zelenxa

[zelenxa]

Memories 🗃️ previous | beginning | next

(it goes unsaid but none of this is historically accurate to the 2000s nor the 1990s lol) — extras below cut!

Transcript:

Flashback, 9 hours before the apocalypse

Finn: (Takes polaroid and murmurs under her breath) Asshole kid ruined the picture. Okay, I took it. Let’s go, let’s go, he has places to be.

Finn: Have fun on your field trip! They grow up so fast.

Margaret: (Snorts, then calls out) I love you!

poses are from @simmireen, @theserenadeofshadows, @lilalmondsim, and melbennett!

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UAC Story Questionnaire

Thanks for tagging me, @townsenddecades, it’s always nice to hear your thought process for UDC (and you’ve definitely accomplished unique & fascinating characters, dw)! It took a while for me to write this and then go over it again, but it’s come at the perfect time with Octavious’s arrival 🧸.

1. How did you come up with such unique & fascinating characters?

Not sure I’m at the fascinating characters just quite yet, buuut, what I try to do is imagine everyone’s motives for their actions around the current main character, how important the MC is to them, and what they’re doing off the rotation they’re in. I also just really like analyzing human behavior, and my conclusion is that everyone and everything is messy and complicated, especially when it comes to relationships. I’m no expert, of course, so it’s just my bare, won’t-go-too-into-it opinion. I’d like to apply a ‘bad people think they do good all the time,’ sort of thinking with the series, but we haven’t had the chance to really explore all the human complications yet. The fun part is that typical modern human behavior & morals goes crazy when thrown in an apocalypse setting, so that’s exciting. I hope, eventually, we’ll get to explore all of it!

2. When you started writing your story, what did you take into consideration?

Three things! First, I wanted the story to be very interpersonal—which I believe I’m accomplishing pretty well (maybe too well) with how much of a back burner zombies and just survival in general have taken. Second, I wanted the story to have a limited POV in both writing and visual scenes. For an indulgent second and a half point, I wanted to incorporate future plot points & character introductions near the beginning of the story. I’ve actually sparkled a minor few about in the story already, lol, but it won’t come to fruition anytime soon. Third, I wanted everyone’s (Madison, Margaret, and Octavious) situation to be isolated from each other, save for the obvious missing sibling exception. If you’ve seen the Brindleton Bay map, then you’ve probably noticed by now that everyone is sectioned off into their own part of Brindleton Bay. Madison has Cavalier Cove, Margaret has Sable Square, and Octavious has Whiskerman’s Wharf, plus technically an unrevealed fourth section. No spoilers, hah, but I think doing this has helped a bit, especially since everyone will face different obstacles—humanoid or not—in their area.

3. How did you shape each character’s background/family?

Honestly, nothing clever! Sometimes, it’s through multiple sessions of brainstorming, like with justifying Madison’s arrival with Carson & co (Her backstory was originally much darker). Sometimes, I just randomly decide in the editing process that yes, Finley has a bad relationship with her mother. Why not? I need the extra piece of dialogue, and it contrasts well with the whole found family thing she has (or had) going on with Margaret and Octavious, lol. I also just sort of adapt based on their personality traits in the moment. This is especially true for every MC’s (or side MC’s like, say, Vasyl’s) parents. I notice that low-key, everyone in this savefile has bad parents (😭) in some shape or form, but it just adds character, okay! Octavious and Margaret, for example. With this post, my first thought for one of the dialogue scenes was ‘bad parents,’ and now that’s spiraled into a ‘because of their parents’ emotional neglect, Margaret, seeking to protect her brother, has filled in as more of a parent than sibling toward Octavious,’ and yeah, I cannot wait to explore that dynamic when (I really hope it’s a when) they find each other because best believe I’m complicating it!

4. Do you plan everything before starting, or are you more spontaneous?

I did plan everything before starting. One might even say I’ve planned all the way to the 2100s, given I made the challenge and events for this story, ha, but for the MCs' backstories, I just brainstormed the most interesting points to start off their story and then let it branch off there. I have no idea if Margaret will find Octavious, if Madison will ever reunite with her cousins, or if Madison will ever befriend Noren and Ingrid, etc. Starting gameplay off, however, it’s turned into probably 60% guided goals and 40% gameplay guided. I have practically planned out every second of Margaret’s 2nd rotation, so she’ll be a bit of an outlier, but Octavious’s 1st rotation (as you’ll see) at least follows a 30% guided goal and 70% gameplay route for now! I’m not sure if it isn’t already apparent but I often go back and reshoot or shoot new scenes within the story despite other post pictures being months old by now. I’ve been doing it a lot recently which is why I’ve been so stressed, lol.

5. Does reality inspire you, or do you rely more on your imagination?

I suppose I’d say imagination? I think I’d phrased this question as what IPs have inspired me, which would be obviously a lot, though the story hasn’t gotten to the point where any of these inspirations have come to fruition. Like, in my mind, I imagine Madison’s rotations will become heavily inspired by The Walking Dead in the future as (opposed to Margaret & Octavious’s households) any sort of leadership or community hasn’t been developed yet, and Madison just naturally exudes leader vibes (If you’ve watched the show, I think it’s clear who I think she most fits, lol, I believe I’ve mentioned it before). I imagine the end of this century (which, for me, will be 2050 since I’m doing the slow pace version) and the next will be inspired, too, by The 100s. Though, and if you ykyk, I’d do season five the way it was supposed to be done. As of now, however, we’re running on fumes. Also, I shit you not, I actually got heavily inspired to boost the pace at which I was writing the UAC challenge because of a game called Rimworld. It’s much like the Sims, just 2D and more survival-based (and has an arguably better story progression than TS4), and as I played I just kept picturing my savefile’s story laid out on the Sims.

6. When did you KNOW you were going to make this story?

I’d been working on Ultimate Apocalypse Challenge, and it’s according savefile’s B&B on and off for the majority of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, so I always knew I was going to make a full-fledged story posted on Tumblr! I actually had the fun challenge of creating characters based on where & how they lived in that space before I had ever created their simself or assigned their personality traits. It’s practically how I came up with everyone’s backstories, too. Like—in the story’s beginning—Margaret and Finn, pooling their funds together to buy a store intended to turn into a salon purely because I wanted two survivors to start off in the abandoned stores I was building. Which I’m not sure I mentioned in the story yet, but I assume is pretty obvious! Then, I made the Sanctuary, had an idea, and, well, you know how it ends.

7. What has shaped your story into being the way it is?

I’ve kinda already answered this in #5, but I suppose a quiet aspect of what’s shaped my story is just compromising with the posepacks I have to use. I’ve just had to learn this the hard way with the recent Vasyl and Emmanuel scenes. I had completely written the transcript in way too much detail first and then utterly stressed myself out trying to shoehorn and perfect that exact vision, even going the exact mile to create the posepack (a situation of which is very difficult with dealing with two stoic characters, there’s painfully not much emotional variety!). Sometimes, compromising with a posepack that doesn’t quite fit my vision or interpreting gameplay screenshots to mean something else when coming up with dialogue has produced interesting storylines/insight, and it’s actually what I do often!

And there we go. Yap session over. For making it to the end, here’s a really pretty picture that’ll be apart of (…hopefully) tomorrow’s post! I’ll also tag @managedwhimsy, @simmlyellie, & @soffiisims if you guys would like to do this!

[zelenxa]

🐦

[zelenxa]

Submission for @doveysim's Love Island!

Name: Ashlei Strarss Age: 25 years old Traits: Clubber, Unpredictable, Self-assured, Neat, Yoga Lover Career: Yoga Instructor Orientation: Panromantic & Pansexual

Who is Ashlei Strarss? Ashlei—who also goes by Lei—is your usual philanderer (personderer? simderer?). He draws outside of the line a bit with his commitment to being a yoga instructor (a job he actually enjoys), and neatness every Sim finds charming the morning after. He enjoys himself a bit of Radiohead, clubbing (lots of it), and building up his wellness skill. He might be killing his liver with alcohol, but, like his love life, he’s at least half committed to upholding the wellness attributes he teaches his class, and that means eating good, exercising, and (weird emphasis) no smoking or weed. Stuff freaks him out. Ashlei’s the most noncommittal sim out there; he prefers largely nonexclusive relationships, doesn’t want children whatsoever, and has never had a relationship last longer than 2 years. All and all, sounds like a perfect fit for Love Island! At least he’s a good friend.

What are his turn-ons & offs? (Per the RPO mod) Turn-ons: Blue Eyes, Fit, Sensitive, Higher Education, Adventurous, Facial Hair Turn-offs: Great Cook, Brown Eyes, Imaginative, Hats

Preview of his outfits:

* I won’t lie, I spared no expenses when it came to cc, so I hope his style is easily conveyed in case you want to replace/change any of his outfits 😅!

* If only three traits are allowed I’d go for Clubber, Unpredictable, & Self-assured :). Custom traits are Clubber (Basemental Drugs), Unpredictable (Chingyu’s 100 traits pack), and Yoga Lover (Kiarasims4mods <- Completely optional as he already likes the wellness skill!)

* Given he’s a bombshell, I didn’t go too into detail about his relationship wants, though I think RPO turnoffs/ons sums him up pretty well, lol. Basically, he’s here for a good time, maybe a male manipulator time, and not a committed relationship post-villa time. But, hey, who knows, though! He might find his match.

* Poses used are from @veronasimmer and @deaning-w6!

Public Download

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Trauma 🧟‍♂️ previous | beginning | next

transcript below cut!

a few poses from @simsxen & @/herecirmsims!

Marquis: What’s your name?

Octavious looks timid. He looks up.

Octavious: Octavious Emerson.

Marquis: *hums* Is your family..?

Octavious: Yes… No… I-I don’t know. I was in school.

Marquis frowns.

Octavious: My teacher….

Flashback to the blonde-haired zombie.

Octavious: He… He… Did you see him? He turned into one of those things.

Flashback to the gun going off.

Octavious: Y-You killed him.

A moment of weighted silence.

Marquis: He was already dead, Octavious.

[zelenxa]

Submission for @doveysim's Love Island!

Name: Ashlei Strarss Age: 25 years old Traits: Clubber, Unpredictable, Self-assured, Neat, Yoga Lover Career: Yoga Instructor Orientation: Panromantic & Pansexual

Who is Ashlei Strarss? Ashlei—who also goes by Lei—is your usual philanderer (personderer? simderer?). He draws outside of the line a bit with his commitment to being a yoga instructor (a job he actually enjoys), and neatness every Sim finds charming the morning after. He enjoys himself a bit of Radiohead, clubbing (lots of it), and building up his wellness skill. He might be killing his liver with alcohol, but, like his love life, he’s at least half committed to upholding the wellness attributes he teaches his class, and that means eating good, exercising, and (weird emphasis) no smoking or weed. Stuff freaks him out. Ashlei’s the most noncommittal sim out there; he prefers largely nonexclusive relationships, doesn’t want children whatsoever, and has never had a relationship last longer than 2 years. All and all, sounds like a perfect fit for Love Island! At least he’s a good friend.

What are his turn-ons & offs? (Per the RPO mod) Turn-ons: Blue Eyes, Fit, Sensitive, Higher Education, Adventurous, Facial Hair Turn-offs: Great Cook, Brown Eyes, Imaginative, Hats

Preview of his outfits:

* I won’t lie, I spared no expenses when it came to cc, so I hope his style is easily conveyed in case you want to replace/change any of his outfits 😅!

* If only three traits are allowed I’d go for Clubber, Unpredictable, & Self-assured :). Custom traits are Clubber (Basemental Drugs), Unpredictable (Chingyu’s 100 traits pack), and Yoga Lover (Kiarasims4mods <- Completely optional as he already likes the wellness skill!)

* Given he’s a bombshell, I didn’t go too into detail about his relationship wants, though I think RPO turnoffs/ons sums him up pretty well, lol. Basically, he’s here for a good time, maybe a male manipulator time, and not a committed relationship post-villa time. But, hey, who knows, though! He might find his match.

* Poses used are from @veronasimmer and @deaning-w6!

Public Download

[zelenxa]

Saviors 🦑 previous | beginning | next

cough, cough, picture, cough, refresher, cough

credited poses in semi order are from @natalia-auditore (also modified a pose from your zombie posepack in picture #3!), @simmerianne93, @pigirl24, @herecirmsims, & @electricwhims!

[zelenxa]

Saviors 🦑 previous | beginning | next

cough, cough, picture, cough, refresher, cough

credited poses in semi order are from @natalia-auditore (also modified a pose from your zombie posepack in picture #3!), @simmerianne93, @pigirl24, @herecirmsims, & @electricwhims!

[zelenxa]

Episode Eight: Recoupling Ceremony @ethicaltreatment @abbysimsfun @nakasumi-sims @geekysimz @simstagramsomeone @imeepysims @shmoodlet @zelenxa @aniraklova

Here are you couples that will be continuing! Now viewers it is up to you to send one of these couples on a one on one date! Miles and Storm are not included since they got the last date! So vote below!

[zelenxa]

If aid does not enter to Gaza Strip within the next 48 hours — especially baby formula and flour — then prepare yourselves for the largest mass death crime in history.

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Future Story Snippet 🧟‍♀️

Needed an excuse to show off these two (bonus, it hits just in time with Margaret’s rotation ending!), so I’m starting a tag trail, lol.

I’m tagging @simmlyellie, @managedwhimsy, @townsenddecades, @soffiisims, plus anyone who’d like to do the challenge, do feel free to tag me 🧸. I’m excited to see what you four come up with if you partake!

also more sneak peeks below because I cannot help myself 👇

[zelenxa]

Waiting for the rain to pass isn't so bad if it's with you.

[zelenxa]

Future Story Snippet 🧟‍♀️

Needed an excuse to show off these two (bonus, it hits just in time with Margaret’s rotation ending!), so I’m starting a tag trail, lol.

I’m tagging @simmlyellie, @managedwhimsy, @townsenddecades, @soffiisims, plus anyone who’d like to do the challenge, do feel free to tag me 🧸. I’m excited to see what you four come up with if you partake!

also more sneak peeks below because I cannot help myself 👇

[zelenxa]

Distracted 🎱 previous | beginning | next

transcript under cut!

Next: (Encrypted Text) Rotation...

Loading... Loading...

Loading... Loading...

Margaret's Moodlet: Tense +10 | Unbearable Tension | (From Early Midlife Crisis...? | Margaret feels an unbearable ache in her chest that just won’t go away. It feels like stress after stress is just piling up. She’s supposed to feel safe, but she doesn’t, and nothing distracts from the fact that nothing is okay, everything is different. How could last year feel so disconnected from now? How is she supposed to adapt to this?

Loading... Completed?

Enter new rotation? | Choices: Yes, No

[zelenxa]

UK people -- the online safety act comes into force in late July. This will require any site providing user-to-user content, including many social media sites, hobby sites, anything with direct messaging capabilities etc. to veryify the age of UK users with photo id/bankcards or face fines.

This is a huge blow to online privacy under the nebulous idea of keeping kids safe from "harmful content" and the scope of "user-to-user" content is incredibly broad.

If you're in the UK, sign this petition to try and get the law amended/repealed. If you're not, please signal boost.

[zelenxa]

Close Call 2/2 🩺 previous | beginning | next

more detailed transcript (would recommend reading) below cut!

bold italic = not said in pictures above.

Vasyl leans against the weaponry table, feeling the heat of the mug warming his skin. He had brewed the drink for something to do while initiating conversation, more action than thought, but now, drinking it in mind of the eventful day—with Emmanuel’s injury, he’s almost forgotten about the stressful thunderstorm this morning—he’s probably not sleeping much tonight.

“You know Tatum headed outside to steal the tobacco vending machine in that Antique store right?” Emmanuel says, breaking what was turning into a peaceful quiet.

Vasyl looks down and contemplates. He had already known about Tatum and his friends sneaking out to grab tobacco from the machine prior to their commitment to stealing it. He would’ve commented on it if he hadn’t already spoken to Tatum about the Heriberto situation. It’s better to choose his battles and say nothing for now (especially when the thievery isn’t exactly against his favor, but he understands the lack of communication is what Emmanuel is trying to disapprovingly convey).

“You don’t think he’s a threat?” Emmanuel's response is swift. He always does that. Voices words no one else would ever be willing to say, and commenting on it so casually, like he doesn’t have inner workings and opinions in his own head about the situation. Vasyl is curious to know what those opinions are (he doesn’t think they’re kind), let alone his intention in bringing them up, but is too stubborn to ask. Emmanuel’s question insinuates enough.

“No,” Vasyl says, not intending to elaborate as he straightens and starts walking to the steps. In his head, though, he’s thought of it a million times. With Tatum, with everyone, with everything. It feels ridiculous, the idea of an inner revolt during a time like this, but Vasyl has mulled over more outlandish things, and what the conclusion in his mind has brought him is comforting. Tatum may have a strong presence with his friends, but he is indolent. He’ll never want to manage the settlement despite what others keep insisting Vasyl believe. To go further, Vasyl is inclined to believe Tatum would agree with him. The conclusion quells his worries. For now.

Vasyl stops beside the sofa to look at Emmanuel and asks one last question. “I’m assuming you’re out for the next 10 days?”

Emmanuel scoffs, lips curling up in a lopsided half smile. “No, I’m heading out and leading a supply run tomorrow. Might even stretch the run down to Wharf just for the hell of it,” he jests, his usual sardonicism actually delivered as amicable sarcasm.

Caught off guard, Vasyl almost laughs in the moment. Instead, as he’s leaving the third floor, he smiles and tries not to dwell on what he or the settlement almost lost.

[zelenxa]

Close Call 2/2 🩺 previous | beginning | next

more detailed transcript (would recommend reading) below cut!

bold italic = not said in pictures above.

Vasyl leans against the weaponry table, feeling the heat of the mug warming his skin. He had brewed the drink for something to do while initiating conversation, more action than thought, but now, drinking it in mind of the eventful day—with Emmanuel’s injury, he’s almost forgotten about the stressful thunderstorm this morning—he’s probably not sleeping much tonight.

“You know Tatum headed outside to steal the tobacco vending machine in that Antique store right?” Emmanuel says, breaking what was turning into a peaceful quiet.

Vasyl looks down and contemplates. He had already known about Tatum and his friends sneaking out to grab tobacco from the machine prior to their commitment to stealing it. He would’ve commented on it if he hadn’t already spoken to Tatum about the Heriberto situation. It’s better to choose his battles and say nothing for now (especially when the thievery isn’t exactly against his favor, but he understands the lack of communication is what Emmanuel is trying to disapprovingly convey).

“You don’t think he’s a threat?” Emmanuel's response is swift. He always does that. Voices words no one else would ever be willing to say, and commenting on it so casually, like he doesn’t have inner workings and opinions in his own head about the situation. Vasyl is curious to know what those opinions are (he doesn’t think they’re kind), let alone his intention in bringing them up, but is too stubborn to ask. Emmanuel’s question insinuates enough.

“No,” Vasyl says, not intending to elaborate as he straightens and starts walking to the steps. In his head, though, he’s thought of it a million times. With Tatum, with everyone, with everything. It feels ridiculous, the idea of an inner revolt during a time like this, but Vasyl has mulled over more outlandish things, and what the conclusion in his mind has brought him is comforting. Tatum may have a strong presence with his friends, but he is indolent. He’ll never want to manage the settlement despite what others keep insisting Vasyl believe. To go further, Vasyl is inclined to believe Tatum would agree with him. The conclusion quells his worries. For now.

Vasyl stops beside the sofa to look at Emmanuel and asks one last question. “I’m assuming you’re out for the next 10 days?”

Emmanuel scoffs, lips curling up in a lopsided half smile. “No, I’m heading out and leading a supply run tomorrow. Might even stretch the run down to Wharf just for the hell of it,” he jests, his usual sardonicism actually delivered as amicable sarcasm.

Caught off guard, Vasyl almost laughs in the moment. Instead, as he’s leaving the third floor, he smiles and tries not to dwell on what he or the settlement almost lost.