Life on the Bayou - Part 3 - These Sims Have Minds of Their Own!
When I play, I tend to nudge the sims from time to time, but rarely orchestrate events. I find that when I do try to orchestrate events, the sims put their foot down and rebel. This is what happened in the first household I explored this time around.
When I left off, I was with the Echols family. Logan, the older brother and head of the family was keeping in touch with his college girlfriend Leslie Briscoe. I was thinking I might have him invite her for a visit and get to know her better. Then Logan got a text inviting him to a party hosted by Ishmael Deeman. Who is this Ishmael Deeman? Let's go see.
The Beaumont Household
A lot of parties actively played sims get invited to are pretty lame, but Ishmael apparently knows how to entertain.
Ishmael was busy fixing up some autumn salad while the guests danced. Those in attendance included Sandy and Billy Blackmon and Bart Ransone.
While the guests amuse themselves, lets take a look at this household.
Ishmael recently came to America to further his education in science. His lifetime wish is to be the perfect student. He's adventurous, a genius, handy, a perfectionist, and an angler. He took an internship at the Quantum Research Institute (created by Hidehi2), and takes additional classes in his spare time. This can be very expensive, and he needed to find housing he could afford.
Luckily, he has a sponsor. Danita Beaumont is a divorcee with two teenagers. After her divorce, she moved back to her home town and took over the family farm.
Running the farm is a lot of work, and the teens have their own lives and aren't always available to help out, so she decided to sponsor Ishmael, providing room and board in exchange for help around the farm. What she didn't count on was falling in love with him.
They are boyfriend and girlfriend.
Danita is a computer whiz with a good sense of humor. She's also artistic, neurotic, and a social butterfly.
Danita's daughter Kyla is ambitious, artistic, a daredevil, and a genius. I think her lifetime wish was also being a perfect student, so she and Ishmael should get along great.
Danita's son Kenyatta is a bookworm, brave, hot-headed, and a workaholic. His lifetime wish is to be an alchemist. The family dog is named Captain Beaumont, and everyone loves him.
The Beaumont family lives at Creole Acres (created by Sandraelle.)
This episode takes place during late fall and into winter, so the crops aren't needing a lot of maintenance - just harvesting. There are plenty of eggs to gather, and sometimes a special egg is found.
The kids went to check out the Fall Festival (created by Soocoolsim) where Kyla took to skating, and Kenyatta became obsessed with the haunted house.
He went so many times he became a ghost of his former self. He went through the haunted house so many times he became bored with it. Back in the swamp there is an old haunted house with real ghosts. He resolved to go check it out in the near future.
Meanwhile, Danita and Ishmael were at the cathedral playing a rousing game of Gnubb.
This got me thinking. Here's a lovely wedding venue, and here's a couple in love. I started laying plans to get them hitched. How hard can it be when I'm controlling both of them, right? But first things first.
Danita had a wish to talk to Sandy Gavin-Blackmon, whom she knows, but just barely. She also wanted to become friends with Sandy, so I thought it would be nice for Danita to invite Sandy out for a coffee or drinks somewhere. The first time she called, Sandy said she was busy and to call back later. The next time she called, Sandy simply said she didn't feel like it. The third time Danita called, she got this response from Sandy.
What the heck, Sandy?! Do you have a beef with Danita? Sandy is Ishmael's boss, which makes this doubly awkward.
Poor Danita! Rejection is rough, especially for a social butterfly. However, she is determined to make some friends, and Sandy's snotty response won't get her down. She met a nice lady at the library. I don't remember her name, but I think she might work at the nerd shop.
Danita was at the library with Kyla, who broke the computer. She quickly fixed it before anyone found out.
I thought for sure she'd get shocked or worse, but maybe being a genius helped her succeed.
Meanwhile, Ishmael has been hard at work, spending long hours developing science skills.
It was time for Danita and him to blow off a little steam at Bayou Beats.
The following morning, Kenyatta hatched a plan to sneak out to the old Laveau house in the evening and snoop around.
That evening, he crept into the house and had a look. It seemed there were sounds coming from behind the bookcase. Could it be a ghost? He thought he heard some music.
His heart jumped to his throat when he heard some sounds behind him: thump, thump, drag, thump, thump, drag. He spun around to see Warren Bentacourt dragging a large bass fiddle behind him.
"Looky what I found out in the workshop!" He enthused.
"Geez! You scared the crap out of me! Who are you and what are you doing lurking around here?!" Kenyatta yelled.
"I'm Warren, and I've just as much right to be here at your are!" Warren hollered back.
"Ha ha! You didn't think I was a ghost, did you? Run along home, kid. It's getting late, and you don't want to break curfew do you?"
Kenyatta knew Warren had a point. The last thing he wanted was for his mom to find out he'd been out here and forbid him from coming back. Off he went. The poor kid missed the main event. Shortly after he left, the ghost of Jacques Paris made an appearance.
Warren thought Jacques was just like a ghost he'd seen on a scary video a few nights before. I didn't stick around, but it looked like Warren and Jacques were having quite the conversation.
** Note: Warren is just an NPC paparazzi unless Story Progression promoted him, but he shows up everywhere. I adjusted his looks a bit and made sure he had tolerable clothes because Billy Blackmon wanted to befriend him a few episodes earlier.
A few nights later, Kenyatta returned to the old house and explored further. He found the secret door in the bookcase and discovered all kinds of interesting and mysterious items. But it was getting past his curfew again, (dang it!), so he headed for home, vowing to return in the afternoon so he'd have more time to look into the cool stuff in the basement.
Kenyatta arrived back at the shack the next afternoon, famished. He checked the fridge and found food there that hadn't spoiled! How strange. Kenyatta assumed Warren must have been there and left his lunch. Too bad for Warren. However, the sink was definitely old and dysfunctional, much to Kenyatta's dismay.
"Wow! These are instructions for magic potions! Cool! I wonder if there are any ingredients in these cupboards."
Kenyatta was a quick study and learned a few potions.
Around 5:30 pm I thought Kenyatta would finally get to meet a ghost. Jacques Paris came out but immediately left the lot.
He's not playable - at least I don't think he is - he "returned to the netherworld." However, I decided to follow him and see what he was up to.
Whoa! Buddy, I took great pains to make you and the lot as close to the 1800s as possible, so WHERE did you get this car, and WHO taught you to drive?
I bet it was Warren Bentacourt! He must have had a old junker car that he sold Jacques and taught him how to drive it. Yep. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! My theory is somewhat confirmed when I found out where he went.
It's Warren and that snotty Sandy Gavin-Blackmon! They appear to be having a clandestine meeting on the lot that will someday be a karaoke lounge. Sandy was a little put off at the sight of Jacques, but Warren acted like he was expecting him.
Jacques and Warren got into a deep discussion about theater performances and the foggy weather while Sandy wondered if ghosts could be photographed.
"Well, it pales in comparison to the picture of my dinner," she thought. She quickly grew bored and wandered off.
There's definitely a friendship forming here.
"Maybe someday we can attend a performance together," Jacques suggested.
"That sounds great. I'll get us some tickets," Warren responded.
Back in the car we go, but apparently Jacques isn't ready to go home yet. I guess it's good to get out of the swamp sometimes. He was driving by Creole Acres when he spotted the huge round hay bales out in the field across the road.
"How are they supposed to move these monstrosities and get then to the horses and cattle?" he wondered. He stood and puzzled over this for a while. Then got back in the car. Next stop: the Library and Nerd Shop.
"Is anybody here? I'd like one of these pastries, please."
"Here you go, sir."
"Praise be! I'm famished! Some wise guy stole my lunch out of the fridge at home. It must have been that pesky kid who's been skulking about."
Next, Jacques went to investigate the Nerd Shop.
"I wonder what that's supposed to be. I can't tell, but it sure is purty!"
Next, he went to the library and possessed the furniture and electronics.
Then it was back to the Nerd Shop to peruse the shelves some more before disappearing. I hope he found his way home.
. . . while Louie Echols worked on his public speaking skills.
Later, he met his girlfriend Hayley Ransone out back, and they discussed what they wanted to work on next.
Louie was considering taking a writing class, but Hayley was more interested in art.
In the end, they found something they could do together. But is it educational? I guess it's a matter of opinion.
I guess everyone needs some work/life balance, so I'll cut them some slack.
It appears while I was visiting the Beaumonts, Logan Echols got up to the Devil's business. Not only does he have a girlfriend back at college, but he's taken up with a local girl as well - and got her pregnant!
Logan and his siblings up and moved without my permission. They now live at Whispering Willows (created by suzes.)
And Sarah Sowers has moved in with them. I'm thinking Izzie is a pet of some kind, but I'll have to check later.
The Bourbonnais Townhouse is not empty, however. Whitney Gurley and her boyfriend Enrique Cattiwaller have moved in. Danita Beaumont met them at a party she went to at the Ransone house.
Whitney is unlucky, a natural cook, ambitious, athletic, and family oriented, wanting to someday be surrounded by family.
Enrique seems so not right for her! She's ambitious and he's a couch potato. He's irresistible and she's family oriented. And he's mean-spirited, a perfectionist, and a virtuoso. Also, he seems overly interested in Danita.
He's catching her up on the most recent gossip around town and telling her she'd look stunning in a pair of stiletto heels.
He's not the only one coming on to Danita. Bart Ransone may be having second thoughts about marrying his mentor's widow. Despite Danita telling him about her scientist boyfriend, he flirted with her. She was not impressed.
He did this twice and she was pretty clear she wasn't interested.
Back to my plan to get her and Ishmael married. After a long day at work, Ishmael and Danita met at the cathedral - just to have a romantic dinner. Then I was going to get Ishmael to propose. They got their dinner and sat at separate tables. Sheesh! Then I had them start some romantic interactions to build up to the proposal. About this time, an announcement came over the speaker that a chess tournament had started and it had cash prizes. Both Ishmael and Danita tried to skedaddle to the tournament, but I repeatedly canceled the action and tried to get them to be romantic.
First a shy kiss from Ishmael, followed by some red roses which Danita appreciated. Then I had her flirt with him and tell a flirtatious joke. He did NOT appreciate that.
I checked and he's not unflirty, so I don't know what his problem was. I guess he just really wanted to join the chess tournament.
Fine! Go play chess or go home. I don't care anymore! No fancy wedding for you! I bet Logan and his pregnant girlfriend will get married. Logan might even invite his other girlfriend to the wedding for a little drama 😁
Ishmael went to the chess table and Danita went home. So much for the romantic proposal I tried to orchestrate. 😆
In Closing . . .
It appears that Marie and Jacques aren't the only ghosts in town. There seems to be a ghost infestation.
Without my permission, Billy Blackmon has taken it upon himself to deal with the situation.
I need to revisit this household at some point soon, but there are three other households to investigate and the Sower - Echols wedding to try to throw together.
Stay tuned.
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