, even the SS, it's fine for classes but not final exams :)
Yes, that's something I like about campus, that the clock keeps ticking for our Sims even while they are at a community lot. I just regularly forgot about sending them - not anymore, as it has now become a rule.
Delete