#ask bizarre sims

[saffron0v0]

What is absolutely hilarious to me is that in my sims family, Dazai makes more money than Chuuya, and he has not once been late while Chuuya has been late twice

LMAO THAT FEELS SO WRONG L'DBDBDB

[rainmustfallts4]

🦇🌙

🦇 Bat: If you could teleport to any point in your story where would it be? You can go back to correct past “mistakes” or into the future to something you’re most excited about.

Probably the center lol The center is just kinda done without any planning and they're usually quite boring, so I wish I could teleport back and make them more exciting. And for the ones where I let the sims make their own stories... I often regret certain choices in regards to popups so I wish I could go back and change them lol

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ☔ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ 🍂 ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

🌙 Moon: Do any of your OCs have dark backstories or secrets they’re trying to keep hidden?

Well, Bryon grew up in an orphanage and was bullied by the other kids, but I think he turned out well despite it. Tiger (in her original universe) grew up isolated and rarely ever left her house, so she was often lonely. I don't know if those count as "dark" backstories, but those are the worst I have currently c:

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ☔ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ 🍂 ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

Thank you for the ask c: Sorry it took so long to answer! Here is the link if anyone else would like to ask!

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

sims.modify_career_outfit_in_cas

If you turn on cheats, I believe the command above should let you edit work outfits ^^

(Also that outfit is sure something haha... I kind of love it for how unmatchy it is)

OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! 🥹😭🫶🩵💙💜

Now Bel won't look so bizarre when he goes to work anymore 🤣 heheheh

(his normal outfit ^^^ I just wanted to use this picture of him because xe's cute 🤭)

[hoonieyun]

hindsight is 20/20

pairing: sim jaeyun x reader genre: established relationship, drabble/oneshot, fluff, romance warnings: besides kissing not much, 18+ not proofread lol

synopsis: jake has a bit of misplacing his glasses

wc: 882

jake has a habit of misplacing things and you found it cute, especially when he’d have a shocked expression on his face, lips parted and eyes wide when he realizes that something was missing. the way he’d pat his pockets or walk around in circles like a puppy while he looked for whatever he had misplaced.

it was a cute habit of his. 

he often lost his keys, phone, wallet, the usual but would find it shortly after thanks to him putting his glasses on so he could see better. 

however, right now he was looking for that very thing, his glasses. 

he’s been misplacing them more and more lately, sometimes you’d have to help him look for them and after finding them in bizarre places like the shelf in your shower or in one of the plenty planters in your shared apartment, you decided you’d play a little prank on your sweet boyfriend. 

“baby..” jake says with a huff, lips settled into a pout. 

“can you please help me find my glasses again.. i swear i left them on the nightstand.” 

wrong. 

you woke up earlier than jake today and found his glasses sitting in your fridge next to the carton of milk. you thought it was weird at first, still is to be honest, but figured that he accidentally put them in there when he meant to put the half eaten sandwich sitting on the dining table instead. 

you hummed in response, “honey.. i told you that you really need to stop misplacing them. your glasses are important, you only have one pair!” you say, pretending like you didn’t know where they were when they sat right on your face. you put them on and have just been waiting for jake to notice. 

there’s a smile on your face as you try to hold back a chuckle while you watch him practically tear up your living room to find his glasses. he even went as far as going through each potted plant to make sure they weren’t in there again. 

“baby, please help meee.” he says, voice whiny as he’s coming to the conclusion that he’s probably never going to see them again and will have to order new ones to replace them. you can’t help but let out the chuckle and he whips his head towards you. staring straight at you with an exaggerated pout and when you thought you’ve gotten caught wearing his glasses, you realize that jake hasn’t noticed because you probably look very blurry to him. 

“what are you laughing at?” jake says with a cute frown, putting his hands on his hips with a scoff like he was an old man. 

he walks over to you and you just continue to giggle, waiting for him to finally realize that you were wearing his glasses the whole time. 

“what’s so funny, huh?” he asks, jumping on you gently and putting his whole weight onto your sitting figure on the couch. you welcome him with open arms as he settles into your lap even though he barely fits. 

you wrap your arms around his neck, still waiting for him to notice. 

“should i just order new glasses.. will you help me choose a design?” he says with a smile that puffs his cheeks outwards, like a loaf of bread– and once again you can’t help but laugh. you and jake were much closer in proximity now, his face just inches from yours and he doesn’t seem to notice the very pair of glasses he was looking for are sitting on your face, looking back at him. 

“sure, honey. i’ll help you choose. do you like my glasses?” you ask, trying to get him to notice. 

his eyes brighten at your words, cheeks flushing, “you know what? yeah! they kind of look like my old ones, we can match!” jake says, his brain filled with excitement at the idea of getting matching eyewear with his girlfriend. 

“honey, these are YOUR glasses!" you say, laughing at his oblivious nature. 

“what! no way..” he says, carefully plucking them off your face and putting them on his to test them out.

“woah! they are! you found them, thank you. baby!” peppering small kisses on your face before a longer one on your lips. 

“jake, i had them the whole time. i was waiting for you to notice because you’ve been losing them a lot lately. i found it in the fridge!” 

“is that why the sandwich on the table is still there? i thought i put that away..” he says, pouting as he tries to recall his steps from the night before. 

jake was just too cute that the prank itself doesn’t have the effect you expected. you fully thought jake would get even more sulky and pouty that you pranked him but he’s endlessly grateful that you found them and they weren’t completely lost. 

“can we still get matching glasses? we’d look so cute.” you nod in response as he reaches for his phone in his pocket, or so he thought, but when you notice he’s checking every pocket he has and still no phone, you realize that he’s also misplaced that. 

“you don’t know where your phone is, huh?”

jake shyly nods, a sheepish grin on his face, “maybe..” 

hoonieyun notes: a little drabble i thought of after my conversation with @s1rawb3rry about glasses LOL <333 also yes.. two jake fics back to back SUE ME I LOVE THE MAN

ᡣ•.•𐭩♡ @pagemiah @jiiyen @jnysaln @xh01bri @rairaiblog @laurradoesloveu @manaah02 @zorange13 @firstclassjaylee @kristynaaah @17ericas @heeseung64 @leipforggy @s1rawb3rry

copyright 2025 - present © hoonieyun all rights reserved all writing here is fiction & not in any association with characters mentioned. if you enjoyed reading this please consider reblogging and following <3

[thebramblewood]

Fellow vampire enthusiasts, I am once more in need of extras for my story, Helena Zhao Is Dead! If you missed my first vampire casting call, you can take a look at how it turned out here. This time around, I'll be utilizing your vampires across several future scenes, which means they may not show up right away but that the submission period is indefinite. There's no need to rush! I'm always coming up with more ideas and will do my very best to work your vampire(s) in wherever they best fit. Read below the cut for further specifications.

Reblog to boost!

Any gender, color, age, era, experience, background, etc. but please submit vampires only! (If you don't have the Vampires pack, don't worry. I can turn them into true vampires in my game.)

FEEL FREE TO SUBMIT MULTIPLE SIMS!!!

Not sure where to start? I am especially looking for residents of Forgotten Hollow (the more ancient, curmudgeonly and bizarre the better), stylish modern vampires who love clubbing and partying and mingle easily among humans, vampires who don't try to blend in with humans at all, and alternative '80s vampires who are likely to appear in the crowd at a grimy punk/goth concert. These are only suggestions! You can submit vampires who don't fit any of these molds. I may not have an immediate use for them, but I'll try to find one.

Include a brief biography so I can get a sense of their character! I can't include every detail, but I'll incorporate as much as possible.

Please stick as close to Maxis match as you can. Be thoughtful about the CC you include. Sliders and presets are okay, but try to avoid large merged files or unnecessary mods. I recommend giving them one or two CC outfits and leaving other categories nude or vanilla to keep file sizes down and prevent my mods folder from exploding!

I'll try to maintain your vision as much as possible but may make minor tweaks to fit my style.

When you post your Sim(s), be sure to include a download link or share one with me privately.

Tag your post with #bramblewoodvamps and @ my username to make sure I see it!

Any other questions? Don't hesitate to ask.

[florawrites-blog]

Yep that's it - enhypen

-after a argument (with a twist)

Lee heeseung - 이희승

The argument had left a heavy, uncomfortable silence hanging between you and Heeseung. You were both sitting in different corners of the living room, the tension thick in the air. Neither of you spoke, and the only sound was the faint ticking of the clock on the wall.

Just as the quiet started to become unbearable, Heeseung, being his unpredictable self, suddenly broke the silence. Out of nowhere, he started belting out a song at the top of his lungs, his voice filling the room.

"Baaee, I love you, you're my everythinggg!" He practically sang his heart out, the dramatic high notes ringing through the room.

You blinked, not believing what you were hearing. As Heeseung continued to serenade you, you could feel your patience wearing thin. His attempt to break the tension was just making you more annoyed.

Halfway through his next line, “oooooo babyyyyy” you couldn’t take it anymore. You rolled your eyes, stood up, and without saying a word, walked right out of the room. His voice followed you down the hallway, but you didn’t look back.

Heeseung stopped mid-verse as he watched you leave. “Wait, what? You’re just gonna walk away?” He called after you, still half-amused, but you didn’t respond.

As you closed the door behind you, you could hear him softly mumbling to himself, “Guess that didn’t work…” before the house fell back into that heavy, awkward silence once more.

Park jongseong - 박종성

You and Jay had argued earlier in the day over something trivial. The argument had ended on a shady note, leaving an awkward tension between the two of you. Now, you both sat at the dining table, trying to ignore each other while you ate. You were scrolling through your phone, pretending to focus on something else, and he was doing the same, the silence heavy between you both.

It was quiet, and you thought you were finally going to get through the meal without any more weirdness. But then Jay suddenly spoke up, catching you off guard.

“You know,” he said casually, “I would eat you on top of my pizza.”

You froze, your spoon halfway to your mouth, and slowly looked up at him, trying to process what on earth he was talking about. “What?” you asked, raising an eyebrow, completely confused.

Jay, with his usual nonchalance, continued. “Yeah, like… if you were a pizza topping. You’d make the perfect one. I’d just sprinkle you right on top.”

Your mouth dropped open in disbelief. The absurdity of the comment, coming out of nowhere, hit you like a brick. You stared at him, trying to gauge if he was serious or just messing with you. But he looked like he genuinely meant it.

Your mind raced as you imagined the ridiculousness of what he was saying. You felt your patience snap as the spoon you were holding slipped from your hand and clattered onto the table.

“I’m done,” you muttered, pushing your chair back and standing up from the table. Without another word, you walked away, shaking your head at the sheer absurdity of the situation.

Behind you, Jay called out, “What? I’m just saying you’d be the tastiest pizza topping!” He laughed, but you didn’t even bother turning around as you left him there with his bizarre thoughts.

You had no idea where that came from, but you were definitely not sticking around to find out more.

Sim jaeyun - 심재윤

The argument with Jake earlier had left both of you in a heavy silence, slumped on the couch, each pretending to mind your own business. The tension still lingered, and you were both avoiding eye contact, neither of you wanting to make the first move to break the ice.

You sighed internally, thinking maybe—just maybe—he’d eventually come around and apologize or say something meaningful to mend things. But instead, you started to hear faint mumbles coming from his side of the couch.

“I would never fart in a jar… or maybe I would… nah, nah, I don’t know,” Jake muttered, completely lost in his own world.

You blinked, glancing over at him, wondering if you heard him correctly. You were so disturbed by the randomness of his words, you couldn’t believe this was actually happening. Was he seriously thinking about farting in a jar right now, after the argument you just had?

Maybe this was his strange way of processing the tension, you thought. Surely, any second now, he’s going to look over and apologize for what happened earlier. You waited, still holding out hope that the next thing out of his mouth would be something remotely related to resolving your fight.

But then, you heard it.

“Oh my god, I should try it out,” Jake said, his face lighting up with sudden realization, as if he had just cracked the code to the universe.

That was it. You’d had enough.

Without a word, you stood up from the couch, not even bothering to look at him as you walked away toward your room. As you closed the door behind you, you couldn’t believe the ridiculousness of the situation. Of all the things he could be thinking about after an argument, this was it?

You shook your head, letting out a frustrated sigh, knowing it was pointless to try to understand Jake’s bizarre train of thought. All you could do now was hope he didn’t actually go through with it.

Park sunghoon - 박성훈

Midway through your argument with Sunghoon, things were getting heated, both of you tossing frustrated words back and forth when suddenly, Sunghoon planted his hand on his waist, giving you an exasperated look. His voice was dripping with attitude as he threw out, “Okay fine, Y/N, you be the boyfriend then, ugh!”

You blinked, staring at him in disbelief. The sheer sass radiating from him hit you like a wave, and in that moment, the realization settled in — you had just become a victim of a full-blown Sassy Man Apocalypse. The drama, the attitude, the hand on the waist? You were done.

Rolling your eyes, you let out a deep sigh, feeling way too tired for this. “Are you serious right now, Sunghoon?” you muttered, clearly fed up with the whole situation. He stared back, still looking all sassy and defiant, and you could already feel a headache forming.

Being "the boyfriend" in this situation? Yeah, you were definitely not about to play into his melodramatic antics. You crossed your arms and gave him a look that said it all—I’m over it.

Kim sunoo - 김순우

You and Sunoo had been bickering back and forth for what felt like forever, and in a moment of pure frustration, you threw your hands up and snapped, “Don’t talk to me for three days!” You turned on your heel, fully intending to storm off and leave the situation behind you.

But before you could even take a step, you felt a tug on your wrist. You glanced back to see Sunoo on his knees, holding your hand with an intensity that you were not prepared for.

"This isn’t you, Y/N! This isn’t the person I love!" he pleaded dramatically, his eyes wide and filled with emotion. “Please, look at me!”

Your mind screeched to a halt. What the absolute fuck is going on? You stood there, frozen, staring down at him in complete disbelief. Sunoo, on his knees? Pleading? You couldn’t help but blink a few times, trying to process the absurdity of the moment.

And that’s when it hit you — Yep, that’s it. I’m done. The entire situation was so far beyond what you could’ve ever expected, and all you could do was stand there, staring at the boy in front of you, questioning all of your life choices that led up to this moment.

You slowly pulled your wrist away, not even sure how to respond, and just walked away, shaking your head in complete bewilderment.

Yang jungwon - 양중원

You were in the middle of an intense argument with Jungwon, pacing back and forth, your frustration reaching new heights.

"I don’t care about the turtles dying, Jungwon! I need my plastic straws back!" you yelled, hands flailing. "I didn’t tell the turtles to eat the plastic—"

Before you could finish your sentence, Jungwon’s finger came up to your lips, silencing you instantly. His eyes met yours with a calm yet mischievous look, and before you knew what was happening, he started to moonwalk away from you.

Yup, right there in the middle of your living room, he broke out into an impromptu breakdance, sliding across the floor like he was in the middle of a dance battle instead of an argument.

You stood there, completely dumbfounded, your mouth slightly open in disbelief as he twirled and spun, every bit as graceful as you’d expect from someone who’s usually so serious.

He finished his routine by moonwalking out of the room, leaving you standing in the middle of the living room, too stunned to even react.

What just happened?

Did he seriously just shush you… and then breakdance away from the argument?

You stared at the spot he had just danced away from, completely at a loss for words, the argument about plastic straws and turtles now completely forgotten in the absurdity of the moment.

Ni- ki -남편

You and Ni-ki were in the middle of a heated argument, both of you exchanging sharp words and barely listening to each other. Midway through one of your points, you leaned in a bit too quickly, unintentionally startling him.

Without warning, Ni-ki dramatically threw his hands up to his head, fingers gripping his hair as if he’d just witnessed the most tragic thing ever. "GOD! You ruined my alpha aura, ughhhhhh!" he groaned, clearly exasperated.

You blinked at him, completely caught off guard by his sudden reaction. Was he seriously concerned about his "alpha aura" right now?

You just stood there, staring at him with your arms crossed, waiting for him to finish his over-the-top meltdown. Meanwhile, Ni-ki continued to sulk dramatically, as if his very essence had been shattered. You were half tempted to laugh, but part of you was just done.

"Are you seriously—" you started, but he was still holding his head like the moment was far too tragic to recover from.

Yep, this argument was officially going nowhere.

[shitty-tmagp-aus]

au where the computer ghost gang is in a horror dating sim/visual novel style game. you have three options to romance (chester, norris, and old man augustus, who look suspiciously like jon martin and jonah) and they're all very strange. the game regularly glitches (the characters ending up in locations (like a tower or infinite foggy beach, among others), them saying bizarre things they should not Know or looking visually Wrong, asking you to Let Them Out (especially augustus he does that a lot), ect). there appears to be a fourth unromanceable character who is, ah, pulling the strings for the program, one could say (it's annabelle she's chilling). much like reading a statement once you begin playing, you cannot close the game until you hit an ending, and there is a slim but ever present chance the game will eat you too. this happens to colin when he tries to delete it off the oiar systems and accidentally opens it instead. oops.

[changingplumbob]

Day Nineteen - Connor Group 1/2

Waken up everyone! Time for another day in the villa. And not just any day, the final day as a group before we have the whole cast challenge, final dates, and the first commencement ceremony (elimination sounds harsh when I love them). As normal coins were flipped for if teeth were brushed and wheels were spun for which type of shower contestants would have.

Room orders were randomised as some are closer to the dining room than others, but after showers breakfast was served! After being instructed to eat full autonomy took control of our group members and Deanna. Room doors were locked (you know what sims are like with computers) and Deanna complimented each sim in the order they sat down to eat to prompt conversation.

We must address the elephant in the room, Isla is incredibly tense! Why? She had a weird dream. A really weird dream. A dream so bizarre she can't even put in into words. But you best believe everyone is getting an earful about it. In tandem with her friend Isabella also seems to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed, angry and scowly except for when she is being complimented.

Nyami and Berenice don't really understand why everyone is so sour today, and they try lighten the mood with some jokes. Kaye is the only one who laughs though, Deanna just looks horrified as Isla shouts forbidden words. Doesn't anyone understand? It was a REALLY weird dream! Dee just takes notes, perhaps trying to keep her own hot headedness in check.

Rather than leaving the villa the contestants head to the top floor where chairs have been set out in an odd configuration. Today Deanna and Devin are joined by their little sister Artemisia (Emisia to family, Emi to friends).

Devin: Since this show was brought to life around the idea of family having a say in challenges, we let Emisia choose one

Emi: *evil grin* Today you will be taking part in... a staring contest. First to blink loses. You will go in pairs, I will join the three winners for a semi final and then the last two standing will battle it out. Up for grabs, not that you should want it, is a solo date with Deanna. I say up for grabs because if I win overall no date for any of you! To bad? So sad. What are we waiting for?

Deanna: *sighs*

First match: Isla vs Dee

Isla: A... staring contest? A little strange if you ask me but... maybe Deanna is measuring our silliness?

Dee: ...are you kidding? Well, I'm here to win, bring it on

Winner: Dee

Second match: Berenice vs Kaye

Berenice: *excited* Ooooh

Kaye: Seems a bit . . . OK it's weird but I'll do whatever it takes to win that date

Winner: Berenice

Third match: Isabella vs Nyami

Isabella: Oh my, I might need to get prettied up...

Nyami: I have four siblings and had plenty of stareoffs with those goofballs... I am prepared

Winner: Nyami

In the semi-finals it's Dee vs Berenice and Nyami vs Artemisia. Emisia does her best to look threatening but Nyami doesn't flinch. Victories for Berenice and Nyami.

Final battle, Nyami vs Berenice. Friend against friend. Cringe against cringe. Blonde against black. Just after the battle starts, tragedy, a sneeze! The winner is… Berenice

Isla: Me and my brothers did a lot of staring contests, but I guess it has been a while since we're all grown up now... I've gotten rusty!

Isabella: I never thought I would win that anyway... But there's still more chances this round

Kaye: Are you two seeing double from the eye strain?

Isla: Don't you mean four of us

Kaye: *laughs* She's got jokes

Isabella: This did not help my mood

Dee: Can I try again? I think I could do better. Not to be a sore loser!

Artemisia: Didn't you rage quit the last challenge?

Dee: How is that your business?

Artemisia: The whole world will be my business one day

Dee: Right... so definitely no do-overs?

Nyami: Sure I didn't win but I think I did pretty good! Sneezes are random. I'm glad Bernie got a chance, the next challenge will be mine hopefully

Berenice: And that is the importance of eye drops during allergy season! I was actually wanting Nyami or Dee to take the next one but then, that is… also the importance of anti-histamines during allergy season, I guess

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Berenice is rather good at staring. In fact, she's often told that she blinks far too little for a ‘normal’ person. While she wasn’t expecting to win this date, it seems that she’s gradually warming to the idea of getting away from the villa and being around less people.

@corrienteallita, @eljeebee, @ethicaltreatmentofcowplants, @hashimasims, @jonquilyst, @riverofjazzsims

[bayeis]

I've joked about it in the tags a lot but I've decided to sit down and actually compile a list on why I'm only half joking when I say my job is conditioning me to be the next Jonathan Sims

The Buried: A lot of my job involves putting people in small confined spaces, often with no windows and and a single, locked door. We frequently have people with claustrophobia that realize agreeing to be locked in a small space means being locked in a small space. 9.9/10 times they are peer pressured into doing it anyway, and have a miserable time

The Corruption:

The Building is rotting. There is no nice way to put this. The walls are slick with mold and soft to the touch, the ceiling drips despite us being on the ground floor of a two story building, the carpets squish with unknown water, and yet people's eyes just glaze past it. Our landlord for the building is a thick accent russian man who, for the past 4 years I've worked here, has changed his name on the emails several times, despite it undoubtedly being the same man, who I have met in the flesh twice before. The first time was to come into the building, shake my hand, and leave. The second time was to ask me to bring him upstairs (not apart of our business but we still have the key for some reason), which I did, and then have not seen him since. Speaking of upstairs, the handful of times I've been there it's just. Bizarre. An entirely furnished office space, completely abandoned. There's everything from paintings on the walls to files still in the cabinets and scattered across desks. I could not tell you what the office space used to be, or whatever the employees that worked there used to do, but I do know it was officially, genuinely abandoned because it was deemed unsafe to be in, from the sheer amount mold and rot. How it is somehow safe for us to work directly below with leaking ceilings I have no idea. I've occasionally had to dart up there with our key to snag a pair of scissors off one of the desks or some other office supply we can't locate in our own half, though I always disinfect them the second I bring them downstairs, and always wear a mask when I'm up there. There's also the bugs. I am so genuinely serious when I say one day I swept the lobby of our building and discovered the shelled corpses of around 300 dead superworms. Like the kind you would feed a pet lizard. I have no idea why they were there, how they got there, or anything. I just swept them up and disposed of them as my coworker watched in horror. Weird worm sightings aside, the building is frequently swarmed both in and outside with bugs, despite weekly exterminator visits. The stairwell to the second floor (located outside) spends about half the year covered in what has to be hundreds if not thousands of moth caterpillars and cocoons. Walking in that back porch area is near impossible as you cannot look anywhere without seeing the walls, floors, stairs, doors all bumpy and withering with the sheer amount of caterpillars (of the not so friendly verity as well. They feel like shattered glass to the touch and will frequently leave a rash). My old manager once found one in her ear. There. Are. Bugs. Everywhere.

The Dark:

Fairly self explanatory. The building gets zero light. The lobby has full glass doors, and walls of windows facing multiple directions but no matter how many blinds you open or what time of day it is you'll find your eyes slightly straining in the just slightly too dim setting. It's never bright enough. When we can get our lights to work (frequently blow out, and when they are attempted to be replaced we find that nearly every light fixture required a different kind of special bulb, meaning that to fix it requires hunting down that kind of random bulb, which will be different from all the others. An effort frequently left undone, dotting the building with random spots of shadows) they don't really help, not because they aren't bright enough, but because the building was designed with weird corners, so all the light the fixtures could be potentially giving, is almost immediately blocked out with odd shaped walls and randomized corners. Some rooms just don't have windows to even attempt to sap out some of the sunlight. The room the employees are made to sit in (about an 8ft by 8ft room) for the majority has no overhead lights, no windows, and like the rest of the building, the walls are painted solid black to sap any remaining light out. The only way you can see in there is from the glow of the monitors and two dim lamps shoved in opposite corners. We get complaints from customers that it's too dark and they can't see well, and we've tried everything to fix it, a desperate combination of lamps LEDs, and fairy lights, but no matter how hard we try, how many blinds we throw open, it's never bright enough.

The Eye:

Remember that employee room I mentioned with the monitors? Workers are instructed to sit in the room (control room) and watch their designated cameras. This is not a security job. Off the top of my head, our (relatively small building floor) has about 30 cameras. There is no where in the building you can be that doesn't have a camera. Even the control room has a camera so we can watch the employees watching people. Some of the cameras are on (all the cameras are always on, with the only way to shut them off being to physically rip them from the walls) but we have yet to find out how to access their feed. The cameras like to frequently switch, in that I mean their security codes, IPs, and registration numbers will jump and switch with each other to no rhyme or reason. When that happens I have to grab the notebook dedicated to writing down whatever this weeks IP numbers are and attempt to metaphorically shove the cameras back into place. We are not a security job, but we are, if you didn't know or guess, an escape room. The entire job, as I previously mentioned, is to sit and watch people freak out through the cameras. Everywhere a guest turns if they look up, there is a camera. Every word they say is recorded and logged. Every action they take is carefully judged. All while a worker sits in a completely dark room, all day, watching their designated cameras intently. I think, for the sheer inherentness of what this business does and advertises, we are the most closely working with the eye. I am one of the managers now, and there are even cameras pointed and trained at where I sit, even thought there shouldn't be anyone to watch them.

The Lonely:

This one applies less to our customers and more to the poor employees. This job is soul crushing. You can go an entire shift, sitting alone in a small dark room, watching people have fun, as you silently observe. I have thankfully graduated out of the control room into front desk, and yet I can go entire days not seeing a soul, watching people chattering as they enter and exit our neighboring buildings through windows that never seem to catch the sun. The "employee area" where we are supposed to be able to hang out in between games isn't really built for socializing. It has been overcrowded and shoved with chairs, so many fucking chairs, that it becomes near intimidating to try and navigate. The most use the room sees is when an employee shoves some of them together and takes a nap, because there is nothing to do. It's not like the employees don't like each other either, we all get along wonderfully for the most part, as well as coworkers relatively around the same age can (helps that we're all queer too), but once you're halfway through a shift, and absolutely nothing of interest has happened you start to drift. A typical lull between games (which can stretch for days in the off season) will usually result in me sitting alone at front desk, answering an occasional ghost call that hangs up immediately when I answer it, an employee sitting in the back area, surrounded by empty chairs facing the graveyard where we write old employees names, and another employee choosing to nest down in the control room, in the dark surrounded by monitors reflecting myself and the other worker being alone, angles scattered across the dozens of cameras. Even when we are busy, there's almost no time to socialize. I still sit alone at a front desk made for two, mindlessly checking people in with no altercation to the script, and the game hosts focus on their game, crammed into the control room with several other game hosts, all willingly silent as they watch whatever designated family they have through their cameras.

The Spiral:

Again, we are an escape room. The whole appeal is to present ourselves as confusing as possible. From room layouts, to our hallways, to the way the building wraps and twists, dumping people out at one door, opposite of where they just entered from, it is designed to drive people crazy. Honestly we don't help either. For our own entertainment, game hosts are particularly obtuse and confusing, partially because we don't want you to get out too early and partially because we have been watching the exact same thing over and over and over and it's starting to drive us a little crazy. People always do the exact same thing in the rooms, there's very little variation from the jokes made the to ideas brought forward. So if the game host wants to keep a little sanity, it's up to them to reek havoc on their game in hopes of startling out a new response, which, if one does occur, gets snapped up and thrown around the control room to the other employees for a slice of entertainment like a sliver of meat thrown to a starving pack of dogs.

The Stranger:

The doll room. Not a traditional "the stranger" kind of presentation, but gives that same prickling unnerving feeling.

In the exact center of the building layout there is a tiny room that is decked in as many old porcelain dolls as possible, all strung up from their necks and twisting around gently in non existent wind. Walking past the only physical door into the enclosed room, you'll usually hear the door rattling in it's frame, or one of the dolls knocking against the door. The room has no vents, no fans, no overhead lights. It's only light source is two red light bulbs, and the room was custom built by our owners. And like, I get it. It's an escape room. There's a creepy room. 1 + 1 equals 2. I cannot even being to describe the feeling this room gives or brings. Almost every time there is a group in there, one person in the group will become more unnerved then the rest, because one of the dozen of dolls looks uncomfortably similar to a doll they or a family member had as a child. The doll will sway on it's string noose as the cameras pick up the trickle of "doesn't that one look just like grandmas doll?" "this one kinda looks like my Betsy doesn't it?" with a chorus of agreements and half given glances, as the rest of the group gets absorbed with the next puzzle, and the single member who brought it up stares, and eventually leaves the room, typically not reentering the rest of the game. It is the strangest thing to watch (no pun intended). Occasionally, the similarity is met with delight, but more often then not it just seems to unnerve. The doll room also shares a wall with the control room, which means nothing, but is occasionally fun to kick.

The Web:

There's the obvious ones, our rooms are meant to trap people, the game hosts jobs besides watching the cameras is to manipulate the line of thinking the customers have, ect, ect. The most unnatural thing to note here isn't the standard workings of an escape room however, but the sheer vast amount of spiders in this goddamn building. I have never seen so many spiders in my life. We can't shake them. From how disgustingly rotted our building is at this point I think the spiderwebs are one of the only things keeping our building together. Again, we have an exterminator come by every single week both in and out of the building. The spiders refuse to let up, every day is a constant battle of knocking down their webs only to turn around and see they've put several more up. We've all but given up on trying to get them out of the employee only areas and now focus our war to the battle grounds of where customers can see to only mild success. This isn't even a regional or habitat thing, no other building I have lived or stayed in in this town has ever even come close to touching the spider infestation happening here.

In terms of other entities such as the Hunt, Slaughter, and Desolation, I can think of a handful of things that might align my job and them, but nothing solid enough that's worth mentioning. There has not yet been anything that reminds me of the End, Vast, or Extinction.

Other things to note,

Quitting is weird? People do, don't worry it's not a genuine hostage situation, but once they leave they are very rarely every sighted by coworkers again. I don't just mean not visiting the building, I mean like going completely off the grid and moving states if not in some cases countries. The entire time this business has been open and operable I've been the longest standing employee, at a record 4 years of the 7 it's been open. I could not name a single employee that has ever truly quit and has been easy to contact again by anyone. If you are able to, it's usually polite conversation with any mention of how you know each other (meeting at the job) being laughed and shut down quickly. No one whose left this place wants to talk about it and I get it, believe me. When we get an influx of summer employees to help with the rush the heat brings, I'm no longer allowed to help train because I would try warn the employees to pace themselves so they didn't experience Game Host Death too early (what we call when a game hosts snaps, having watched the same thing over and over and eventually loosing their mind over it, resulting in crying when told they have to run a game, weird twitching/manic-esque break downs, or in some memorable cases, game hosts just walking out in the middle of hosting a game). This is incredibly ironic considering the majority of employees have admitted the only reason they stick around is because they like working with me but I'm not here to toot my horn. There's also a large collection of employees who are neither employeed nor not, who have moved an hour or so away and have gotten a different, closer, better paying, and enjoyable job, and yet inexplicable will show up once in a blue moon asking for a shift at the escape room for no other reason then they felt compelled to. Typically anyone whose worked here for more then a season falls in this category. Currently we have four official employees for the off season (including myself) and yet if I count this stragglers who all genuinely hate this job (also including myself) our employee numbers easily go over 20. I cannot even imagine what the owners taxes look like for that (all paychecks and stubs are handled by a women who I have only ever emailed and never met). The owners themselves actually don't even live in the same state as us, and we are not apart of a chain. This is the only escape room they own. They're main business? Sheep farming. Which actually, that might be the slaughter right there. Despite working for them for so long, the amount of times I have met them can be counted on one hand. They are completely uninvolved, this business is no mans land. I've thought about quitting multiple times, even briefly lived in another city states away, and yet still found myself back, inexplicably every time I think about leaving again a nice little bonus or raise hits my paycheck, a system I can't really complain about. As for the other managers, I've outlasted several. The only way I have ever seen anyone on the management team leave is to have the biggest mental breakdown known to man and disappear. That's literally it. I've watched it happen so many times. The only employee that came close to being here as long as me was my original manager, who, a couple of months before she left, started loosing her mind, twitchy, paranoid, at her wits end. She isolated and locked herself in one of the rooms for about a month, only emerging at the end of the shift. I tried to approach her once about it and she shaved her head as a panic response. This fucking job, it was choking her from the inside out. Eventually she couldn't handle it and left, effective almost immediately. In the span of a month I watched several new managers cycle in and out, from the women who would sit behind me and silently cry, to a previous employee who realized the jail cell of a role she was being forced into an dipped before the owners could lock the door on her. The current manager is the ex fiancee of the women who locked herself in a room for a month. The horrors are a cycle fr

[cushfuddled]

what are your thoughts on the "Arcane Viktor was meant to be ace" that has been said in an interview? Like yes - word of god feel free to ignore - but they said they tried to write him that way. Do you think they succeeded?

Hiya! Thanks for the ask! :D

I was honestly shocked to hear Linke "always" meant to depict Viktor as asexual. It strikes me as a deeply disingenuous comment, not least of all because I want to believe someone who "always thought of Viktor as asexual" and was driven by a desire to make ace people happy would...I dunno...display a slightly better grasp of what "asexuality" even means.

LINKE: I know there are some people who ask this. There is a love. I don't think it's romantic…I remember many, many years ago also thinking about this when we started developing these characters. To me, I can say something here now that would be good for you and bad for me because it will be a wildfire. To me, Viktor was always asexual, and that was always something we talked about from the very beginning. So, a romantic relationship between Jayce and Viktor was just never part of it. There is a love, absolutely, but we also found it a bit... Love and relationships are so complex and take so many different forms. Viktor loves in a different way, and that's okay, no? ...It's something that when we talk to our LGBTQ group within Riot, I remember asking the group many, many years ago, like, "What is something that you never see depicted very well?" And someone said asexuality. They say it's often depicted as, like, emotionless when it's not true at all. It's just that your feelings don't mix with physical. So, to me, that was always part of Viktor. [x]

I didn't feel seen at all by this kind of retroactive ace rep, but I did feel truly, deeply moved by the fandom's response.

Because I know this song and dance. A showrunner or someone with similar "creative authority" describes a character as ace or aro, and the fancops take out their soap boxes and declare,

"All right, everybody! You heard the man! No more sexy fanfic and fan art! This ace/aro character is officially off limits!"

And then aro and ace people like me, who ENJOY smutty fanfic and fan art and want to see our favorite Barbie dolls kiss, are viciously harassed for our hubris. For at least a year I watched my favorite TMA fan artist get dogpiled to hell for daring to draw NSFW art ofJonathan Sims. And yes, this artist was also ace! To fancops, the opinions of aces and aros who like to consume or create smut don't count. We're all "degen" traitors who deserve to be bullied out of fan spaces for the sake of The Good Ones.

So anyway! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Christian Linke came out of the hole in my wall and told me Viktor and Jayce aren't gay.

“Was there ever a ship?” LINKE: “It’s strange that people say that’s the only close relationship that two men could have is to be a couple, you know? There’s really close friendships and like, brotherhoods if you will…like, really being there for each other. Um. [That] is something that was…really important for us to explore. So…it seems like there’s no other version, you know? For some fans, they say like, ‘Hey, there must be romance,’ and we’re like…these relationships can be really layered and really complex, you know? I think there is some kind of…there is a love between them. I just don’t think it’s romantic, you know?” [x]

(If I have to hear one more creator clap back at a hopeful "could they be gay?" with a bizarrely defensive spiel about the transcendent magic of platonic bonds and how men aren't allowed to foster close platonic relationships I'm gonna hemorrhage something, but that rant already lives over here so whatever)

First of all...

:3c

...For someone so committed to propping up the ace and aro community with canon rep, this November 28 2024 version of Christian Linke sure doesn't mention asexuality or aromanticism at all. The genergous ellipses from the excerpt above aren't a creative embellishment on my part. Those pauses are very much apparent on the Twitch stream. Linke appears to really dig for the right words here, yet the terms "asexual" or "aromantic" evade capture. But sure, asexuality was "always" a part of Viktor for Linke.

Maybe Linke didn't want to draw fire from fans with a "Dumbledore is gay" moment, so he left any definitive terminology off the table. In any case, I watched the Jayvik community respond to Linke's Twitch stream like so:

This was, to put it mildly, fucking hysterical. I've never seen a community so decisively "...anyway" a showrunner over queer rep before.

This is horribly unfair for me to assume, given I know next to nothing about Linke and his capacity for petty vengeance. His timing could be totally coincidental, his efforts completely genuine. But the fact that Linke dropped this ace Viktor bomb less than two weeks after his Twitch stream smells like a tantrum to me. In my least charitable vision, I see a man who declared Jayvik platonic by order of Authorial Intent, watched his fandom go, "That's nice grandpa. So about that Hextech sex toy fic—", and was so offended by shippers' casual disregard as to "strike back" with something they couldn't possibly ignore. Thus the "Viktor was ace the whole time" card, when

The word you're looking for is "aromantic," Linke. That's the one to do with romantic attraction.

I know it can be difficult to canonize asexuality and aromanticism. If someone tried to kiss Viktor and Viktor pulled back like, "I don't feel things that way"...would that reaction be enough to make Viktor canonically aro? Perhaps Viktor would need to clarify: "I don't feel things that way." "Which way?" "The...romantic way.” “I don't understand." "You are my partner, Jayce. I love you. I want to be with you. But I will never want to kiss you." I’m tempted to champion that second option, but I can see the argument for less stringent criteria. Ambiguity is...organic, I guess. Too much clarification can read as disingenuous and preachy, like one of those after school specials. Still: I've spent too many years dancing for table scraps to ascribe sanctity to headcanons.

At the end of the day I just don't buy Viktor as ace/aro per Linke and Lee's creative vision. Sky felt like such a classic case of "straight key jangling" to me—i.e. a one-dimensional female character who exists to reinforce a male character's straightness. (My favorite example of this phenomenon = the time Cas Supernatural became mortal ((and thus capable of sexual attraction)), met a woman, slept with her, then killed her within the span of a single episode. Why showrunners seem to believe a female love interest invalidates queer readings, I cannot begin to guess). Even as Viktor pulled his hands away from Sky's—even as Sky told him, “No you won't"—I couldn't help but feel like Linke and Lee had a bullhorn to my ear the whole show: "Oh no, these poor lost ships in the night! How tragic, that Sky was so ready to love Viktor with all his faults and cracks, and Viktor could've found love and purpose outside his work had he only stopped long enough to notice! How tragic, that Viktor only came to understand the nature of Sky's feelings for him after his work had stolen her away! How tragic, that the thing Viktor so desperately craved was right there the whole time, from the moment he launched that toy boat to the night he activated the Hexcore!" It felt like Sky was meant to represent potential, a la the limitless expanse of the heavens. In such a complex cast, Sky stands out like a sore (cardboard) thumb. When Viktor lost Sky to his ambition, she was forever frozen as a "what could have been," reduced to a symbol of roads untraveled. With all those Vibes in the air, I'm like...uh...Linke? Tell me again about how you wanted me to read Viktor as aro this whole time???

I'm sure some ace and aro folks were bolstered by this situation, and lord knows I don't want to yuck on anybody's yums. But for me personally, Linke's comments were like a punch to the throat. It felt like Linke wanted to use me as a police baton to beat back the hordes of evil shippers. What meant the world to me was, once again, the fandom's response. NO ONE TOOK THE BAIT. At least here on Tumblr, all I saw were ace, aro, and allo fans A. clarifying ace and aro terminology, and B. creating smut out of spite.

I cannot stress how fucking INSANE this was to witness as someone who's dealt with a lot of shame re: my aegosexuality. I've never felt so seen and supported as an ace person by a fandom community. Every Jayvik fic with a "this one's for you, Linke"-esque note adds another five years onto my life. I seriously love you all. Please keep being your glorious selves.

[dxrkxess]

.｡.:* ☆ intro post! ☆.｡.:*

«--- i hope that this helps in knowing me a bit more!! ---»

☆.｡.:* about me ☆.｡.:*

«--- hey hey! my name is shela -- i'm 22 years old (bday is 9/27 ♎) -- black + native american -- pronouns are she/they, though i don't really care for gender labels, i just exist lmao -- i'm bisexual + demiromantic, also single (painfully) -- also a person of faith, but my queerness and faith walk hand in hand with each other ---»

«--- i'm an avid fanfiction writer & reader (never a day w/o ao3) -- semi-retired video editor of 8+ years -- photo editor (sometimes) -- playlist maker -- binge watcher of mostly pro wrestling & other media (will be listed below) ---»

«--- i do have undiagnosed adhd, and possibly autism -- i love talking and rambling if you let me, most often through voice messages and discord calls (sorry not sorry) -- also absolutely love cats! rip in cat heaven to my cat kitty 💔 (10/7/24) ---»

☆.｡.:* interests .｡.:*☆

«--- pro wrestling (as it is the main interest here) -- wwe fan from july 2012 - april 2025; full time aew fan since april 2025 (locked in properly this year!) -- my faves (from both) are: 'hangman' adam page, swerve strickland, will ospreay, kyle fletcher, toni storm, mercedes moné, willow nightingale, seth rollins, drew mcintyre, tony d'angelo, ricky saints, tatum paxley, lyra valkyria ---»

«--- tv shows / web series / animes / movies -- interview with the vampire (iwtv), gotham, supernatural (spn), dead boy detectives (dbd), 9-1-1 (well... it's complicated. iykyk.), it's always sunny in philadelphia (iasip), conclave (2024), wicked (2024), sonic the hedgehog (movies), sonic prime, knives out (movies), mcu (specifically deadpool & loki), arcane, jojo's bizarre adventure, 91 days, jujutsu kaisen, blue exorcist, don't hug me i'm scared, sanders sides (and more) ---»

«--- games -- cookie run: kingdom, mortal kombat, undertale, undertale yellow, deltarune (GO CHECK OUT CHAPTERS 3 + 4 NOW), hades, persona 5, ace attorney (wrightworth canon.), geometry dash, the sims, castlevania, sonic the hedgehog, detroit: become human (and more) ---»

«--- music / artists / osts -- note: i do listen to a lot of things, these are just some my faves! -- hamilton (i have a poster, the physical cds, AND can remember the whole soundtrack from start to finish.), will wood, mitski, jack stauber, prince, the neighbourhood, kendrick lamar, david kushner, toby fox (undertale/deltarune osts), capcom (castlevania/ace attorney osts), sega (sonic the hedgehog osts) ---»

«--- separate section for: wrestling themes!! -- black hat ('hangman' adam page), elevated (will ospreay), big pressure (swerve strickland), ceo (mercedes moné), diamonds up (kyle fletcher), into the rico-verse (ricochet), strictly business (tony d'angelo), no one will survive (tommaso ciampa) -- i have more but that's just a taste haha ---»

☆.｡.:* other things of note .｡.:*☆

«--- please dni/unfollow if you are: racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, a pedophile, etc. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN THIS SPACE. ---»

«--- i liveblog aew mostly, but please feel free to use the ask box or dm if you want my thoughts on stuff going on, or even anything else! ---»

«--- all of my socials: twitter -- ao3 -- spotify (for ship playlists) -- picmix -- dropkickd -- personal tag for rambles -- youtube (at 291 subs!) -- discord (not linked): draconiamist ---»

«--- s/o to my friends/moots: @punk-o-ween @c-will (she ain't been on here for years but she's one of my besties) @orangepunched @bestboutmachines @pinkwillow @peachyomega @priyalively @thisbarbieisdefyinggravity @peppsta @glitterkairi @lghockey @st4rry4pples ---»

[bonyassfish]

aw, I was hoping these would be nice messages about me starting t tomorrow :(

this is very obviously the same anon as before and like, my friend I have answered this question already. this rabid obsession with rooting out perceived zionists is so bizarre.

this is what spacelazawolf has said: "i don't believe in the concept of states or countries, so my politics aren't in line with any ideology or movement whose goal is to establish a state."

hm...

do I agree with everything spacelazarwolf posts? no, of course not

do I think spacelazarwolf is a "pro-israeli statist zionist"? no, because I've not read a single post indicating that he believes that

I have to ask anon, do you think this is actually a good use of your time? do you think this is helpful to Palestinians? do you think Biden reads my blog and chooses to send weapons based on who I reblog from? if I unfollow spacelazarwolf, will it make Netanyahu keel over and die?

what if instead of feeding into your apparent obsession with my blog you go do something useful, like

Donate to a charity that actually works to support Palestinians

Donate to one of the many many gofundme's of Palestinians trying to escape Gaza

Buy an e-sim

Attend a rally or protest in support of Palestine

Stop bothering random Jews on the internet

[sapphire-heart-tippy]

"jonathan noooo! you *need* to wear clothes now that you have a body"

Jonathan: YOU DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO-

Dio: Jojo-

Jonathan: I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT, I HAVE BEEN BODILESS FOR OVER A CENTURY-

Dio: Jojo, please-

*insert cat picture next-*

[nightmareweaverz]

Random dating sim pet peeves because I'm a dating sim nerd and I also like complaining in general:

- When you go down the route of a character and learn about all their flaws and unique quirks. And then, as soon as you start dating them in game or they confess, all the flaws are immediately erased and now their entire character is just them being in love with you. I hate this. Where is the person I fell for? It feels like they're a cardboard cutout now!

- When the dating sim is one of those games that has other types of gameplay/is not a visual novel and they CALL it a dating sim, but the romance just doesn't seem like a priority? This doesn't happen often, but I've played games like this where it feels like the love interests just aren't all that into me. I'm not saying they specifically need to kiss the MC or have a confession, but some characters have made me feel like they have no real proper connection/they couldn't care less if the MC just left them at some point.

- Specifically for male love interests that are younger than the MC and the game treats them a certain way. I have seen this in otome, not much in western games tho there have been cases. Basically, they're only like a few (1 or 2, rarely 3) years younger than the MC, but the game acts like he's literally a child (does not have to be a minor in canon btw). In some cases, these characters don't even get kiss scenes and are treated like a sort of younger brother dynamic? Sometimes they'll do a time skip at the very end to when he gets tall and "manly" and then the MC can romance him??? It's just really weird and bizarre to me, I do not get it. Why include the character at all if you consider him too young to romance in your own game. Like some kinda weird self cockblock. Either make them the same age or just don't put in a younger love interest if you don't want to make one romanceable. Maybe it's a Japanese culture thing that I'm ignorant to.

- Gender flexible MCs that still end up feminized? Cutsiefied? You know the ones. This is my beef with western dating sims that try to be inclusive, but the MC is always shorter, always shy, always weaker, always SUBMISSIVE (both nsfw and sfw), they never take the lead or make any first moves, they're basically the otome protag except now you get to change your pronouns and have no idea what you look like. I know people of other genders can relate to all these things, but me personally I'm a woman and I'm still annoyed by it.

- Every male love interest MUST have abs, even if they've spent their entire life sitting on a couch eating cheetos. Why? I'm pretty sure people would still be into it if he had a regular stomach. Asking for a chubby one is probably me wishing for the impossible.

[evbea]

"would you forgive me for.. everything I haven't apologized for."

(Hi! Quick little side note — I’m randomly shadowbanned on my main, @evibea. I post here because I genuinely love editing my photos and sharing them. This post is part of my Occult Legacy Challenge: Gen 2. If you’re interested in the full story or would like to support me, please check out my main!)

Gosh, this was a hard person to let go of in my legacy challenge. Yes, I had grown fond of Anthony’s constant romance struggles and Zara’s sassy grandma strut. But Fab(ian)? He was the clumsiest Sim I have ever laid eyes on. This kid peed himself in front of his entire high school class. He once came over while Yuki’s bizarre dad was tinkering with electronics.

But when I tell you he was the most genuine and respectful Sim I’ve had the pleasure to experience, I mean it. I didn’t have to make Yuki talk to him or direct him to do any of the weird things he did. That was just Ian being autonomously goofy. Love the kid deeply — but he left on his own terms, not just because of his parents.

You see, they’re moving to Oasis Springs for work. Ian’s mom got a job opportunity there, which is great for her well-behaved children. I believe she has two other kids besides her son and is roommates with a couple and their child. So yeah — it’s a crowded, run-down apartment where Ian’s siblings can barely run around freely.

I’m happy for his mom and their family, but watching Yuki lose the friend who used to constantly ask to come over in middle school? That’s hard.

(P.S. since I am unable to answer asks and wcifs on my main, I am taking them here instead!)

[storiesbyjes2g]

3.222 More than money

At some point, we remembered we had a young person who may need us soon, so we dressed and went back downstairs for dinner. Her distant squeals told me she was not thinking about us one bit as she hurled her body back and forth on the slip 'n slide, taking advantage of the warm spring air. Sophia and I ate in a stupor, still trying to process the news. The lottery?! I've had a handful of miracles in my life, but I never thought something so wonderfully preposterous would ever happen to me. No one in my six spheres of influence had ever won. In times where I recognized the names of the winners, all of them were already sims of means. I didn't think regular Joes like us would ever win.

"Do we tell anyone?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"That we won the lottery. Do we tell our friends?"

"I'm pretty sure they already know."

I think our small circle is pretty trustworthy, but I guess this will test our friendship. Anyone who's been faking it this whole time will definitely show themselves...along with all the long-lost relatives that will surely appear, heh. But like I said, I think we have the best friends, and being new-rich shouldn't be a problem.

"I'm gonna go call in Desi," she said. "Wish me luck."

"Ha! If you're not back in five minutes, I'll know you're both on that thing."

Between my wife and sister, the kids barely got to use the slip 'n slide, heh.

I went to the living room and turned on the TV as I scrolled through various news apps, trying to see if anyone made a big splash about Sophia winning the lottery. The news channel was on, and I put my phone down when I heard them talking about a mysterious visitor they think had actually time traveled from the past. Between the lottery and this, I couldn't take anymore bizarreness and hopped on the computer to look into this inheritance lawyer stuff.

Even before this lottery business, I was on track to carry on the Pope family legacy, setting up Desi and the nuggets for success. The money tree did that for us, and I was so proud to keep the tradition going. But with the lottery money, I'm quite sure I'll be able to do it even bigger than gammy did for Mama. It's not a competition, of course, but it would be really cool if, generations down the line, my descents were wealthy and powerful, and I was the one who made everything possible. A man can dream, huh? Anyway... It thrilled me to know Desiree will have the time, money, and freedom to pursue her all dreams.

I found a few law firms nearby. Some sounded like huge establishments in a fancy building with tons of employees. Others were clearly just a dude and a computer. I wanted a smaller firm that loved serving sims and was less concerned about how much they could charge me. Frankie Ocampo and Associates seemed like the one for me, so I emailed him, expressing my interest to meet tomorrow.

"Whatcha doin," Desiree said behind me, scaring the cowplant essence out of me.

"Sheesh, kid. Wear a bell! I was looking for a lawyer."

"Why do you need one?"

"Because... Well..."

Being a dad has made me realize I'm more like Mama than I thought. It's not a bad thing, of course, but most—including myself—would agree I'm more like Dad. The way I parent Desi reminds me of how Mama was with us. She never lied or sugar-coated the truth, and, like her, I also feel a duty to be honest with my child. I just hope I can have difficult conversations half as well as Mama.

"Well...I need a lawyer, so when I'm gone, things happen how I want them to."

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere yet, but eventually I'm going to die; everyone will. And if you die without a will, you risk the chance of all your stuff being lost."

She looked at me like I spoke whatever they speak on Sixam.

"Why don't you go sit, and I'll heat you up something to eat."

While the microwave whirred, I thought up how to better present this odd concept to a child who has never experienced death before. Lucky duck.

"Alright. Here you go. So... You know how you keep your favorite toy in your inventory so you can have it everywhere?"

She shook her head as she chomped on last night's chicken sliders.

"Okay. A will is a legal document that's basically like instructions for what happens with your possessions when you die. Are you with me so far?"

She didn't confirm, but her eyes weren't glazed over, so I continued.

"Alright, so keep your favorite toy in your inventory, right? Let's say you're really old, and you still have that toy. You'll probably want your favorite grandchild to have it. But if you die without will, you can't control who gets it or if anyone does. With a will, you can say who should get the toy, and a lawyer will make sure everyone gets what they're supposed to get."

"What do I get??"

"HA!! Nice try. It's gonna be a big surprise."

"Pleeeeease? Can I have a little hint?"

"Okay. ONE little hint."

"YES!"

"I have some things that were very special to my mom. She gave them to me, and I'm gonna give them to you. Hopefully, you'll give them to your child."

She didn't seem impressed.

"I don't get any money?"

"Nope. No money."

Her shoulders deflated, and I wanted to laugh but couldn't break character yet. I let that hang in the air for a bit before explaining.

"I'm not leaving you any money because I'm going to give it to you way before then."

"YES!!"