Strangetown, HWC extras: The Summerdreams

[strangetomato]

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.

Comments

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

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.

[sadieg79.livejournal.com]

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 :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

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.

[sadieg79.livejournal.com]

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?

[smjosh1218.livejournal.com]

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

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

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.

[smjosh1218.livejournal.com]

That's true. Poor Tank.

I guess it just depends. Puck has the straight up Elf Face, so if that's your thing, you tend to go for it more than Mercutio, who's edited. I like them both.

It depends on how you look at it. I see Tybalt as a sort of rich, spoiled jerk who goes around being an ass to everyone because he can. On the other hand, I feel bad because he has no friends. (He's kind of like Tank in that way, isn't he?)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Tybalt and Tank do share some qualities. He's like Tank and Frances merged into one guy. (Ooooh, kinky. :P)

[smjosh1218.livejournal.com]

Hehe. That's fresh.

But, the real question is: Would you hit it?

I would... probably.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Tybalt? Or the Frances/Tank combination man? Or both? :P

I'd probably hit it too.

[smjosh1218.livejournal.com]

Tybalt. LOL at the Frances/Tank combo man. It depends on how much of each he is-- if he has that scary aggressiveness then no. Well, some of Tank's personality, and his hotness, with a little bit of Franny sprinkled in. *swoon*

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Oh, and simnovoris let Mercutio get the girl, or at least Puck didn't get past friendship with Hermia. It was still early into the story when she stopped posting, so who knows where it would've ended up (I hope she will pick it back up one day).I really enjoyed the way she handed the characters. It was realistic. There was nothing neat and tidy about it at all.

[smjosh1218.livejournal.com]

I love that story, so so much. It;s definitely realistic. It's also influenced the way I see those characters as well.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too. It really helped me to get more interested in the dynamics of that hood, and I think she really captured them well.

[smjosh1218.livejournal.com]

I agree. I was so sad to see that she stopped it. :( I wanted MOAR. Who was the father opf Bianca's baby? And what was going to happen with Kent?

And, I totally based my Hermia off of hers. I loved it.