Chapter 15: The Die Rolls

Orrin goes to college.
Omaha grows up.

Ah, the little ones grow up so fast, don't they? Here it is, already time for Omaha to jump into teenhood and Orrin to head off for college.

Cute picture, huh?

---

Now, in most families, the minute you were done taking all the 'nice' pictures and put away the camera, the kids would start beating up on each other (or was that only in my family?) Not so these two. Orrin's always had a great relationship with his niece.

"Hsst! Careful how you say that. I don’t' want any of my future subjects to overhear and think I might be 'soft'."

---

College can't come too soon for Orrin. I mean, look at him. He's growing like a weed.

::Damn freaky green kid. Now he's doing strange things with the bus roof.::

Let's just fast forward to this evening and Omaha's birthday party (mostly because I have no other exciting shots to fill in between now and then).

---

All Omaha's elementary school friends are here. That's Thor Beaker in the green. Behind him is Olivia Smith, Ophelia and Johnny's daughter. Poor Jenny Smith is there in her usual pink (I really need to grow her up). Tank Grunt is there only because he was wandering by and I had Texas grab him. I don't think he knows a soul in the household but hey, it's free cake.

---

Quite a house full for the party, no? Three elementary school friends, their parents, Eugene and Genesis from next door, Salina, Orrin's gal Brandi, and Xavier the maid. Oh, and Keth's trotting her fat a$$ up the porch stairs as we speak.

Happily, we got through the entire party without Circe trying to beat the snot out of anyone. She's the top scrapper of Strangetown. Loki poked a few people, but was well behaved otherwise. I have to wonder if the Holldums can ever have a bad party though. I mean, look at the chaos of Cleveland's wedding. 2 broken engagements, most of Gen 2 in tears, and the wedding was still a roof raiser. *boggle*

---

*whips out her trusty 8-sided gaming die and tosses it across the computer desk as Omaha does her little spin*

Oh how cute! That's Texas' favorite shirt! Well, okay, it's the only shirt she ever wore as an adult, but she loved that shirt. I'm definitely seeing a lot of Texas and Salina in her. I wond...

*pauses* *blinks*

Oh no. I know that pose.

*scrabbles to check die* *sighs*

"How come ya'll only invited one boy to mah party?"

Allow me to introduce you to Omaha Casey Holldum, romance sim. She likes guys with brown or blonde hair but hates it when they slather on the after shave or cologne. Thankfully her lifetime want is to woohoo 10 sims, which could actually be do-able in college. Couldn't have rolled the professional party guest one, could you? That's a breeze.

---

Surprisingly, Omaha's party was actually lagging about as only "not bad" as the night wore on. Omaha was even so bored she headed up for bed. I had to haul her back out to flirt with Tank socialize with her guests.

So I had Cleveland bring out Treynor so he could transition into a toddler.

---

Look, it's one of like two pictures I have of Treynor as an infant with his eyes open.

Despite Cleveland's excitement, after they blew out the candles nothing happened. It's the first toddlerization failure I've had in a while. We'll try again later tonight after the party's broken up.

And, while snapping these pictures, I noticed a couple people were conspicuously absent. *taps foot*

---

Luckily, they weren't hard to find.

Ignore Genesis. The silly goose jumped in the way of the camera while cheering Treynor. By the time I'd repositioned the camera for a shot sans-Lam, Kasson and Keth had wandered off in different directions, trying to look innocent.

---

I've seen Cleveland make that same face and Omaha sure looks a lot like him when she does it. Of course, Cleveland usually makes it when I direct him to go clean something. In Omaha's case, I told her to go flirt with Tank.

---

And those rebellious teen episodes start early too. I was surprised that in the short course of her party, Omaha had become good enough friends with Tank that she could sneak out with him that same night.

---

Yeah, you'd better hoof it and get in that limo before your dad spots you young lady. That's his carpool waiting just ahead of your ride.

That's probably the whole reason she didn't get busted for sneaking out. Cleveland was auto-queued to go to work and Shelby was asleep.

---

Before I tried retoddlerizing Treynor, I had Orrin ring up La Fiesta Tech to see what scholarships he was eligible for. He was still traumatized by his abduction when he went to school, so his grade dropped to a B+, costing him that good grades scholarship. Still, he managed to score a tidy $4750. Not a huge sum, but it will make life in the dorms a little easier.

---

So lets try this again. Shelby is asleep and Cleveland is at work, so the task of committing toddlerage falls to Uncle Kasson. Waylon and Texas look just so thrilled, don't they? *chuckle*

---

Hey look, it's the other picture of Treynor where he has his eyes open.

"Hey Babe..."

Yes Kasson.

"I could like totally get used to this."

Used to what?

"Little guys like this and birthday cakes an' stuff."

Gah! Don't you start with me too.

---

Ta Da! This time it worked. Once all the confetti settles we can take a look at our Gen 3 Spare to the Heir (who is definitely not a clone of his sister)

---

Here's our little red haired guy (no surprise at that, what with two red headed parents) Treynor is a Capricorn like his Uncle Orrin. With both neatness and outgoing of 9, he's definitely a Holldum. Like his sister, he has 9 active points and 3 serious/playful points. Unlike Omaha he has no nice points. Zero. Zilch. Nada. He's going to be interesting to play.

Kasson, when was the last time you shaved?

"Heh. Well, like yiou see K..."

Don't even think of finishing that sentence. Wait... Hmmm... I hear something outside.

---

You go Sgt. Larry. You're 2 and 0 for catching recent Holldum sneak outs. I guess getting your tail kicked by that burglar a couple chapters ago helped you to refocus on your job.

---

Poor Omaha. Her first night as a teen, her first sneak out, and she's busted by the gormless one himself. Cheer up. You've got plenty of other chances to sneak out before college starts.

---

Didn't even make it in the door before she broke down in tears. I hope she doesn't run the same batting average for sneaking out that her father did. He was 0 for 4.

---

So to cheer her up I sent her over to the mirror to doll herself up a bit. I just now realized that she has purple pajamas (nightgown) just like her grandma.

"A'course I do. Gramma's mah idol."

---

Doesn't look like you're getting any sleep tonight Omaha, seeing how it's nearly time for the bus to come pick you up for school. Orrin, why don't you call and matriculate so we can send you off to college.

---

"Well Hi Bus Lady. You ain't our usual driver. I'm Omaha."

"Hi Omaha, I'm Stacy Phelps. I'm the backup driver. Your normal driver also drives the college shuttle and she got a call for a pickup this morning."

"Oh, she must be drivin' Unca Orry then."

---

"Oh god, not you kid! Geez. Tell you what. I'll make you a deal. You shut up the whole trip, and I'll get you to La Fiesta Tech as fast as I can."

"Even breaking the speed limit?"

"Yep."

"Excellent. I can easily be silent that long."

"No mumbling to yourself either. Now shut up, buckle up, and hang on tight."

---

How about a quick peek at the littlest Holldum, now that I've been able to give him a decent makeover. Definitely the Seavey nose there. The fauxhawk is kinda cute on him, even if it is cutting through Omaha's hat. He may keep it for a while. =)

And I'm starting to see a lot of Texas in Omaha, aren't you? I'll have to get a shot of them together.

---

I figured I'd been check in on Keth, since I hadn't played her lot in a while and, considering how bad the flu's been in Strangetown lately, I didn't want to suddenly discover Bibby had lost her owner.

This is Keth's place downtown. She and Bibby are dottering around on the ground floor still; I haven't done a thing with the upstairs yet.

---

Hey Keth, how goes? I wanted to make sure you hadn't caught the flu that's been going around. I think Salina might be the carrier.

"You're a bit late. I'm home from work sick. And can't you give a sim a little warning before you pop in?"

Sorry about that. I didn't mean to catch you in the bathroom. Hey, did you know your shower's broken? It's spitting mist all over the place.

"Yeah, I was... er... just on my way to call the repairman. The... ah... hot water pipe is leaking."

Well that bites.

*singing* "... he was a long haired sim from Simland. A long haired sim from Simnited Kingdom..."

---

Um Keth, that doesn't sound like a leaky water pipe. Or a broken showerhead. That sounds like a bad Simlish version of "Long Haired Guys from England" by Too Much Joy.

"I must've left my shower radio on when I got out. It's tuned to CD101. "Long Haired Guys" was number 199 on their 'Top 2006 requests of 2006' ya know."

"Hey babe, do you have any, like, real soap? All you've got is like this flowery liquid stuff in the bottle and... ooo... this stuff is like totally slickery... heh... come back in here a minute hon."

Left your radio on, huh?

"Ahhh..."

---

You two are so busted.

Kasson Byron Holldum, it's the middle of the day. Shouldn't you be at work? Not here doing... *gestures vaguely*

"Oh hi Babe. Hey, it's like my lunch hour so I thought I'd like get out of the office for a while."

And out of your suit while you're at it. *facepalm* You're supposed to be a respected member of the Strangetown city government and political arena. Do you know what sort of scandal could happen if word of...

Wait a minute. Scratch all that. That "respected member of city government" part freaks me out more than interrupting you two. I'm going to go like lay down or something. You two... er... carry on. *shudder*

---

"Meowwr?"

You bowl is full and you have water. What are you whining about now?

"Meowwr?"

Oh, whoops. That's the real Bibby bitching at me. Somebody must be able to see the bottom of her bowl. I guess that means it's time to head out for the next chapter.

---

Oh, and I had to throw this in here. Remember a couple chapters ago when Omaha asked Peyton the paperboy to be her sweetie once she was a teen (back in chapter 12)? As she headed out for school on her first day as a teen, I noticed this was in her want panel: Ask Peyton on a date. As you can see, she has one bolt for him but no relationship points at all. Guess who she's calling when she gets back from school?

But that'll be a couple chapters from now. The next one is all about college. I've still got a mess all over the Hoh House to clean up there.

Shall we take a peek at how Orrin is doing at college?

---