Chapter 20b: Cement Mixer Mishaps

Cement Mixer Mishaps



Heya Treynor. Yes, I'm finally going to get around to wrapping up our little dangling ends from last week. I know, I know... it's been frustrating having to wait this long for resolution. But you have to ask yourself... am I actually going to resolve anything?

Oh, and Nanny Sophie will be up in a couple minutes to change that nappy.

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Last chapter, graduation finally arrived for the oldest members of CAH. For the newest resident of Hoh House, his sophomore finals meant the chance for a reroll, to escape from the Family Sim aspiration that had been plaguing him through is high school years.

Unfortunately, Orrin wasn't overly fond of the new pleasure aspiration he acquired, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. Hopefully they don't take his Little Overlord's Club Secret Decoder ring away for this one.

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"Oh gods, it spitting out smoke. Do something, do something!"

"Call Sim-One-One. Call Sim-One-One."

"None of us have a cell phone Phemie."

"Oh, right."

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Yeah, that's a lot of smoke. Something looks like it's going definitely wrong here. And I can't blame Salina for shielding her eyes. Oooo, it's throwing sparks now.

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"Hey! Ow! This hurts! Someone check the manual. Is it supposed to burn like this? Is there a manual with this thing?"

"I jes cain't look. Ew, an' what's that stank?"

I think that's charred Orrin, Salina. That's definitely going to leave a mark in the morning. Don't worry, it's almost finished the singe cycle.

"Help, I'm stuck!"

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"Um, excuse me a moment, but I'm a tad peckish after fighting this contraption for my life. One of you wouldn't happen to have a sandwich on hand, would you? Preferably a cheese sandwich, nicely warm and gooey. Oh, and toasted a bit too."

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"Silly mortals. You should never leave the house without a well prepared cheese sandwich. Don't they know that? You never know when the urge to revel in gooey cheesy goodness will strike. Always be prepared. *sigh* I guess I will just need to remedy this yearning myself."

"He's a cheesehead."

"I done thought them were jes rumors. Or somehow tied ta Mama's Grand Cheese Unification Theory."

"Your mother has a unification theory?"

"Salina, is Orry gonna be okay?"

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I don't know if Orrin will be all right Euphemia. What I do know, however, is that Lazy Sim + Umpteen bazillion cheese sandwiches = *shudder* Tubby Sim. If Orrin hated the treadmill before he's going to despise it now.

"Processed cheese! All they have is processed cheese! Well, it will have to do for now. I'll call the cheese importer later and get some proper dairy goodness sent over."

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And so the day winds down and night overtakes the Cham Annya Hoh house. As he drifts off to sleep what should appear in his dreams but the current bane of his existence, the very device that got him into this cheesy mess (well, actually his impatience got him in it but...)

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"Zzzzzz.... gurk... snork.... gah!"

Problem there Orrin?

"I just had the oddest dream."

Please, tell me about your dream. *pulls up a chair and whips out a clipboard* Would you like to lay on the couch? Does it involve your mother?

"I dreamed that it came time for me to finally find a new aspiration, but the new one I got was worse than the current one. So I tried to change it, and something went wrong. Then I acquired this sudden, burning desire to eat a grilled cheese sandwich."

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That was no dream Orry. That was real.

"What?! And stop using my diminutive."

Welcome to the world of the cheeseheads.

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"What!?! This is even worse than being a pleasure sim."

I can see where most folks might think that. As it is, we can't do much about it right now. Why don't you settle back down to sleep and let me wrap up the second half of this chapter and we'll deal with the cheesiness next time your turn comes around.

"All right, all right. Just hurry... please."

I'll try.

"Ooo, my coverlet looks like cheese... mmm.... Cheesy blanket goodness"

Anyway... moving on the second cement mixer disaster...

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When we left the Holldum compound last chapter (after which there was much gnashing of teeth) Kasson was on his way to "fix" Strangetown Keth's preference for any knowledge sim over him.

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From bumping into SK on other lots, however, it seems that Kasson has some reason to be a tad concerned... at least about unknown strangers getting all hot and bothered over her.

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"Hey. I explained to him that there's nobody I like more than him. What more can I do to convince him if he won't believe me? Why's he got to be like this?"

He's a guy. He's as unfathomable as we women are at times.

"Can't I just go back home and be a crazy cat lady with Bibby?"

Trust me, it's tempting.

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Certainly the fact you get weak in the knees every time a knowledge sim wanders in your general vicinity may have something to do with it.

"I do not! I... ohhh there's smoke coming out of it. Kasson, stop it. Just pull your head out and back away."

"Ahhh... why?"

Um, Cleveland? If you're trying to appeal to the higher powers, you're looking in the wrong place. I'm over here.

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But despite her protesting, there seems to be some truth about SK and knowledge sims. She took a moment out of her panicking to get all hot and bothered over Cleveland.

"Um, me? Er, I don't think that's appropriate right now."

"Oh, sorry."

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Well, no fire or sparks and Kasson doesn't seem to want to claw his way out of it, so maybe he'll escape without any serious damage.

"Duuuuuuuddddeeee."

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"Whoa, that is so much more a rush than the bubbleblower. Can I do it again?"

Um, no. Even in your current state there's a remote chance you may get cheesed. I've had it happen before.

Current state? Let's go back to a moment earlier this afternoon...
*hops in the Way Back machine*

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You seem pretty pleased with yourself there Kasson. Things go well at work? I didn't see any chance cards pop up.

"I'm feelin' all like glistery and stuff, Babe."

Glistery? Well, that can only mean one thing...

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Someone's gone and gotten himself platinum. Yep, Kasson has reached the top the political career path. I hadn't planned on it happening before his run in with Mr. Cement Mixer, but it made things a lot easier.

Okay, back to the current.

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"Gah don't ever do that again! I don't think I could take it if you turned yourself into a cheesehead over me."

"Like why would I want to move to Simsconsin?"

Yep, he may be a knowledge sim now, but that doesn't mean he picked up a clue anywhere during the conversion process.

And for anyone wondering just how much of an impact an aspiration change can make... *points down a screen*

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Here's Kasson's panel after SK finally let go of him. I have never seen him roll these up for her, and they've been in love since Chapter 11. SK's thrown 'em up a few times, but Kasson? I guess after his failed relationship with Euphemia, he wanted to make certain he'd found The One before he got too serious. Three bolts does a pretty good job of confirming that, I think.

You can click on the pic and get the full 1024 x 768 version. It's a little less fuzzy than this cropped one.

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Of course, a new aspiration means a while new set of wants and fears, which Kasson discovers the hard way.

"Dude! That was like my ear!"

I didn't know there was a fear of hooking yourself while fishing, but Kasson has apparently managed to find it. He should feel lucky; my nephew Joe hooked his little brother Matt in the eyelid one time (Matt was fine, thankfully)

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The top of the political career has its own drawbacks too

"Aieee! That's like soooo loud Babe. Do I have to go to work?"

You should've thought of that before your carpool arrived. Don't worry, I still have that "quit my job" want locked for you. You just... um... need the money right now.

"But like why? Mom-babe's Yummy show is like making tons of cash."

You need the money. Trust me, you want to be building up a nest egg.

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Kasson has also apparently lost the ability to cook... or else acquired the tendency to set things on fire. He hadn't even gotten his pork chops stuck in the oven all the way before they burst into flame. Seriously. See, the door is still open.

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However, as everyone else panicked over the fire, Nanny Sophie calmly put Treynor in the high chair (Waylon promptly hustled over, snatched him up, and ran outside with him) Sophie then toddled past/through the fire to the fridge and proceeded to dig out a bottle for the now absent Treynor. Surprisingly, she's been a very good nanny with Treynor. A little over-obsessive at times, but very attentive.

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Kasson's aspiration change hasn't cost him his delightful knack for complementing the wrong thing at the wrong time either. Here they are, both fire-stinky, and he's complementing SK on being 'hawt' *chuckle*

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I've mentioned elsewhere (at least I think I have) that after Seasons came out, I played around in a 'sandbox' mode for a bit to see how all the new changes would affect the Holldums -- and if they might mess up their story. Basically, I just played around, let everyone do their own thing, and -- after I had a good idea how Seasons was going to work in Strangetown, restored everything to my pre-Seasons backup so I could continue the story. Things were very... interesting... in Sandbox mode and I learned a few things about the Holldums I didn't know. Here's just a couple about Kasson.

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If you want the full, unfuzzy version of this pic... you know the drill by now

Kasson's always thrown non-popularity sim wants; l I knew this before I played in the sandbox. He'll have the rather general wants and popularity type wants, but then he'll throw up ones that definitely aren't. Here's the view of his panel that convinced me he'd be fine with an aspiration change.

What happened to trigger these wants is: It was raining when Shelby came home from work one day. She was low on fun and wandered over to start jumping in the puddle. As she was splashing merrily about, she was struck by lightning. Half the family (Texas, Waylon, Kasson) ran out to scream and cry. Cleveland and Omaha barely acknowledged what happened -- there was no weeping on their part. Texas was crushed. She didn't have the best relationship with Shelby, but she wandered around all day crying over her. (this is why I can't find it in my heart to kill Shelbyl I just can't take a bawling Texas) Kasson, who had a negative relationship with Shelby, threw up these wants. Now, I've seen knowledge sims spin up the "Beat the Grim Reaper" want and the "Lose to the Grim Reaper" fear, but I've never had a non-knowledge sim do it (much less after losing someone they hate). Usually they spin up the "resurrect" want and/or the "come back as a zombie fear".

There's a reason, however, that he will never be allowed to plead with the grim reaper...

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Kasson's skills at "Hide the Soul"... suck.

Fast forward a couple three weeks. SK has moved in. Omaha and Treynor have grown up. Texas and Waylon have sadly passed. Texas was not a happy ghost her first night out. During the course of the night she managed to scare to death most of the remaining family; Kasson's the only one she didn't get.

However, Kasson's not so sure life's worth living right now. That's SK crumpled at his feet and, well, Grimmy's hand is kinda empty.

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Well, that wraps things up for this chapter. Sorry, no real cliff hangers this time around. At least, I don't think I left any with this update. Oh, but don't worry. I'm sure I'll have a few more in upcoming chapters. *evilgrin*

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