Bree & Phil

Life was interesting in the household with Bree and Molly as well as the four friends and it wasn't long before their house had to increase in size to accommodate the six of them in their own rooms. It didn't take too long to build and the house looked rather nice when completed.

Heather and Haruo did spend a lot of time working...because that was what was going to bring in the cash flow and keep this roof over their head. Which was absolutely necessary due to the zombies every 9 days, so it seemed. At least they were moaning about "Graains..." and not "Brrains..." Darned Hipster Zombies.

Phil planted plants around a fenced in area so that the vegetarian zombies couldn't get in and eat the plants. It was the family's food and gosh darn it, it didn't mean that the undead could eat their food. But still better than brains, I suspect.

Phil got the bright idea to write novels too and started on his big epic bit of non-fiction titled "Has Anyone Seen My Brain?" I'm afraid not, Phil.

They didn't have much of a kitchen table at current, having requisitioned the thing from the dumpster along with four chairs, but at least it was something.

Noel gravitated towards the exercise machine that one of the two (either he or Haruo) found while headfirst in nausea inducing muck. Well, it was able to be cleaned up and put into use so that Noel and Phil could work out if they wanted to.

It tended to rain a lot in Vancouver which was the usual weather in early fall. As August transitioned into September, there were times when it would be torrential rain. (Creator: and this is true for real-life Vancouver as well - so I'm keeping it in there).

Phil, when he wasn't writing his literary pièce de résistance he was staring out the window at the gloomy Vancouver weather, sighing a deep sigh of contentment "Ah...rain...".

And he got the bright idea to do what Noel was doing and exercise. That probably was an enlightening realization as to how much it took to get fit.

But the sight of Phil exercising bare-chested encouraged Bree, normally shy and retiring, to talk to him, although she was a bit reticent at first.

And they had a rather animated conversation; quite possibly about plants; since I think, if I recall correctly, she has the Green Thumb trait which makes her a good match for Phil who evidently likes to garden even though he doesn't have the Green Thumb trait, so with three Sims who like gardening and one that has the Green Thumb trait, the family will never be out of food.

Bree found herself even more attracted to Phil and things gradually heated up...

And they proceeded to a first kiss. :D

But then Bree had to deal with the laundry...since the buzzer went off again. Gosh darn it.

Oh, well, maybe next time, Bree. :mrgreen:

The Arrival of Bree

Mornings were especially interesting since everyone who had jobs outside of the house worked in the afternoon. Noel worked from 1-6 at the Science Center, Molly worked at the diner and Phil actually joined her in employment there. And Haruo and Heather worked from home.

"Morning honey..." Noel was greeted by his significant other and an immediate lip-lock ensued.

Phil muttered under his breath, "Will you two get a room?"

"Ah...this is the place," Bree Butterfield said to herself, "I hope Molly is able to help me out. Bree had been in a bad spot and had nowhere to turn. A bad turn of the financial wheel had forced her to dress in rags and her meagre fortune was gone. She had pretty much used all but $16K, she had been worth far more when she had started out. In fact she had been a millionaire by the age of 21. But reckless spending had caused her to have to rely on goodwill stores for her wardrobe. She could only hope on the goodwill of her old friend from university, Molly Madani to help her out.

"Bree!?" Molly asked in horror, "What happened to you?" The Bree Butterfield that Molly remembered dressed to the nines, putting practically every other girl to shame with the calibre and cost of the clothing that she wore.

"You remember Jocko?" Bree growled, "He advised me to put all my money into stock in this one company?"

"Yeah? I told you that it was too good to be true..." Molly remembered when Bree had come to her looking for advice.

"Well...I did..." Molly recoiled in horror at Bree's admission.

"...you...didn't..."

"I did...and it's all gone...all except §16,500." Bree looked downcast.

You look like you've been on a bender and living out of goodwill..." Molly looked at her sympathetically.

Bree replied shamefaced. "I did... and I've had the massive hangover to boot. I'll never look upon poor people again the way I did. They have life rough."

Poor Bree, it was a wakeup call that she never would have realized until she lost her money.

"So...what are you going to do now?" Molly asked her.

"Start over...I have no choice, build up my wealth from the ground up...instead of having it bequeathed to me and hope that I can make it count this time around.

"Well...let's see if we can help you out..." Molly said.

"Thanks, I won't forget it..." Bree replied..., "Oh...and one more thing?"

"What is it?"

"You mind if I crashed here. I don't have enough to rent a place on my own...but I can contribute what I have left to the family coffers."

"Well, you have to ask them, but I'll put in a good word for you." Molly could only promise that. "Now let's get you looking human again and not like you spent all your money on an alcoholic binge."

And Molly was as good as her word. She did put in a good word for Bree and she was accepted into the family.

And Bree was as good as her word too. The first chance she got, she headed to the book store and got herself books on Mixology so that she could further her skill in that until she could figure out what her path was in life.

...and after Molly got home from work, Molly cooked for the family.

And everyone had a good night's sleep, including Bree who for the first time in a while slept worry-free about whether or not she would have a roof over her head or not. And it was about that time that the tiberium small-spire and gemstone dust tranfigured themselves into large-spires, bringing in a net total of §110,000 when sold and that allowed them to build another storey onto the house that they were living in.

When she wasn't reading her Mixology book, Bree was taking care of household chores, like laundry, washing dishes and transferring the washed clothes into the dryer.

Noel cycled home from his job at the Science Center and life went on, including a new friend and family member who enjoyed the fact that she now had a stable and secure roof over her head.

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Life was normal for a while, which meant that it was the usual tasks. Noel and Phil went binning, Haruo and Heather painted and Molly cooked dinner when she wasn't at work the diner.

Haruo had a piano gig at the movie lot in North Vancouver, so he first went to the park and played for some tips at the park across the Vancouver Art Gallery and VGH (Vancouver General Hospital). (Vancouver General Hospital in RL doesn't have a park across from it. It has a few smaller clinics and a parkade *Parking garage for you Americans. :D And it's actually on 12th Avenue; have driven past it quite a number of times in my life)

Money was tight, but they weren't starving either. And relationships progressed with Noel and Molly enjoying each other's company. ~evil grin~ And it probably was only a matter of time before Noel popped the question.

Evidently Noel had a thing for bugs, collecting them, that is and it never failed that every-time he went binning that he would manage to be able to collect a few. And he donated them all to the Science Center. But he decided to keep one; a Japanese Beetle - named Yoshi.

They finally had enough money to be able to buy a gem cutter and Haruo and Heather painted as many paintings as they could during their waking hours. Phil went dumpster diving daily and it seemed as though that was their life.

That night was a full-moon and the family locked their doors, which was a good thing because a zombie spawned right outside their door. (told ya, I was going to go into MAJOR fiction here too - hey, I have the SN EP. :D

Evidently Vancouver has a surfeit of "hipsters"...and this zombie was no different. I guess he took a wrong turn to the Mumford and Sons concert. But I have to admit, he has an awesome looking toque, eh.

Haruo decided that he was going to take Heather out to dinner the following night.

And what "brilliant" person throws out a tiberium in the trash? Evidently Noel got lucky in his binning and brought home a tiberium which he managed to fish out of the garbage bin. That was a spectacular find and Haruo cut it with their gem-cutter.

...which Phil really appreciated as he was woken up from a sound sleep. Too bad...Phil. the family getting between §35K-45K per stone and gem-dust when it transfigures into large-spires is worth your getting your posterior woken up. Deal.

And the resultant mass of gem dust and cutting involved a trip to the Apothecary to see if they could sell the gem dust and the resultant cut gems that weren't tiberium (tiberium just went directly into the ground to spawn a large spire). And life continued to go on, with Haruo and Noel paying the bills as they came due.

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