Chapter 1 - What Was I Thinking
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Welcome to Appaloosa Plains, our first home for the Random Town Jump. As a newer Pets player who hasn't actually ever played a file in this town (I know), I have been dying to start a family here. Look at that scenery! That color! I'm currently excited for spring in the real world, but this is making me excited for fall! I'm excited for two seasons at once! (Not that that's an unusual thing.)
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This is the land of horses, dogs, cats, lizards, and birdies. It's also the land of one Gracie Loveland, our founder and our queen. She lives in this charming little abode that is way too nice for a level 2 scientist to afford at the age of 23 or whatever.
I'll be honest--I had a hard time choosing my starting couple for this RTJ. Appaloosa Plains is full of so many interesting people, and just reading the wiki, I came across about seventeen potential love stories that I would have been thrilled to explore. For some reason, I landed on one involving Gracie. The reasons may become clear in time. Or they may not, because honestly, I'm doubting them already.
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Anyway! Gracie Loveland is a cookie-cutter perfect little angel--she's tiny, blonde, blue-eyed, and sweet, and she wears clothes right out of a child's dress-up box. She's also smart--a scientist--and a perfectionist, and she likes to clean, and she loves animals. I mean, come on. Why did I think this chick was interesting again?
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Oh right, partially because the first thing she did when I started up this game was walk straight up to her secretly saucy bedroom full of mirrors and animal print and sultry red lights and made herself a drink. Actually TWO drinks.
Clearly, this girl has a dark side. Or at least a wild side. In fact, I'm pretty sure her bio says exactly those words: "wild side". I'd be lying if I said I didn't fall for that immediately.
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Gracie's dark side may not be her dominant side, though. When she's not throwing back mysterious concoctions in her dimly-lit bedroom, she's working away in her garden (she grows limes! even though she's not a good enough gardener to grow limes!) or obsessively filling her cat's food dish.
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Oh right! She has a cat. This is Babycakes. Gracie and Babycakes have a...problematic relationship, for some unknowable reason. Also, sorry, Babycakes, for taking a picture of you taking a whizz, but in my defense, you took about five whizzes in the first five minutes of the game, and I had to work with what I was given.
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After gardening for a bit, Gracie calls up her good friend, Eligible Handyman Benjamin Schmidt, using her overlarge, possibly-made-of-jello cell phone. She invites Benjamin to meet her at the best date spot in town--the ever-romantic Hangman's Tree. A good omen? Totally a good omen.
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Off she goes to catch her man. Literally. The man can run.
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"Yessss! I'm about to star in a forum story!"
Okay, so...here's the thing. Gracie already has a romantic interest at the start of the game (Rodney Singleton, who was a strong contender for this challenge as well). Benjamin here apparently has the entire female population of Appaloosa Plains falling at his feet on the daily, because he's hot or something, and he fixes things. But also, these two are already really good friends. Benjamin happens to be FIRST SLOT in Gracie's relationship panel. That's a big deal, man. I would say it's the same for Benjamin, but I suspect that slot belongs to his dog.
But that's not the only reason these two are cute together.
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"So, Benjamin! I've been thinking. How would you like to be roommates? I'm pretty lonely in my big perfect blue house, and Babycakes isn't really good company--she just hisses at me when I try to get near her. You know, I really need someone to...um...get near. Would you want to--"
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"Move in with you? Have babies with you? Found a multi-generation random town jump with you? Duh, it's every Sim's dream! But before I say yes, there's...something you should know.
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"I've been single for my whole young adult life thus far, and that's because I can't trust myself to date anyone. I have this weird, irrepressible urge to date as many people as possible, and then smash all their hearts to bits. Is that weird?"
"Oh. My. God. Are you talking about the Heartbreaker Lifetime Wish?!"
"How do you know about the Heartbr--"
"BECAUSE I HAVE IT TOO!"
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*silence*
Benjamin: "I'm, like, really attracted to you all of a sudden."
Yep. This is the reason I chose Gracie and Benjamin, people. Because I saw that they were good friends, and that they both wanted to be Heartbreakers. I was like, "Oh my god. That's so cute. They can break a bunch of hearts and then get together afterward, and it'll be so adorable!"
What. Was. I. Thinking.
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Yeah, so anyway, Gracie and Benjamin bond over the fact that they secretly love destroying people's lives in spite of the fact that they are otherwise good people. Gracie goes in for a passionate kiss, partially inspired by the fact that a random horse just appeared, and horses are romantic.
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Benjamin makes this face. This is called the "I'm a Great Kisser and I do believe I just found another Great Kisser" face.
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Gracie makes this face, which is CLEARLY the face of true love.
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Then this weird interaction happens, wherein Gracie smooshes her generous bosom up upon her new man's chestal region...
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...and then the two of them are kissing like there's no tomorrow, watched solemnly by Chuck Hobble, who tries to hide the fact that he's watching them by obscuring himself under the brim of his enormous hat.
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Gracie: "I've got an idea, Benjamin. Why don't you come live with me, and we can have some babies together, and maybe move to a new town eventually, and also it can be, like, an open relationship, so we can both break all the hearts we want, but also be together forever!"
Benjamin: "I think I love you!"
I think this is going to go really well, don't you?
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Benjamin takes off for his new home as Gracie admires his pickup truck. (This is the wild west, after all. Wait, is this the wild west? Where ARE we?)
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Welcome to the household, Benjamin! Oh, and Ralston. Ralston is Benjamin's beautiful, beautiful dog, who is now my favorite character in this story.
At this point, I finally begin to come to terms with the fact that Gracie's dress makes me want to vomit (sorry), and I also get excited about the opportunity to give Benjamin some decent pants that don't gather around his ankles. That's right, it's makeover time!
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And proper introduction time. Here's a newly beautified Gracie. Gracie is a Great Kisser, a Perfectionist, and an Animal Lover, and she's also Neat and has Commitment Issues. (Like I said, this is going to go REALLY well!) Her favorite things are pop music, ratatouille, and the color lilac.
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Benjamin here is a Brave, Friendly, Handy, Charismatic Great Kisser. He likes Indie music, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and the color black.
Now that we've actually met our protagonists...that's the end of the chapter. Next time, we'll attempt to get this open relationship thing going and probably watch it crash and burn. See you then!
