Cleo Shikibu: Week 1

We're in Riverblossom Hills and are looking at a few Maxis-made pictures to illustrate the background story for Cleo Shikibu and her housemate Patricia Wan. 

Here, we have a young Catherine Viejo visiting her sister Victoria and husband Nobutaka with their daughter Cleo, obviously having brought a gift for her little niece. 

The next picture shows a grown-up Cleo at the piano and her friend Patricia listening with obvious pleasure.

The third picture matches what Maxis have written about this household: 

"Patricia and Cleo moved to town when Cleo's aunt, Catherine, offered Cleo her old home - which they just finished remodelling. Will they find excitement in this quiet town after the dust has cleared? Will Patricia and Gabe make a life together?" 

(We have of course already spent a week with Gabe O'Mackey, who is in love with Patricia.) Here, Catherine is the elderly lady we know from playing Betty Goldstein's house, where Catherine moved to and lived until both she and Betty died of old age.

What are we supposed to see here? The man with the glasses looks like Gabe O'Mackey, but the lady with him does not look like Patricia Wan, does she?

Anyway, it's definitely Gabe and Patricia in the next picture, building a snowman together, while Gabe's teenage daughter Jules seems reluctant to join in. 

From the week with Gabe and Jules and their household bio, we know that Jules is not exactly happy about her Dad dating Patricia, although it was her mother who left the family, and not Gabe.

Let's catch up with Cleo and Patricia now, shall we? The house Cleo was presented with from her Aunt Catherine is at No. 202 Welsh Lane in Riverblossom Hills. It looks modern and of a comfortable size, with a patio and grill at the side, and a few trees in the garden.

One half of the ground floor is taken up by the front room, which has a cosy sitting area by a fire place, a chess board and on the other side of the stairs, a piano, large TV and comfy armchairs. An archway near the fire place leads through to the kitchen, and in the top left corner with a door to the patio is the dining room.

Upstairs are two en-suite bedrooms, both with double beds. 

I don't know which room is supposed to be Cleo's and which is Patricia's; maybe the room with the computer desk (red bed, blue bathroom) is more suited for Patricia who is an aspiring Media Magnate and currently works as an Internet Movie Critic, while Cleo is in the music career, and so she will have the other bedroom with the stereo in one corner. 

Here are the two housemates and best friends. 

Cleo, on whose behalf we are here this week, is a Fortune Sim with the lifetime want of becoming Criminal Mastermind - as you know, my least favourite career. It means she'll have to quit her job as a studio musician, but I make sure she bags the career rewards object before doing that. 

Patricia is already in the right career. Her aspiration is Popularity. Together, the ladies have just over 2,300 Simoleons in cash, but that's fine - the house is well furnished, and with both of them working, they will soon have enough money to afford whatever else they may want. Only Patricia is currently in a relationship (with Gabe O'Mackey); Cleo knows a few two-bolt men but nobody she's particularly interested in.

On this Monday, Patricia settles down to study cooking, which she needs for her job. With the snow outside, it is very cosy by the fire, but almost as soon as she has opened the book, her car pool arrives and she leaves for work.

<Snapshot>

Of course it was only a matter of time before a few sparks from the fire set the rug aflame! 

Fortunately, a fire alarm has been installed from the start, and the firefighter manages to save the day as well as the lives of Cleo and her guest Robin Hogan, who appeared as the sole member of the welcome wagon. 

"Maybe I'll find an open position in the Criminal career today," Cleo thinks when she gets up on Tuesday morning. She doesn't. 

The girls have breakfast together, prepared by Patricia, who is the better cook of the two. 

Because Patricia has the day off and Cleo only needs to be at work by 9:00 pm, I send the two to Belle's Boutique & Tayloring. Strangely, they do not change into outerwear in spite of it being winter. I don't like either of the ladies' outfits, but since black and white seem to be their prefered colours, I have them spent over 1,000 Simoleons on mainly black dresses. 

Cleo meets and greets Matthew Smith; not sure whether anyone else in Riverblossom Hills has started to befriend him already, but she'll give it a try so that he has a chance to become a permanent resident. 

Back home, Cleo changes into one of her new outfits. Not very wintry, but it suits her, I think. 

Seeing as her friend will be out for work all evening, Patricia is happy when Gabe turns up on his own accord. 

She makes Mac & Cheese, and they enjoy the food and drink as much as the company :-) 

Cleo still doesn't find a job in the Criminal career on Wednesday but knows she'll have to be physically fit when the time comes, and so she works out while Patricia talks on the phone to make more friends.

Later, I have Cleo invite Matthew Smith over. They become almost friends over a game of kicky bag, and then she surprises me by autonomously flirting with her guest! She has only one bolt for him, and I am quite glad that no pink hearts appear, although he does not reject her flirting. 

While Cleo is out for work (she'll keep her job as Studio Musician until she finds what she really wants), Patricia returns with a promotion to Fact Checker.

Patricia returns from work early on Thursday because she has been demoted to Blog Writer. "What on earth made me take that decision with the stupid chance card?!" she wonders aloud. Although she goes back for another shift, she does not get her former position back that day. 

Meanwhile, Cleo has invited Matthew Smith over to work on their friendship. As before, they flirt autonomously, and this time, pink hearts do fly. 

"I don't know about the two of us, Cleo..." Matthew reasons later. "I am so much older than you!" But Cleo doesn't mind. She is in love, no matter that there is only one bolt of chemistry between them. 

After returning from work for the second time today, Patricia invites Gabe over. She has his attention only for a while, though - the two men end up playing a video game together :-D 

Cleo has finally been lucky on the job front on Friday. She starts the day as Bookie and is promoted to Con Artist right away, and in the carpool back (which she happens to share with Patricia), she learns that Patricia has been reinstated in her former job as Internet Movie Critic. A good day for the friends! 

The good day ends on an equally good note when Cleo invites Matthew over, who brings along Leod McGreggor, a close friend of hers as well. While Cleo and Leod catch up over a game of The Sims, Matthew starts getting to know Patricia over a game of chess. 

A thunderstorm rages all night and well into Saturday morning. Two or three times, one or other of the trees in the garden are hit by lightning, but every time enough rain is still falling to put the flames out. The ladies are fast asleep and blissfully unaware of the near catastrophe.

Patricia makes a batch of pancakes on her own accord. Cleo helps by cleaning the counter, and then the two friends sit down for a leisurely breakfast; Cleo has the day off, and Patricia's car pool will only arrive around lunch time. I forgot to take a picture of when she returns with a promotion to Fact Checker.

Sunday is another day off for Cleo, and she starts the beautiful spring morning taking care of the two fruit trees in front of the house. You can tell that they aren't thriving; the apples look pale, and the orange tree, although in full bloom, needs to be sprayed and trimmed. 

A little later, she invites Matthew over - and not only does he arrive instantly, he also accepts her invitation to move in: 

Matthew Smith, former townie and (I think) Garden Club Member He is unemployed, has nothing in his inventory and adds exactly 1 Simoleon to the household account. 

A Knowledge Sim with the typical lifetime want to max out all seven skills, he really has his work cut out for him - while he does have a Gold Badge for Gardening, he has not a single skill to his name! 

While I am looking for things to do for Matthew that will help him to acquire skills, such as doing the crossword, Cleo is on the phone with various friends to tell them that Riverblossom Hills has a new resident.

From now on, it will be Matthew to do most of the jobs in and around the house, such as tuning the piano, cleaning and cooking. But he will also do more enjoyable things to skill, like playing chess or the piano, and I am sure acquiring body points is going to be fun as well.

I do like these ladies and their house - there is hardly anything I find worth changing, maybe a bit more colour coordinating is in order, and the armchairs by the fireplace are not my taste at all.

But it was fun to let them decide for themselves what they wanted, and Cleo wanted Matthew! This was a bit of a surprise, since they have only one bolt, but he is here to stay.

Patricia saw Gabe several times this week, and they are firmly in love. Maybe she will move in with him next time I play his house.