#wilona padrino

[simstryingtheirbestok]

I never have my Sims do the "Confess to Watching You Sleep" romantic interaction (it creeps me out), but this is actually kind of cute. Didn't realize they ever actually did that.

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I've got to find that guy. I can't go back to this!

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You know what? Those Hoffmans are just all-around messy.

Hugh Hoffman presented Wilona with flowers after her would-be date ran off unexpectedly (don't you love when they're suddenly "supposed to be someplace else"? Like why did you accept this date then).

But here's the thing: Wilona had literally never met Hugh before. She'd never even seen the guy, let alone said a word to him. This is her first interaction with him ever.

And yes, he's still married to Hazel. Of course.

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Reminiscing and Complaining

The last time I played an awkward nerdy girl Sim, I lucked out and she found her person all on her own, almost immediately. She married her high school sweetheart and they did everything together, including attending and graduating university. And a damned good thing, too, because if I recall correctly, her traits were--no wait, here they are. A mess! That's what they were. Her traits were a mess.

But they didn't include Socially Awkward, which is what Wilona is now grappling with.

Socially Awkward should just be called The Unfriender. Poor Wilona will make a friend, say something awkward, and boom! she's busted back down to acquaintance.

Better Living Through Alchemy

Fortunately, Yuri had a small stash of Jars of Potent Friendship he was happy to pass down to Wilona. He was also happy to hide out in the library with Tahiya while Wilona went about the painful, awkward, but now rapidly accelerated and magically aided process of making friends.

Bachelor #1: Matt Chandler

Leave it to Wilona to bring home the weird kid.

She has had plenty of practice dancing, so that's a plus, because it's all Matt ever wants to do. He should really be putting the moves on Wilona's twin, now that I think of it.

Trait incompatibility rules Matt out as a romantic interest: He's a party animal, she's a loner.

But they are at least friends, and besides, Matt has a brother, Noel.

Bachelor #2: Noel Chandler

Wilona considers Noel her best friend, because that's what Jars of Potent Friendship do for ya--instant-bestie the guy who found your asking him if he were single awkward and your followup question about his sign, very awkward.

Noel has one of those faces you have to grow into, and he should consider wearing contacts

and he takes too long to do his homework, BUT: he isn't a party animal, and he is single. Known traits so far are Good, Brave, and Hot-headed. Mixed bag, but then, aren't we all?

So Who's Wilona Going to Prom With?

I'm not sure there's going to be any prom; I haven't received a notification for it, and Wilona only has about four days left before her birthday. Right now, things don't look good.

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Wilona had a wish to have a bachelorette party. I've never done one of those, so I thought, sure, why not.

Then the bachelorette party type did not appear among the party options. 😞

Oh well, so what, who cares? She could have a regular party and I could invite only ladies to it. Close enough!

The first thing to go wrong was that one of the ladies was not impressed with the party.

Her own mother! I don't think Enya ever forgave Wilona for moving in with her father. Behind her is Tahiya, who is about to get down with an alien.

I miss her.

The next thing to go wrong was that everyone got stuck in the kitchen listening to Wendalyn play the piano she brought over.

I like to admit when I'm wrong, it builds character and all that, so I admit it: I should have made Wendalyn the heir. This whole legacy would be pink-haired by the end, for sure, but (1) it might still be (that shit is so overwhelmingly dominant), and (2) Wendalyn just has that spark that Wilona is missing.

Well, mistakes were made. And that brings me to the third thing to go wrong that is right up there in that picture: Fucking Noel crashed the party, and I didn't immediately have Wilona ask him to leave. And then Jake got home from work and wanted to hug Wilona and, well

Some bright boy has finally figured it all out. Great job, Noel! 🙄

For some reason Noel deemed it necessary to herd everyone into the kitchen to accuse Wilona of cheating.

Meanwhile, in the background the entire time:

Wendalyn is not about to let a little drama ruin her good time, no ma'am.

I hate this game mechanic so much. They were never exclusive!

But at least that's over with, right? At least they're no longer romantic, right? NO! He's still listed in Wilona's relationships as a Romantic Interest with, like, the barest sliver of friendship on the bar. What's it going to take, Wilona?

Oh, and Wilona now has the Cheater reputation.

She will not be having a wedding party, if you were wondering.

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Again?

I never bet on the cop to win it in TS3.

Nor should I start.

Yes, I can see how handing out beatdowns like that might damage your relationship with the police.

(Must they always run through the house to escape?)

What in the incel hell dude. That's not how it works.

I had to note down his name to use with resetSim to get him to leave because I couldn't get the option to call the police again... not that it would likely have done any good.

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Anglers are a bit dull to me and they certainly don't make much money, even with the Suave Seller and Entrepreneurial Mindset rewards. Wilona will not enjoy the lavish wealth her father did.

The one exception to the low pay is deathfish, which earn her about 800-1000 Simoleans per fish on consignment. Wilona can nab around 6 of those a night, but it's no fun to send her to the graveyard every night. She'd have no relationships at all if I did that.

Also, the scenery is prettier in the daytime.

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With his traits list, which included Genius and Computer Whiz, I thought Jake would do well in the Video Game Developer career. I cheat-coded him into level 2 of that, then quickly realized that I'd played myself on multiple levels, no pun intended.

Level One

Sims in that career path have to spend a lot of time playing video games and a lot of time chasing after nerd influence. Wilona is actually Jake's best/most immediate source of nerd influence, so that's fine; except it's not fine because it means my very outdoors-y heir now spends too many hours doing this:

Their gaming console is on the floor in front of them, because there literally isn't room to fit a coffee table between the loveseat and the TV.

Level Two

Also--this may be a 64-bit version issue, I don't know--I can't have him play online with other Sims, because choosing that interaction from the wheel breaks the console and all other subsequent consoles I buy them. It becomes unusable; the only option that appears on it is Play Online, but no game ever starts and no dialog box ever pops up to let you select which Sim to play. It bricks it, basically.

Level Three

Guess who Jake's boss is? It's Noel, who stopped by in search of a booty call from Wilona.

I had Jake answer the door like, "Hey, boss, great to see you!" and then kept Noel occupied with socializing with Jake

--while I sent Wilona upstairs to take a nap, so she'd be fresh as a daisy to go catch deathfish later.

Note her "uh-oh" expression.

I had an option, while she was in Shang Simla, to have her Confess to Cheating to Jake, but I didn't take it. I was too afraid she'd blow it and then I'd be back to trying to shoehorn her into a relationship in Sunlit Tides. So now I guess it's a question of waiting for her relationship with Noel, which is at Romantic Interest, to decay.

Level Four

I alluded to this above, but a tiny house really only works for single Sims. Jake wants to buy a chess table and I'm like, "Yes, Jake, great wish! That makes so much sense for you! In fact you do need to build your logic skill and I appreciate that you appreciate that! But you'll have to stick with Logic tabcasts, because there is no room for a chess table when the veranda is occupied by all these goddamned fish."

Either Jake needs a different career, or they have to move. Actually, scratch that--they have to move, period. We can't put a baby on the veranda.

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When it's right, it's right; when you know, you know.

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Spending the last day of their vacation together, at the Temple of Heaven.

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Well, this is the weirdest thing I've had happen in this game in a long, long time. I don't have any idea how or why what happened, happened, but it all began when Wilona went to Shang Simla.

Like her grandmother before her, she did a lot of running, some of it after the menfolk. And that's where it gets weird. See, she had really hit it off, in both the friendly and the flirtatious sense, with the food merchant, Liu Pei

And I was like, "🥴 Girl, I guess. If you insist..." because I'm trying not to be such a bitch and just let them love who they love, right.

But that very evening, on her return to base camp--jackpot!

The game informed me that this was a fellow explorer named Jake Jeffrey. And Wilona informed me that this was L-O-V-E.

--all of their romancing was autonomous, and he was as into her as she was into him.

(The once-or-twice that I interfered, she was going to repeat an interaction too many times. You know how Sims hate that. We get it, Wilona, you think he has a great personality. You don't gotta tell him four times though.)

I was really pleased, both with how it went and with his decent traits (Daredevil, Genius, and Lucky were three of them). I planned to have Wilona call him when she got home.

Except, when she got home and looked in her contacts, Jake Jeffrey did not appear anywhere.

These two were best friends (organically, not alchemically) when she left, but he's not in her relationships panel as a local friend and he isn't there as a long-distance friend. He's not an acquaintance or a coworker. He's just... gone.

I am possibly definitely more upset about this than Wilona is.

I do have a save from when she was still in Shang Simla; I may reload that and see if something can be done (but what??? Add him to the household with cheats?), because otherwise--no, no, it doesn't bear thinking about.

[simstryingtheirbestok]

Ever since Wilona's best friend (with benefits), Noel Chandler, aged up and lost the glasses, he's been reminding me of some other Sim.

As I (re-)learned when Wilona went over to visit him one day, that's because Noel is the son of Harry Styles-Sim, aka Henry Chandler.

(I edited HSS to be less beefcake-y; I couldn't stand it.)

The resemblance is too strong for my tolerance, and while Wilona was happy enough to woohoo with Noel, she never independently spawns any wishes to interact further with him romantically. As I was reminded with Yuri and Enya, it makes for a better gameplay experience for me if I don't force pairings on them.

So like her father before her, Wilona will seek romance abroad. She's consigned enough deathfish to have a nice little nest egg of around 12,000 Simoleans, and I think she'd enjoy fishing for some new kinds of fish.

In more than one sense.

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Wilona's best friend Noel aged up to young adult--not that you'd know either of them were all that grown from these shots.

Noel quickly learned what Tahiya learned years ago: Wilona pillow-fights to WIN.

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Wilona's house. Tahiya gave her the painting above the TV for a graduation gift, and I like that it keeps with the sea theme.

There are a few more bits of furniture up in the loft bedroom--a dresser, mirror, and desk--and a 2 x 4-tile bathroom off to the left of the last picture, on the main floor; but otherwise, this is IT. The lot size is only 10 x 15, so even if I wanted to build more, I couldn't.

No library, conservatory, nursery, nectar cellar, greenhouse, home gymnasium--it's a breath of fresh air, and as Wilona said herself, except for brief intervals and to sleep, she's never in it anyhow.

She had a chill first day. A former classmate called to ask her for a date, and she accepted, but dates seem to be bugged in my game. All that ever happens is that she goes running off to meet her suitor, they greet each other, and... and nothing. That's it. No group formation, no little heart-circles above their heads. Not even the platonic cyan diamond circles.

I tried having Wilona form the group, but it was to no avail: No sooner had she done so than she said something awkward, causing the fella to leave the group and run off somewhere else.

I'm going to have to train her charisma up enough to get the Smooth Recovery option or she'll never make a friend outside her family. She doesn't seem to mind that state of affairs, but obviously I do!

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Moving day.

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Yuri ruins every Serious Conversation montage I ever try to make with him by pulling these goofball faces.

He looks like he's found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Wilona, meanwhile, looks like me--deeply skeptical and very much over it.