Round 2 - McCloud

After Artie Stique officially founded La Stique-en-Ardenne somewhere in the Ardennes, Belgian, the growth of the place has inspired some newcomers to move to the place.

So give it up for the McCloud brothers, originally created by Ninjakid150!

Here's their humble abode for now. Small house, small lot, but it's on a bit of a hill with elevated terrain, which is interesting to build on. They start off with a foundation, which I think I'll do for their entire street, as a bit of street theming.

Lucas McCloud is the oldest twin. His LTW is to reach the top of the Architecture career. Considering that we already have 4 buildings out of 10 needed to open the first spot, this one's reasonable to achieve.

Ethan McCloud, the younger twin, has the LTW to have 20 Best Friends at once. Easy - just befriend all the townies he'll meet and then stay friends with them. Though first need to get over 20 Sims into town he can befriend. Should be not too much of a pickle though.

Ethan: "We finally moved in! Now it's time to score some hot kisses!"

And behold, a first potential friend.

Ethan: "Hi, my name's Ethan McCloud, I just moved in here today. And you are?"
Linda: "The name's Blake. Linda Blake."

While Ethan and Linda start talking about sports, Ben Schiffer walks by.

So Lucas is the one who goes for a chat with him.
LOOK, they got good chemistry! Sweet, maybe I could use that to cure Ben from his crush on Debby XD

Rox-Fox walks by too - the welcome wagon keeps growing!

Wait, here comes the official welcome wagon! Bonjour Artie!

Artie: "Ooh la la, Ben eez un 'ottie!"

He doesn't like you like that though, sorry. :P

Who also doesn't like Artie that way is Ethan - Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuude! Respect your founders!

Lucas and Benny are getting Friendley here. :)

Or are they getting a little more than friendly here?????????

Who are also getting friendly together are Ethan and Linda.

Lucas in the meanwhile just figured out he loves to cook. Diane approves of you kid!

Ethan in the meanwhile is schmoozing up to the town founder, with talk about culture.
Ethan: "The Greeks were the best at making those busts, their fine technique was lost until the Renaissance."
Lucas: "Yeah, I'm not a big fan of nasty bureaucracy, lol. Takes too much time to get shit done."

Roxy has decided that she isn't interested in bureaucratic talk and goes, only to realise it's started to rain. Blegh.

The moment Ethan has finally befriended Artie, Ethan found a new conversation partner in Linda.

Nothing like the good old game of kicky ball to end the first day. At least this one's being played indoors.

If you pay really close attention to this picture you can see Roxy's back, and this time she's brought backup in the form of Bradley. Also notice Ben and Lucas flirting together in the bathroom.

As Lucas goes out to greet the walkbys, he realises he's got a crush on Ben. One-way love! <3

A bit later, the two share their first kiss, and that's when Ben's heart starts crushing on Lucas too. Two-way love! <3

Inspired by his brother's romantic antics, Ethan starts hitting on people too, in this case Linda.

A bit later he looks for a job - there's an unlocked spot in the Slacker career I can put Ethan in until the Athletic career (which I want him to enter) is unlocked.

After a social first day in town, the two brothers go to bed.

Ethan gets up first of the two brothers, and he decides to spend his early morning time jumping rope - and discovers his destined hobby is Fitness!

Lucas, meanwhile greets Bradley as he walks by the house.

Ethan has tried again to find a job in the Slacker career, but he still has no such luck, sadly.

So Ethan decides to give Roxy a call instead.

Lucas has given cooking some breakfast a try, and he's pleased with the results. It was only some morning cereals, but still XD

Later that morning two people walked by - Linda and the mail carrier.

First thing first, the bills have to be paid.

Ethan: "I don't really wanna pay the bills today
I don't really wanna pay the bills today
I don't really wanna pay the bills today.
I don't wanna pay the bills today."

You MUST.

After that Ethan decides to score some more with Linda.

And it doesn't take long for them to crush on eachother. :)

Not soon after they share their first kiss together.

Lucas: "Hey guys, get a room. Learning to cook over here."
Ethan: "Lucas... We share the same bedroom."

Soon after, Ethan decides to buy a gym as a venue to run to make a bit of money while waiting for the Slacker career to pop up.

Next stop: The Cloudtop Gym!

First it's an empty plot of land...

BAM! Building!

And look, the journalist is the first one to show up.
I should still try and find a way to replace her with Plum Parsons or Salma Guerrero.

The first real townie to try and visit is Diane White, who decided that it'd be nice to go to a gym wearing her fur coat. Much logic, Diane.

Ethan tries out the dive board by canon balling into the pool. Luckily the journalist is climbing out, though she immediately left afterwards. :/

Another person going to the gym is Aiden, perhaps he's most likely to become a gym rat out of all townies.

Danny: "Look out beloo-aaah! Belly flop!"

Be careful with the dive board, Danny.

Ethan and Linda are cuddling together on the couch here. If my eyes aren't deceiving. Right?...

Yess, that's better. I can confirm it's indeed Ethan and Linda cuddling now. Great. :)

After a hard day of work it's time for Ethan to go to bed, while the rest of the house didn't change a bit and is still able to function properly without hitting the hay.

Next thing that happened was Ben calling in for Lucas.

After chatting for a while on the phone, he started chatting a bit up with the other guests and made himself a friend circle of his own.

But then Ethan got up again, and took Linda for some smooching on the face. Lucas promptly returned to cooking books.

Ethan and Linda's romance even made it to Best Friend level this time.

Lucas put his cooking into practice again and made some nice hamburgers.

After that Ethan went on the graveyard shift in the Cloudtop Gym. Think nobody would bother showing up at this hour?

Wrong!

He even earned the bronze sales badge! :D

Aiden: "Hawt Diggehty Dawg! Imma servin' 'em raight up!"
Maya (Hansen): "They taste good, Aiden."
Aiden: "Mississipi recipe, best gator meat."
Ethan: "........."

Some time before business was over, he also befriended Roxy. :)

And soon we find ourselves back to the McCloud household, where Ethan will soon go to sleep again with Lucas.

The next morning!

Lucas tried some mechanical skilling instead.

And not too long after Ben gave him a call again.

I looked up what skills matter for the Architecture career, which I plan Lucas to start in after I got 10 buildings and unlock the first spot, and creativity is a must. Hello easel, our old friend!

Ethan, in the meanwhile, started digging around the lost to make some extra cash, the brothers only have 731 in funds, so they need anything they can get their hands on.

Though Ethan didn't really think of what place was good to dig in...

Ethan: "Oh sugar honey ice tea! Not the water pipe!"

Ethan's got an affinity for inexplicable water splashes.

As Ethan fixed the leak, Lucas earned a creativity skill point. Painting is a way to earn some money, but only if you got high creative skills.

After a busy morning the brothers bonded over some salad for lunch.

After which Ethan went back to the gym.

Letting in the first few people for the day.

As he convinced Bradley to try another gym subscription, Ethan earned himself the silver sales badge. Kaching!

This time Ethan was the one running the grill, as Debby was talking to Linda about safety measures in clothing.

Debby: "Did you know that overexposure to outdoor sunlight is one of the main causes of skin cancer?"

WAH WAAAH

Debby: "I'd recommend well-sized head gear and body-covering swimwear when at an outdoors pool. Though that will probably cause a lot of shame and embarrassment at fashion parties."

WAH WAAAH

Linda: "Maybe not."

Despite Debby's downing, the gym still reached business level 1!

And look, even Debby earned a star!

...... This picture is kinda disturbing in a way...

Why did I give it that name again? :S

BACK TO HOME!

As Ethan arrives and is still thinking about the implications of his previous conversation with Ben, Lucas greets Bradley who was walking by.

After the sun set itself, we find Lucas painting in the dark (how?) and Ethan sleeping some.

Then we suddenly find Ben walking by. Lucas couldn't resist the distraction...

Ben was invited in for dinner, and the two couldn't keep their hands off eachother. ;)
Ethan has woken up in the meanwhile...

Aww, Lucas even blew a kiss at Ben. :3

This episode of Lucas love land is being interrupted by another visit to the gym. :c

Ethan took upon him the daunting task of bonding with Debby Downer.

Debby: "Did you know that eating alligator meat might end up giving you intestinal infections?"

WAH WAAAH

Ethan: "... Aiden cooks them that way, not me."

Speaking of Aiden, he soon stops by himself.

"Oh, Lucas is not at home? Okay, thank you, I'll try again later."

Lucas IS at home, you're calling the GYM. And why are you calling for Lucas instead of Ethan anyway?
Also, Fabio gave us a star. :)

And so did Ben.

Ethan: "Wait, weren't you on a date with Lucas when I left?"
Ben: "... Yeah.. I was."

Let's go home to find out what happened?

They're both still here all of a sudden?
What?- How?- But you were just?- DURRRR

They did make it to best friends though.

And not soon after both Ethan and Lucas were sleeping again.

And I still didn't have any burglars or fires yet, despite not having any alarms whatsoever. XD

Ethan was up first and tried to find a job as a Slacker, to no avail.

Soon we found Ben walking by again, so Ethan let him in as a morning surprise for Lucas.

After Ethan dug for a while, Linda walked by too.
Time for a double date!

As Linda was greeted by Ethan, she officially fell in love with him.

Ethan also found some bills to pay. Hooray.

Inside, Lucas was going all Spanish inquisition on Ben's skills and job.

Diane's going to be so jealous - Ben's quite good at cooking, body, logic, creativity and he works as a Souschef. Too bad he's gotta quit the job if he moves in with a household, but still.

In the meanwhile, Fabio walked by too, and Ethan was so kind to let him in.

Ben and Lucas kissed some more as Ethan got to know Fabio a bit better.

Linda: "I feel left out here..."

And with that kiss Ben officially fell in love with Lucas <3

Lucas: "I still feel like Ethan's the main character though..."

What do you mean Lucas?

Lucas: "I'm gonna try and find my own place."

Ethan: "Oh, goodbye Lucas! I'll see you around, I guess."

NOTE: After this round is over I'll play Lucas separately for the amount of time he's missing out on this play, so that both brothers are the same age again. This playtime will be captured in the next episode.

For now Ethan couldn't rely on his older brother to do the cooking anymore. Let's hope he doesn't set the place on fire.

Good news: he didn't.

And the smell of freshly cooked mac 'n cheese immediately lures in Danny and Diane.

After the guests start eating some delicious mac 'n cheese, Danny is offering Ethan a networking benefit:

Nice, a discount on buying stuff. Thanks Danny. :P

After the visitors left out of the door, Ethan goes to sleep in his first night in La Stique-en-Ardenne without his brother.

Next day is his lucky day! An opening for the Slacker career! :D And he can immediately go off for work too!

LATE?! He only just got the job just over 1 hour ago! F! You get an F, slacker boss.
At least he got the full pay.

The rest of the day and afternoon is spent on gaining some mechanical skills, which are needed for promotions in the long run. The slacker career is very friend-heavy though, so it's a good fit for Ethan for now...

Time to get back to the gym.

Where the next group of gym subscribers awaits him so he can chat with them.

I don't know what exactly Debbie just did to Fabio, but I did catch some hearts flying after she was done. :O

THIS BACC IDEA IS THE BEST ONE EVER AND NOTHING CAN PROVE ME WRONG XD

Here's the evidence! Fabio kissing up Debby this time... :o

Oh, and thanks to Aiden's star the CLoudtop Gym reaches level 2...

... and soon after Ethan earns the golden sales badge! :D Good job! Also, notice Rox-Fox arriving, with level 2 we get 4 visitors at once instead of 3.

After earning some more stars, like Danny's here...

... it's time to close the place up and send everyone home.

Diane: "Ugh, Aiden. You stinky hillbilly."

After which it is time for Ethan to go home himself.

***TECHNICAL ISSUES - PLEASE STAND BY***

That's better. Good night Ethan!

After brushing up his mechanical skills yesterday, Ethan brushed up his romantic oneliners today to build up some charisma.

Aww, look how pretty! It's snowing! :3

Time to let those poor people in, can't allow them to freeze out there...

Oh, the moment Ethan goes out it stops snowing already. Lol. At least he makes best friends with Artie. Oui oui!

And at this moment, Ethan knew he fucked up. No new food in the fridge, which means he has to survive on leftovers and barbecues at the gym instead. At least he's had a good week upon his weekly self-reflection. (question, does anybody know what those reflections actually mean and do?)

Meanwhile, I catch Artie flirting with Danny and I seriously start to question her tastes in which other Sims she thinks are hot? If I recall correctly those two had absolutely no chemistry whatsoever?

While pondering such existential questions, Ethan returns to the Gym for one final time, and Maya and the reporter are the first costumers.

Ethan also managed to make best friends with Rox-Fox. 🦊 Good for his Lifetime Want.

Ooh thanks, journalist lady! :3
It may not be the Best of the Best Award, but a good review will still mean good stuff for business.

As the crowd grows, Maya decides to give Ethan a notorious network gift - a blind date. Ethan, loyal to his girlfriend, has to decline.

The advantage of a good review: more gym subscribers mean more loyalty stars! Thanks Rox-Fox.

And those stars help the gym reach level 3! Hello money reward!

After that it's all been well, and it's time for Ethan to return home.

Once home, he has a phone call with Maya Hansen, whom he befriends.

After that it's time to sleep in for the night early...

Because the starting job of the Slacker career has early hours. Good luck racking in them bucks, Ethan!

Et voilá, his hard work pays off, and Ethan gets a promotion to Gas Station Attendant.

Ethan: "Great. Still a low pay and now I have to tolerate all the gas from all those cars. When can I finally work in something athletic instead?"

Only 1 more household needed to unlock a sports community lot. Hold on tight, Ethan.

***QUESTION REGARDING THE JOURNALIST***

Should I replace her, and if yes, should I replace her with Salma Guerrero or Plum Parsons?

Same goes for the Garden Club guy.




***NEXT ROUND WILL FEATURE LUCAS MCCLOUD FOR A FEW DAYS***

STATISTIQUES

SIM STATS

Playable Sims: 4

Graves: 0

Sim Multiplier: 2

Population: 8

(Playable Sims + Graves * SM = Population)

Households: 3
Available CAS Sims: 1 out of 3

NEIGHBOURHOOD STATS

Business districts: 0

Downtown: 0

Universities: 0

University fund: §0

LOT STATS
Occupied residential lots: 2

Community lots: 3

- Sim owned: 3

- City owned: 0

DISASTER STATS

Fires: 0 (every 3 unlocks Law Enforcement spot***)

Electrocutions: 0 (every 3 equals Science spot) 

Burglaries: 0 (every 3 unlocks Law Enforcement spot)

***Only the following fires count:

- House fires

- Repair failure fires

- BBQ fires

- Business fires caused by controllable Sim

JOB STATS

Adventurer: 0 spots

(1 spot unlocked with museum worth 250.000, career unlocked when career is topped)

Artist: 0 spots

(1 spot unlocked at level 5 art gallery, unlocked for Sims with 10 creativity and 10 sold masterpieces, Uni degree)

Architecture: 0 spots 

(1 spot unlocked per 10 buildings and per new subhood (uni, dt, business)
(buildings: 5)

Athletic: locked 

(unlocked with a sports themed community lot worth 250.000)

Business: 0 spots 

(spot unlocked at every level 10 business, career unlocked when topped)

Culinary: 0 spots

(1 spot unlocked per level 5 restaurant, unlocked with career topped)

Crime: 0 spots 

(1 spot unlocked at 100 pop, additional spots opened with career topped)

Dancing: locked

(spot unlocked at level 5 dance business, career unlocked at level 10)

Education: 0 spots

(1 spot unlocked per 250 pop, always available for Sims with a Uni degree)

Entertainment: 0 spots

(unlocked for Sims who grew up into adulthood with max Charisma)

Gamer: 1 spot (Stique Family)

(unlocked for Sims who own the expensive pc, gaming console, pinball machine & arcade machine)

Intelligence: 0 spots

(1 spot unlocked per criminal, military or science career topped)

Journalism: 0 spots

(1 spot unlocked per 1000 pop, 1 spot unlocked per topped criminal, law enforcement, or showbusiness career

Law: 0 spots

(unlocked for Sims with a Uni degree)

Law Enforcement: 0 spots

(1 spot unlocked when 1) pop reaches 500;     2) per 3 fires;     3) per 3 burglaries)

Medicine: 0 spots

(first spot at 1.000 pop, additional spots per 5.000 pop, unlocked when there's a university. Until topped all woohoo = try for baby)

Military: locked

(unlocked with military base community lot)

  

Music: locked

(unlocked when there's a community lot with a stage and 3 musical instruments)

Natural Science: 0 spots

(1 spot per level 5 flower or landscaping business, unlocked for Sims with a gold gardening badge)

Oceanography: locked

(open for Sims with a gold fishing badge, unlocked when career topped)

Paranormal: 0 spots

(1 spot unlocked per 5 human graves on community graveyard lots, more spots per 10 additional human graves)

Politics: locked

(unlocked at 1000 pop, only 1 mayor allowed)

Science: 0 spots

(unlocked for Sims who aged up into adults with max logic, 1 spot per 3 electrocutions, unlocked when Sim graduates from uni)

Showbusiness: 0 spots

(1 spot per Sim who tops entertainment or slacker careers)

Slacker: 1 spot

(1 spot unlocked per club community lot, unlocked when downtown is unlocked)