A short (4 sim weeks) challenge written by Aislynne. The objective is to save your town’s Christmas Fair by completing a series of thematically related tasks.
You can find the rules and original story here: http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=567508
For this playthrough I’m changing things up by using a child sim (and an adult helper).
“Are we live yet? Yes? Okay!!! – Hello, my name is Peggy! And this is my family, the Reeds. We’re all “occults” of some kind, but I’m going to leave that part out, cuzz it’s crazy complicated when you hear it all in one go. You’ll see in time who flexes wings, who grows fur, who becomes a fish and who doesn’t change shape, but still does cool eldritch stuff.
The man holding my hand is my father, Daniel, he teaches at my school, but next year I will go to a different school, so it won’t be so awkward anymore.
On my other side sit my granny and gramps. They live across the street with Aunt Tina. The man next to Tina is my other father, Gavin, and he’s a police captain and Aunt Tina is a regular cop.
The boy on the right (your left) is Aunt Tina’s and Gavin dad’s accidental son, my brother Jin, he’s a literal Genius who works at the MIT.
And the boy to the left (your right) is my other brother, Hendrik. Can you believe he is the president’s son? Because he isn’t. Ricky is only President Fowler’s offspring, but he is my dads’ son forever!”
The family tree (an outtake) looks like this (Colors denote the household the sims are in):
https://abload.de/img/stammbaum50-kopiex3dgn.png
But all you really need to know is this: Peggy is ten years old and her school has just announced that there will be no Christmas/Yule Ball this year. We cannot let them get away with that, can we?
It was ten in the morning when Police Captain Gavin Reed returned home from a grueling nightshift and work overtime. All he desired now was to cuddle with his partner. But Daniel wasn’t to come home from his teaching job for at least four more hours, and so Gavin expected to enter an empty house.
Gavin: “Tell me you caught something incredibly exotic, that will set us off to another quest to a newly introduced world and grants the paltry rest of the team that is still mundane an occult lifestate, too.”
Daniel: “Tempting, but, no, I’m not ill. Only suspended for the rest of the year.”
Cuddles cannot cure everything, but there is little they won’t soften.
Daniel: “They’ll let me teach remotely during December, and pay for those hours, provided I apologize.”
Gavin: “No one can apologize like you, Danny.”
It was true. A hot-headed sim, Daniel threw himself equally deep into both his anger and being sorry.
Gavin: “What’s there to apologize for anyway?”
Daniel: “Dunking the principal’s head into a toilet.”
Gavin: “That’s an improvement over the incident from last fall, when you shot the president’s portrait in her office - she should give you credit for that, haha! – What was your argument about this time?”
Daniel: “That’s where this stops being funny. The school has canceled this year’s Christmas Party.”
Gavin: “What? You kidding me? The Snowflake Gala is the biggest, most magical event in Newcrest every year! Plus, it’s Peggy’s final year at your school before she transfers to Henderson. They cannot take her last Snowflake Gala away from her, she’s entitled to four!”
Daniel: “Nope, not kidding. The parents’ committee claims the decorations are too expensive, all the good bands have been hired already and the kids aren’t in the mood anyway.”
Gavin was looking back at eighteen years as a police officer, and part-time work as a private eye before that. He had worked on his share of cases in Detroit, abroad and in one especially weird case also inside of a book that had come alive. He had accidently split his soul, too, so the man wasn’t a stranger to high stakes operations. But never before had the stakes been this high.
Hm, looks like the game isn’t supporting Peggy’s future career as a middle school menace… I gave her Goofball father the Mentor trait so that he could advice Peggy on the finer points of internet trolling, but he wasn’t able to tutor her despite having his own Mischief skill maxed. Peggy can learn it on her own, just not from her father.
Gavin: “What your principal said, about you kids not being in the mood for the Snowflake Gala, what was that about?”
Peggy: “Oh, that. You know when you tell people “No, thanks, my kids don’t want 3D printed candy”? But what you really mean is “I don’t want the children to snack on printercandy”. Some parents got into an argument about whether we should call it Christmas or Winterfest and in the end neither side wanted to even celebrate it anymore. It’s really silly.”
That argument again. Gavin sighed. He was living in a time where science had proven the existence of souls and an afterlife, but what exactly it looked like, whether there was an entity controlling it, or the nature of said entity, was still unclear. Perhaps some mysteries couldn’t be solved at all. Not that this would stop people from defending their favorite theory about the matter.
Come to think of it, what if the parents’ behavior wasn’t the cause, but the effect? The people of Detroit were indeed acting a little strange lately, they seemed sadder and angrier than usual. The cops had noticed that, but written it off as people blowing small concerns up to large proportions, now that life was so much easier than it had been twelve years ago. Gavin would have to keep this in mind when he returned to work tomorrow.
Peggy: “Anyway! I’m going to convince everyone that they should not listen to their buzzkill parents! If enough of us kids DEMAND the Snowflake Gala to happen, then it will happen!”
Gavin: “Sounds like a plan.”
Gavin didn't say "Call us when you need us." The girl knew that, and stating it out loud would only have undermined her self esteem.
Christmas Challenge - Week 1 tasks:
Calm down angry sims (using the specific interaction) Cheer up sad sims (using the specific interaction) Assist families with children or elders (give gifts & do chores) Level your Comedy skill (Charisma in Peggy’s case, since for some reason she cannot unlock Comedy despite having Child Social maxed out)
Each goal is worth a maximum of ten points, but to pass Peggy needs only 15 points.
If she helped families with children and elders, that should improve both the families’ happiness and increase Peggy's reputation. Maybe afterwards the principal would listen to her and the parents’ committee would re-think their decision in favor of the Snowflake Gala!
Only problem: After the first task, raking the leafs in the Andersons’ backyard, this felt less than activism and more like detention.
...and helped the neighborhood children with their homework.
Each of those tasks was performed in Newcrest. Except for the laundry task, Peggy didn’t even have to leave Michigan Drive. But now that she had finished her tour up and down the street, tomorrow she’d strike out into the wider Detroit!
Peggy could have had a snowball fight with the neighbors’ kids, but, no, she was on a mission to help younger children and the elderly! This time Daniel accompanied his daughter, but strictly as a bodyguard only. The adult had to promise not to lend a hand.
Like your dad’s co-workers standing in the narrow floor, because they have displaced their apartment keys? (Vanishing apartment door bug did strike again.) Sergeant Murakami seemed to take the situation with grace, and Detective Pauls decided to keep her company, but Macky Murakami looked like he dropped where he stood.
"No, that's not it! I'm totally doing pushups here!"
While the adults were waiting for the lockout service, Peggy took Jayna Murakami and the Allen twins treasure hunting.
Daniel watched his daughter from afar. He couldn’t help but think of how this had been his husband’s lifestyle when he had been Peggy’s age. But those times were past, and now dumpster diving was just a funny game for the next generation of Reeds.
The girls quickly noticed that Kendra was wearing the matching trousers to Peggy’s jacket. It had to be fate! Surely they were meant to become friends by the powers that were!
The only hindrance was Archibald Allen standing vigil between his sister and Peggy. After all, this girl was the daughter of his and Kendra’s late father’s sworn enemy, Daniel Reed née Phillips. (Meanwhile said Daniel was standing out of side behind an advertisment poster, keeping an eye on the children from there.)
Kendra: “But can’t you see, Archie? Peggy and me are meant to be two sides of the same coin! We will be friends forever and one day we will fall in love with the same boy and we will duel for him, but our weapons will refuse to strike at each other because of our bond...”
Archibald seemed to be able to get behind that, or maybe he just wanted to shut his sister up, in any case next thing he hugged Peggy.
(Daniel Phillips' and David Allen's children hugging is a big thing in this chronicle. For purpose of the challenge it is only important insofar as that Peggy has to choose two agemates for a week 3 task later. Kendra will definitely get chosen.)
...where Julia Wright lived, a private attorney and influential member of the parents’ committe. Mrs. Wright was therefore a prime target for Peggy’s campaign.
This was the first occasion where her father had to help the girl: Daniel did the spraying, while Peggy plucked the weeds.
Daniel: "What exactly are we tending to here? Those plants smell like trash!"
Peggy: "I think they really are called trash plants."
Daniel: "For real? Wow. That's Detroit for you, I suppose. We cannot get rid of the garbage, so we cultivate it..."
Peggy: "Maybe? Or maybe instead of getting rid of something bad, we make it better!"
Daniel solemnly nodded. His hometown certainly had improved a lot in the past two decades, not just economically, also in the way people of all life states were treating each other. How strange that for once the big picture was the nice one, but the small things, like the Snowflake Gala, were in jeopardy.
Daniel also took care of the roaches and flies at the junkyard Julia’s father in law made his living from. It took a few tries, but eventually the buzzing and scuttling tenants agreed to move out.
(Flys: Killer androids! They’re sending killer the killer android after us now!
Roaches: Yeah. Have you SEEN what that thing did to the greenflys next door? I don’t know about you, but me, I’m outta here, mate!)
It really was a chocolate themed restaurant with a small exhibition dedicated to the invention and smuggle of the original Selvadoradan Xocolatl. Opening day was reserved for local politicians and celebs as well as the management of Urban Farms, CyberLife and Great Lakes Trading, the city’s major taxpayers.
It wasn’t even my intention to make the place that exclusive, the guests simply turned out that way, so I rolled with it.
Also on the guest list was one Mr. J. Reed-Chen, one of the country’s leading occult researchers. The invitation stated that he was allowed to bring family members...
Host: “Welcome to the Chocolate museum, Mr. Reed-Chen!”
Daniel: “Just “Mr. Reed”. Jin Reed-Chen is the one in the checkered sweater.”
Waiter: “Oh, our apologies, Mr. Reed-Chen! So you’re some kind of child prodigy?”
Jin: “Yeah. With all the downsides being underage in Natural Sciences brings. Like, about the only reproduction method the professors felt comfortable teaching me about was parthenogenesis.”
Waiter: “But why did you draw on the placemat like a kid?”
Ricky: “Let him think about that for a while, Mister! Pretty sure him BEING a kid cannot be the reason...”
Jin: “Hey, is that the crimson mutation of Prionace glauca you’re drawing there? Kewl! I wouldn’t have dared casually doodling one in public, considering the ongoing debate regarding their Threatened status. It would look like taking sides, you know?”
Despite having a teacher and a police detective for parents, Peggy had a stash of so-called vacation days, basically an agreed-upon in advance number of parent-approved school skipping. Some of those the girl now used up to focus on her quest.
That’s not me becoming responsible, right? She wondered. Using up my school skipping days to work on a charity project? No! Can’t be! I’m actively rebelling against Mrs. Prescott! That’s it! I’m still myself! Untamed! Beloved! Feared! All kids will still love me and despair!
As a side effect of her efforts, Peggy had to buy her cocoa from a vendor stall, it wasn’t the good one the Chocolate Museum was supplying the school and workplaces with as part of their advertising campaign. Sacrifices had to be made…
Although she had strived as the Schoolyard Bully for 3 1/2 years, Peggy also had the makings of a Popular Girl (not that those two would be mutually exclusive).
During the first week of the challenge she commendably cheered up sad sims and calmed down angry ones, both agemates and adults. It didn’t always work, in fact, about half of the time Peggy’s attempts failed. But what counted was getting seen doing this, because it might inspire others to do the same, with better results.
The Christmas Challenge - Week 1 results Comedy (Charisma) Skill: 5 pts. Sad Sims cheered up: 1 pt. Angry Sims calmed down: 2 pts. Families with children or elders helped: 10 pts.
Total points: 18 of 15 required
Lots of fluff/slice of life in today’s posts, but some of what I mentioned will become relevant for the challenge later.
Gavin: “Yeah, and also the doors and the floor and the wall paint... My husband’s gone camouflage, haha!”
Teasing.. cuddling… helping Peggy with her project… Life was good. Even the vampire attack that night wasn’t related to the Landgraabs’ conspiracy, but a perfectly normal burglarizing attempt where the burglar in question was a vampire.
Gavin, too, perceived himself as a member of his nation and culture first, and as a vampire second. Most modern vampires experienced their condition as a chronic illness. Tales of powerful mentors from previous ages of magic were the stuff of urban myths.
