Brilliant Minds: The Wainwrights of Sunset Valley

[Cheezey]

Author's Note: This is my first time posting a Sims 3 story, based on my favorite family of EA premades, and my own head canon for them.  It begins a few months before the start of the game in Sunset Valley.  Any feedback you have is welcome and appreciated, and thank you for reading! 


Chapter List

Era I: Not So Ancient History

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8

Era II: Maywood and the Lofts

Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27

Era III: Ordinary to Extraordinary

Chapter 28 Part One
Chapter 28 Part Two
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41 Part One
Chapter 41 Part Two
Chapter 42
Chapter 43

Era IV: Lifestyles of the Rich and Eccentric

Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68

Era V: Golden Years and Opportunities

Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76 Part One
Chapter 76 Part Two
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87 Part One
Chapter 87 Part Two
Chapter 88 Part One
Chapter 88 Part Two
Chapter 89
Chapter 90 Part One
Chapter 90 Part Two
Chapter 91
Chapter 92

Era VI: Passing the Torch

Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97 Part One
Chapter 97 Part Two
Chapter 98
Chapter 99 Part One
Chapter 99 Part Two
Chapter 100
Chapter 101 Part One
Chapter 101 Part Two
Chapter 102 Part One
Chapter 102 Part Two
Chapter 103 Part One
Chapter 103 Part Two
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108 Part One
Chapter 108 Part Two
Chapter 109 Part One
Chapter 109 Part Two
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112 Part One
Chapter 112 Part Two
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117 Part One
Chapter 117 Part Two
Chapter 118 Part One
Chapter 118 Part Two
Chapter 119 Part One
Chapter 119 Part Two
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123 Part One
Chapter 123 Part Two
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130 Part One
Chapter 130 Part Two
Chapter 131
Chapter 132 Part One
Chapter 132 Part Two
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137 Part One
Chapter 137 Part Two
Chapter 138 Part One
Chapter 138 Part Two
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141 Part One
Chapter 141 Part Two

Brilliant Minds: The Wainwrights of Sunset Valley
Chapter 1

On one of those beautiful warm days that Sunset Valley was known for, all over town the residents were out and about.   Even Boyd and Susan Wainwright, who were far more likely to be found parked in front of their computers or on the couch watching TV on a day off, had been pried outside and into the sunshine.  Susan was up on their rooftop patio repotting her flowers, while Boyd tended a semi-wild flame fruit plant in their front yard.  The flame fruit and the onion beside it seeded into their lawn naturally sometime the previous year, and when Boyd discovered the rare plant and its companion, he decided to just leave them where they were rather than build a flower bed around them or transplant them.  The unsightly stake in the lawn and random placement did not exactly thrill Susan, but as Boyd pointed out to her when she complained, he was a scientist, not a landscaper.



When he heard a car pull into the driveway, Boyd looked up and saw his daughter Blair returning from wherever she went earlier that morning.  Blair had recently graduated from high school, and with high honors.  Both Boyd and Susan were quite proud of her.  Their daughter inherited their intellect, even if not their geeky love of computers, electronics, and pop culture entertainment. 



Blair seemed happy about something as she approached him.  “Dad, can you come inside a minute?  Is Mom around?”

Boyd stood up and brushed the dirt off his knees.  “Sure.  She’s up on the patio.  I’ll text her to come down.” 



Blair was already inside by the time Boyd finished texting Susan, and when he caught up with her, Susan was only about ten seconds behind him coming in through the back door.  “What’s going on?”

“I’m so excited!  They hired me right after my interview this morning!  I got a job!”

“Oh, a summer job?  Congratulations.”

“Not a summer job, Dad.  It’s a regular job, a full time one,” Blair told them.  “I put in an online application to the Sunset Valley Police Department, and they called me in to interview this morning.  They said I was a great fit, got me signed up for the academy, and offered me a full time position as soon as I complete it.”

Susan and Boyd exchanged surprised looks.  “The police academy?” 

Blair nodded enthusiastically to her mother.



“That’s, uh… that’s great, sweetie.”  Boyd managed to keep his tone even despite his thought that that her joining a dangerous career, seemingly on a whim and without a degree first, was a terrible idea.  He and Susan had both been under the impression that Blair was going to start working on a degree at University next term.  As bright as she was, it was the most logical choice to them.  “But aren’t you going to University in the fall?”

“I was, but I thought I’d work on that later so I can do this now.”

Susan was no happier about the news than her husband.  “Blair, you know how important a solid education is these days, no matter what your field.  You’re at such a disadvantage if you don’t go, especially when you can easily get some sort of scholarship with your test scores.”  She frowned.  “Did you know that at Landgraab Industries, where we work, they start new hires around or just under your father’s level if they have a degree with a decent GPA?”

Boyd grumbled at the reminder.  “Yeah, tell me about it.”

“Mom, Dad, don’t worry.  I’m still going to get a degree someday.”



“Then you should do it before you start working.  Like your mother said, it’s a bigger advantage than you think.  We can both tell you how hard it is to find time to finish a degree when you’re working full time and have all the responsibilities of a household and bills,” Boyd told her.  “We started working just out of high school, and we’re still only halfway through our degrees.  You know when we started taking classes, fitting them in when time and money allowed?  When you started elementary school.”

Blair frowned.  “But it’s not really the same!  You didn’t go to University because you and Mom got married right after high school, because she was going to have me.  I don’t have a family to support, and I’m definitely not pregnant.”



“Why do you think it’s rash?” argued Blair. 

“Because it’s the first we’ve heard about it?”

“Mom, I spent a lot of time thinking about this.  I also talked to Officer Keaton several times before I signed up.  I thought about University, too.  SVPD has a really good tuition assistance program for when I want to start taking classes, and in the meantime I can start my career and save some money, and eventually find a place of my own.”  She straightened.  “I wish you’d trust that I know what I’m doing, and that I’m doing what I want with my life.  That’s what you always said you wanted for me, right?”



“Well, of course,” Susan said.

Boyd nodded with her.  “You know we want you to be happy.”

“We just don’t want to see you struggle when you don’t have to.”

“It’ll be fine.  Really,” Blair insisted.

Boyd and Susan still had some reservations, but it was clear that Blair’s mind was made up, and it was, as she said, her choice to make.  “If you’re sure it’s what you really want to do, then good luck with it.”

“Thank you, Dad.”  Blair pulled him into a hug.



“So, once you’re out of the academy, you’ll be a trained police officer?  What kind of work will you be doing?  Writing parking and speeding tickets?”

“Some of that.  I’ll also be out with my partner learning the ropes for basic police work like neighborhood patrols and checking out situations that are called in.”

“And you’re fine with doing that?  That sort of work seems a little,” Susan paused, looking for the right word, “mundane for someone of your intelligence?”



“Mom, I won’t be writing speeding tickets forever,” Blair pointed out.  “Sure, that stuff is boring, but that’s why it’s the starting work.  They put you on more important things once you have more experience, like any other job.  Eventually I’ll be able to transfer into the branch I really want to, the investigative special agent division.  They don’t accept you without a certain number of years on the force first, though.  I know I’ve mentioned a million times that I want to be a special agent someday.”

It was true.  She had.  However, Boyd and Susan had always chalked those statements up to Blair’s youthful exuberance and her watching a steady stream of sci-fi, crime drama, and super-hero themed shows with them all her life.  They never had any inkling that she was serious, any more than Boyd had been serious when at age ten, he told his parents that when he grew up, he was going to join Starfleet and be on the Enterprise.  Even when Blair had discussed going to University with them, what she talked about was a technology degree.  They figured that meant she would go into something like engineering or robotics.  Boyd mused that they should have taken that particular discussion farther at the time, so Blair’s decision to join the SVPD would not be such a surprise to them now.

“Yes, you have,” Susan said, thinking along the same lines as Boyd.  “I can’t say I’m thrilled that you want to do something so dangerous, though.  Have you thought about something like forensics instead?”



“Field work is the exciting stuff, Mom.  No offense, but I don’t want to be in a lab all day, every day, like you and Dad.  I want to be catching criminals.  I want to outsmart them at their own game, and put them behind bars.  I want to be out there solving mysteries and helping people.”

“I see.”  Susan realized that she should not have expected any other answer from her daughter.  Blair was as kind-hearted and idealistic as she was bright.



Boyd was more direct about it.  “It’s admirable that you want to make a difference and make the world a safer place, sweetie.  I mean that.  The SVPD would do well to have more recruits like you in it.  I also get how exciting you must think it will be.  But have you really thought about how dangerous that line of work is?”

“I have.  I know there are risks, but I’ll be fine,” Blair assured her parents.  “They train you to handle dangerous situations at the academy, and on the job, before they let you go into them unprepared.  I’m also going to start going to the gym every day to work out so I’m strong enough to defend myself.”

“That’s good, if you want to do that, I guess,” Boyd said, suddenly thankful that he had a job that never required him to go to a gym.  “But basic physics still says that your 110 pounds against someone weighing half again to three times that puts you at a severe disadvantage, no matter how strong you are.  I mean, unless you’re Awesome Woman, but I don’t think you have super powers you haven’t told your mother and I about.”



“Training will take care of that, Dad.  They’ll teach me how to handle someone bigger than me in the academy.  Don’t you think I can learn it just as well as anyone else in the program?”

Boyd sighed.  “I didn’t mean it that way.  All I’m saying is that we don’t want to see anything happen to you.”



“We love you,” Susan said, echoing his concern.  “So please, be careful.”

“I will.  I promise.”

“Good,” said Boyd.  “And just on the off chance you ever get to investigate something like a UFO or meteor crash, you’ll tell us, right?  Because I would love to see a real alien craft or technology…”



“Sure, as long as you remember to bring your tin foil hat,” Blair teased.

“You might want to be wary of any chain-smoking old men, too,” Susan said wryly.  “Just to be safe.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”  Blair was glad to see her parents back to being their usual quirky selves, and to have the issue settled.  Although she wished they would’ve shared more of her enthusiasm about joining the SVPD, at least they had come to accept and support it, and that was enough.  She headed off to her room with renewed optimism, already making a mental list of what she had to get done before she started the police academy.

[NexttoNormal]

Good start! The Wainwrights are one of my favorite families so it's cool to see a story about them! Can't wait to see what happens next!

[McHazy]

I love SV townie stories, and yours certainly doesn't disappoint! The Wainwrights don't get enough screen time in my opinion, so I'll be reading for sure. 

[Magz from Oz]

Anyone who can reference Star Trek and X-Files in Chapter 1 has me hooked.  Bookmarked!

[RaiaDraconis]

Oh now this is awesome. What a fun way to start with a fun family! I can't wait to read more!

[Cheezey]

(Author's Note: Thank you all for the nice comments! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. )

Chapter 2

Blair took on the challenge of the police academy quite well.  Her enthusiasm for it remained even on the grueling days, and before long, she graduated from it with high marks.  She was excited and happy, and Boyd and Susan were both proud of her.  While it was not what they imagined for her, like most parents, they were glad to see her succeed.



Blair continued to go to the gym every day, something that was no less than a Herculean feat in the minds of her parents.  Susan had been to the community gym exactly once in her life, way back when she decided she would try exercising to lose the few pounds she gained right after having Blair.  After falling on her face on the treadmill and making an utter fool of herself, she left and never went back, vowing to cut calories instead.  As for Boyd, the last time had been in a gym to exercise was back in high school, when it was mandatory and he had no choice.  Even after Dr. Landgraab told him that the back ache he got every so often was from being out of shape and middle-aged, and that it would improve if he did a few stretches every day, he still hardly ever bothered.



During the time Blair was away at the academy, it began to really sink in to Boyd and Susan that their daughter would soon be out on her own for good.  It was a bittersweet feeling.  On one hand, it was nerve-wracking to think about their only child taking that step.  Even though Blair had always been independent and bright, she was also introverted and naïve, more so than many her age.



That bothered Boyd quite a bit.  As it was, he had a tendency to worry about all sorts of things, even unlikely and downright improbable scenarios.  Now that Blair was joining the SVPD, he could not help but remember every disturbing episode of every crime drama show he’d ever watched, especially the ones that involved young women living alone or in her line of work.  Susan spent an entire afternoon calming Boyd down after he researched Sunset Valley’s crime statistics on the internet, and then used them to calculate the likelihood of something horrible happening to Blair within her first five years on the job.

Although the dangerous nature of Blair’s line of work concerned Susan as well, she forced herself to remain logical and rational about it.  At the academy graduation she spoke to both Officer Keaton and Blair’s assigned partner, Hank Goddard, and asked them a number of questions.  Both of them did a good job at putting Susan’s fears to rest.

What Susan found harder to not worry about was who her daughter might meet and spend time with off the clock, once she did move out on her own.



Blair had an idealistic and romanticized outlook on life and love, and she was very trusting.  She was someone that could easily be taken in by a smooth talker or a sob story.  Susan could not help but think that it was inevitable that her daughter would be hurt, and hurt badly, if she did not have friends or family around to see warning signs she would be blind to.



Susan recalled how out of sorts Blair had been back when she and the boy she dated in high school for nearly a year broke up.  It was not even a bad breakup by most standards.  Her ex had been a grade ahead of her, and went away to University after graduation, so they decided to part as friends and move on when he left.  Even though Blair accepted that it was the right decision at the time, it left her heartbroken for days.  In the aftermath, Susan spent more than one late night with her daughter consoling her over a pint of ice cream.  That was a year ago now, and Blair was over it, but Susan knew it was only a matter of time before she would fall in love again.  She just hoped that whoever it was she fell for, it would be someone that genuinely loved her and not someone taking advantage of her.

Of course, there was also the simple fact that they would miss having her around.  Now that Blair was ready to go live her life on her own, both Boyd and Susan felt a touch of guilt about how little time they spent with her in the past, especially when she was younger.



It had been Boyd’s parents that taught Blair to walk and talk, not them.  Her grandparents babysat her while Boyd and Susan worked long hours at entry level jobs in the science lab, saving money for a place of their own. 



When Blair was a little girl, they bought her lots of toys and games, but they rarely took the time to play with her because they were always tired and stressed.  They just wanted to relax by the television or play around on the computer when they got home from work.  It wasn’t that they didn’t care, but as long as Blair was happy doing her own thing, they were just as content to let her be and do theirs.



Most of the time they did spend with her was when she joined one or both of them to watch their favorite TV shows.  Blair always kept up her grades and rarely gave them any trouble, so it was easy to be hands-off parents.  Boyd and Susan never missed the important things like parent-teacher conferences or award ceremonies, but looking back, they both realized that they could’ve taken more time to do little things with their daughter. 

Like the time Blair wanted to go ice skating at the winter festival, and instead of taking her herself, Susan just dropped her off with a friend whose family was going, so she didn’t have to stand around in the cold on her day off.  Or the time Blair wanted a cool cow plant costume for Spooky Day, and Boyd just ordered the best one he could find on the internet instead of helping her customize a unique one with touches only someone who worked with the things would think of.  Now, such opportunities to spend time with her were all but gone.



On the other hand, Susan and Boyd were excited about the idea of soon having the house to themselves.  Unlike most other couples, they had never lived together as just the two of them, alone.  Back when they married, they did it in a rush because Susan was pregnant with Blair, and they had only just graduated high school.  For the first few years, they lived with Boyd’s parents while saving enough money to get a place of their own.  After that, it had always been the three of them.  Now they had the time and the money to do the things they weren’t able to do back then, like travel or attend University, without worrying about babysitters or a school schedule.  Once Blair left, they would even have an extra room in the house to do something with.  They rarely had overnight house guests, so they didn’t need a spare bedroom.  Turning it into a dedicated computer room, a home lab, or even a home theater with a state-of-the-art sound system all sounded like potentially fun ideas.



Plus, there was the issue of privacy.  Their house was small, and ever since Blair was old enough to understand the birds and the bees, the ability to be romantic on a whim without being interrupted or overheard was a luxury.



Not to mention the freedom to just hop out of bed and mess around on the computer without having to get dressed first.



Blair had not left yet, though, and neither Boyd nor Susan wanted her to feel like they wanted her gone, so they kept such discussions to themselves and just enjoyed the extra time for their hobbies. 



Boyd spent a lot of time playing TarzWar, one of the more popular MMOs.  Over the last several months he’d become good online buddies with some of his guild mates.  One of them, Smack Pod, even joined an internet forum Boyd helped moderate that had nothing to do with the game.  Called The Tinfoil Hattery, it was a place where hardcore computer whizzes, occult-interested geeks, and assorted paranoid-but-intelligent personalities discussed things like conspiracies, science, the supernatural, aliens, and everything in between.  Boyd was known on both as Space Invader, an internet name he’d been using for years, inspired by one of the first video games he had ever played.



Susan had an account on that forum as well, but she found it a little too "out there" to participate in much.  She only joined in on threads that Boyd told her about, or to help educate the occasional ignorant and belligerent fool that would pop up.  As for TarzWar, it was not her kind of game.  She preferred games like chess to MMOs.  Susan had no patience for those who acted crass or stupid, and players like that didn’t last long on the competitive chess circuit, where intellect and strategy ruled supreme. 



Blair’s parents hid their mixed anticipation and dread of her moving out well enough that she didn’t notice anything too off in their behavior, but there were a few hints.  The day before, she asked her father to help her pick out a new laptop to buy.  Boyd not only jumped at the chance, but even offered to upgrade and optimize it for her once she got it home.  Although it was not unusual for him to get that enthusiastic when it came to a new computer, it did surprise her that he skipped a TarzWar raid to do it for her.



Earlier that day, Susan set up a chess board near the computer desks.  She had been thinking about getting one for a while, and she finally treated herself to it.  While Boyd tinkered with Blair’s brand new bright pink laptop that had specs he considered “decent” for the sale price she got, Susan asked Blair if she’d break in the chess table with her in a friendly match.

“Mom, your computer chess would probably be better practice for competing than me.  I’ve hardly played a match since I was a kid, when I used to play with Grandma.”

“If you ever managed to beat her, you’ll see why your mother wants to play you,” Boyd said while updating drivers on Blair’s laptop.  His mother, a former teacher and someone whose grasp of logic would have done Mr. Spock proud, had been in the third tier ranking of the chess circuit when she passed on.

“Actually, an opponent who doesn’t have a predictable strategy presents its own type of challenge.  Besides, I want to try my new table.  So how about it?”

“Sure.”  Blair set up the pieces with her mother.  Susan let her go first, and then she took her turn.  “So, how was your day, Mom?”



“Oh, the same old same old.  I was crunching data from the salt tanks in lab four most of the day.  Nothing as adventurous as what your father got into with the new tech.”

Boyd grumbled.  “Don’t even get me started.”

“What happened?” asked Blair.



“Well, let’s just say that I have no idea how this new girl they hired got cleared to be in the Laganaphyllis simnovorii area.  She’s nice enough, but she’s clumsier than a juiced up llama.  She almost knocked me into the 48 hour-fasting pen while I was holding a swordfish for a plant in the control group!”  Boyd shuddered and made a face.  “The two cow plants below me grabbed the swordfish and tore it in half, almost getting my arm in the process.  The one that finished first went for my foot right after, and it ate my shoe!  I’ll never complain about the safety boot mandate in there again, I’ll tell you that.”  He shook his head.  “I’m going to have a word with Judy about whoever’s doing the training.  They need a refresher.”



“Wow,” Blair said, wide-eyed.  “And you said my job was dangerous?”

Susan moved a pawn.  “Well, things like that don’t happen all that often.  I bet we’ll get stuck having an extra safety meeting this month because of it, though.  That I could live without.”  She looked at Blair.  “Your move.  How was your day?”

Blair studied the chess board and picked up a bishop, then paused.  “It was all right.  Mostly reading.  Hank was going over some recent cases with me to get me familiar with the routine procedures.”  She smiled.  “I like him.  He’s really easy to talk to, and fun, too.”

“He seemed rather charming,” Susan remarked, glancing over at Blair after catching the upward lilt in her tone when she spoke of Hank.  “And the type that has a way with the ladies.”

“Well, maybe.  I mean he is pretty good-looking, but he’s engaged.”  She finalized her move and then looked at her mother.  “Your turn.  Oh, and that reminds me!  Guess who I heard from today?”

“Who?” Susan asked, contemplating her move.



“My ex-boyfriend.”

[chetanhaobijam]

Like this story. And I love reading Sunset valley townies stories. So, Bookmarked for further reading. Looking forward for next chapter.
P.S. Can't stop guessing, who is her ex-boyfriend?

[karlissa]

My guess is that this is a reference to a video of the sims 3 before it was released and the ex-boyfriend will be Mr Sw0rd. and my my he is a hottie without those glasses.

[Magz from Oz]

I love this.  I've played Blair dozens of times but her parents very rarely.  You give them such a clear voice and personality.   

[Cheezey]

Like this story. And I love reading Sunset valley townies stories. So, Bookmarked for further reading. Looking forward for next chapter.
P.S. Can't stop guessing, who is her ex-boyfriend?

Thank you!  I love the Sunset Valley townies and stories about them are my favorite type to read in the Sims-verse.  As for the ex, the next chapter will focus on that!

My guess is that this is a reference to a video of the sims 3 before it was released and the ex-boyfriend will be Mr Sw0rd. and my my he is a hottie without those glasses.

There is a distinct possibility I may have drawn inspiration from said video, but that is all I will say for now.   I also agree that Cycl0n3 looks much better after a makeover.  It bugs me when I can't see a sim's face clearly in their default look, unless there is some compelling reason for it.  I hope no one has found the hair and wardrobe changes I did to the characters too jarring, by the way.

I love this.  I've played Blair dozens of times but her parents very rarely.  You give them such a clear voice and personality.   

Thanks! I find them pretty fun to play, aside from having to frequently kick them in the pants to get off the computer or multi-tab to accomplish something, or even go to bed.

I'm hoping to get the third chapter of the story up in a day or two.  It's mostly done, but I have a super busy weekend coming up.

[Cheezey]

Chapter 3

Susan pulled her hand back from the pawn she was about to move when Blair mentioned her ex-boyfriend.  She hadn’t said anything about him in quite a while, so it took her by surprise.  “Really?  What did he want?”

“He said he was back in town for the summer.  He got a temp job checking automated spell checkers, or something like that, over at the towers,” Blair said while her mother finished her chess move.  “I hope I can hang out with him before he goes back.  I’m going to be working a lot, though.  You don’t mind if he comes over to visit on a day off, do you?”

“That’s fine with me.  What about you, honey?” Susan asked Boyd.



“I don’t mind, either.”  He paused.  “Although I’d prefer it if you kept the door to your room open if he’s in there with you, still.”

Blair flushed with embarrassment.  “Dad!  Really?”

“Yes.  Really.”

“I’m not sixteen anymore!  I’m an adult!” she said, indignant.  “Besides, he and I broke up ages ago.  We’re just friends now.  Why would you even think something like that?”



Susan raised an eyebrow at Blair’s defensive reaction, while Boyd answered her.

“Why would I think that?  Because I can cite you a number of examples of guys your age I know on TarzWar that talk about their female friends and how much they’d love to get into their skimpy virtual armor if they could.”  It was clear from his tone that Boyd found the conversation just as unpleasant and awkward as Blair did.  He would have preferred that the whole issue of his daughter having a boyfriend while she still lived there as an adult never come up, but since it had, he pushed through it as succinctly as possible.  “And I’m well aware that you’re an adult, Blair.  What you do on your own is your own business, but here, please just humor me.”

“Fine,” Blair said, rolling her eyes.  “But you’re worrying over nothing.  Like I said, we’re just friends.  You used to like Cycl0n3.  You should know he’s not like that.”



Whatever Boyd was going to say next was completely de-railed by the name Blair used to refer to her former boyfriend.  “Wait, what did you call him?”

“Oh.  Right.  You didn’t know about him changing his name, did you?  He did that last winter at University.  He officially goes by his internet name now.  Cycl0n3 Sw0rd.  But if you write it out, the o’s are zeroes and the e is a three.  You’ve probably seen him on my SimBook.  I’ve shared some of the funny things he’s posted.”



“Are you serious?”  Susan was somewhere between horrified and fascinated.  “He actually changed his legal name to that?”

“It’s weird, but yeah, he did.  He filed paperwork and everything.  He showed me a scan of his driver’s license to prove it.  He said they acted like he was trolling them when he went to City Hall.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Susan quipped.

Boyd still had a funny look on his face.  “So his name is Cycl0n3 Sw0rd now?”

“Yeah.  You get used to it after a while.”



“Heh.  Well, I’ll take your word for that.”  Susan returned her attention to the chess board, and her eyes lit up when she saw a move.  “Ooh!  And I think this is… yes, it is!  Checkmate.”  She placed her piece triumphantly.



Blair looked over the board and smiled.  “Looks like you’re right.  Good game, Mom.”

“Good timing, too.  Your computer’s about done,” Boyd said as he closed the lid on Blair’s laptop and handed it to her.  “It should run a lot faster now.  Let me know if you have any issues with it.”

“Thanks.”  She picked it up.  “I’m going to go to bed so I’m not dead at the gym tomorrow morning.  Good night.”

“Good night.”

“‘Night, honey,” Susan called after her.  As she was about to get up from the chess table, she noticed that Boyd looked as though he was contemplating something now that Blair had left.  “What?”



“Did you know that one of my TarzWar guild mates is named Cycl0n3 Sw0rd, with zeroes for o’s and a three for an e?”

Susan was intrigued.  “Really?  Do you think it’s him?”

“At first, I figured it had to be a coincidence, but then I remembered that the Cycl0n3 I know said when he was last on that he was heading home for summer and wouldn’t be on much for a few days.  I’m pretty sure I also remember him saying he was a Sims U student at one point.  That’s too many coincidences for it to not be the same guy, don’t you think?  I haven’t seen Cycl0n3s spelled just like that all over the internet as a particularly common name, and I’ve been on the internet since before it was even called the internet.  So how likely is it that it’s not him?”

“Not terribly,” Susan agreed.  “What do you think of him from how you know him online?  Is he much different than he was back when he and Blair were in high school?”



Boyd moved from the now empty desk where he had worked on Blair’s laptop to the desktop computer on the opposite one.  “Not really.  I mean, he was quieter around us, but who wouldn’t be when hanging around his girlfriend’s parents?”  He paused to type something, and then resumed.  “In game he seems okay.  He plays his class well.  He doesn’t mess around during raids, and aside from shooting off his mouth sometimes, he’s not a bad guy to group with.  I get along with him fine, but I have a thicker skin than some of the bigger egos on the server.”  Boyd paused.  “Of course, I doubt he has any idea who I am any more than I knew who he was until tonight.  It’ll be… interesting… to see what he says in casual guild conversation when something about life outside the game comes up from here on out.”

After deleting some spam from her inbox, Susan loaded up a forum thread she had been following.  “You aren’t going to say anything, then.”

“I wasn’t planning to.”



Susan looked up from her screen and over at her husband.  “So, you’re going to troll Blair’s ex-boyfriend?” 

Boyd stopped typing for a moment.  He knew that look and tone.  They were the same ones Susan used when he did things like use a paper plate instead of emptying the dishwasher because there were no clean dishes in the cabinet.  A combination of disapproval and amusement over something that wasn’t argument material, but something she couldn’t quite let slide, either.  “I wouldn’t call it trolling, honey.  It’s just a little experiment comparing someone’s online persona to their real life one.  Out of curiosity.”

“Because this someone used to date our daughter, and now he wants to hang out with her again.”

“Exactly.”



“Mmm-hmm.”  Susan closed her browser and shut down her computer, feeling sleepy now that she was done with what she’d wanted to do online.  “Well, when you’re done not-trolling, come to bed.  You’re going to be miserable at work tomorrow if you stay up until two again like last night.”  She gave him a quick kiss good night, and headed off to their bedroom while he logged into the game.




Across town the following day, the subject of the Wainwrights’ late night conversation was not having a great day himself.  Cycl0n3 Sw0rd had endured a long and painfully dull shift at work proofreading things that he found boring to read in the first place.  When he got home, he wanted nothing more than a little downtime and mindless entertainment in the form of killing monsters on a console game.  He got a grand total of five minutes of it after changing out of his work clothes and settling down to play.  Then he got a phone call from his roommate—well, former roommate, now—and that ended that.

He headed toward the kitchen area and found his two remaining roommates, Emma and Tamara, at the table.  They looked just as stressed as he was.

“What’s up with you two?  Did you hear the same great news I just did?”

Tamara glanced up at him.  “News?  You mean about how we can’t pay our bills?  Yeah, it’s wonderful.  Makes me feel like those long hours at City Hall are totally worthwhile when the rent eats this much of my monthly income.”  She sighed.  “Kyle needs to get back here soon.  He still hasn’t paid his share for this month.  If it wasn’t for Emma being able to take leftover food from work most nights, we’d have nothing to eat but a couple of cheap boxes of macaroni and cheese for the rest of the week.”

“At least the food makes up for my not-so-filling paycheck,” Emma joked before growing serious again.  “I’m sorry I can’t chip in more to help cover the stuff he was supposed to pay, but I make squat, too.  I can’t afford a third of the rent on this place.  I signed on for a fifth, and a fourth I can do for a month or two, but that’s about my limit until I get a raise.”



“It’s not your fault, Emma,” Tamara assured her before turning back to Cycl0n3.  “Tell me you weren’t being sarcastic, and your great news actually is good news, and not another three hundred simoleon electric bill or something else we can’t afford.”

“I wish.  No, it was a call from our missing roommate.  I asked him if he was on his way back finally, since he was supposed to head back with me, and he told me he called to say he wasn’t coming back.  He’s decided he likes it there so much he’s moving in with Randall for good.  Like I said, great news.”  He flopped down into one of the empty chairs at the table.



Tamara was furious.  “What?  He can’t just do that to us!  He agreed to stay here until the fall!  We held his room!  That’s bull!”

“Seriously!” agreed Emma.  “If he was going to stay there, he should’ve said so and given us a month to find another roommate to pick up his share.  Or at least pay us his share for this month since he didn’t bother to let us know.  We could’ve run an ad for two new roommates instead of one.”



“Hey, I’m not arguing.”  Cycl0n3 leaned back in his chair.  “When’s that Stiles guy who answered our ad supposed to move in, anyway?  At least he’ll make four again, and keep us from learning the fine art of dumpster diving to get by.”

Emma sighed.  “Not until the middle of July.  He said he was stuck in his lease where he lives now until then.  We said it was okay because we thought Kyle would be back with you and we could get by with four of us until Stiles moved in and put us back at five.”

“That and he was the only one who answered who didn’t seem shady or skeevy,” muttered Tamara.



Cycl0n3 couldn’t help but laugh.  “Coming from someone who hangs around upstanding guys like Xander Clavell, that’s saying something.”

“Shut up, Cycl0n3,” Tamara retorted.  “I’m being serious.  If you can chip in any extra, we need you to.  I covered what I could, but it’s not really enough.  I’ll pay you back out of what Stiles gives us when he moves in.”



“What, do you think I’m making a fortune as a newsroom peon?  Anyway, I don’t have much right now, because I didn’t expect to have a roommate bail on me and stick me with his share of the bills.  I upgraded my laptop with a better hard drive with most of my last paycheck.”

Tamara sighed.  “Great.”

“Look, there’s got to be something we can do, right?  Maybe try putting an ad somewhere other than SimsList?” suggested Emma.

“Putting one in the paper costs money, which we’re lacking,” Cycl0n3 pointed out.  “I tried asking Victoria if there was any kind of employee discount back when we put out the first one, and she told me they didn’t do that.”

“What about friends?  Do either of you two know anyone that might be looking to move, or heck, even stay here for a month or two while looking for somewhere better?”  Emma looked over at Tamara.  “What about Xander?  Doesn’t he still live with his parents?  He can’t be thrilled about that, right?  Think he’d want to move in?”



“No way.  Xander still lives with his parents because he doesn’t have to pay rent and his mom makes him dinner every night and still does his laundry,” Tamara said.  “If he moved in, he might cough up the rent once or twice, and then it’ll be late because he blew it all partying, and he’ll ask if we could cover him or help him out ‘just this once,’ except it’s never only once with him.  Trust me.  Been there, done that.”

“And wore his t-shirt the morning after, or so I heard,” Cycl0n3 quipped, waggling his eyebrows. 

Emma snickered, while Tamara snapped at him.  “That’s not funny.  It’s also not relevant.  We’re talking about finding a roommate, not ancient history.  Xander’s not on the list of candidates, so we need to figure out someone who is.  Okay?”

“Fine.  Bite my head off, why don’t you?” Cycl0n3 was about to say something else when his phone beeped with a text.



Emma looked up as Cycl0n3 responded to whoever it was.  “I hope that was Kyle, and you’re telling him what he can do to himself for screwing us over like this.”

Cycl0n3 chortled.  “Nah.  Just my friend Blair.”

“I don’t suppose your friend might be interested in a room in an avant-garde industrial style loft complex in downtown Sunset Valley?” Emma said, parroting the wording they had used in their SimsList ad.

“What?  No.  I mean, I don’t think so.”  Cycl0n3 was caught off guard by the question.  It had never occurred to him to think of Blair in terms of roommate material until then.  “She still lives at home.”

“Another Xander?” asked Emma.



Cycl0n3 made a face at the comparison.  “No.  She's nothing like him.  She's younger than us.  She only graduated high school this year.  She’s not a loser mooching off mom and dad at almost thirty.”

Tamara raised an eyebrow.  “Isn’t she also your ex-girlfriend?”

“I thought this wasn’t about ‘ancient history,’” he replied sarcastically.

“Well, if they’re friends now, what’s the harm?” asked Emma.  “It means you’re past any awkward stuff, right?”

Cycl0n3 nodded.  “Oh, yeah.  Sure.  I mean, I haven't seen her since I first left for University last year, but we’ve been talking on SimBook for months now.  Everything's cool with us.”



“If you say so.”  Tamara shrugged.  “I’d find it a little weird to live with someone I was with for like a year and then broke up with, but that’s just me.  I’ve got no problem with it if you don't, though.”

“Ten months and thirteen days, actually.”

Emma gave Cycl0n3 a surprised look.  “What?”

“That’s how long we were together.  What can I say?  My mind is a precise instrument.”

“Except for when you can’t find your car keys,” quipped Emma.  “You lose them more often than anyone I know.  But back to the subject here, does she work or have some kind of income?  Do you think she might want to move out of her parents place?”



“I don’t know.  She might.  She does have a job.  She joined the SVPD after graduation.  I could ask her.”  The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of having Blair around.  They had always gotten along well, and had been friends for some time before they ever dated.  Cycl0n3 figured that was why he had been able to stay friends with her after their relationship ended and he went to University.  Blair Wainwright was one of the few individuals he had ever met that both got him and accepted him on a level most others didn’t.

“Sounds good to me, then.”  Emma leaned back in her chair. 

“Me, too,” Tamara agreed.  “Let us know what she says.”

[RaiaDraconis]

The exchange between the roommates was fantastic! You captured their personalities perfectly. I wonder how Boyd and Susan will react to the idea of Blair possibly moving out...

[Magz from Oz]

This is a great backstory for the Roomies.     I love your makeovers Cheezey.  Cycl0n3 does scrub up well, doesn't he. 

[NexttoNormal]

I love the banter between the Roomies. Like everyone before me said, you did a great job capturing their personalities! Tamara sounds exactly like how I imagine she would. And Cycl0n3 is probably my favorite nerd sim in the game, he's just so hardcore nerd. I also like the backstory for him and Blair, it'll be interesting to see them interact later on!

[Cheezey]

The exchange between the roommates was fantastic! You captured their personalities perfectly. I wonder how Boyd and Susan will react to the idea of Blair possibly moving out...

Thank you! I enjoy all the Roomies' characters. Tamara has some fun traits to put into play with hot-headed, flirty, and mooch, so I see her as the one who probably gets the worst and the most of Cycl0n3's inappropriate remarks, as she leaves herself open to them.

This is a great backstory for the Roomies.     I love your makeovers Cheezey.  Cycl0n3 does scrub up well, doesn't he. 

Thanks!  I'm glad you like the story and their new looks.  The hair Tamara has is one of my favorite store styles.  Cycl0n3's hair is one I rarely pick for a sim because it's one of the more unusual styles, but it seems to suit him.  He's one of those sims I almost always have to send into the stylist, even if I'm not playing him.  Sims whose default outfits involve a coat when the game is in summer are a nit-picky thing that drives me nuts.  Same with Boyd's snakeskin jacket (which I've decided has to be a leftover from a mid-life crisis he would have had some time before Sunset Valley's default start) and Jared Frio's leather coat.  I can't see the Seasons summer temperature and not feel like the poor sim is roasting wearing something like that.

The backstory for this story is taking on a life of its own.  Back when I started the game this story is based on (which was played from the game's start and relatively unscripted, going off the sims' wishes, with Nraas story progression handling the unplayed households) I figured the backstory would be 3 chapters, tops.  Now, as I write it out and flesh out the details, I'm guessing it will be more like twice that.

I love the banter between the Roomies. Like everyone before me said, you did a great job capturing their personalities! Tamara sounds exactly like how I imagine she would. And Cycl0n3 is probably my favorite nerd sim in the game, he's just so hardcore nerd. I also like the backstory for him and Blair, it'll be interesting to see them interact later on!

Thank you! Cycl0n3 is lots of fun. I think the inappropriate aspect of his personality is what puts him over the top. While Boyd is just as nerdy in that computer geek/scientist kind of way, he knows better than to say and do some of the things that Cycl0n3 would.  That said, those two and Justin Kayes from Twinbrook are my three favorite sim nerds.  Oh, and Evangeline Finch from Lucky Palms also gets a mention, because an old lady who once hacked into a military base and got run out of town for it is just awesome.  I have a bit of head canon that Boyd knew her when he was a teenager, back when she still lived in Sunset Valley, and that he learned a few things from her.

As for Cycl0n3 and Blair, they're pretty much the whole next chapter.  I'm hoping to get that up tomorrow.