When Icarus offered to teach his two teens how to drive, Jodie jumped at the chance to expand the radius of her explorations. You never knew what adventures were waiting out there.
Jodie‘s favorite adventure thus far had been befriending an African Grey Parrot. How had he ended up in Appaloosa Plains? Was he an escaped pet? Or—and Jodie always preferred the more interesting explanation—had he flown here, across the wide ocean, all the way from a deep jungle in another continent?
Whichever the answer, Jodie named her new friend Graculus and carried him everywhere on her shoulder, earning her a reputation as “that weird pirate girl” which she wore as a badge of honor.
Julius had only very little time to spare for driving lessons with his dad. In his quest to become stronger and never feel helpless again, Julius had developed a rigorous workout routine and he never missed a single day.
Somewhere along the line, exercise had turned from a painful necessity into a part of his routine that Julius looked forward to each day. He craved the feeling of pushing himself to his limits and the soreness that came with it. Each aching muscle was a reminder that Julius was growing stronger.
The physical improvements weren‘t the only upside of Julius‘ newfound athleticism. The gym had turned out to be a great place to meet people, including cute girls. Most notably there was Beatrice Shepherd, an upperclassman with whom Julius had developed a playful rivalry.
“Not that we‘re keeping score, but I think the dummy is up 2-0,” Beatrice teased. She‘d just brought Julius to a tiny dojo above a laundromat where she liked to train.
“Enjoy trash-talking while you can,” Julius huffed between kicks at the wooden dummy, “We‘ll see how you change your tune at the bowling alley tomorrow!”
“Bold of you to assume I‘ll have time to hang out with you tomorrow. Maybe I already have a date.”
“It‘s ok, I understand if you‘re scared that I‘ll wipe the floor with you again.”
“Again?” Beatrice feigned outrage. “You wish!”
“Tomorrow at four then?”
“Tomorrow.”
They spent many afternoons playing various sports and exchanging vaguely flirtacious banter, but Beatrice aged up before Julius could work up the nerve to ask her out on a real date.
***
It was nice having Ralph around, Icarus reflected. The kids were comfortable with the new roommate, though they were usually out and about anyway and mostly came home to eat and sleep.
Icarus and Ralph had been inseparable since they were children, but living together had shown Icarus some of Ralph‘s quirks that be hadn‘t been aware of before.
Every easel in the house was constantly occupied by Ralph’s paintings, and whenever Icarus put down a book, Ralph would snatch it up before Icarus could finish it. It would have been reasonable to be annoyed by these habits in a roommate, but Icarus just found them funny and endearing in Ralph. They had grown closer than ever.
Having missed out on his chance to secure a girlfriend in time for Love Day, Julius sorely regretted visiting the spring festival that day. There were happy couples all around, while Julius had come with his family. That alone was embarrassing enough, and his already foul mood was about to take a nosedive.
While Jodie was exchanging her festival tickets for a prize, Julius spotted David Lambert, his lips tightly interlocked with those of a blonde girl.
Dating in this small town could feel like a game of musical chairs at times, and Julius silently seethed at the thought of losing to the likes of David Lambert. He was just about to walk the other way, when his sister foiled his plans.
“Hi Laura,” Jodie, who always seemed to know everyone, called to the couple, “Have you been on the hot air balloon yet? It‘s so fun!”
The smooching teens peeled their lips apart.
“Oh, hi Jodie,” Laura replied, blushing, “We haven‘t, actually. We‘ve been kind of…busy.”
David‘s response was less sociable. “Having a nice date with your sister, Drooly-Ass?” he taunted.
Julius instinctively moved into a defensive stance. He had bulked up a little since his last run-in with David, but that didn‘t stop a knot of fear from tightening his stomach.
The two girls, more sensible than one would expect from teenagers on a day so conducive to raging hormones, quickly pulled the boys in opposite directions. There would be no fighting on Love Day.
On the other side of the festival grounds, Ralph and Icarus were unaware of the unfolding teenage drama. They had their own problems to deal with.
An elderly lady had left behind her toddler while she went to get some at the kissing booth, and Ralph had taken it upon himself to watch the abandoned child.
“I miss when our kids were that age,” Ralph said as he placed the happily babbling toddler on a springy rider.
“Things were a lot easier,” Icarus agreed.
“It goes by so fast too. I feel like I was always at work back then and missed out on so much…and now they‘re all grown up,“ Ralph sighed, “And the worst part is, I never even liked my job!”
“Why are you hanging out with David Lambert anyway,“ Julius complained. Back home from the festival, the siblings sat at the kitchen table, bent over their respective homework.
“I‘m not ’hanging out’ with him,“ Jodie said, “I‘m friends with Laura and she‘s dating David. It‘s natural I‘d be around him occasionally.”
“I wish you‘d keep away from him. And if Laura has any sense, she should do the same.”
Jodie shrugged. “David‘s not so bad.”
“He‘s a bully and a thief!”
She frowned and furiously erased something on her algebra worksheet before continuing, “You know David hasn‘t been able to get another part-time job since he got fired from the grocery store?”
“Serves him right. Why are you defending him?”
“I‘m not! I’m just saying that karma got him good and maybe it‘s time for you to let things go.”
Julius scoffed. “A bit hard to let go if he‘s spouting bullshit in public.”
“Yeah,” she sighed, “that was uncalled for.”
They worked in silence for a while, then packed their bags for school the next day. Before Julius could bound upstairs, Jodie stopped him.
“You’re not mad at me, right? You know I’ll always have your back.” With a cautious smile, she added, “you‘re my BFF after all.“
Julius was taken aback. “Your best friend? Me?”
“Of course you, you big grump! You‘re my big bro!“ Jodie beamed, then pulled Julius into a bear hug.
The empty barn had been a reminder of the horses and their former owner that were now all gone, so Icarus was glad to see it being given a new purpose. Construction was quick—but not as quick as Ralph turning in his resignation at the newspaper.
Apparently impressed by Ralph‘s work at the festival, Dorothy Darnell brought in her grandson Kenny as the first charge of Ralph‘s daycare.
Word traveled fast and soon Ralph had two toddlers in his care. As to not see his best friend outnumbered by a horde of goblins, Icarus often stepped in to help.
“I haven‘t had this much fun in years,“ Icarus laughed.
Ralph was almost too tired to move, but he turned his head to beam at his best friend, “I was worried I‘d gone into some crazy midlife crisis, quitting my job at the paper to start a daycare—who does that? But this has been one of the best decisions I‘ve made in my life.“
Icarus smiled back. “I‘m so glad we‘re doing this.”
“Thanks for asking me to move in,” Ralph said, “In a parallel universe I‘m sitting in a shoddy rental, my back aching from a day spent hunched over the computer at work—“
“And instead your back is aching from chasing toddlers all day,“ Icarus finished for him with a grin.
“Here, let me,“ Icarus put his hand on Ralph‘s shoulder and dug a thumb into the tense muscle, eliciting a contented groan from Ralph.
Icarus had never known Ralph to be particularly athletic, so he was surprised at the size and firmness of his shoulders. He could feel their warmth even through the thick fabric of the jacket. A pleasant shiver ran down Icarus‘ spine. He pulled back his hand. The two of them locked eyes.
“Sure thing, dude.“ Cringe. Icarus felt his ears grow hot. What was going on? He‘d never been this awkward around Ralph before.
Both of them leaned back into the couch and looked at everything but at each other for a while. The sun was slowly setting behind them, casting shadows that danced over the dark wooden floorboards. A garden gnome sat motionless in front of the TV, seemingly waiting for it to turn on.
“I wonder sometimes,” Icarus finally broke the silence, “about that parallel universe you were talking about.“
“Hm?”
“Like in Llama Man issue 158?” Ralph rubbed his chin, thoughtful for a moment. “I hope you‘re not thinking about turning back time by spinning the planet backwards like he did in the movie adaptation.“
A grin started to form on Icarus‘ face. “Maybe I am, but according to a certain killjoy, it wouldn‘t work—”
“It would disintegrate the planet and everyone on it!“
“It looked badass!“ Icarus protested.
After their laughter ebbed out, Ralph said quietly, “Well, in this universe…I‘m glad you stayed—sorry, is that selfish?“
Icarus smiled and shook his head, "Actually, you were a big factor in my decision to stay. I don‘t think I could live happily ever after in a universe where I‘m apart from you."
“So corny,“ Ralph said as he moved in for a kiss.
_________
Writing romance is HARD. Oof.
It’s a Second Chance roll!
Icarus‘ roll was not only Second Chance, but Perfect Match/Opposites Attract. I‘ve been monitoring the population since he was born and trying to find not one, but two sims that either shared a trait or had a conflicting trait. There were a few options, including Ralph‘s ex-wife Lena. She was a strong contender, always trying to flirt with Icarus... Then again, she flirted with half the town.
Icarus' traits are Couch Potato, Supernatural Fan, Bookworm, Easily Impressed and Brave.
Amy shared the Couch Potato trait, and as I mentioned previously, her Supernatural Skeptic conflicted with Icarus‘ Supernatural Fan. In hindsight, I would‘ve liked to make their conflicting traits a bigger factor in their breakup. But since their lives are so decidedly mundane, I think I mostly planned for them to argue about hypotheticals…I have a few screenshots of Amy frowning at various gnomes, but so much time passed that I sort of forgot what I wanted for them. Amy came to me with the Fashion Phenomenon lifetime wish, so that ended up being the main inspiration for her dissatisfaction.
Ralph has a whopping 3 traits in common with Icarus: Supernatural Fan, Easily Impressed and Bookworm. He‘s also Artistic and Hates the Outdoors. (I realize now that I‘ve been writing Ralph more like a snob rather than easily impressed. Ah well.)
I got the vibe from them back when they were teens, but then they kinda dropped it, annnnd suddenly there it is again. They're a cute couple. :)
ReplyDeleteHow is the babysitter job? I never did it, it sounded so bad. You need to leave a review!
Surprisingly, the daycare is not so bad! I remember thinking it would be chaos after trying it once in the past, but maybe nraas mods are fixing whatever problems there were with it.
DeleteWhen you hover the cursor over the toddlers, the game tells you what they need. “Kenny would like to be having more fun right now.”, “Kenny is a little hungry.” etc. I’m trying to be somewhat hands-off because of the idle careers roll (not my favorite roll!) and Ralph is doing a pretty good job caring for the kids autonomously.
Sometimes he leaves them alone to go read or paint in the main house and they have been fine. It certainly helps having a room full of toys to keep them occupied! I put bookshelves and an easel in the barn for Ralph, but I guess he wants his peace and quiet…
Ralph didn’t get to run his daycare for too many days yet. He gets weekends off, and of course Fridays for seasonal holidays. And, spoilers, then he got time off for getting married.
He befriended the kids really easily, which is one of the parameters for job performance. His first set of toddlers aged up though, so Ralph will have to start over with new ones soon.
The only mildly annoying thing is that the parents drop off their kids in the main house and I end up having to carry each one into the barn. I don’t want to make the barn door the lot’s front door though. So if you ever end up playing this career, make sure your daycare space is by the house’s front door! And maybe without stairs leading up.
So it does just use kids from around the town? That's a relief, I thought it would just spawn pudding faces. Maybe I'll let myself try it sometime. I'm running out of careers I haven't tried yet.
DeleteIn my game it used kids from around town, yes! And they're brought in by actual family members that live with them. Though I imagine the game might spawn some if there aren't enough children. The sims in my game breed like rabbits so there were plenty to choose from!
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