A Very Moodici Engagement

You might recall that, a while ago, Holly seemed a bit lonely:

Her mother wants her to get married.  Her father wants her to get married.  And then she painted this:

Okay, we get the idea, Holly.  Let’s find you someone.  I opened up her friends panel and just went down the list till we found someone eligible.  Prestige isn’t all that matters, no matter what Vita and Nick might want for their dynasty.  In any case, prestige isn’t really what you get from a peasant farming town like Riverview.  There are some nice farms here.  Why don’t you visit one?

Maximus McDermott is one of Holly’s best friends.  Having split up from his terrible girlfriend at our suggestion recently, he’s single.  He’s the first son of one of the premier farming families in Riverview.  Why not him?  (A plus is that he has a Latin word for a name!  That would fit in with our Italian theme!  Yes, we are petty!)

His mom Ginny seems to like her so far:

…and dresses rather elegantly for a town that favors overalls.

The key lime pie that Holly brought with her blends right in with the decor:

So much green.  Just not of the sort that Nick and Vita like so much.

“But I could live with this.”

You sure, Holly?  Sure the wallpaper isn’t a bit too much like something out of the Shining?

Take a closer look, Holly.  Really scrutinize this before you rush in:

And make sure Max is aware of and prepared for the politics in this family:

And don’t fall for every little bit of flattery:

And check out his reputation in town:

Town gossipers: “Look at that piece of trailer trash that just arrived!  The nerve!”

Holly: “He’s not trash!  Delete that trash talk!  I’ve made up my mind.”

Okay, here goes.  Holly rests her knee on the red cobblestone of the front courtyard.

 

All Hail Vita

It started like any other day for the Vice President.  She went to work in her limo…

…and emerged from City Hall as Leader of the Free World!  Lifetime Wish achieved!  But I suspect that instead of Hail to the Chief, or Hail Britannia, a more suitable fanfare for her would be the Darth Vader theme.

As Leader of the Free World, Vita can dress however she wants to for work.  She doesn’t give a toss about whatever the media will say about her wardrobe choices.

She’s got other priorities.  Making some important phone calls here:

“Hello, Vinnie?  Hiya, I want you to go take care of someone…Several, actually.  Let’s see, how ’bout that Repo-Sim who took my valuable statue a few days ago…Whaddaya mean it’s not in your jurisdiction?  Hello?  Hello?”

“Yeah hi.  I’d like to order to go…Geoffrey Landgraab’s head on a platter…No, this is not a prank…Do you know who I am?  I’m Leader of the Free World!  Can you hear me now?  Hello?”

“Hi, Sunset Valley?  I’m buying your entire town…Why not?  Did the Landgraabs get to you?  Hello?”

Perhaps the reception is bad, Madam Leader.  Try again in a few moments?

Despite all her evil schemes, Vita’s really a nice lady, I swear.  While Nick still autonomously tries to Argue with everyone he meets, Vita’s default interaction now is to Debate Politics.

Never mind that she’s still in her nightie.  See what we said about not giving a toss earlier?  She wears what she likes!

Her husband Nick is still a Henchman, though.  It’ll be a while yet before he can be Emperor of Evil.

It doesn’t help that he got arrested for the first time:

While the police were booking him, they confiscated his items.  Apparently they thought he would try to escape by using his High School Diploma!  Police incompetence, or is this a real security threat thing?  Can’t tell these days, such a scary world…

Believe it or not, she is ecstatic when doing her victory roar:

I figured that we should get a nice family photo to commemorate Vita’s rise to power.  However, the children wouldn’t cooperate.  It seems that they want their parents out of the way.

Be careful what you wish for, kids.  Don’t you know who you’re messin’ with?

Holly

A while back, when there wasn’t much to do, Holly had signed up to become a daycare professional.  Clients would not be coming over for a few days, however, and by the time they showed up we had forgotten about the job.  Thus, observe this desolate and thoroughly uninviting daycare center:

Daycare work in the Sims 3 game is a chore.  So much of a chore that it harkens back to the tedium of Sims 2 gameplay.  You have to keep clicking and checking.  Not fun.  Holly found it so devoid of interest that she just slept through the thing.  Most of the work was done by some non-Moodici Sims who were staying over (actually, they were temporary lodgers—of which, more later).

Anyway, here’s some more of Holly’s not-so-great babysitting prowess:

“Geez, sis, just go to the bathroom!”

(To be fair, I know she in fact had been diligently reading to Niccolo but I was too late with the camera.)

And so Papa takes over the night’s reading duties.

“Thanks, Dad.  You sure are doing a heckuva better job being a daddy to Niccolo than you were to me!”
“Ho ho ho.  Now why don’t you go meet a husband.”

As it happened, there were many newcomers to the town.  Nick and Vita are pretty busy with their careers, so it fell to Holly to go around welcoming them to the town.  Here’s one of them, who happened to move into a property that the Moodicis had been thinking of buying (dammit!  oh well, we’ll just have to evict him later…muscle him out of town…).

Other guys are already friends of the family and long-time residents of the town.  Here’s Maximus, a son of the farming family McDermott:

He was such good friends with Vita that the family invited him to move in for a while.  At the moment he moved in he got a girlfriend (I think the game just assigns relationships like that)…with whom he was not on very good terms.  A red relationship bar with the girlfriend.  C’mon!  Even Sims don’t need such crap.

He happened to run into her in town.  Swift action:

There.

As anxious as Holly’s parents are to see her married, they won’t accept just any ol’ Sim as their son-in-law.  They therefore have set up a program where they invite certain single Sims like Maximus above to move in for a trial period.  The bonus of this cheat-free scheme is that the family can earn extra legit cash; consider it the fee.

There are quite a few single Sims in town now–perhaps enough to start a reality show.  Holly Bachelorette.  Might as well, because whenever we throw a party it turns into a “let’s give Holly flowers” party.

“Thank you for the flowers, but I won’t marry people who refuse to take their shoes off indoors!”

Niccolo’s Birthday

Happy birthday, Niccolo!  The guests were around but were too shy to join the photo.  And how rude of Vita not to remember to turn the phone off during this moment.

Oh dear; I guess this child has turned cross-eyed.

And what is up with this hair?  Looks like a cross between an owl and an artichoke:

But this is how the game envisions age transitions.

Innocent little Niccolo is unaware that his parents are already scheming for his future:

He seems to get along quite well with his sister, though:

“Look who’s been invited to your party, Niccolo: Sadako!”

Just look at these Sims.  One of the guests went right up to Vita and presented her with flowers, much to the displeasure of his wife STANDING RIGHT THERE but gracious enough to hold in an outburst for the sake of the birthday boy.  As far as I know this game has not been programmed with “open marriages” in mind, but these Sims sure are generous with random flirtatious actions.

Of course, this guy’s got nothing on dear old Nick, so he shouldn’t get his hopes up.  Besides, Vice President Vita is way out of his league.

After the party, another one of those spontaneous visitors showed up.  He’s Sherman Bagley, a member of a local family of thieves.  He wandered around the house, invited Vita to move in with him (guys, the lady’s not interested!), and even started lounging in Niccolo’s bed…all the while wailing about his ma’s death:

He ended up staying the night!  I was about to kick him out of the house when suddenly—he ran:

He seems to have a song stuck in his head (“laa la laa…don’t you know that I’m TOXIC”).

Just Another Day

When Holly came home after a night of busking in the park, there was a visitor in the front loggia.  There have been random loiterers near the house since the first day the family moved in (is this a glitchy thing or is this how the game works?).  Nick or Vita usually approach strangers in a hostile way, but Holly introduced herself and invited this one in.

The guy went straight to the room where little Niccolo was sleeping, picked up the baby, and wandered around the house.  I worried that he might kidnap Niccolo (I’ve heard that visitors sometimes kidnap babies in this game–what an unnecessary instance of art imitating life).

Just what does he think he’s doing?

The guy had stayed long enough.  As soon as Nick came down I had him chase off the unwanted visitor.

“Hi, I’m Nick de’ Medici.  Now scram!”

And then Nick went off to work.  With his career being what it is, he shuffled out from the side entrance obscured by trees.

When he came home, he had a new uniform.  Vita approved.

With his promotion bonus, he decided to buy a partnership share in a corporation in the industrial part of town.  Signing the papers made him so happy he burst into song right on the sidewalk outside the building and with a guitar no one’d seen him carrying.

Dear Geoffrey

Dear Geoffrey:

HA!  The joke’s on you!  You thought that we wouldn’t survive outside of Sunset Valley, but we are rocking it here!

First off, I swiftly landed my dream job in the Criminal career!  They said in addition to my overqualifications, I look the part so I could have the job on the spot!

After a good day’s work, I get to come home to a gorgeous palazzo facing the main park!

 

Holly and Vita love it here too!  Holly just had a great 18th birthday!

We got her a new bedroom remodel for a present!

And guess what!  There’s even more of your least favorite dynasty: 

It’s a boy!  Niccolo was born Artistic and Friendly and will surely be the death of you and your wretched kind!  

Plus Holly graduated!  With Honor!  And everyone voted her Most Artistic!

(and Most Starving?–No!)  Look at ’em awards!

 

She’s now the most talented, eligible young lady in SimNation!  Totally in a different league from your Malcolm!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I must go and continue being so awesome!

Slugs and disses,

Nick de’ Moodici

PS:  Ha!  You fool!

The Birth of a Dynasty

As with any beginning, the start of the Moodici dynasty came with the end of something else: after the bad blood between them and the Landgraabs boiled over, the Altos were exiled from Sunset Valley. With the gates of Sunset now closed to them, the only locale accepting of the wretched family was a small rural town at the end of the long highway.

Nick Alto looks at what he’s leaving behind.

Nick does a farewell jig in front of his mansion.

Come on, Holly. The taxi’s here!

The Alto mansion, deserted.

The long journey begins. For all their riches, the Altos chose to move in a taxicab.

Calm down, Nick. I doubt the Landgraabs would follow you here.

They found the ruins of an old cloister on a small island in the main river. It was better than nothing. They would build their new home here.

Vita contemplates her new home.

Even in their last moments in Sunset, Nick had been bitterly festering for another fight with the Landgraab patriarch.  Once in the new town, however, he had to erase all memory of Sunset.  Instead, he decided to visit the local gym–where he focused on picking fights with his new neighbors.

Vita, on the other hand, was feeling more gregarious.  She wished to become good friends with someone in the new town, invite someone over, have a party…all this in spite of her snobbish and evil nature.

But first things first.  Nick and Vita headed over to the town hall.  When they emerged a few moments later, they had changed.  They were now the Moodicis.

Look at ’em scheme.

Jeez, guys, you still have half a million simoleons left in your savings.

Some things don’t change, though; Nick, after barely pausing to contemplate his new plans, went over to argue with a little girl outside the town hall.  Vita walked right into a gathering protest.  Maybe the protesters knew something she didn’t.  (Nick has a long-harbored secret dream of joining the life of crime…perhaps he will act on it soon.)

Infinity? Zorro? Carnival?

While all this was happening, Holly had gone to explore the town on her own.  She’d already been dragged into this move with her family, so she might as well enjoy her freedom…in her little goody little two shoes way.  She got a job at the bookstore and took a guitar class.

Holly and her mother hadn’t gotten along very well in their previous life.  Here they seem to be doing all right.

Let’s hope things pick up for this family.  After all, the sun’s set and they still don’t have a roof.