The Reproductive Days of Christmas

[hazelnut]

Prologue 1: Auld Lang Syne
Prologue 2: See Amid the Winter's Snow

The set-up: Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Chapter 1: Deck the Halls
Chapter 2: The Holly and the Ivy
Chapter 3: No Crib for a Bed
Chapter 4: Comfort and Joy
Chapter 5: I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus
Chapter 6: Jingle Bell Rock
Chapter 7: Christmas is All Around

Epilogue: Let It Snow

[hazelnut]

Auld Lang Syne

Getting drunk is a bad idea.

Making bets while drunk is a very bad idea.

Making drunken bets with the Grim Reaper is a really, really bad idea.


He always let himself relax between Christmas and New Year.  Come on, he deserved it.  The pace got madder and madder as December approached: reading letters by the thousand, checking off lists, supervising the elves’ last-minute toy orders…  And then that one night of total insanity, racing the dawn around the globe as all the presents were delivered.  He’d earned a week’s rest before it all started again.

But maybe he shouldn’t have relaxed quite so much.  Or started celebrating the end of the old year quite so early.

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And all alone, at that.

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Even when the lounge started to fill up, he stayed at the bar, on his own.

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And then he started pouring out his sorrows to the barman.  The commercialisation of Christmas, cynical modern kids, stroppy modern elves, Dasher’s sore hoof, the tourists swarming all over Lapland and making it even harder to get the job done in time…

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Yep, definitely should have left and gone home to bed right then.  Definitely shouldn’t have replied with more than a polite ‘hello’ when that chatty genie turned up.

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Father Christmas and Grim knew each other, of course.  They didn’t exactly move in the same circles but they had both been around for a very long time.  Sooner or later, immortals are bound to run into each other.  FC had never met Grim’s genie friend before, though.  If only he could have continued in that state of happy innocence…

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As midnight approached, he found himself deep in conversation with the pair of them.  Moaning again.  Commercialisation.  Tourists.  Elves.  Blah blah blah.  And then Grim came up with this scheme.

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Why not set up (work)shop somewhere new?  Leave the tourists gawping at the old place; hire deputy Santas like the big stores did.  Move the real operation elsewhere, with a new bunch of elves who’d never heard of trade unions.

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And then it got complicated.  No reindeer.  No snow.  Terms and conditions.  Breed his own elves: have kids and bring them up with a proper work ethic.

Um, kids?  Wouldn’t that mean… you know, a wife?

“Well… not necessarily – but definitely a girlfriend.  And I think I know the very person.”  That was the genie.  Come to think of it, Deirdra had been chipping in throughout.  He had a vague feeling (for some reason, his recollection was getting a little blurred by this point) that a lot of the dafter ideas were actually hers, and not Grim’s at all.

And then, somehow, he was agreeing to a bet.  The greatest new year’s resolution of them all.  To start from scratch in a new town, populate it with elves, complete a load of tasks along the way – and have the whole thing done by next Christmas.  Otherwise, Grim would win his crack team of reindeer.  It seemed that the Reaper fancied having a go at sleigh racing.  Racing?  Those deer were finely-honed athletes, pampered and trained to perfection for that one night a year.

Ridiculous!

So why had he agreed?

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[Deklitch]

oh, how wonderful Another domination dynasty.

Looking forward to it, hazelnut

[hazelnut]

Thanks, Dek .

The domination dynasty's the only one I've not tried.  It never appealed before but I wanted to play a short, Christmassy game and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to have a go.

[hazelnut]

See Amid the Winter's Snow

Deirdra found her at the junkyard, passed out in a clump of brambles and frozen half to death.

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And, oh dear, the smell!  Well, at least that was easy to fix.

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Wait a minute, were those wings?  What was a fairy doing in Twinbrook?  Still, first things first.  The poor thing must be starving.  Summon some hot food and get it into her before asking for explanations.

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Deirdra half-carried the waif indoors and made her eat a big slice.  She’d never seen anyone more in need of the warm fuzzies of baked angel food cake.

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The fairy didn’t take much persuading to tell her story.

“It all started when my family moved house a few months ago…”
“Your family?  Where are they?  Do they need help as well?”
“No, not my own family.  I mean, I have sisters – hundreds of them – but we’re scattered all round the world.  No, I mean the family I belonged to.  I used to be a Christmas tree fairy.”

Belonged to?  It sounded a lot like slavery to Deirdra.

“I’d been with them for generations, standing on the top of the tree.  Oh, I loved looking out at the other decorations!”

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And spending the rest of the year in a box in a dusty attic, no doubt.  That was even worse than being trapped inside a lamp.

“But then they moved here, to a funny old house.  All the decorations were stored in an outbuilding.  There were … m-mice.”  The fairy shuddered.  “They… they gnawed… My beautiful dress!  My hair....”  Her voice trailed off in a whisper.

“And then my family found me.  I thought they’d clean me up, make me a new outfit.  That’s what they’d always done before when I got a bit tatty.  Maybe they’d even make me a wig.  But no.  They went out and bought a new fairy.  Tacky little thing, all red foil and glitter…”

Deirdra was delighted by the hint of cattiness.  The fairy might be a victim but she still had spirit.  Maybe something could be done for her.


 “They’re moving me to a convalescent home tomorrow.  Little cabins in the woods near the healing spring.  It sounds nice.  They said I’ll be there until New Year.”

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Mary the fairy was looking and feeling much better after a week at the Rudolph Vanderburg.  Her colour was returning and her hair had been magically regrown.  Deirdra thought she still looked in need of TLC, though.  She made a mental note to give Mary a voucher for a spa day as a Christmas present.  If only she could give her some kind of purpose in life as well…


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“Oh, Deirdra, it’s so beautiful here!  I always wanted to see where Christmas trees came from.”
“Listen, I’ve had an idea, although I’m not sure whether it’ll appeal to you.  You see, I was seeing in the new year with an old friend…”  And Deirdra told Mary about the bet.

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“Of course, it’d mean tying yourself to a fat, balding bloke with terrible dress sense who’s been around for hundreds of years.  We’ll make him take a Young Again potion but he’ll still look old and grey.  Come to think of it, maybe he should drink a Bottled Blessing of the Fae as well, so you can start off as equals.”

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“OK, I’ll do it!”
“You will?”

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“Yes.  I’ve always had a bit of a crush on Father Christmas.”

[hazelnut]

Santa Claus is Coming to Town
(Watch out, Appaloosa Plains!)

What traits should Father Christmas have? Definitely Loves the Cold.  Good Sense of Humour (all that ho-ho-ho-ing) – or Grumpy if we’re going the Raymond Briggs route – Good, Animal Lover (since there isn’t a Reindeer Person trait) and probably Nurturing.  Come to think of it, maybe Workaholic and/or Insane, at least on Christmas Eve.

Instead, this one is Ambitious, Family-oriented, Artistic, Lucky and Loves the Outdoors.  His lifetime wish is to be Surrounded By Family.

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Mary Tree-Fairy is a Born Saleswoman and Loves the Heat (she liked being on the tree surrounded by candles or electric lights).  Her remaining traits are the same as FC’s: Ambitious, Family-oriented and Loves the Outdoors.  She also wants to be Surrounded By Family.

Both are fairies.  I played a test game with Father Christmas as a vampire but didn’t feel the faster skill gain at night (which wasn’t all that pronounced) was worth the problems with sunlight during the day.  Anyway, a vampire Santa is just too incongruous.  This way, they can take it in turns to project auras of creativity while the other one’s magic is recharging.

I’m playing in Appaloosa Plains, because it’s the smallest town and I haven’t used it much, with all expansions apart from ITF.  It would make more sense to switch Seasons off as well but I wanted the outfits .

Similarly, the five lot changes aren’t the ones you’d make if you were going all out for speed but they suit the more relaxed game I have in mind:

• The big empty house at 305 Sweetapple Way has been replaced by a smaller one.
• The film studio is at 1005 Pomona Promenade.
• 1012 Pomona Promenade is now empty apart from the gypsy caravan and looks a little odd, since the terrain paint under the lot outlines the large house that used to be there.
• The Appaloosa County Historical Society has had its building demolished (because I hate upgrading art galleries) and been replaced with Useful Stuff: the arboretum, the Vault of Antiquity, a subway and several cash registers.
• The Port-a-Party Mini Warehouse has gone.  One of my pet peeves is the way that the Showtime lots tend to get plonked down in places with a beautiful vista – and that building is such an eyesore.  1816 Ednamary Way is now a residential lot again and will be the family’s home.

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Although playing in winter would make sense with these characters, it would probably be a little inconvenient for the actual gameplay.  So the year is set to 28 days of summer. The moon phase is fixed at waxing gibbous.

[Sarabi]

An inspired start, and so very timely!

I appreciate that you're including strategy here.  I might want to try one of these at some point, and it will be very helpful.

[hazelnut]

Thank you .

I appreciate that you're including strategy here.  I might want to try one of these at some point, and it will be very helpful.

Not too sure about the strategy: I know how I'd play this if I was really trying and this isn't it.  Pretty sure I'll have more fun this way, though .

[Deklitch]

Well, having fun is important

[LenaLJ]

Domination Dynasty is still my all time favorite dynasty
Good luck to Santa and Mary

[KRae]

What fun! The Domination Dynasty is one of my favorites. I'm looking forward to reading this.

[hazelnut]

@Deklitch: True

@LenaLJ, @KRae: Thanks .  I'm not sure which is my favourite dynasty: maybe the 4x4 but they all have different strengths.  I've not really tried the Domination Dynasty before.  I started it once, ages ago, but gave up soon after the first Reproductive Day, when I suddenly had to change gear and manage a full household instead of just a couple.  Plus, the kids were really odd-looking  .  This time, I'm close to RD2 and still having fun.

[hazelnut]

Deck the Halls

So here they were.  That bet was looking like a worse idea all the time.  And Deirdra had given him these ridiculous little wings.  So embarrassing.  Didn't the woman know anything about aerodynamics?  Someone his size needed wings like a light aircraft, not something from a fancy-dress bee costume.

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Mary was amused.  You’d think someone who went around in a flying sleigh would realise that the normal rules don't apply to magical objects.  Those little wings would work just as well as larger ones.  Deirdra must have been trying to change his appearance as little as possible.  Either that, or she just had a nasty sense of humour.

Anyway, they really ought to make a start, rather than standing around fretting over wings.  Deirdra had given her a few hints on the quiet.

“If we’re going to have to learn to paint, we might as well get paid for it.  Let’s set up in business as architects.”

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Within a day or two they’d settled into a routine.  Every morning, Father Christmas tended his little patch of garden while Mary visited the elixir shop.  The rest of the day was spent painting and sketching.  By the end of the week they'd become Dictators of Design.

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The arrival of the first elves was suddenly looking like an imminent prospect.  Father Christmas being an old-fashioned kind of a guy, it was clearly time for a proposal.

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And, in a brief but nonetheless sincere ceremony, Mary Tree-Fairy became Mary Christmas.

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There was no time for a honeymoon.  The newlyweds hurried back to their easels to try to master painting before the wish-enhancing serum wore off.  (They didn’t quite make it .)

A few days later, their requirements were complete and chimes sounded from the fairy castle.

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“Tidings of great joy!  We’re going to hear the flutter of tiny wings.”

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“Er, what?”

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“You’re going to be a father, Father Christmas.  I’m knocked up.”

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They’d not carried out a single renovation for clients but now they needed one of their own.

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It wasn’t a proper Santa’s Village but at least there was space to raise a family.  They even splashed out on a big Christmas tree and a few decorations.

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And, below ground, the outline of a giant snowflake had appeared.

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A snowflake so special that it had more than the usual number of points .


Requirements for Reproductive Day 1

Maxed career: Architectural Designer for both.
Skill challenges: Proficient Painter and Brushmaster for both.  Mary has also completed two of the three consignment challenges (as usual, the game’s being slow to recognise her impressive reputation).
Unique Lifetime Rewards: Father Christmas is Immune to Heat and Mary's a Suave Seller.  They also have a couple of non-unique rewards: Entrepreneurial Mindset and Fertility Treatment.
Unique best friends: Kanoa Parrott (FC) and Alouette Bird (Mary).
Collection: sketches, three by Father Christmas and two by Mary.  Total value §92.

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I love that the toilet picture is the most valuable – and the only one that's appreciating with time .

[hazelnut]

The Holly and the Ivy
(And the Others)

Mary went into labour late on their second Thursday in Appaloosa Plains.  Aaarghhh!!  Was being Surrounded by Family really worth this?

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(She wasn’t the only one making pained noises.  I’d got them to Try for Baby very early in the morning, knowing that the first Reproductive Day was going to be pretty hectic, but when she went into labour before midnight, I thought I’d blown it.  Fortunately, the first baby didn't arrive until around 1am the following day.)

Their first daughter, Mistletoe, arrived and Mary realised she’d been right after all – children were wonderful.

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She walked around cuddling the baby until she felt the urge to spin and sparkle again – so Holly and Ivy were born just outside the front door.  Then she took the triplets to their first birthday cakes while Father Christmas went to the arboretum to shed his wings with a sigh of relief.  He stopped off at the hospital on the way back and emerged with two small copies of himself.  He named the first Noel and the second Yule.

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Mary became human with some regret.  Even though she’d lost her job, she was still a Christmas tree fairy at heart.  Even acquiring another daughter, Carol, didn’t really make up for the loss of her wings.

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Everyone posed for a family photo before the children had their first cakes.

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(That’s Ivy on her dad’s shoulders, Holly holding Mary’s hand, Carol and Yule standing in front of them, and Noel and Mistletoe sitting on the ground.)

During Mary’s pregnancy, the parents-to-be had taken up a new skill, alchemy.

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Now they returned to their books and cauldrons, while the teens spray-painted almost everything else and the toddlers amused themselves…

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…although it was hard to get much done with all of the birthdays that kept happening around them.

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Sweet little Mistletoe remained a child until her parents had mastered alchemy.  (I was surprised that clones count towards Surrounded by Family, since they start out as children.  Father Christmas was going to achieve his lifetime wish sooner than I’d expected – and I wanted him to drink wish-enhancing serum first.)

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Noel, as Senior Elf, took to inventing – someone had to come up with new toy ideas.

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Carol, of course, became a singer.

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Yule and Mistletoe, who were drawn to the mystical side of Christmas, became a fortune teller and an alchemist respectively, while Ivy temporarily took over the garden and Holly the genius became an investigator.

(Holly was given genius as a birth trait by the game.  When I discovered how quickly she learned street art from books at the library – far faster than her siblings who were covering the house in graffiti – I decided to choose the trait for every elf I could in future.)

Based on a tip from Deirdra, Mary advised all of the kids to choose Swimming in Cash as their lifetime wishes, but Yule, who was rebellious and artistic, wanted to be Street Credible instead.

(I really messed up there.  I thought Yule would knock out his seven masterpieces as quickly as my previous street artists had done – and then I could use his happiness points to buy an inheritance or a genie lamp, so that all of the others would get their wishes.  Nice idea – but Yule was astonishingly untalented.  Even after he maxed the skill and picked up avant garde as a rebel trait, he still kept churning out ordinary murals.  He was actually the last to achieve his LTW – Mary’s elixir store dealings were profitable enough for the other elves to get their wishes without extra cash.)

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Reproductive Day 1 Elves (born/cloned W2D6)

Noel
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Maxed skill: street art
Level 2 career: Inventor
Building/property: Flying V’s Coffeehouse
Moved out: W3D6
New home: 19440 Bob-o-Link Drive


Yule
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Maxed skill: street art
Level 2 career: Fortune Teller
Building/property: Rustler'’s Den
Moved out: W3D7
New home: 305 Sweetapple Ridge Way


Carol
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Maxed skill: street art
Level 2 career: Singer
Building/property: Gypsy Wagon
Moved out: W3D5
New home: 141 Nandina Parkway


Holly
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Maxed skill: street art
Level 2 career: Investigator
Building/property: Performance Park
Moved out: W3D7
New home: 19443 Bob-o-Link Drive


Ivy
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Maxed skill: street art
Level 2 career: Gardener
Building/property: Vault of Antiquity
Moved out: W3D6
New home: 67 Rachelle Lane

Mistletoe
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Maxed skill: street art
Level 2 career: Alchemist.  (She actually reached level 8.)
Building/property: Darris Teeter Grocery and the Koffi Café
Moved out: W4D1
New home: 19442 Bob-o-Link Drive

And the first point of the snowflake lit up:

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Oddly, all of the houses are now occupied – even though story progression is off, the game has moved people into most of the empty houses.

[hazelnut]

No Crib for a Bed

The two of them were alone together again – but not for long.  By the time the last of the kids moved out, this had already happened:

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And so had this:

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Requirements for Reproductive Day 2 (W4D3)

Maxed career: Alchemist for both.
Skill challenges: Master Alchemist and Master Painter for both.
Unique Lifetime Rewards: No Bills Ever for Father Christmas, Competitive Eater for Mary.
Unique best friends: Benjamin Schmidt (FC) and Stuart Bedlington (Mary).
Collection: fireflies, three caught by Father Christmas and two by Mary.  Total value §43.

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Mary had triplets again, two girls and a boy this time.

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After some cakes and a couple of trips to the science lab, it was time to pose for another family photo.

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Elves from left to right: Marzipan, Port, Mince Pie, Pudding (at the back next to Mary), Icing, and Stilton half-hidden behind her.

Holly had added cake tables to the Performance Park as part of her upgrade, so the three children celebrated their birthdays across the road, leaving their parents to start on their new careers in peace.

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Mary was so intent on unblocking toilets that she barely noticed she’d achieved her lifetime wish.

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With the babies growing up so fast it didn’t seem worth investing in cots.  The first set of triplets had slept in the fairy castle.  These poor little nooboos laid down their sweet heads wherever they happened to flake out.

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I’d aged up the first set of elves, apart from Mistletoe, as soon as possible, but found all the graduations irritating.  This time, the clones stayed as teenagers until the triplets had caught them up.  In retrospect, that was a bad idea.  It probably delayed the next Reproductive Day by a day or two, although the randomness of masterpiece portraits seems to be the biggest factor.  And it didn’t quite work out anyway: celebrating their young adult birthdays took so long that Stilton aged up just after midnight and graduated a day later than the others.

Mary had been lagging behind on the skilling in the run-up to Reproductive Day 2 and so drank a Bottled Witches' Brew to help with her alchemy.  Port and Stilton were born as witches.  Cowardly Stilton largely ignored his supernatural powers but Port autonomously played with magic and conjured apples whenever she had a free moment, obligingly levelling her magic to the point where she could Ice Blast a line of cheap dishwashers for future use.

Reproductive Day 2 Elves

Pudding
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Maxed skill: street art
Level 2 career: Culinary
Building/property: Walls’ Book & Bath LLC
Moved out: W5D3
New home: 1813 Ednamary Way (formerly the Marshall residence)

Mince Pie
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Maxed skill: street art
Level 2 career: Journalism
Building/property: Darris Teeter Art Theater
Moved out: W5D4
New home: 202 Horseshoe Loop (Bird)

Marzipan
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Maxed skill: street art
Level 2 career: Education
Building/property: Dog'’s Day Town Plaza
Moved out: W5D5
New home: 69 Rachelle Lane (which had been occupied by an EA clone, Somebody-or-other Myers)

Icing
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Maxed skill: street art
Level 2 career: Painter
Building/property: Equestrian Regional Training Grounds
Moved out: W5D2
New home: 19441 Bob-o-Link Drive (Parrott)

Port
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Maxed skill: street art
Level 2 career: Nectar Maker
Building/property: Plumbob Pictures Backlot
Moved out: W5D3
New home: 19445 Bob-o-Link Drive (Unfettered With Feathers)

Stilton
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Maxed skill: street art
Level 2 career: Science
Building/property: Novigan Community Cat Jungle
Moved out: W5D4
New home: 19444 Bob-o-Link Drive (Schmidt)

The alleged masterpieces:

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I’m beginning to regret going for 'Father Christmas' rather than 'Santa'.  Some of Mary's wishes are downright creepy:

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*Shudders*