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).
One task of Week 3 is to gain social media followers. Peggy cannot create an account of her own yet, but she can maintain simstagram accounts for the cats, so that’s what she’ll do to gain followers. (She could also stream and upload videos, but I thought of that only later.)
Daniel’s Wolf turned out to be slightly more popular than Gavin’s Argus.
Them both being in the same picture isn’t a rare occurrence, by the way. Ever since Wolf grew up from kitten to youngster, Argus not just acknowledges his son’s presence, they have developed a strong bond.
(Wolf’s mother is the familiar of the Paranormal Investigator I showed you earlier, the one who played with the lego bricks:
She is a gray tabby, to make the genetic confusion complete. The "secret" here is that Argus is a Somali mix, when I created him, I used a Somali cat as a base and switched him to black. When the game rolled for Wolf's coat, it grabbed the default Somali coat from his father.)
(In the process of updating my entries. I realized why the pictures were too small - they're reposts from my tumblr, where the story is a tad bit longer and darker, and I copied the url from the dashboard. If I grab the url from the posts themselves instead, they come out in their original size.)
Done. It didn't work for all screenshots, but for some.
The third week into Peggy’s quest, odd things started happening. Only small ones at first, easily overlooked or dismissed as insignificant. But with each day they were adding up…
(This is if of course the effect of free will being active, but I decided to make it into a plot point. It fit surprisingly well for the villain I have working in the background.)
So how are we going to feed the bunch? Neither Gavin nor Daniel still experience hunger decay, so they won’t cook autonomously. And since Daniel put Peggy in charge of the household, she has to solve this somehow.
The easiest solution would have been for Peggy in her function as head of household to ask Daniel to cook. However, that didn’t even occur to the girl. To her, managing the household translated into running said household all alone, as if the adults didn’t even exist.
The first day Peggy ordered pizza. It worked well, but cannot be a longterm solution.
Peggy: “You do know that this is weird, yes? Wearing your jackets inside, but not outside?”
Damian: “But we’re cold!”
Peggy: “Yes, because you ran through the snow without jackets and hats. I’m pretty sure two hundred years ago they’d have jailed you for not wearing a hat!”
Tucking in the kids - with the two houseguests, it was important to make the Reed children feel loved.
Damian, a long-time neighbor, wanted a hug, too, before bedtime, but put himself to bed. Meanwhile Kendra was way too independent already to consider any of that. The Allen twins had been like this before their parents’ death already. Daniel didn’t want to think of that now, lest he’d started hating the Allens again, and you were not to speak ill of the dead.
Peggy had noticed that her friends and family had acted a bit strange yesterday. There had been the odd fashion choices, Ricky spilling food paint everywhere like a toddler and their father having wasted that plasma pack way too early... Something was definitely off, as if everyone had had too much sugar.
And so the girl beamed with joy, when the next day started with something normal: Sixam Bedbug alert in both rooms! The one in the boys’ room even tried to pull Damian under the bed. It had its tentacles firmly slung around the child’s ankle already:
However, instead of pulling the tentacled beasts into the light and serving them up for breakfast (not kidding, I have a nonalcoholic cc punch bowl with little tentacles sticking out), Gavin simply sprayed them.
There was no Tentacled Delight for breakfast. There was no breakfast at all. That was the price for the weeklong sleepover, Peggy had to think of a way of keeping everyone fed and in good spirits. In fact, she should have thought of something yesterday already.
On a tight schedule, she panicked and hired a catering service.
It seems to be Hugo Villareal’s, because the employee sent over turned out to be Emily Villareal, the family nanny.
You won’t do something stupid, like burning the kitchen down, no?
I call this series of screenshots “Telling the catering lady what we want to eat”. The timestamps reveal that Daniel produced those speech bubbles one after the other:
The first two are apparently about Gavin’s dietary restrictions:
Daniel: “My husband likes everything a common fruitbat likes, too, but what he really needs is blood, preferably of sentients. In a pinch frog and fish will do.”
Peggy: “The blender is in the kitchen, but you need Vampire Lore to get it right. I’m learning that right now!”
Daniel: “Just leave the froggy business to us and focus on feeding the kids, Miss Villareal. Banana pudding, maybe?”
I guess that seals the deal of bananas being Daniel’s favorite human food (although it is a bit racist, like him saying “Human food? Oh, right, the big apes. Bananas, of course!”).
When Emily cooked (ironically fish in banana leaf, matching the previous conversation), Daniel autonomously came over to watch. This was his task, normally! The man knew that he was contributing in other ways, he was working a full time job, after all, but even so he felt useless.
After watching for a while, Daniel called himself stupid for his thoughts. Making a contribution was in no way a requirement for being part of a family. But the knot in his stomach wouldn’t go away even after this realization, so what was the real problem here? As so often, when his android brain and human socialization failed him, Daniel’s werewolf instincts came to the rescue. Today they told him:
You’re not feeling useless. It’s much worse. You’re feeling LEFT OUT.
That’s not how you ensure the optimal temperature for the sauce, Emily...
Peggy instantly replaced the stove with a new one instead of scrolling through her phone for the repair service number. Same for the toilets (twice) and the shower. Her lack of Home Ec awareness takes quite a toll on the household funds.
The only, even if only momentarily, solace was to let out a long, mournful howl. And that was not just heartbreaking, but deal breaking. Emily left the house.
The next day, Elfie was up bright and early talking to Darsh about the Winterfest Storytime yesterday.
Elfie: "Darsh...sims seem to be getting more cheerful, lately. I am doing my best to help them. Do you think that they might hold the Winterfest Festival now?"
Darsh: "Oh, Elfie, I wish it was that simple. You see, festivals require a lot of planning, and it seems that sims are just too busy this year to be part of a Winterfest Festival Committee."
Elfie had an idea: "But Darsh, maybe WE could be the Winterfest Festival Committee! I bet you and I could come up with some great ideas. And I met some nice families yesterday, and I am sure they would help out, too."
Darsh: "That sounds great Elfie, but to run a proper festival, you need to purchase permits, and hire food vendors and entertainers. It takes simoleons, and I just don't have the amount of simoleons it would take to make the festival successful."
Elfie listened to Darsh and remembered hearing the word "simoleons" in his Simworld Culture classes. Of course, that is what sims used to buy and sell items here in the Simworld. But sadly, Elfie didn't have any simoleons either.
Elfie: "Well, how could we make some simoleons to hold the Winterfest Festival?"
Darsh explained that normally fundraisers were held, and sometimes local businesses donated simoleons towards the festival. An event planner normally coordinated all the events.
Before Elfie could reply, a sim walked up to them.
Hector: "Excuse me, I happened to overhear your conversation that you might need an event planner. My name is Hector Laurent, and I live in Tartosa. I am the owner of La Coppia Serena, and my family has been in the wedding event business for generations. So I know a thing or two about event planning."
Hector then looked at Elfie quizzically, "I know you! Weren't you the one here yesterday reading those children's stories? My son had heard about it in school and had such a fun time. It made me happy to see the smile on his face. Are both of you on the Winterfest Festival Committee this year?"
Elfie nodded enthusiastically, "Yes! Yes we are, and um...if it's okay with my friend, Darsh, we'd love to have you be our event planner..."
Hector laughed, "Well, I am flattered, and of course, I'd love to do that! Now, when and where are you holding the event? The first thing we'll need to do is get those city permits, and then of course, we will have to book the food vendors and the entertainers. What is your budget?"
Elfie: "Budget?"
Hector: "Yes, your budget for the festival. How many simoleons do you have to spend this year?"
Elfie swallowed hard, "Well, right now, we...um...we don't have any simoleons..."
Hector saw Elfie's glum face and nodded, "I see...well, it would be wonderful if that Winterfest Festival was held this year. It was really something sims looked forward to. But...without simoleons, I am not sure I can help you..."
Darsh: "Yes, I agree, Hector, the Winterfest Festival was always the talk of the town. In the past, local businesses would hold fundraisers and contribute simoleons to the festival..."
Elfie piped up, "Yes, and Darsh told me that sometimes businesses would just donate simoleons! Isn't that great?"
Hector looked at Darsh and Elfie, "Ah...yes...of course...and the names of businesses would be displayed on a sign at the festival. A great way to generate new clients. You know, my family and I have attended the Winterfest Festival every year, and it was a very joyous occasion. I'll tell you what, I would like to be the first to contribute. I will call today and book the location that was used for the festival last year and pay for those permits myself. So, put me down for a $500 simoleon donation."
Darsh: "You know, Elfie, those autographs are quite valuable. If you like, I can get them appraised for you. If you wait a day or two, then, if you want, you can sell them for simoleons."
Elfie couldn't believe that sims would pay simoleons for these autographed photos. And if Darsh thought Elfie could sell them, why not?
After jotting down some fundraiser ideas with Darsh, Elfie told him that he had a friend who lived just outside of Willow Creek, in Henford-on-Bagley, who owned a business there. Maybe she would like to make a donation to the festival, too. He bid Darsh goodbye and went on his way.
As he walked up the street, Elfie spied a bakery, and thought how wonderful it would be to work there and make lots and lots of sugary desserts. It was just another way that he could cheer up even more sims. He looked in the window and saw a for sale sign. Of course! He would buy the bakery and bake and sell baked goods and those simoleons could go towards the Winterfest Festival. Oh what a sugarplum fairy great idea! He had helped Mother Winter in her kitchen many times and knew how to make her famous sugar cookies. Plus, there were holiday cookbooks in the library that he could read and get even more ideas. Now he just needed a way to earn some simoleons to buy the bakery. He would talk more about it with Darsh.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When he arrived in Henford-on-Bagley, he enquired as to where Agnes Crumplebottom's market stand might be. A kind sim pointed to a stall in the middle of the square. Elfie thanked them and headed over, but when he got there, Agnes had the day off.
Elfie smiled: "Actually I do. Quite a bit, too. How many simoleons would you give me for all of this?" he asked and laid out quite a substantial amount of produce and flowers that he had removed from his backpack.
Kim eyed everything he set out and then paid him $1,082 simoleons. Elfie thanked her and then she asked if he wanted to buy anything.
Elfie: "Oh, no thank you, I am saving up for a bakery, so I can sell sugary desserts and raise funds for the Willow Creek Winterfest Festival."
Kim: "Oh? I thought that the Winterfest Festival had been cancelled. I used to attend every year and was so disappointed when I heard they weren't having it."
Elfie quickly explained that Hector Laurent was the event planner, and that Elfie was working on ideas to raise lots of simoleons for the Winterfest Festival.
Kim: "You know what I always liked? The snowpal building contest. Everyone brought their own items to decorate their snowpal, and the winner would receive a small prize. It really cost the organizers nothing all all, except the expense of the prize, which was usually one of those pull-apart holiday crackers. Just seeing all those snowpals always filled me with such joy."
Elfie talked to Kim about what other activities were at the Winterfest Festival, and he got some more ideas.
Kim: "You know, Elfie, I am so glad that the Winterfest Festival will be held. In fact, I'd like to make a donation. And who knows...maybe I'll win the snowpal building contest this year!" she said laughing.
Elfie looked at the simoleons that Kim had just handed him and couldn't believe it! Elfie thanked her and then headed to the Gnome's Arms Pub. The pub owner, Sara Scott, also made a donation, and was interested in having a food stall at the festival.
https://i.postimg.cc/wBZZ2F3m/sara-scott.png
https://i.postimg.cc/Pfm9bWHC/sara-notice.png
By the time Elfie left Henford-on-Bagley, several more sims had made donations and his pockets were jingling from all the simoleons he had collected. He had a huge smile on his face, and couldn't wait to tell Darsh what had happened!
For story purposes, Henford-on-Bagley is a nearby community in the country, close to Willow Creek.
Elfie has Charisma Level 7 and can ask for small loans ($500 simoleons). Elfie collected $5,000 simoleons (5 points)
Loans received: Hector Laurent, Kim Goldbloom, Agatha Crumplebottom, Sara Scott, Michael Bell, Derek McMillan, Bennett Newell (Grocery Delivery), Cecilia Kang, Ian Moody and Thomas Watson.
Funds to open the bakery will come from the produce/fruit/flower/fish sales and autographs. Proceeds from the bakery will be used as a fundraiser for the Winterfest Festival.
Autographs so come in handy (not just in the challenge)!
What I loved the most in this chapter was how Elfie never once went up to a sim and asked for money. He just was nice to everyone, and they gave it to him, because he inspired them or made them reminiscence about previous festivals. Especially with the bakery, he first thought about how good it would be to bake for sims, and only second thought of that this would bring in simoleons. That's so incredibly heartwarming!
@EnkiSchmidt - Ah, thanks for the comment about it being heartwarming. I have tried to make Elfie a happy-go-lucky elf, who really isn't too versed in money matters. And, yes, just bringing up the Winterfest Festival has sims thinking about all the fun they had when they did attend, and sort of gives them that added incentive to donate some funds. That was the theory at least. In reality, the only sim who didn't give Elfie a small loan when he asked (twice) was Simon Scott, Sara's husband. lol Elfie even took 2 photos with him to get their relationship up, but Simon wasn't budging. That old Scrooge! lol
When he returned from work, he arrived at the house next door, where his parents live with Jin and Tina. The vampire stretched and looked up as if seeing this place for the first time. And then it slowly sank in: This… not… my home.
It felt like an epiphany only a very advanced mind would ever reach.
Evelyn: “…and then he said he’d call Uncle Daniel to guide him home!”
Evie: “That sounds rather like my parents, too. It started Wednesday morning. I thought they were just overworked, but… they’re acting pretty odd. My sisters, too.”
Peggy: “How about yours, Lyn?”
Evelyn: “I’m Lyn KAMSKI, cousin. I’ll start to worry when my parents behave normally.”
Peggy: “Good point. Call me when that happens. For now we can say that the problem is a local one. Agreed?”
Evie: “Uh-huh.”
(Note: Evie lives in the same street. Lyn lives in Magnolia Promenade.)
Poor Peggy had her work cut out for her, with the free willed sims, especially the two that I must not control at all. Rescuing housemates from freezing to death in the pool was her daily bread and butter now.
Peggy: “Oh, will you wake up already, Kendra! Please, because if you don’t, you won’t wake up ever again! We already have matching skin tones from the cold, but it’s not funny!!! Let’s get matching hairclips instead, okay?”
The residents of Newcrest have learned to tell eccentricities of the DPD officers and their friendship circle from truly weird occurrences. But this time it isn’t just the DPD. This time the whole street is affected and whatever holds sway over the residents slowly reaches out for the rest of Newcrest. And from there - all of Detroit?
There was something else that needed addressing by the temporary “head of household”: Someone had to take care of Plum, the family horse. Not just feed her, clean her stable and talk to her, but “move” the horse. Regular exercise was of utmost importance to Plum’s health, but Peggy had never shown much interest in learning how to ride. She was able to stay on and not provoke Plum into biting her, but that was about everything already.
Peggy: “Okay, we can do this! Right, Plum? All girls love horses, so I should be fine. Uh… can you go a bit slower, maybe? And shake a bit less? Shake A LOT less, I mean! Shit, shit, shit, this is about the worst time to realize that you’re not like other girls, Peggy Reed!!!”
(I used the “bike around” command, so Plum will go once around the neighborhood. Peggy has no control over her. And, no, Daniel didn’t expect her to do this, she just assumed it would be part of her duties.)
Oh, no, the friggin QLine, the bane of sims crossing the street in this neighborhood!
This time it was the 7:30 to Grand Boulevard, an automated carriage with no human driver, but an extensive array of sensors. Fortunately while its digital brain was still in the process of analyzing what exactly was crossing the track, the carriage was already slowing down on account of whatever it was being alive.
Peggy and Plum crossed the street and entered the Anderson property.
…and heard about Peggy’s adventure riding Plum, he wondered whether Parenting was perhaps a skill that didn’t translate well from a professional environment to home. Hadn’t he won a teaching award recently? And hadn’t Emma turned out well? So why had he suddenly displaced his common sense when it came to his own blood?
Peggy: “I’m sorry, father. I’m letting everyone down… All I could think of was that stupid school party. In my mad quest to save the Snowflake Gala, I endangered my family. I will tell the others to go home and let it be. Okay?”
Daniel: “First you come here!” *hugs*
Daniel: “Second, no, don’t drop the Snowflake Gala! Your other father and me talked yesterday, and we have a gut feeling that someone wants to sabotage your party, to make people feel unhappy.”
Daniel: “But you’re right, little mouse, something has to change. You must realize that being in charge doesn’t mean to do anything on your own. You can, no, you must, delegate tasks, and if you don’t know what orders to give, you can always come to us for advice. Adults do that all the time, you just don’t notice.”
Peggy: “Really?”
Daniel: “Well, not all the time. When I was younger, I was prone to acting before talking, myself. I thought I was all alone and when I trusted someone, that someone let me down, only reinforcing the idea that I had to handle everything on my own.”
@EnkiSchmidt - Oh no! Things are getting strange in town and even more sims are being affected. And Kendra nearly freezing to death at the pool area. Sheesh! I love Plum the horse! Wish we had them in the Sims 4. I also wanted to comment on the Breakfast chapter and tell you that those are really cute food items. Those pancakes...I want some in real life! lol Great cc! I guess we will find out what is causing all the problems...could it be that monster under the bed?
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