strangetomato | Strangetown, HWC extras: The Summerdreams

Entry tags:

Strangetown, HWC extras: The Summerdreams

I've had these images for a while now, with the intention of writing this little piece, so here it is. I'm also testing out semagic as I post this. I may as well be productive while testing it, right?

"So, what? You've no time for glamour anymore?"

"I feel more comfortable this way. I'm tired of everything being so flamboyant and ridiculous."

"Am I ridiculous to you now? Am I embarrassing?" He reached up and stroked the feather in his hat. "Is it the hat? Is the hat too much? It's my favourite one. Hermia made it for me, you know."

"No, the hat's lovely, Puck. Hermia is a skillful milliner."

"Is it this professor fellow that's coming to visit? Vidcund Curious, you said? Are you trying to appear a certain way to him? You seem like you're trying to hide your heritage from this man."

"Well, I've invited him here, haven't I? He'll see all of you. I told him that we're a unique sort of people. To expect the unexpected."

"So, what have you told him, little sister? That we're merely nonconformists?"

"Something like that."

Puck let out a derisive laugh. "Lies will get you nowhere."

"Well, it's true, isn't it?"

"You know what's true."

"It's not like we practise it. It doesn't even work here. We do things with herbalism and such, but that doesn't make us any different from anyone else."

"You can't even say it, can you?" He leaned over to her. "Mag-ic. M. A. G. I. C. Magic. It's not a difficult word."

"Do you really believe in that?"

"Of course."

"I've always took those stories like any other fairytale: with a grain of salt."

"Well, maybe they're all true. All I know is that our mother was the Queen of Faerie and our father was her King."

"All I know is that they live in Veronaville, in the here and now, and they're just the same as anyone else."

"Well, have it as you like it, sister," he said, standing up. "I suppose both versions are probably true."

Bottom lifted herself from the chair, and turned to kiss her brother. "It's good to see you again, Puck. How are the wedding plans coming, by the way?"

"Brilliantly. It's going to be a wonderful party."

"Have Titania and Oberon tried to talk you out of marrying so young yet?"

"Only every other day."

"Well they did eventually get married... or sort of. It's not like they changed their ways, and why should they? They've never had any problems before, and I'm sure they'd be bored if it were any less than perfectly open."

"Well, they have rings now."

"Yes. Maybe that's the only difference."

"You don't marry so thing will be different, Bottom. You marry so things will stay the same." He tipped his hat at her.

Verdict: Semagic is pretty easy to use, and convenient too. I'll probably stick with it, I think. Thanks for the suggestion,

aledstrange!

Oh, and a tip o' the hat to Neil Gaiman. I'm borrowing pretty heavily from him here. Bottom and Puck have a bit of a Nuala and Cluracan thing going on.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

This was so fun! I love Bottom :D And the mini cowplant!!! :D :D

Puck and Hermia are crushes when you start the game. Interestingly enough, Mercutio also has a crush on her ;) Puck's a better match though, he's an absolute sweetheart <3

Heh, if I remember right, Puck has.. two playful points? So I could picture that :) Can't remember the scores with Bottom though.

Well, you make a much better choice of outfits for those guys than Maxis did. Ugh >_<

Forgot to mention, but I did read it - cute ^_^ I wonder which of them would get the bigger shock about the other's family... ;)

Heh, if I remember right, Puck has.. two playful points?

Only a person who took themselves VERY seriously would wear a hat like that. :P

Are you bringing the personality point police out to arrest me? I suppose I deserve it from a karma point of view, because I've done it to others in the past. I think there's more than one way to interpret personality points anyway (my Jaxy is still what I would consider "shy", for example, but she's taken it down a very different road), but I don't always follow them THAT strictly, especially with more minor characters. Or I'll go with their aspiration as the more dominant character builder (Puck is popularity and I made Bottom a knowledge, like Oberon).

I really like the Puck/Herma/Mercutio dynamic at the start of the game. Like in Strangetown, the teens have some built in drama (Pleasantview is super dull this way, with its neat little pairings). I have no idea who I'm going to match Tybalt with. He has nobody. I may have to bring in an outside Maxis sim. I can't even think of anyone in uni that would work for him.

To be fair, Maxis only had the base game options to work with, and most of those outfits are terrible. I do like the makeup, masks, and tiaras, and the wackiness of everything. I try to stick with that vibe for them.

Or would they be shocked at all? I think Bottom would be quite charmed by the idea of male pregnancy, more than anything. The Summerdreams like to be unconventional.

Thanks. :) And I agree. Vidcund hardly comes from the most normal family on earth (though he is kinda judgemental). I doubt it will be a huge issues, but it should be a surprise.

Dirty sex plants for everyone. XD No, not everyone will get one, but the sexy exoticness works for the Summerdreams, and they're big into plants. Faery plants. Even cow plants.

Yeah, that's funny. It makes sense that someone in the family would want to just grow up and be "normal", when everything was so odd in their family. The other option would be to embrace it, so there you go.

Bottom is described as a troublesome and attention-seeking little kid, so I've imagined her as being wild and crazy growing up, going all out with the faery thing, but then making a big change when she nears adulthood, and kind of renouncing it all in favour of a more clean-cut approach. She's still that same wild faery child underneath it all, and bits of her old self seep through, but she wants to be taken seriously as a biologist, so she's walking the walk, if that makes sense.

Heheh. I see I get the OTP stamp of approval for these couples. I like Puck and Herma a lot. I think they'll have very cute (red headed!) children.

Thanks. :) I'm a big fan of the Summerdreams all around, and the mini cow plant is one of the greatest cc objects ever. I'm obsessed with them. If it made more sense, every sim in my game would own one.

Yes, it's very convenient with this program. I like it a lot. Thank you for that tip on the private albums. I'll be sure to make them in advance.

Heheh. Don't worry about. I'm sure it must be confusing right now with the time jumps and the parallel time frames of the current chapters. I hope you do enjoy them when you find time to read them, but don't feel like to have to. It's okay to drift away from the story if you're not as interested anymore. Don't feel like you have to read it, like it's a chore on your to-do list, okay? ^_^ I won't mind.

Actually, I think I'm going to marry Tybalt off to Tara DeBateau from Belladonna Cove. She's appropriately rich and not a Monty (also - red hair!).

Are you bringing the personality point police out to arrest me?

I was actually replying to josh about this:

I love Bottom. I'm so amused that in your game, Bottom is the serious, "normal" one, and Puck is very faery like, and in mine, it's the opposite.

The problem with the points system is, it makes it hard to interpret a character's overal personality - especially when you bring aspirations into it. I've made one incarnation of Ripp more mature than he probably should be, for example, so the points police would be out for me too :P

I haven't touched Veronaville in ages. Not even been bothered to carry on with that asylum dare in

maxis_taste - I've not even been to Strangetown lately, although funnily enough there's a couple of alien kids in my rainbow legacy with a similiar personality to Ripp's :D Without the romance, thankfully ;)

Which reminds me: Dino had grandkids, and they're beautiful - especially Quoise, I have to say :)

heeee

I tend to run behind with many stories, but doesn't mean I don't like them. If that were the case I simply wouldn't mention, neither read it at all. Why would I? O_o

I simply spare you the details of my current R/L timing, but being realistic, your posts are long, highly complex and they involve a lot of details of a lot of characters at once, which is not bad, pls, it what makes your story what it is, but I just like reading at my own pace and hate leaving any chapter of any story half way thru, so when I say I honestly rather wait and read them calmly is because I honestly do. :)

(Pretending I like things I don't is not really my style, jsyk. I actually think is a very questionable way to act. When I don't like something, it pretty much gets ignored, unless it bothers me on a personal level, of course, but that's another story, obviously not in case now)

Hey, it's okay. I'm not afraid of the PPP. :P

I totally agree with you. I try to balance the personality points, aspiration, family situation, and sim bio (Bottom's, for instance asks whether she'll grow out of her tomboyish, bratty childhood to become more respectable and responsible). There's way more than one way to take those things, and even the point spreads are open to interpretation, which is a good thing.

I've eased up on my PPP-like strictness about these things, because it's great to see people do different things. I'm not such a stickler anymore. :P

Hey, what's wrong with romance? It's my favourite. ^_^

Oh, cool. I'll have to check it out. Quoise is a cool name.

I hope I didn't come off the wrong way here (what is it with me and doing that, anyway? o_O). I don't mean to imply that I think this is the case with you, but you know if it was then that's okay too.

I agree with you completely. I try to be polite about it, but I like to be honest. I usually just stick to the things that catch my eye and I do like, or have been following for a while. Sim stories can add up, especially when you're writing one too (and, to be honest, I'd rather focus on creating than consuming with this hobby - I don't have unlimited time to devote to it, and less than I used to).

I'm most guilty of checking things out and then not commenting, though, because I hate to leave half-assed comments and I can be slow to put my thoughts together (and then I forget to come back to it). I can be a bit of a lurker.

Heh - bios are handy if you're dealing with pre-made sims, but if it's custom sims you have a problem ;) Not that that's stopped me lately, though x_x I haven't seen those for VV, and didn't check the ST sims until I'd already started writing - although Tank's in particular just confirmed what I'd already thought - the "wondering if anyone knows who he really is". It's quite sad really :-\

What's wrong with romance? Eh.. I can take it in small doses - probably down to my disapproving of that kind of thing IRL. Although the right kind of sim would handle that quite well - your Ripp, for instance. I have one sim who's very outgoing and playful, with no nice points who's rolled that asp. I don't know whether that's a good thing or not, but will be interesting... I'm still undecided on whether to let him keep it. I'll have to see. What is it you like about romance, out of interest? Do you find it fun to play?

Funny, somehow I ended up thinking about reading and commenting too, O_0 how do readers and writers feel about it?
(could be a interesting topic for simstorytellers rofl)

I think completely the opposite, tho(as w/ many things for the looks lol), not only I read a lot of different stories and probably spend more time on that than with my own game, but also I can totally appreciate a small comment, coz it means someone is reading the story and likes it enough to stop a minute and post a reply, even if it only to say "hey nice job". I personally don't need neither expect anymore, but unfortunately I worry others may not feel the same way, and end up taking a honestly well indented comment on a bad way, just for not being elaborated enough.

Same thing with late comments. I personally find it extremely encouraging when someone makes a comment on a story weeks or even months later (for example a few days ago I got a very short, anon. comment in one my stories, three months after the last update, but it totally made me wish to start writing on it again <3), but if I'm the one late with the comment, then I always worry the writer may take it as lack of interest. :/

(and hey, the coming-off-the-wrong-way award its all mine, don't try to steal it XD its probably my best internet skill atm ROFL!!)

"You don't marry so thing will be different, Bottom. You marry so things will stay the same." He tipped his hat at her.

^ That was so beautifully said.

I liked Bottom better when she was a little more edgy.

Puck is SO over the top though!

I agree with you. I feel just as happy to get a short comment or one that comes much later. I should try to remember that and do the "Hey, I like this." comments more often myself. I sometimes worry about the way I'll come off too (or worry that I won't be able to keep up with commenting, and then they'll wonder why I stopped), but people would appreciate ocassional comments of any length.

(Well, if you insist, but I've been involved in some pretty glorious e-fights that started out as well-intentioned questions on my side. :P)

Thanks. I really believe that. Puck's basically speaking for me there. ^_^

You mean the way she was as a child (the default look in the game)? I haven't really shown her as edgy, have I? She was in a schoolgirl look before, so her outfit is actually a little more hip in this scene. Or are you just referring to the bun? I like her with her hair swept back. You can see her pretty ears that way.

Over the top to you, maybe, but not if you're a Summerdream. ;) They go all out.

Actually, I meant in the "naughty schoolgirl" type look :P. But I also liked her as a child as well. Hair swept back is nice, but her outfit seems so prudish combined with the hair and the glasses. I don't know, maybe I'm making an unfair judgement. But I guess she wants to make the change, so maybe it's a good thing.

And Puck is great. The vest, the pants, the hat, the eye makeup ;) and the LIPSTICK. OH MY GOODNESS. I want to put more male sims in makeup but then I feel like I'm putting them in drag. I like all out!

I would've thought sophisticated (but a little plain) rather than prudish. She looks "smart" in the way the star of one of those teen movies looks before her makeover (you know the ones where they're supposed to be ugly, but really they just have glasses on). I like the bun/glasses combo. The whole thing seems sort of nerdy and casual to me, and I like it.

Yeah, he's fun. Makeup on males is something I enjoy in small does. Puck wears it well. Oberon has similar lipstick, but in all black.

I agree about the Pleasantivew thing, to an extent. It does make everything easier. Bust Strangetown has Johnny and Ophelia, and not AS many people ship Ripp with Phi as you. It's pretty neat there too.

And I feel bad for Mercutio, no one ever lets him get the girl. When it comes down to him and Puck, Puck will always win. (Especially since Puck is more traditionally good looking.)

And you're right about Tybalt, there's NO ONE for him. If I hadn't given Klara Vonderstein to General Buzz, I'd have hooked them up for sure.

/hijacking

Even if you don't ship Ripp and Ophelia, he's still there as her friend, and a romance sim. It's not so neat and tidy. Also, there's Tank too, who has nobody. There's a big imbalance between males and females (and maybe that's why so many people go down the m/m road in S'town). Definitely not as neat and tidy (or boring, I think) as Pleasantview.

Puck's bio makes it seem like Hermia is the only thing that will make him happy, and he wants to go steady with her, so that won me over. I honestly don't think Puck is any more good looking than Mercutio. They're both sort of good looking, but sort of not.

Tybalt is a sad character. I really like him. I gave him that new messy, nerdy hair by fanseelamb, and I like it.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 2 of 3

Strangetown, HWC extras: The Summerdreams

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject