Christopher's Aftermath

      “Variety is the spice of life” is a phrase that's been attributed to English poet William Cowper and made famous by that faux wooden wall panel your mom bought at Pier 1 Imports. As noted in this blog's introductory post, the citizens of Midnight Hollow pride themselves on rejecting what is considered the “norm” by embracing the odd with open arms and minds. However, it's to be expected that one Sim's norm (well, what's ostensibly normal for the average Sim, anyway) is another Sim's weird.

     Let's be honest with ourselves. Chris' story is something right out of one of those corny 1960s sitcoms; His sweet-but-quirky mother, Angeline, grew up as an only child in a small, emotionally distant family. Angie desired children of her own so much she seduced six random men and ended up with nine little ones to call her own. Chris' four brothers and four sisters each have dreams that are traditionally “larger than life”, but his stood out the most: he wanted a decent job, a wonderful wife, two point five adorable kids and a nice eggshell white picket fence.

     Keep in mind, the town's residents include an artist that hates her job with a passion, a rich man that breaks for dumpster diving and thrift shops, and Wannabe Norman Bates. 

     As soon as Chris hit adulthood and left The Holland Home of Mayhem, he went straight to the police station, as they had careers that appealed the most to his brave nature. Sadly, unlike his elder brother, Bradley, getting any formal training from Sims University was out of the question, as he had spent all of his funds just buying himself a new home. Determined to achieve his dream job, he took the entry-level job as a desk jockey. 

    He wasn't the only new person around the station, though; he worked alongside -- and invited her to be his new roomie to help pay for the house -- a certain miss Francisca Shea. Remember that one girl that clung herself to Chris like glue as when they were kids?

They fight do something vaguely related to crime.

    Of course, they're weren't meant to be work buddies for too long; They honed their skills as much as possible when they were teens, hence these two flying through their lower career rungs. Francisca had honed her mental and physical skills so sharply since she wanted to be a part of the Midnight Hollow chapter of the International Super Spies, whereas Chris wanted to be known as a Dynamic DNA Profiler. The call of justice and honor and whatever else had been too strong for these two to resist.

     As well as the sounds of wedding bells. (Ah, childhood sweetheart success stories.) But they were too drunk, eager and cheap to hold a traditional wedding; In fact, this wedding was held only a month after Brad and Ye's own backyard affair. It had started one night when Chris was finally ready to pop the question; he and Fran were off to a date at some random bar in town, and after the typical super-romantic meal and candles and conversation, Chris felt the box that held the engagement ring in his pocket feeling awfully heavy. So he needed some liquid courage, and probably ended up using a few too many.

  The "large consumption of NON-ALCOHOLIC THIS IS A TEEN RATED GAME juice" plan did go well. Francisca accepted the proposal with a "YES!", a cheer, and a truck driver belch.

  But the liquid courage proved to be much stronger than that. Why settle for "just engaged" when you can go from fiance(é) to newlywed in a matter of moments?

   

   Fran was so very drunk and happy, and I thank her for the laughs.

  Thankfully for their household funds' sake, they weren't as eager to get a huge headstart on the parenting thing. But they got too it soon-ish, I assure you. . . once they bought a whole bunch of workout equipment for work . . . 

 . . . and went through that whole, "We're not ready for a baby, can we get a dog?" stage of love and marriage. Meet Ginger!

     It seemed as soon as she set a paw into her new home, she can whiff out the scent of "Baby or No?" her owners were permeated with. So, she mangled some furniture as a warning not to ignore her.

That green Supernatural full moon really ties it all together.

     Still, our heroes went off to work, putting criminals behind bars, desperately trying to ignore the resemblance a locked jail cell has to a baby's crib. For a whole entire week. Then, the morning after a passionate night, the puking commenced. 

      And three grueling days later, two new Hollands were added to the immense family tree.

     Did I mention earlier that Chris' life is one big corny sitcom? Seriously, all that's missing is the "awwww" and laugh tracks. Also, Elliot wants world peace, loves the outdoors, veggie dogs, the color pink and is light sleeper? I sense a future bohemian right here!

     These two had a real routine going on: They would eat, they would sleep, they would crap, they would get changed, they would cry for attention, repeat ad nauseam. All that was missing was the hair pulling and projectile vomiting. 

     For an added bonus, the envious sad dog!

     Thankfully, the two hellions aged up in style before their parents could blink (and fall on the floor thanks to exhaustion). Uncle Aaron, Aunt Ariella and a slightly older cousin Ainsley even dropped by for a visit!

     "So," Ariella said, "I can see why people would want to live here. It must be nice living in a black and white film."

Smiling sweetly and eyeballing the cake? Nope, nothing suspicious going on here?

     "Uncle Chris," Ainsley began, "I'm, like, so happy that I'm not the baby of the family anymore! Unlike babies, I can actually eat a chocolate cake and not smash it with my tiny baby fists."
      "That's great, honey, and you're smart enough to know that you can't eat someone else's birthday cake before they blow out the candles," her uncle stated with a wink.

    "Well, crap."

     

Bradley's Aftermath

     

      It's quite challenging to form a brief statement regarding just how immensely important it is for any person to gain any form of education within our current society. Hell, I'm one-hundred percent positive that I just burnt through my entire SAT vocabulary word list in that last sentence, and I'm sure most jobs would require me to possess this sort of formal, dry lexicon in order to give off a “professional” impression; and this isn't even going into utilizing the skills you honed through what is no doubt a very long, extensive period of training, with a nice, shiny diploma on the side.

     But guess who doesn't have to deal with that sort of crap? Sims. Ever since the first base game, these gibberish-speaking pixel people could just pick up any given newspaper, look through the wanted ads, and become a certified, licensed medical expert on the spot. As such, this is what I imagine the average doctor in the Sims' universe functions like:

    Well, I'm exaggerating. A bit. With the right expansion pack installed for The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 (and, presumably, expansions will be created for future sequels), you can send a Sim packing and they'll find themselves smack dab in the world of higher education in order to achieve a sweet, hopefully not worthless-down-the-road diploma -- medical-based professions included. After knocking their brains loose attempting to earn that diploma by keeping a healthy balance between studying and socializing, that is.

   Bradley Holland, Baby No. 2 of the First Generation, is no exception to this rule. Once he left his mother's home, off he went, entering the world known simply as Sims University, where the co-ed Malan Hall Dormitory House welcomed him with open arms.

   By having his roommates set the communal kitchen on fire. The first day of college always has a few surprises in store.

      To be fair, this is far more entertaining that any new student orientation has been, ever. Speaking of orientations, Brad was immediately forced by the game AHEM INVITED to his only after an hour of settling into his new dorm -- and the only reason he even left Malan Hall was to stock up on the endless candy bars, soda cans, Frisbee and hackey sacks that Sims U was more than happy to supply its student body with -- and proceed to sell them all for an easy $500 simoleons.

Brad was kind enough to give his pro tips to others.

     

     After his impromptu lecture, our star student got an early start on his academic career by studying the vials of plant, insect, fish, mineral samples that had mysteriously appeared in his inventory. He'll be doing this a lot, since the University progress bar is so finicky it's not even funny. No kidding, right after Brad finished his analyzing for the day, his around 75% full progress bar had deteriorated to 65% after just one night of sleep.

Sims games become so realistic whenever it's inconvenient for the player. 

      To be fair, Brad had managed to become such good enough friends with a girl named Ye Gangnam shortly after finishing his analysis that he was immediately invited to her sorority house for a bonfire party. In the brutal heat of summertime. 

     Naturally, said bonfire become more of a pool party, but Brad spiced it up a bit by tossing peppermint into the flames, just for the hell of it. 

       Brad must've snuck some cinnamon in as well, that's for sure!

      Ye, thankfully, was too enraptured by Brad's infamous large eyes and pouty lips to notice such an awkward animation glitch flirting fail with Samantha Grey, and marched right on over to him, waxing poetic about how their shared dislike of children was so charming.

     As such, the next night dealt with not two students' fiery passion, but cosmic bowling with really cheap bar drinks.

    Cosmic bowling does come with a price, however: really low grades. (Never mind the fact that Brad was the only one who stayed awake during the entire lecture.) Ye will just have to deal with really quick in-class texts.

    After an entire two weeks of nothing but studying, eating, sleeping and bathing, Brad managed to ace all of his finals. 

    Thankfully, Brad did manage to socialize with his dorm mates (and sort-of girlfriend) for an entire two hours before the game immediately booted him back to Midnight Hollow. I responded by booting him straight back to Sims U for another two weeks so he can get all of his credits and graduate. I felt pretty bad that Brad didn't get much social time outside of his first two nights at Uni, so I made it up to him by letting him rent an actual home on campus.

Seeing Sims University in winter was worth it for the lag.

   Before the game could invite Brad over to a lecture hall so he could sell all the free crap they give him for full price, Ye dropped by to make their relationship official (with a wink and question about zodiac signs). Brad's new roomie, Alison Kramer, got in on the happy moment by getting in the nude.

    Once Brad arrived and left said lecture hall with a haul of Simoleons, Brad's old Malan Hall roomie, Anoki Moon, showed up, ready for some old-fashioned back-to-school selfie and partying action.

      The selfie didn't work out great, but the juice kegs at a local fraternity served its purpose with flying colors. Brad didn't even mind waking up the next day with a hangover and a crappy academic progress bar!

      However, I certainly do. If you're going to college strictly to party, you're going to have a bad time. As such, much studying commenced from that day forth. Because I love you, I'll spare every last grind-tastic moment from those two weeks. Really, this pictures sums all of these tedious events up:

It doesn't account for the total amount of money spent on Simbucks, unfortunately.

    Thankfully, "hard work hardly works" wasn't the case here -- After wring-drying his brain and getting carpal tunnel syndrome in his right wrist, Brad passed all of his finals with flying colors once again, leading to a nice solid 4.0 GPA.

    

     Sadly, the rest of the family couldn't make it to the graduation ceremony, but Brad wasn't completely alone  -- he got a shiny new trait! That, and his girlfriend and ex-roomies were kind enough to invite him to yet another juice kegger.

     After a raging 7 hour keg party, the game booted Bradley back to Midnight Hollow with hisperfect GPA and elevated careers in the medical path. However, there was some money left over from selling the house back at Sims U, and Ye was getting pretty antsy to take the relationship to the next level. . .

     Only three days after graduation from college, Bradley Holland and Ye Gangnam tied the knot in the backyard of their new home -- at least it makes up for missing the graduation ceremony. By the way, see how dark this wedding is? 

     These are pictures with some photo editing, so your eyes wouldn't die from the muscle strain. To be fair, the wedding did take place in early fall, during the evening of an already overcast day. As such, Ye and Bradley dressed in the most mature, elegant looking gothic harajuku outfits they could find. 

This is what happens when Tim Burton designs your wedding with assistance from Gwen Stefani.

   The Hollands welcomed the bride into the family with open arms. While she was finishing her slice of wedding cake, Brad told Ye why exactly he has four brothers and four sisters, and who was next to carry the family tradition. Ye breathed in, walked over to Gwen, smiled, took her hand, looked her in the eye and said, "Would I hate to be in your shoes!"

Aaron's Aftermath

     Aaron, as you can tell, was the musician of the first generation Holland kids. The reason why he left the home so early in the Christmas Eve/Snowflake Day/whatever party was regarding travel concerns. Yes, the baby boy that kicked off the 100 Baby Challenge ditched his quirky yet dreary hometown of Midnight Hollow for the fabulous and glitzy Starlight Shores . . . with nothing but the clothes and guitar on his back.

   This isn't the only earmark of an aspiring celebrity, however -- there's also taking up embarrassing jobs that pay you next-to-nothing, and force you to deal with patrons that don't exactly roll out the welcome wagon. 

   And I'm not just talking about fast food service, either.

   Delivering Sing-A-Grams in this very large, spacious town with impatient citizens SUCKS. It'll take a miracle to even reach level 2 of this career, but his mom raised nine kids on her own and they all turned out fine! So let's do this!

   After a day of singing songs to all jerks who couldn't give a llama's ass about his fledgling career, Aaron was just about ready to leave Verde Park and head home . . . but then, he sees a young woman moping about nearby. Just one more song couldn't hurt anyone.

   Whose bad day wouldn't be cured with a little melody and Freezer Bunny plushie? Ms. Ariella Chen paid Aaron with a smile and a sincere "Thanks", and that's all he wanted to hear.

   The next day, Aaron got a small taste of the famous life by garnering a small crowd at the park. Even the lady in the pink tank top snuck a peek.

   After a sold 3 hours of playing for the crowd (and getting $84 in tips), Aaron finally worked up the nerve to strike a conversation with the proprietor of the park -- and an audition, too.

   Well, playing in a small park isn't bound to get you soaring to stardom in one afternoon, but baby steps count. Aaron spent the rest of Wednesday evening and half of Thursday morning practicing his best moves on his customers, whom were still not really impressed -- because once he finished singing to them, did he finally become a Sing-A-Gram Pro. Timing.

   No time to worry about them, though -- the show's going to start!

   At least Ariella dropped by with her friends, and the woman in the lab coat looked awfully impressed.

   Since it was still early, Aaron headed over to Mick's Master Karaoke to fulfill a last minute request for a Celebration Sing-A-Gram for some guy named Mitch Lee (and get a quick drink for a job well done attempted.) The drink really helped Aaron mellow down, because he scored a gig next door . . . for Sunday evening. . . but still!

  Between Thursday and Sunday evening, few requests came in for Aaron, which was fine by him -- he needed all the strumming and singing practice he could get. Naturally, he headed to Mick's again before the show for a nerve-calming drink -- only to get another suddent request for Mr. Lee, but this time, for a romantic Sing-A-Gram.

  Even odder, when Aaron approached him, he was in absolutely in no mood to be bothered with.

   Thankfully, that one woman from Aaron's first gig popped out of nowhere to scold Lee for his inappropriate behavior, manners, etc. Aaron quickly glanced at the two whilst they argued, recognizing how similar their wedding rings lo-- ohh.
 

  Lee stormed off to the bar, as his wife turned to the bewildered singer.

   "Mr. Holland, I am so sorry that my husband snapped like that. It's just . . . well, his employment issues," the woman explained, a blush rising to her cheeks. " I wanted to cheer Mitch up, and, well, never mind. My name's Sonoko," she added quickly as she held out her hand.
  
   Aaron shook her hand and smiled. "Aaron. It's okay, really. He wouldn't be the first guy to turn my delivery down --"

  "You took rejection better than Mitch does, and that's all that's ever happened to him so far!" Sonoko interjected. "He wants to be like DJ Krazy Beats, but he can't get it in his head that that party was years ago! And KB has far more experience, is far younger, knowing about music doesn't make you good at composing it -- just, what can I do?!"

  "You can start by breathing," Aaron replied, with no doubt that other club patrons were staring at the woman who was just ranting a mile a minute. Aaron briefly glanced towards the bar's back glass doors, where Mitch was drinking, thankfully.

  Sonoko's face was as red as her floral print top as she looked through her purse. "Oh, crap. That's been building up for a while. I'll just pay now and save everybody any more embarrassment..."

  "Why not just come to my show? It's literally right next door, and it'll give you guys some more time to, y'know, chill out."

  "Oh, I wish we could, but we have anniversary reservations at Broad Street Business Tower & Grill. But here" -- Sonoko quickly scribbled something on a post-it pad and placed it on top of some Simoleon bills she handed Aaron. "My number. Call me for the next one! Thanks. Bye." 

  With that, she practically flew over to the back patio of the bar to sit with her husband. With a blink and a shrug, Aaron left for his Flying V's gig, which was recieved with a resounding "meh".

  Naturally, a friendship began to bud as the two traded texts and made calls in the time between Aaron's third gig . . .

   To celebrate a decent show, the two headed over to the local Rodeo-Go-Go for a drink or two of Kyoto My Heart, highly recommended by Sonoko.

  "And so I told Mitch, 'The only breakdown you'll have is your nose if you keep playing those things after dinnertime!' " Sonoko stated with a laugh while Aaron looked around awkwardly.

  "You'd hate to come over to my place then. I practice whenever I'm . . . wide awake," Aaron said, grabbing a nearby chair's handle in order to keep his balance. The bright lights, pulsating music and the hard liquor were starting to get to him. Sonoko's beaming smile quickly gave way to a small frown.

  "You're not feeling sick, are you?" Sonoko asked, gently laying her hand on top of Aaron's. The delicate, warm touch made Aaron hyper-aware of their breathing patterns, the way concern permeated her gaze and voice . . . it was like the world was in slow motion.

  Wordlessly, Aaron pulled her in for a brief kiss. Somehow in the midst of the blasting music, her squeak of surprise did not go un-noticed, and he quickly pulled away. Before he could open his mouth to quickly babble out any form of apology, Sonoko wrapped her arms around his neck and gleefully returned the favor. 

   Later the next day, Ariella Chen stopped by for a quick chat and cup of skim milk banana latte with sprinkles or whatever the hell those crazy Sims call "coffee". The conversation drifted away from weather and careers to relationships, somehow.

  "Mithun just hasn't been, like, there at all," Ariella began. "He's been so distant, so cold. I really want to like him, but he insists on hanging around that mooch Ernesto. Why can't he see that the guy avoids responsibility like the plague?"

  "Have you actually talked to Mithun about it?" Aaron asked.

  "Only a thousand times!" she exclaimed, throwing a hand up into the air. "Like, he did get a receptionist job, but he on the verge of being fired from even that!"

  Ariella smirked as she rolled her eyes. "He thinks his job is better than being a podium polisher like me. Don't even sweat it, Aaron. Unlike some people, you actually have concern for other people. "

    "Well, if Mithun really had that, you wouldn't be in this mess," Aaron absentmindedly blurted out. Inside, he was screaming. Stupidstupidstupidohlmanshesgonnakill--!

   Ariella laughed loudly. "Actual wit! I'd call you Bizzaro Ernesto, but that's not giving other decent guys enough credit."

  Decent guys don't sleep around with married women.

  "I'm sorry, did you say something? You were kind of mumbling."

  "Nofing. Burned my tung."

  Before she could respond, his phone lit up with a brief chime and a buzz as a text from Sonoko flashed on the screen.

   As he stood outside of the spa, heavy raindrops pounded his umbrella mercilessly, as the Sun tried to poke its head out of the clouds in vain hopes of getting one beam of sunlight to shine on Starlight Shores. All the seabreeze kissed air the town usually had felt as if it were vaccumed out of Aaron's lungs. He found himself toying around with a loose thread on his jacket's collar, doing anything to calm his mind. The rock in the pit of his stomach didn't help.

  I can't say, "It's not you, it's me" 'cause -- A loud slam and high heels clacking jolted him out of his thoughts. 

  "Hello, Aaron."

   His heart gave a sudden thud. "Sonoko."

   She smiled sadly. "I just wanted to say thank you for the great time the other week, but I don't think we're going to be doing that anymore" -- she took a deep breath in and out and clasped her umbrella's handle tightly -- "since I'm pregnant. With Mitch's baby."
   

   "If you're curious, it was two nights after the Rodeo-Go-Go fling," Sonoko continued, attempting to keep a blase tone despite a faint glow of a blush in her cheeks. "Talent agent saw Mitch at the Brotherhood of Fine Fellows, and we ended up 'celebrating' Mitch's new record deal with an indie Bridgeport-based studio."

  Sonoko noticed he too was grasping his umbrella's handle, but she was more amazed it didn't snap like a twig. His mouth was pressed in a hard line, his brow furrowed.

   "Aaron, please speak," she commanded very exasperatedly.

   You want me to roll over and play dead, too?

  "I cannot believe Mitch married a heartless gold digger like you," he finally replied.

   "Excuse me?" her eyes practically bulged out of their sockets.

   "I'm not excusing shit! You constantly talked about Mitch behind his back for doing something you knew good and damn well what he always wanted to do! But you shut up once he gets some cash in the bank! What the hell is that?!"

   "You hypocrite!" Sonoko marched up to and screamed in Aaron's face, on the verge of sobbing. "Who're you to t-tell me who hurt Mitch the most?!"

   "Unlike you, I realized what a moron I was being!" Aaron roared back. Sonoko quickly backed off in surprise while he was fighting back his own tears, shakily catching his breath. "All this romantic crap with a married woman. How desperate am I?" 

    Sonoko looked as if she was about to make a retort, but finally broke down in racking tears. "Ohhh - I married Mitch after only f-five months. I'm such an idiot..." 

   Aaron sighed quietly as he gently wrapped an arm around Sonoko's shoulders, who was shaking like a leaf in order to quell her sobbing. "Look, Sonoko," he muttered, "I can't pretend to be a relationship counselor or anything, but, y'know, talk it out with him. You two better get your shit sorted out if you're going to stay married, or keep this kid, or whatever."

   A minute or so passed as he held her in his arms, until she broke the hug.

  "I . . . know. I'm so sorry for the way I led you on," she stated slowly, trying to keep her composure. "I'm sorry that this happened at all. Let's pretend we never happened. Goodbye, Aaron."

   With that, Sonoko walked towards the spa parking lot without ever looking back. Even in the heavy rainfall, Aaron heard her car engine burst to life and drive off as he finally wept himself.

   "Enough is enough."

   "What?"

    "I'm done, Mithun. Done with Ernesto's mooching."

    "For the last time. Ernie. Is not. A mooch," Mithun responded.

    "Quit acting like a toddler!" Ariella snapped. She could practically hear her pulses pounding in her ear.

    "Well, then stop treating me like one!" Mithun said, stamping a foot. "Wherever Ernesto goes, I go. It's always been that way, and if it ain't broke --"

    "Which Ernesto is..." Ariella muttered, looking at her boyfriend in disgust. "What ever happened to working our issues out?"

   "This isn't our issue. It's yours. Non-negotiable." He smirked. 

    Normally, a line like this would've set Ariella off like a firework. However, her new political career has given her some diplomacy skills...

   "Y'know what else is non-negotiable? Who owns the house."

   Before Mithun could reply, Ariella strolled to the front door and flung it wide open. "Pack up some clothes and get out."

   "Ariella. Really?" Mithun crossed his arms and rolled his eyes with a patronizing smile on his face.

   "Get. Out."

   Mithun's smile faded. "Are you kidding me? Whose being a toddler now?"

   "The grown man who expects everyone to bend to his will for the rest of his life!"

   "I'm not moving an inch!" Mithun snapped, standing firmly.

    Ariella sniffed. "Fine. I'm sure the SSPD has an extra cell open for you and your Ernie."

   "I'm going to a hotel!" Mithun suddenly snapped. "And you're gonna pay!"

   "Whatever. Just get out."

  
  "Hey, Ari. You all right?"

  "No," Ariella admitted tearfully. "I thought Mithun was the one. L-like, I should happy he's gone, but . . . he was always so sincere about us g-getting married and having kids . . . guess 'bros before hos' really is a thing."

  "Well, was he always like that? Even when you met? If you don't mind me asking," he added on quickly. Ariella smiled sadly as Aaron sat down next to her and handed her a napkin.

   "I met him at a party. I was so dumb, like, I was head over heels once he mentioned he was an athlete. He wasn't even that rich, though."

   Deja vu.

   "Y'know, I was like Ernesto once," she noted suddenly. "I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. I was just drifting around, not helping anybody by not helping myself. Getting a job made that all change, but I guess not for everyone."

  "I'm sure that guy's out there. But right now, we all need to quit the dating game. Focus on friends and stuff," Aaron concluded. 

   With that conversation came along two years of the greatest friendship Aaron and Ariella could have ever had. Sure, they were bumps along the way, but Aaron decided to take things a step further two months in and began to court Ari, who was apprehensive at first, but slowly grew to love the performer -- and on their first anniversary, he proposed at Delmar Beach on the last day of summer!

   The wedding was a small and quaint nature themed event held at Buckshot Lake in the middle of fall. Costing a total of $2,500, the day went off without a hitch as their closest friends watched the two exchange their rings. 

   Cake cutting and badly sung karaoke capped the night off! Aaron and Ariella held an impromptu honeymoon in a rent-a-tent by a campfire. Weenies and marshmallows of both kinds were roasted.

  Being the firstborn child of a 100 Baby Challenge participant, Ariella's first -- and only! --pregnancy occurred in early winter. Three long days later. . .

  Shortly after bringing his bride and baby home, Aaron immediately headed for another show at Flying V's. Sonoko showed up because she sure loves to deny reality.

  Who knows how little Ainsley's going to grow up?