The Vincis (B) - Round 4

[[No family picture, sorry]]

Starring:

Enzo Vinci, Adult Fortune Sim, LTW Become Head of SCIA


Fiona Vinci, Adult Family Sim, LTW Raise 20 Puppies or Kittens


Imelda Vinci, Child Knowledge Sim, LTW Grow Up Well

~*~*~*~*~

Last time we saw the Vinci family, they were living in a house on campus with their brother and sister, Paolo and Caitlin. Fiona accidentally got pregnant with Imelda, but it only sped up the plans Fiona and Enzo already had to get married. She was born and spent the first years of her life in the house on campus while her parents finished their degrees. Now they're back in Rosebud in a duplex they share with Paolo and Caitlin. How will home life treat them?

Now that Imelda was a bit older, she and Fiona found they got along quite well. Imelda knew from being at school that her parents were a lot younger and more fun than most parents of kids her age. She told Fiona pretty much everything about her life, and Fiona wasn't an over-bearing finger-waggler the way a lot of parents were.

She was even the kind of cool mom who let them get a pet. Fiona asked Imelda whether she would like to have a puppy or a kitten, and Imelda immediately answered, "KITTEN!" with such excitement that Fiona thought one of her ear drums might have burst. So she called animal control and asked to adopt a kitten, which was delivered by Officer Stratton later that day.


The tiny female kitten seemed impossibly small to Fiona, but the pale tan color inspired Imelda when it came to naming their new pet: Imelda named her Pumpkin.



Mother and daughter alike loved the new addition to their house. Poor Pumpkin could hardly get a moment to play or sleep because Mom or Daughter were constantly snuggling the fluffy little bundle. Imelda seemed to have a natural instinct with animals like her mother, though Fiona did take care to show Imelda the proper ways to hold and play with the kitten.



Enzo got a job almost immediately in the intelligence career track. He had made some contacts during college that helped him get involved with local law enforcement, and his reputation for being efficient, intelligent, and intuitive earned him a spot low on the food chain but in the right place. It may take years, but Enzo knew he could work his way up. Especially when he had such a great family to come home to every night, a hot meal always on the table thanks to Fiona. She took to being a stay-at-home mom like a duck takes to water.


Imelda and Fiona definitely spoiled the tiny Pumpkin, getting him a bed that was ten times his size. "Princess Pumpkin," as Imelda often deemed the kitten, was getting more attention than any one kitty should get.


Fiona, when she wasn't taking care of Imelda and Pumpkin, found ways to occupy her time and interests. Enzo had found her an old junker car at her request. "I like to tinker," she reasoned with him, "and haven't had much of a chance too since I lived with Dad. We need a car eventually, and if I can fix one up, it'll kill two birds with one stone: it will save us money, and I'll learn how to do it. Maybe can do it on the side for money?" Enzo couldn't argue her logic and, in fact, found the idea of his pretty wife being a grease monkey adorable. So Fiona got her junker, and she spent a lot of afternoons in the garage tinkering with it.


Imelda, while her mother did various things around the house, had her own agenda. She did everything full-tilt, whether it was schoolwork, making friends, or playing. She tired easily and could often be found after a vigorous afternoon of play asleep on the couch in front of the tv.



Pumpkin grew swiftly into an adult cat, and her looks changed somewhat, but she still maintained her sweet disposition and bright mind. Fiona found it was easy to teach her new things, and they hardly EVER had problems with her. She was the perfect housepet.



Imelda, thanks to her mom's tutelage, began exceeding in school, coming home with A+ report cards almost every day. Her Great Grandma Roisin even sent her some money for doing such a great job!


Imelda truly flourished in their new home. She brought home new friends constantly, in part because she was so outgoing. One of the friends she brought home was her mother's half-brother Neal. Imelda wasn't sure what that made her in relation to Neal (her half-uncle?), but she didn't care much. He was nice, and he let her talk about herself and her friends at school and her cat endlessly for hours, seemingly content to let her ramble. This was important to Imelda, as she definitely had an only-child princess sort of complex.


She didn't let her social life interfere with her studies, though. Imelda wanted to know EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING. She was bright and devoured information like it was going out of style.


Sure, she might have lorded her superior knowledge over her classmates (just a little), but Fiona and Enzo were pleased she was so focused. Fiona often stopped in to check on Imelda's progress on her assignments and offered encouragement and help when it was needed.



Enzo found he was more than cut out for the intelligence career. In the world of "my gun is bigger than yours," Enzo knew just how to be diplomatic and not step on toes. He knew that as a newbie, he had to be humble until he got some clout, had to prove himself to his superiors.


His superiors noticed, and he received his first promotion shortly after starting at the agency. Enzo wasn't sure what was better: the exciting work, the success of promotions, or the money. He truly loved his job.


Enzo often spent his evenings (after Imelda and Fiona went to bed) searching out hunches on the cases he was working on in his tiny office. He was definitely becoming a workaholic, but he wasn't an absentee father. He and Fiona frequently cuddled in bed together...even if Enzo was telling her about interesting things that happened at work that day. It was alright - Fiona knew a few ways to shut him up effectively.



Now that Pumpkin had grown into a well-behaved adult cat, Fiona felt the need to add to their family again. She called the pet adoption service again and shortly after, a tiny male kitten they dubbed Cinnamon [[I think]] arrived. In the back of her head, Fiona couldn't help but think what cute kittens he and Pumpkin might make one day.



The kitten quickly made itself at home, immediately falling upon the new pet pillow they bought for him and falling into a deep sleep.


Imelda brought home a friend from school that day, another neighborhood child: Aurélie Beaumont. In the flimsy way children formed attachments to one another, Aurélie and Imelda decided that they should be best friends. After all, they were both pretty, pretty princesses, and they could talk about the stupid boys in their classes together and complain about their mean, ugly old teachers together.


Of course, even though they were definitely the darling little girls in their homes, they still enjoyed some boyish things from time to time, tossing a softball together in the front yard most of the afternoon.


Imelda's energy was truly boundless. She seemed to need less sleep than anyone else in the house and either stayed up late because she couldn't fall asleep or woke up far too early. Either way, she entertained herself well, playing with the telescope in the back yard or playing with Pumpkin.


She spent so much time with Pumpkin that she even managed to teach him to sit up. It was with no small amount of pride that she showed her mother the cat's new trick the next morning.


Pumpkin on her own much preferred something more fun than sitting up like a dog. Something like watching tiny creatures scurrying all over the moving picture box in the green room. But she endured the lessons nobly and learned many skills under the tutelage of Fiona and Imelda.



As for Cinnamon, he seemed to be afraid to come off of his tiny pet pillow. The picture box and the noise machine always seemed to be going, frequently with his people moving around wildly. He wasn't sure what was going on most of the time, but his humans seemed nice enough, he supposed.



Enzo continued to have good luck at work, seemingly every week something going right. Enzo had the gift of being both a man's man and a ladies' man, a duality that served him as well at home as it did at work. His ability to take care of his "beautiful girls" and handle all the egos swirling around the office gave him a growing confidence that he'd found his niche in the world.

Things were going so well, and Imelda was working so far ahead of her classmates in school that Fiona decided it was time to take the next step up: getting Imelda into private school. Not only would the Rosebud Academy challenge her academically more, but it would look better on a resumé. Fiona had every confidence Imelda would win admission when she invited the headmaster over.


It certainly didn't hurt their case as a family when Enzo came home in the midst of Fiona giving the headmaster a tour, announcing his latest promotion at work.



As they sat down to dinner, they discussed the sort of curriculum that Imelda would be studying, the various kinds of extracurricular activities the academy offered, and the expectations of the incoming student. It seemed to Fiona that they had it in the bag.


Just for good measure, Pumpkin made sure to be on her best behavior as well, charming the headmaster. When he accepted Imelda officially, Pumpkin sniffed and padded up the stairs, certain her extra mile was what had done it. Fiona and Enzo were just bursting their buttons with pride for their little girl.


It was the weekend, though, and Fiona and Imelda had two days to prepare for her transition to the new school. Imelda definitely wasn't happy about leaving Neal and Aurélie behind, but her mother promised her that they could come visit whenever Imelda wanted them to. "Plus," Fiona commented, "Aurélie's brother Arnaud went to the academy, and his mother is a teacher, so I'm sure she and Alex will join you soon enough. Same with Neal. Dad said something about trying to get him in when he gets a little older." Imelda was placated.


Pumpkin, in an attempt to assert her dominance and dislike at sharing the food bowl, decided to begin shredding the couch. All it took was a brief scolding from Fiona, and she flicked her tail in annoyance and headed out to her cat climber. After all, she was a cat. She couldn't always do exactly what they said.


Though it seemed that she was just a toddler months ago, the time came for Imelda's birthday. Her parents went all out with flowers, a cake, balloons, dancing, party favors, and an invite to anyone Imelda wanted to attend.


Almost before their eyes, she grew into a beautiful young woman who looked very much like BOTH of her parents - with Enzo's wide-set eyes and his nose, and Fiona's mouth and chin. Enzo took one look and shook his head. "You'll be a heartbreaker, kid," he said ruefully. "Guess I should get a stick to beat them off with."

Next up, see how the other half of the Vinci-Cleary pairings is doing, when we visit Paolo and Caitlin in the other half of the duplex!

~*~*~*~*~

Scoring:

No new points, I don't think...

[[Author's Notes: This house is a lot of fun. They're a very mellow family. There are no real extreme displays of affection or anger. Everyone's got a pretty even disposition, and they all have their distinct interests. Of course, they all get along brilliantly, though. I feel bad for Enzo because I feel as if he's missing out on more of Imelda's life than Fiona is, since she gets to stay home, which I guess is the problem fathers have faced for a lot of centuries. Maybe they can all take a family vacation sometime or something.

The kittens are because of Fiona's LTW. I'm planning on breeding them enough times to raise the 20 kittens, and then I will be DONE with that awful want. I kind of hate Fiona for having it, but I have to admit, this is the first time I've really played with the pets expansion pack, so I find the animations adorable. Nothing else to report really. Can't wait to see if Imelda's personality changes any as a teen. Definitely a bit of a princess complex there. :)

This Entry's MP3:
Stray Cat Strut by the Stray Cats (from the GH album)

Bloopers:
Not only does Fiona feel comfortable enough to read the paper on the crapper during a date, she also doesn't seem to mind the sex noises coming from her sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law next door. // Imelda was clearly traumatized by her early childhood years at the university. // Improper cat care. // Pumpkin took so long to eat from his dish, I thought he would starve to death before figuring it out. // Gravity-free cat. I swear, my own cat does this all the time. He's like a kitty superhero.]]