#welcome to my brain... full of stories for blorbos. It's ridiculous I know

[alltimefail-sims]

Girl why the fuck one of the kids only got an air mattress in your build...

Not gonna lie, this ask made me laugh. You're quite the eagle eye! Honestly, Beau has an air mattress for more than one reason, and I'm not sure if this is a rhetorical question but I'll take any opportunity to explain the lore around my sims! 👍

Let's unpack this under the cut ↓

It's important to note that the Brokes are a family from TS2 who are known for struggling financially and being, well, broke. (You might know this, but just in case I wanted to start there).

That being said, for the sake of realism I wanted all their furniture to feel haphazardly mismatched, hand-made with scraps, inherited from family members, or purchased very cheap at second-hand stores or yard sales (maybe even found in the dump/on the side of the road). For storytelling purposes, I imagine Beau just aged up out of his toddler bed and they don't have the money to get him a whole "big kid" bed yet with Brandi having a recently dead husband (who provided their main source of income) and a whole new child she wasn't expecting (hence why their bed is a pack-and-play and she has the changing table set up in her closet due to the lack of space).

Their household funds are currently under $1,000. Brandi is a waitress and is making less than minimum wage, largely depending on tips to make up the difference. The air mattress is obviously not ideal or a long-term solution, but that's what she can afford right now so that is what Beau has. I mean, Dustin's bed frame is made out of scrap wood and even Brandi's bed is very cheap (it's probably the first "adult" purchase her and Skip made when they got married). Beds in the Sims AND in real life are actually pretty expensive and a luxury item for people in poverty (ESPECIALLY bed frames which serve no function other than looking nice) so all things considered, I just didn't think giving all of them super nice beds was realistic. 🤷‍♀️ I promise it wasn't just something I did randomly for like the outdoorsy aesthetic of his room (I wasn't aiming to give his room a set "theme" anyway).

I also want to note that any "nicer" items you'll see in the build - like Dustin's gaming system (albeit it's the less expensive one) - are also "storytelling choices" on my end. I don't have my priorities mixed up or anything, Dustin just has a history of petty crime/criminal friends, so I imagine some of the nicer items in his room to probably be stolen or bought with money he made in a less-than-ideal way. Or like, there might be an antique decor item here or there (like the ceramic chicken in the kitchen) and I see that as something Brandi inherited from her grandparent's own kitchen (and little things like that emphasize my personal headcanon that her and Skip have country roots).

TLDR; I'm detail crazy. Like detail insane. No (normal) person needs to care about or have an explanation for these menial decisions but I do. Trust me when I say that the choices I make in a build always have a reason, even if that reason seems stupid lol.