Alright everyone! Welcome to Chapter Three, Part Two! I'd have loved to post the whole story all at once, but time restrictions (and the 25 picture limit per chapter) limited my actions. As the curtain opens, we find Kell back at home with his wife.
Ali: I said it's okay. I know you better than you think. Besides, if you think you could kick me out of my own house, you're sadly mistaken.
Kell: Yeah, you're probably right.
Well I'm glad that went so smoothly. Now we just have to go fix things with Eric and Alice.Alice: Actually, Alice called earlier. Her and Eric were worried about Kell, they said you weren't acting like yourself.
Ah, good! Now if only we could figure out what caused it in the first place.
Ali: Um. That was probably me. I found a Voodoo Doll earlier, and I linked it to Kell. I used some needles on it to see what would happen.
Ali: I heard Kell's office door open and tried to fix it, but it came to life and threatened me! I'm so sorry... I already told everyone what happened.
I suppose that makes sense... that explains why Kell got angry so fast.Kell: What happened to the doll?
Ali: I promise that doll is gone.
Kell: I'm going to head to Eric's house and talk with them.
And you an I, Ali, will have a chat about your phrasing of that sentence.
Alice: Of course I forgive you! Ali explained everything. Just make sure it doesn't happen again.
Kell: It won't. The pressure of my aspiration goals, the voodoo magic, and the surprise of finding a Criminal Mastermind was overwhelming. I'm done with the aspiration now, so no worries!
Alice: What Criminal? You were accusing me of being one.
Kell: I accused everyone of it, it wasn't just you. But I still can't remember...
Alice: Well go talk to Eric. He's waiting for you.
Kell: Eric I'm so sorry. Can you every forgive me?
Eric: I shouldn't you know. You said some terrible things.
Eric: But if I didn't, I wouldn't be a true friend.
Kell: Thank you so much Eric. I can't tell you how much this means to me.
Eric: Just don't forget it next time. You know, you were sort of right about accusing me.
Kell: Why is that?
Eric: You can't judge someone by their traits. I was worried for you when you married Ali, but you made the right call, Evil or not.
Kell: That's... That's it! I remember now, Eric you're a genius! I need to go.
Kell: It's you! You're the Mastermind! That's why you're never around, why whenever you're on a business trip all my Missions go south! You've been spying on me for years!
Summer: So you finally figured it out? Took you long enough. I knew what you were from day one, you Goodie Two-Shoes. If you really think you can stop me, feel free to try.
Kell: I will!
Kell: Did anyone catch the license plate of that truck?
Summer: Hah, too easy. Feel free to come back next week if you want another beating.
I guess Summer's all done hiding now. If you don't take care of her soon Travis isn't in for a good time.Kell: I can't let that happen. Travis saved me, in a way.
Ali: No worries dear! I can help you work out some more so you can beat her. Are you ready?
Kell: I am.
Ali: I said run fatty! Is that as fast as you can go you slob? Come on, I know its hard but you can move those mountain size cheeks faster than that, lets GO.
Well some things never change.
Kell: Thanks Ali, I could never do it without you.
Ali: Aw thanks hun, really it *MMMPH*
Kell: I'll be back soon.
Ali: Kell wait!
Kell: I'll be fine love.
Already Kell? Well hopefully this one goes better...
So lets tally: you've been knocked out by Travis, and lost two fights to a skinny girl now.Kell: Wow she hits hard, my ears are still ringing.
Go home. And if I may make a suggestion, practice fighting with your wife, but physically this time.
Ali: I tried to warn you. But, you do get a consolation prize... What say you come to the bedroom and see if you can conquer THIS Evil Mastermind? Muahahaha!
Kell: Heheh... Hey wait a minute.
Kell: Are you mocking me?!
Ali: What? Too soon?
Kell: You and the watcher both.
You're a Secret Agent and you lost to a girl that by all rights your wife could break like a twig. It's kind of hilarious.
No luck with the pregnancy? I'm sorry Ali, I know you were looking to get another Nooboo.
Ali: Oh don't worry watcher. I'm sure Kell will want to try again soon.
Hm... I suppose I can keep one more secret. You just have to promise me you won't use it the wrong way.Ali: I won't. And it soothes my need to do... things.
We're agreed then. I'll see you next time Ali. Keep in mind Kell has work tomorrow.Post-Story Story!
So as I mentioned at the beginning of this whole thing, this was one of the hardest time's I've had in the Sims to date. Sims 4 is my first experience with this series, so I'm desperately lacking for experience in some of the rather major parts of Sims 4. I realize this, and so I was extremely worried when I started on this adventure. I have broken a best friend relationship before, and you have to reduce the friendship to near zero to do so. I also thought that in order to do so effectively you had to be angry.
Long story short: when I went to break up with my wife we were both pretty angry. I very quickly pushed Kell into the danger zone, and had to do some angry running to bring it down. I tried to patch up the relationship with ali right away, but Kell and Ali weren't having any of it.
Also, this was my first experience with "expose criminal mastermind". I had no idea what it did, and I am extremely lucky that Ali wasn't one. I used this interaction on everyone, as its got an amazing animation, and it lowered the friendship level a lot.
When I did the other 3 (Eric, Alice, Travis) I made sure I had a +5-8 happy at all time on my sim, and I used some conversation buffs on them before starting (reveal deep secret, compliment, ect) in order to stop them from becoming angry as well. In that way, I was able to make them BFFs, break the relationship, and then very quickly apologize and raise it back up successfully.
As I mentioned in the story, Summer wasn't there, so I couldn't quite finish the aspiration. I also thought that I needed to be BFFs with Ali to finish soulmate, which I didn't. So I quit for the night, came home, and prepared to fix their relationship.
I didn't need to be worried. The instant I got home, Ali walked over to Kell on her own and started flirting with him. 2 gold dates later and everything was back to normal. I still had to finish the aspiration, so I sent Kell to BFF Summer and then break it. Getting to BFF was easy, she was already pretty close. Breaking it was even easier... when I accused her of being a Criminal Mastermind, she was one! Her relationship bar immediately reversed, making her relationship with Kell despised, and they began fighting.
I have to say, that was the first completely unexpected thing I've had in Sims. Some things have surprised me before, but nothing on the scale that this did. Summer is a Criminal Mastermind? Wow.
So this combination of aspirations and career is actually working out rather well. One of the hardest parts of the Secret agent career is the wide variety of skills you need to level, the high number of friends you have to have, and the rather useless mood that's the recommended. But, confidence is amazing for making lots of friends, and I'll have a ton of them anyways due to friend of the world. So when that 8 friend requirement rolled around, I didn't even blink. And thank god for Ali! I had forgotten there was a Fitness 8 requirement at high levels. She's made it so much easier getting that leveled up.
The last bit of synergy is the Soulmate aspiration. The last requirement of soulmate is to do 200 romantic socials with your soulmate spouse. The Daily work for a Diamond Path Agent is romantic socials. Coincidence? No not really, I did my research before hand, but I have to admit the timing of the aspirations and career path has been extremely fortunate for me.
I will say that this career is astoundingly difficult to level. I usually go for 2-3 days, with my daily work completed, with my requirements done, and with a confident moodlet for the first 4 hours of the work day, while working hard or smoozing with my boss. 2-3 days per promotion! When I run tech guru, I get the promotion the instant I finish the requirements, which is usually same day I get new ones, or the next day.
The last thing I want to mention is the Voodoo doll at the end. That was entirely Ali's automated reaction. I had her test for pregnancy, when it came up negative she immediately whipped out the doll and started cuddling with it.
