The Clearys - Round 2

Starring:

Aisling Cleary, Elder Romance Sim, LTW Have 20 Simultaneous Lovers

Roisin Cleary, Elder Popularity Sim, LTW Have 20 Simultaneous Pet Best Friends

Colm Cleary, Adult Popularity Sim, LTW Have 20 Simultaneous Best Friends

Caitlin Cleary, Teen Family Sim, LTW Graduate 3 Children From College

Fiona Cleary, Teen Family Sim, LTW Raise 20 Puppies or Kittens


Tara Cleary, Child Romance Sim, LTW Grow Up Well

~*~*~*~*~

Last week at the Cleary house, Colm got a job in the Adventurer career track; Tara grew up well from a toddler into a child; Aisling began working on maxing out her cooking skill; and the rest of the family helped keep this massive household under control while occasionally meeting new people, earning skills, and doing homework. Will they start to settle into something of a normal pattern as Fall transitions into Winter? Let's see.

The Cleary family worked a lot on trying to become more skilled in various areas. Aisling particularly enjoyed practicing her (awful) singing skills in between hours spent watching The Yummy Channel and trying out new recipes.


Caitlin had a sudden urge to become as logical as possible, so Colm splurged and bought her both a telescope (for solitary science and logic activity at night) and a cheap outdoor chess table that he figured the girls could both use, and during the day.


Tara wasn't much concerned with her logic skills...at least not as much as she was with being super active all the time. Tara LOVES jump roping. She could often be found outside jump roping at all times of night in the middle of bitter cold nights, despite Colm and her grans' warnings that she would catch her death outside.


The chess table quickly became a favorite with all members of the family, but especially with the girls.


Whenever Fiona couldn't find her sister, she knew that all she had to do was walk out back to find her plotting away in the freezing cold, playing both sides of the board in what Fiona thought was a futile activity. "I don't get it, Cait," she admitted, hands on hips. "How can you stand playing when no one else is around?" Caitlin merely shrugged and kept focusing on the board, tip of her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth in concentration.


Roisin herself took a liking to fixing things around the house. It was an unusual hobby for an old lady, she knew, but if she could read a book and figure out how to fix things, it would save the family a lot of money in repairman bills. Besides, Colm was gone all day at work, so the women of the house had to pick up some of the slack of manly tasks to be done.


Much like her Gran Roisin, Fiona took an interest in tinkering and anything mechanical, so Colm gifted her with a toymaking bench she'd begged for. "So Tara has her telescope and you have your bench," he said, kissing his delighted daughter on the forehead before she ran up to start tapping away.


One day while Tara was outside, jump roping as usual, she spotted a girl with similar red hair and the exact same raincoat. "Hey!" Tara yelled, always the outgoing one with no fear. "I'm Tara. Who are you?" she called, thrusting her hand out to the girl. Her name was Amber McArthur, and she lived in the neighborhood. After a while playing, Tara decided Amber was too girly, and Tara unceremoniously said goodbye to her. Tara couldn't take these girly girls. She'd rather jump rope or play kickball.


Later that afternoon, when Tara had stolen her Gran Roisin for a game of catch to replace the insufficient Amber, Roisin spotted a beautiful young redhead walking down the sidewalk. For a moment, she felt her heart rise to her throat because the woman looked so much like her lost daughter. Roisin couldn't help but go greet her. "I'm Roisin Cleary," she said, warmly gripping the beautiful young woman's hand with her old, wrinkled one. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Cleary," the woman said politely, "I'm Michelle Tse." The two chatted on the front lawn for quite a while, despite the cold.



While at work that day, Colm had a tough decision to make, and he was relieved to have chosen wisely, leading to a promotion at work. He arrived home in very bright spirits.


Not only would he make more money now, but he brought home a bonus that would help recuperate some of the money he'd spent on treats for the girls.


He found Michelle Tse still there, and though her outfit was strange, the girl inside it was attractive. Glancing questioningly at Roisin, he saw his mother-in-law wink at him and wave him toward Michelle, herself slipping inside.


He didn't feel he was ready for a another relationship yet; he preferred to immerse himself in work and his girls. But he didn't want to be rude, and he had to admit that she was more than attractive: she was beautiful.



Not only that, she was personable and good-natured and had a great sense of humor. All of these things were things Colm knew he needed in his life. He admitted to himself that he had a little bit of a crush on her.


It didn't hurt that she gave him a goodbye peck on the lips...his first kiss since his wife had passed away. It made him feel simultaneously guilty and giddy, and he walked inside craving the normalcy of his family.


Fortunately, the girls hadn't seen anything, and he found Fiona at the kitchen table, eating another of Aisling's delicious creations. "How was work, da?" Fiona asked, popping a bite of salad into her mouth.


Caitlin joined them a moment later, and they all discussed Colm's promotion and all the new friends they were making in the neighborhood. "I'm glad we moved here, Da," Fiona said seriously, and Colm smiled. "Me too, Fi, me too."


That night, Colm dreamt of his children...and ones he had yet to have.


In the morning, he felt the weirdness from the night before melt in the face of the normalcy of a family breakfast, and soon, Colm went off for work while the girls headed to school. Aisling and Roisin always enjoyed their quiet days alone together.


It offered them opportunities like meeting people their own age...


They were never sad to see the girls come home, though, especially when it was with A+ report cards.



Fiona and Caitlin had shorter days than their da and Tara, but they all had a good cheer for their fantastic grades when Colm got home.


Of course, Tara was coming to show that she had more talents than just being a bright student. All that jump roping had made her lean and fast as a greyhound and strong as a tiger cub. She was constantly winning in sporting events, something that Colm bittersweetly recognized as something she inherited from her mother, a former award-winning swimmer on her university's swim team.


The girls were doing so well at school that Roisin spoke with Colm and got permission to invite the local headmaster over. Between Aisling feeding him better than he could be at any restaurant downtown and her wily Irish ways of persuasion, she knew the girls would be a shoe-in for the prestigious academy.


The headmaster seemed impressed enough with the house and receptive enough to the briefest of shmoozing Roisin buttered him up with before dinner.



As Roisin predicted, after Aisling's meal, it was practically a done deal. The headmaster of the Rosebud Academy accepted all three girls with a curt congratulations and a satisfied burp.


Colm came home that night with a friend from work, Hyun Straight. Colm knew that Hyun was an important man in his office...one who could definitely have a positive influence in terms of Colm's career...and they spent some time playing chess, then eating some of the salmon left over from the headmaster visit.


In the meantime, the rest of the house chugged along as usual. Tara was on her own, outside doing fancy rope tricks with her jump rope until Colm had to yell at her to go to bed.


Roisin and Aisling, meanwhile, sat down to chat and watch The Yummy Channel some more. Not that Aisling needed to get any more skilled, Roisin teased her. "You've already made me fat, old woman," she joked, patting her filled-out stomach, then settling happily back into the couch next to her, pleased for this female companionship in her later days.

The next day was a snow day, much to the delight of all three girls, and even to Aisling and Roisin, who were feeling the pull of old age starting to slow them down and craved close companionship with their granddaughters.



Everyone spent a long morning sleeping in and tooling about in their pajamas, but Colm needed to get fit for work. He found that he sometimes lagged behind the other explorers, huffing and puffing a bit...thanks in part to the extra few pounds Aisling's cuisine had packed on his middle section as well.


Of course, Tara didn't stay in bed as long as the rest of them, active little butterfly she was. Instead, she was outside making a snow angel when a boy she didn't know walked by. Of course, she had to introduce herself to Aki Tanaka, who it turned out was a recent transplant to Rosebud as well. She liked him a LOT better than Amber. Aki and she had a snowball fight and played tag AND played red hands.


Colm went to work that afternoon, not as lucky to have a snow day, but feeling confident and happy. It worked out well, as he was called on to make another tough decision about the history of the Landgraab family mystery. Despite the natural Irish tendency toward superstition, Colm was a bit more removed from the old country to imagine himself trying to peddle a gypsy's prediction as truth to his scientifically-minded colleagues.


It turned out he chose wisely, and that evening, he came home with the much-deserved promotion he worked so hard at achieving. He also brought Hyun Straight home again (who was still a little blue from the hours spent outdoors playing chess the night before).


Feeling bad for keeping the poor man out until he was nearly frozen (and also secretly bucking for a promotion), Colm offered to buy Hyun dinner downtown at the swanky Londoste.


They sat down in front of a fire and played chess for a while before sitting down to a delicious dinner, talking all the while about work and a bit about their home lives. By the end of the night, both men had enjoyed one another's companionship to the utmost. Colm hoped, as he said goodnight to Hyun, that it might be enough to eke out a promotion.


While he was away, the girls enjoyed spending some more time with their grans. The girls too noticed a difference in Aisling and Roisin lately...how they were moving a little bit slower and getting a little easier confused. After so much death, they hated to imaging losing the only female figures they had left in their lives, but both Tara and Fiona understood that in all likelihood, their grans wouldn't still be of this world by the time they got back from college.


That night, unable to sleep with such thoughts, Fiona worked at making more toys on her toy bench and managed to earn a bronze toymaking badge.


The next day, the kids went off to school, not lucky enough to have a second snow day. When they came home, Tara brought Nerissa Chan with her, a young lady that everyone in the family seemed taken with from the moment they met her.



Tara especially loved her new friend; they hung out practically the entire evening.


Leo Wilkie had stopped by to see Aisling again...or maybe just to play with their chess table, though he was disappointed to see it was occupied. Tara and Nerissa enjoyed a game of Mary Mack. "You're the funnest girl EVER," Tara assured Nerissa before the other girl had to go home.


That night, Aisling decided to make a special dinner for no particular reason. She simply felt as though it were a perfect time to celebrate their family exactly as they were, at that moment. While she could still cook well and lug a twenty pound turkey, Aisling wanted to make them a traditional home-cooked meal.

After slaving in the kitchen, she sat down to glance at the television and found that she'd truly become a master chef.


The plaque the local culinary interest group gifted her got prominently displayed over her bed so she could always be reminded of this accomplishment.



Tara found that with her growing mechanical skills and tinkering interest, she could do little things around the house that others couldn't - like fixing the tub when it broke or attempting to fix the computer.


That day at school, Tara gained a creativity point thanks to all the talent she got as a child at her activity desk. Tara didn't think much of it...she'd always been a bit of a wunderkind, and she took her accomplishments in stride. If she wasn't hell on wheels by the time she turned into a teenager, it would be a miracle.



When Fiona and Caitlin arrived home from school one day, Fiona happened to spot a blonde girl about their age walking down the street. Fiona greeted her when the girl smiled and waved. Her name was Meadow Thayer - a name Fiona thought she recognized from Caitlin talking about her secret "maybe boyfriend" Paolo Vinci. Meadow seemed a little too uptight for Fiona...or something. Fiona couldn't put her finger on it, but she didn't dislike the girl...just didn't particularly connect with her.

Roisin was oblivious that the girls even had company, engaged as she was with the new piano she and Aisling had pitched in together to buy. It was an impulsive purchase, but one that made both old women happy, so they both considered it absolutely worth the price. Aisling and Roisin were becoming less conscious of what the girls were doing; the twins and Tara pretty much handled themselves anymore.


All the hard work Colm went to the night before in spending time with Hyun paid off, and he come that day with another promotion and another bonus. He wasn't typically a career-minded guy, but he knew that he had a huge family to support, and it was essential for him to make his way up the ladder as quickly as possible, so he could make enough money to support everyone on just his single salary.

Fiona went inside, leaving Meadow outside with the chess board, where she was occupied, and found her sister Caitlin putting away a book on fire safety. "Bored?" Fiona teased. "I just thought it would be a good thing to know," Caitlin explained with a shrug, as Fiona pulled out two plates of leftover dinner for them.


After the girls ate, it was time, they all realized, for Tara to grow up from a child into a teen. Aisling whipped out a birthday cake she'd made for the little girl, and they all gathered around (including Meadow) to blow noise makers and cheer on Tara as she grew up.


She grew up well, of course, as she knew she would, and as everyone else knew as well.

Tara Cleary, Teen Romance Sim, LTW Have 20 Simultaneous Lovers

Over cake, Fiona asked Caitlin in hushed tones about Meadow. "Wasn't she the one you said Paolo knows?" Fiona asked suspiciously. Her loyalty to Caitlin was fierce, and she knew that Caitlin was threatened by the blonde girl, though neither of them knew what had transpired between Paolo and Meadow thus far. "Yes, that's her," Caitlin said, eyes narrowing.


As she cleaned up the cake plates, Caitlin glared at the blonde, thinking, I'M marrying him, you hussy, so don't even think about trying it. Maybe it was the red hair coming out, but Caitlin wasn't having her potential boyfriend stolen by ANYONE. Especially not some bottle blonde.


Fiona got even for her sister's honor in her own tricky ways.



And later that night, both of the girls packed their belongings and headed off to college with scholarships for their good grades and dancing ability. It would be different living in a place where everyone was their age, but the girls were ready for it and had one another. They would take Sim State and handle it with flying colors, they knew.


Next up, we'll see how Santiago and his grandchildren are doing on Snapdragon Street!

~*~*~*~*~

Scoring:

Bronze toymaking badge (Fiona): no points

Culinary hobby plaque (Aisling): +1


[[Author's Notes: This house makes me a little crazy. I love all the sims in it, but when I have this many sims in a house, I feel like I can't concentrate on any of them the way they deserve. I sort of end up playing this family in groups: the twins, Colm and Tara, and the grandmothers. It's unsatisfying for me to play this way because I want to come up with interesting stories for all of them and feel as though I neglect the Clearys a bit due to the number of people in the house.

As for Aisling and Roisin, since they both have crazy-ass LTWs, I decided not to go for them, which means they were perilously near death when it came time for Tara's birthday. I had them both get to platinum and have a swig of the ole elixir so they wouldn't die during her birthday party, just 'cause I'm not really down with the whole, "Yay, I'm a teenager!!!!! Hey, is Gran okay?" line of play.

Caitlin and Fiona legitimately did not get along well with Meadow, which I thought was funny and too good to pass up as a storyline. Tara really does tend to play autonomously most of the time, not really caring to interact with other people so long as she has her jump rope and someone to toss a football with once in a while (her natural hobby interest is sports).

Randomly, too: WTF is with this family and their 20-20-20-20-20-20-20-20-20-20 LTWS? Seriously! 20 lovers, 20 pet bfs, 20 (human) bfs, 20 pups or kittens, and 20 lovers AGAIN. Hatez.

Um...I don't think there's anything else other than the fact that I believe everyone should download the mp3 for this round because (a) Paddy Casey is a brilliant Irish songwriter (b) His cover of Grandma's Hands/No Diggity is the bomb, yo, and pleases me with it's grandmotherly theme, which sort of fits this entry. Cheers!

P.S. If anyone has an interest in modern Irish bands/singers, I've got a crap-ton of great Dublin buskers, moody alcoholic singer-songwriters, and Norn Iron power bands!]]

This Entry's MP3 (Actually an MP4, FYI):
Grandma's Hands/No Diggity by Paddy Casey feat. the Dublin Gospel Choir (from the album Even Better Than The Real Thing Vol. 2)

Bloopers:
What happens when you leave sims with two bolts unattended: Wait, what!? // Bringing new meaning to the concept of inhaling your food. // Is that really appropriate conversational fodder for your granddaughter? // Look, a Leocicle! // Uhh..nice outfit, Hyun.

And finally: Fiona was in the bathroom, cleaning the toilet, when this popup showed on the screen. She's extremely inventive with her toilet scrubbing methods.