Tuesday 28 November 2006

Pic of the day: From left to right: Firella, Aniela and Greenada. And that's only the beginning of...

My Sims2: College Complexities

Today's picture shows the three girls from Hestia Complex, my Sim apartment building, who first left home to go to college. Well, actually two of them are from the Complex: Firella Kaffimann is the red- haired to the left. She is fully human, the daughter of Hannibal and Heidi. There are in fact only two fully human children born in the Complex, the love children of the two married couples. The girl in the middle is her half-sister, Aniela Kaffimann, daughter of Hannibal and the alien gene bank. The girl to the right is Greenada Greene, daughter of Ray, the one Chosen who lives outside the complex. Greenada spent most of her teen years at the Complex, though, where she had other girls her own age to spend time with.

On campus the three of them moved into a dormitory where there was already a mysterious half-alien girl a couple years older than them, Stella Terrano. (This is a pre-made playable character on the La Fiesta Tech campus.) Stella had already a human boyfriend of sorts, though they never took it further than the occasional pillow fight. Now they were suddenly three green girls, and one "honorary alien". They began to hatch plans.

***

First, of course, they started looking for boys. Stella already had Justus Bar, the shy redhead. Greenada had pretty much the same taste, but wouldn't compete with her friend. Luckily there was another guy at the dorm with a similar personality, although he looked a bit "alternative" with his long hair. Before anything decisive happened, however, an old acquaintance got to see her in her young adult form. Malcolm Hareide, one of the original Chosen men, had met her when she was just a teenager hanging out with the Complex girls. He had not noticed her then, as is good and proper (he is a generation older after all) but now he fell in love hard. Greenada was his dream girl, his soulmate, all the superlatives. And she felt the same, once she got to know him better.

Aniela, like Greenada, was a family Sim and would ideally start her family as soon as possible. But none of the students were really hot, and the clock kept ticking. There was one guy at the dorm who was slightly attractive, but they just did not click the way the others did. She decided to ask the local psychic, or "gypsy" as people called her, to recommend a better date. This turned out to be Jonathan Byall, delivery guy for the Chinese takeout restaurant. Their first date was so- so. But a couple days later Jonathan suddenly called her, and they just couldn't stop talking. Aniela had found her dream boy after all.

Firella did not at all feel the same pressure to bring her genes into the future. She was, after all, an ordinary human, of which there are already billions. OK, an ordinary Sim, but there are probably billions of them too by now. Or perhaps it just looks that way. In any case, she was a popularity Sim. Her goal in life was to make friends, not babies. So she wasn't in a hurry. There were some likable boys, but nothing to really make her stop and pause. In the end, she was the one who made a boy stop and pause, and the boy was Bonsainichi Fujimaru, another of the green kids. He and Grecian Greene, Greenada's brother, had come to college a couple years later and lived in a different dorm. He trailed along when Grecian visited his sister, and that's where he noticed the charming redhead.

Boyfriends secured, time for some serious living it up! As in ... "Greek house". Or would that be Geek House?

***

It was Firella who came up with the idea of making their own Greek House. They had gathered money from playing for tips – all the three downtown girls had maxed their creativity while still teens – and now they borrowed a little money as well, to buy a small house and expand it so there was ample room for them and their parties. Girls just want to have fun, after all, and these girls prefer to have fun on their own premises, as it were. OK, actually it was all Firella who wanted to live in a Greek house. The rest could not care less one way or another until they came there, but they sure enjoyed themselves once they were there. Hosting a few big concert parties took care of their debt: The girls received plentiful gifts from friends and relatives. Besides, they got free pizza from the on-campus restaurants, and fixed up old furniture for a small profit. Soon they were out of debt and then some.

Terra eventually graduated – with honors – and went on to start her new and grandest project: To build a new community in the desert, where aliens and humans could live side by side. (But, of course, with the aliens in control.) You'll hear more about this "Redfield Greens" project later, I hope, but not today.) The three Downtown Girls continued alone until their senior year, when they let in the second cohort: The boys Grecian Greene and Bonsainichi Fujimaru, and Grecian's girlfriend Meadow Thayer, the world's blondest firsthand supernatural investigator. Bonsainichi was, of course, Firella's boyfriend. They also hired Chris, a tan red-haired girl, to keep the house clean and keep an eye out for passing students and teachers and invite them in. It would not behoove a house such as theirs to not have guests at all times, after all. The pizza might spoil, for one thing...

After they graduate, Firella and Aniela with their boyfriends are headed for the alien genome project Redfield Greens community, while Greenada is heading back to the Hestia Complex and her ebony soulmate. But more about all this another time... perhaps. We now return you to the real world, such as it is.