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).
When Daniel opened the food cart the next day, Caroline, the former owner, was there, too. She was in the company of a sim I had never seen before. That could only mean one thing – the new one was a freshly spawned restaurant critic.
Daniel wondered what was Caro’s game here? They had a rather rocky shared history, so this could really go both ways: Caroline wanting to help Daniel get his little project on its feet with a good review or sabotaging him with a bad one.
That aside, everything went really well. Caroline remained sceptic a little longer than the restaurant critic did, but that was to be expected. After all, she had run this very same food truck with the exact same table arrangement for several months. Caroline could spot the smallest slip that might impede efficiency.
Robert: “Nope. We’ve have her in custody and she wouldn’t stop complaining about the meals, so I took her here. I figured YOUR food would satisfy the lady. And if it didn’t, you might do us the favor of shooting her.”
Judith: “He’s joking, is he...?”
Daniel: “Of course he’s joking! It’s full moon tonight. I wouldn’t be able to hold a gun straight - I’d simply rip off one of your arms to play with!”
Meanwhile Peggy helped herself to the leftovers. After having sampled from everything on the menu this way, her stomach hurt, but it had been worth it. Why couldn’t dad cook tiny servings of ten different meals at home, instead of one boring full meal!
They closed the restaurant just in time for the second night of the full moon. Well, ALMOST in time, because Daniel transformed before driving home. No patrons were hurt or even scared, but Peggy had to call her other father to pick them up. Gavin came flying over and drove his daughter home, with Daniel running alongside the car. His senses alerted him to several rodents in Corktown, that he could have went after, but a good car chase was sooo much better!
Peggy made a point of not watching her father. Her Earth/Sixam/Android heritage made Peggy near tireless and able to adapt to a wide range of environments and diets, what wasn’t something to scoff at, of course. But sometimes Peggy envied her parents for their secondary shapes. The best she could hope for was to turn purple from eating Sixam food.
Later that day - just two neighors hanging out at the snack vendor. One of them slurping a plasma pack was a rare, but not an outrageous sight. After all, in 2050 every city the size of Detroit was housing a significant number of occults. Running into one was about as likely as running into a celebrity in New York or Los Angeles, and the occults inspired similar feelings in people. As a vampire in the modern world Gavin didn’t receive threats of holy water and stakes, but therapy to help him control the bloodthirst and plasma packs on prescription (Meaning the household has the Registered Vampire Hideout trait.).
Mischief Day was the one day where tossing vampire powers around wasn’t seen as rude or show-offy, but as funny, and Gavin made ample use of that opportunity. As a result he finally pushed through, maxed out his vampire rank and was able to learn Tamed Thirst. He is no longer at risk of autonomously biting sims when his vampire thirst is low.
I found it fitting that this milestone coincided with Mischief Day. Gavin was a Goofball long before he became a vampire, it is his true nature, the vampirism being just a mix of useful skills to help with his job and chronic disease. But there were also vampires in the world who put their occult state first, thinking of it as the cornerstone of their identity…
Is it still prank day or is this real? Unrelated to the challenge, but here we have Gavin’s other neighbor, the head of the Department for Paranormal Investigations, playing with Ricky's lego set. While wearing his full ghost hunting gear.
I picture this sim as loving to do things with his own hands, but was thinking of woodworking, not toys. Well, looks like an oversight and the Reeds now know what to give him for Christmas this year!
(I accidently sold the photos of this one, but still had the copies in my screenshots folder.)
Her publishing efforts even earned Peggy a little fame, not as a photographer, but as the girl who worked so hard to fund her school’s Christmas Party:
It was still Autumn in Willow Creek, and Elfie knew that he had less than 4 weeks to help the residents get their Winterfest spirit up. But where to start? Even though Elfie had never been in the Simworld before, he had Elf Classes everyday in Simworld Culture, so he knew a bit about what to expect while he was here.
Elfie's first task was to cheer up the residents of Willow Creek. To get him in the mood, he took a selfie, which would make any sim smile. Perhaps if he could make the sims happy, they would decide to hold their Winterfest Festival after all. But how could he do that? Maybe if he explored the neighborhood a bit, he would come up with some ideas.
He passed a library, and thought that this would be a great place to get ideas on how to cheer sims up. He went inside and spoke to the librarian.
Elfie: "Do you have any books on Winterfest?"
The Librarian looked at Elfie strangely: "Well, we have a few children's books and some holiday cook books. Sims have not been in the Winterfest mood this year, and no-one has checked them out, so they are available to read in the library. You know, Winterfest used to be such a joyous time in Willow Creek, and the children would flock to the library for Saturday Winterfest stories. But due to budget cuts, we are not able to do that this year. It is indeed a loss."
Elfie saw the librarian's glum face, and decided that the librarian was the first sim he would cheer up. And pretty soon, Darsh Srivastava, was Elfie's first sim friend.
Elfie then said that he would be happy to read stories to the children on Saturdays.
The Librarian smiled at him and told him that he would bring in his own, personal Winterfest books, so that Elfie could read to the children.
Librarian: "Elfie, if you need help with anything, let me know."
Elfie then explained that he wanted to help more residents feel cheerful, but he wasn't sure how he could help out. The librarian pointed to a bulletin board and told Elfie that it listed some volunteer jobs to help the residents of Willow Creek.
Elfie thanked the librarian and went over to the board. He saw many listings from parents who needed help with small children, and elders who needed some help with yard work. That would be wonderful. He would go and do that right away!
But before he even went out the door, an angry sim entered the library. In fact, there were many angry sims visiting the library today. Well, what better time than the present to cheer these sims up. Right?
...and Lily Feng and Tanes Ngata. In fact, while he was chatting, he saw a sim leave the library angry. Oh, he couldn't let her leave that way, and so he followed her outside and listened to Nancy Landgraab rant and rave about utility bills.
As Elfie listened to the sims' problems and gave them an encouraging word, many of the sims suddenly smiled at him and thanked him for making them feel better. Elfie was so happy and felt that he was making progress. Oh, if only his elf friends could see him now!
Elfie also met a child named Lucas Munch who was rather sad, but with a few jokes about nacho cheese, Elfie had Lucas laughing again.
As he headed towards the back of the library, an angry elder, named Agnes Crumplebottom, was muttering about improper sims and how disgraceful it was to see sims canoodling in public. Elfie didn't really know what canoodling was, but after he spoke with Agnes, she smiled and told him that he was a very respectful teen. She told him that anytime he was in Henford-on-Bagley to come and visit her at her food stall.
With the talk of food, Elfie was feeling a bit hungry and the librarian had told him that there was a bar-b-q area near the water. Now, what could Elfie find to grill? Oh, but wait, there was a sim near the grill and they had just finished grilling some fruit kebobs and invited Elfie to join them. They chatted for a bit and became friends.
Elfie was so impressed with this sim's kindness that he wished he had some type of gift to give him. Elfie didn't have his trusty workbench with him to make this sim a toy, but maybe, if he looked around, he would find some other types of gifts.
Elfie started searching the area, and sure enough, found several wonderful gifts, such as frogs, flowers and veggies, beautiful crystals and stones, and cute little statues. What wonderful treasures he had found!
@EnkiSchmidt - Glad you love the backstory. The conveyor belt scene is from a build I used from the gallery. I placed it on a 50 x 50 lot in Mt. Komorebi. Credit is given here:
https://i.postimg.cc/Gmdb0RCQ/satas-home.png
Two of the three elf friends, I got from the gallery, and the third I created. Just changed the hair, names, clothing and aged them down to teens.
Decker Halls & Jingle Belle (I changed her name to Snowflake) made by this creator.
@EnkiSchmidt - Congrats on completing Week 2 and what gorgeous photos for the calendar that Peggy made. Really pretty set of snowy pics in the first set. Love all the good pics...probably from the food truck sales! lol And she now has a fame point. Woot! Not only is she raking in the simoleons, she is getting famous, too. And funny prank about bringing a snowball into the house and smooshing it into someone's face. lol
After a good night's rest, Elfie was ready to visit some families who needed help with their chores. His first visit was with the Spencer-Kim-Lewis family. When he arrived, he knocked on the door and was greeted by a girl, named Olivia, whom he had met at the library the day before.
https://i.postimg.cc/m240BPRH/LEWIS-KIM-HOUSE.png
Right now, there was only Olivia's grandmother, Vivian Lewis, and herself at home. Olivia explained that both her parents worked, and her grandfather also worked part-time at a food stand. Elfie nodded his head in understanding. Such a big house and everyone worked, no wonder they needed help.
Elfie decided to make a nice refreshing drink for Vivian Lewis and Olivia and went to the bar area. He poured some water into fancy cups and added some fruit slices. Vivian thought the drinks looked so inviting and thanked him for preparing them.
...and by the time Olivia's parents, (Alice Spencer-Kim and Eric Lewis) and grandfather, (Dennis Kim) arrived home, everything had been done. They were so grateful for all the work he had accomplished that Alice told him he could help himself to any food in the fridge. What a wonderful and thoughtful family they were. While he was chatting with them, Elfie also mentioned that the library would be holding a Winterfest storytime this Saturday and he hoped that Olivia would be able to make it.
The next house he visited was the Goth house, and he met Mortimer and Bella Goth. He had met their son, Alexander, the day before at the library. Bella told him that normally she handled all the chores herself, but she was expecting and now found it more difficult to do so. (game generated pregnancy). Bella explained that it was an older house and there were a lot of plumbing issues.
When he was done, he didn't smell as fresh as when he started, and Bella said that he could take a nice relaxing bubble bath if he wished, as a thank you for all his hard work. A bubble bath? Oh how delightful!
Before Elfie left, he spoke with Bella and told her about the Winterfest storytime at the library on Saturday and hoped that Alexander could make it.
He then bid them farewell, and headed to a community garden near their house. On the bulletin board, there were also some community jobs that had been listed, and one of them was tending the community garden.
Elfie has 0 simoleons, so he couldn't make any meals for anyone, but he could mix up some free water. lol The items he collected yesterday have not been sold, as these are being held for Week 2. He has also started frog breeding.
He had enough reward points to purchase the Always Welcome trait. This allowed him to take a bath/shower and sleep in someone's house without being yelled at. lol
During the week, Elfie continued to help out in the community and tried to calm down and cheer up as many sims as he could. He went to a local park that Darsh had told him about called Magnolia Blossom Park.
Elfie saw an elder, Keala Hoapili, sitting alone and played chess with her.
And it was true. Elfie saw a bin that someone had kicked over and there was garbage strewn all around. He told Jacques that he would clean it up and Jacques seemed to feel better that someone cared for the environment.
Jeb then asked Elfie to the prom. Elfie didn't understand what a prom was and Jeb explained that it was a big dance. Dancing? Oh yes! Elfie was in!
https://i.postimg.cc/mr1WBGQn/sure.png
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Elfie got a call from one of his friends asking if he'd like to go to Talent Night at The Blue Velvet. Elfie said it sounded like fun and invited some friends along. When he arrived, he went straight to the bar, and ordered everyone a refreshing water.
Elfie decided to tell some jokes and made several sims laugh about a haircutting disaster incident that had happened at the North Pole. (Sadly, Elfie didn't get any tips. Ah shucks!)
While he was there, he cheered up a very sad, Hector Laurent. (Oh my gosh, his wife Hilary died!)
https://i.postimg.cc/76ML2YD5/hilary-died.png
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
And then suddenly it was Saturday. Darsh had gone all out for the Winterfest Saturday storytime. He had made some flyers promoting the event, and encouraged children to come wearing "holiday" costumes or holiday colours. His fellow librarians had brought in decorations from home, and of course, Darsh brought in his own set of Winterfest books for Elfie to read.
Darsh had even set-up a display at the front promoting different festive holidays, and setting up a small holiday book display. Everything was set and the children's area was transformed.
There was a huge turn-out and after the event, other children came up and wanted to find out if this was a club because it looked like fun and they wanted to join.
Unfortunately, not everyone was happy, and a uni student, Jula Wright, was downright angry because she was trying to study for her finals and the library was so noisy. Elfie quickly went over and talked with her about her degree and tried to calm her down.
https://i.postimg.cc/7ZbSjNCY/ANGRY-SIM.png
He then suggested that perhaps the children would like some help with their homework while they were in the library. The kids thought it was a great idea. Both Darsh and Elfie were happy to help them, which also seemed to make the uni student happy, too.
@SoulGal7 Twelve sims helped out of negative moods is impressive. I had a hard time even finding some this year and Peggy's success rate was... not the best.
I really enjoyed seeing Elfie get the bubble bath, fridge privileges and even a dance invitation - what goes around, comes around! And Darsh really is a good friend and probably a cornerstone in the community.
Daniel: “This time we didn’t hear it through the grapevine, today it was in the actual news: Your fundraising was a success and other parents donated some more money, so that the full sum is covered now. Well done, daughter, we're so proud of you!”
Credit where credit was due, but seeing that he had two children now, Daniel smiled encouragingly at Ricky, indicating that the boy's school project was on its way to earn him, too, parental praise later today. The father was really only mashing the clay to make it better formable, and Peggy was reading the instructions. The work itself was Ricky's.
Ricky: “So the Snowflake Gala will take place?”
Peggy: “Not quite. Evil principal lady now claims there are no skilled musicians to hire. She could “maybe” find “some”, but “totally” nobody for the solo performance, what is the most important one. But don’t worry, I already have a plan!”
Daniel: “Why does this set off my parental spider-sense...”
Peggy: “Say, dad, Ricky and I could fit additional beds into our new rooms, right? And you’re good at the piano and Gavin-dad is good at DJing, good enough to teach a couple of kids, anyway! We could move my friends in and bring them up to spec!”
Daniel: “Only if it is a literal couple: two. Just. Two.”
Peggy: “Two will suffice. Thank you!”
Daniel: “And you are in charge of the household for that week!”
Week 3′s objective is to train entertainers and throw parties. Are the Reeds prepared for a weeklong sleepover?
The junior performers that move in for the next week:
Damian Miller / 11 / Good / Socially Gifted You already saw his father at the snack vendor with Gavin. Damian is Jin’s best friend, lives across the street and is undecided between a career in Acting or at the DPD. (In an alternate universe he got married to Peggy and they had twins.)
Skill to level: Piano Child Creativity skill: 3
Kendra Allen / 9 / Adventurous / no aspiration mastered yet She is Peggy’s newest friend, bounces through various foster homes and doesn’t think of a career yet. Kendra’s late parents were DPD officers, like the Reeds, Millers and Andersons. (My detectives are the focus of this save.)
Week 3 of the Christmas Challenge requires two live-in performers to acquire musical instrument skill points without player direction. That means the whole Reed household will be on Free Will, something I’m not used to.
Be good, simmies, okay? Don’t do something overly stupid!
See? That’s a good start! Keep at it and you’ll do fine!
Since Peggy is friends with Kendra and Damian, she may direct them once per day (twice when they become good friends), so first thing in the morning she sent them to the living room while their motives were still filled.
As for Gavin, I allowed him to buy seven plasma packs, one for each day of week 3. Him autonomously starting on them so early doesn’t bode well. Good thing he has Tamed Thirst now!
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