I decided to reboot my Strangetown with the intention of avoiding from the start the entangled family relationships, inappropriate first-cousin romances, and general glitchiness I was having in my last Strangetown. I also want to create a generally integrated neighborhood centered around the military base, which is a subhood to Strangetown. I am playing with all the playables, one bin family, all townies moved into their own households, and all La Fiesta Tech playables.

The drama really started ramping up in spring of Year 1. I am currently about to start the first summer season round.

Here are the households I started with:

- Beaker: Loki and Circe + Nervous Subject
- Grunt: General Buzz, Tank, Ripp, and Buck
- Singles: Erin Beaker, Kristen Loste, Lola Curious, Chloe Curious
- Smith: PT#9 and Jenny, Johnny, Jill
- Curious: Pascal, Vidcund, and Lazlo; Pascal and Vidcund are both scripted to have alien babies, which were Celeste and Nikola (both girls)
- Loner: Ajay
- Specter: Olive, Ophelia Nigmos
- Traveller (from the bin): Trent and Trisha, Tina

Townies:
- Allyn Lam: former Garden Club lady who I moved into her own house and used to get all the other townies moved in; she aspires to become Mayor of Strangetown
- Goth: Bella, a mysterious and wealthy businesswoman; no one knows who she is or where she came from
- Landry: Gerard had two sons from a previous relationship, Amin and Samuel, and he married Margaret (Howe)
- McAuley: Quentin was single dad to Camryn
- Howe: Matthew and Marion
- Vu: Crystal Vu and her daughter Vicki, her sister Trista (formerly Shaw; the blond one), and Trista's daughter Kana
- Shaw: Cooper and Trista (the red-headed one)
- Cho: Abhijeet and Jessica
- Goss: Johnson and Katelyn
- Roommates Holly Andersen and Renee Andrews
- Roommates Joel Jeffries and Gary Walton
- Teens I sent to La Fiesta Tech: David Gibson, Tina Roennike, Kendal Lawson, Blair Mace, Edward Fuchs, Tiffany Riley, River Smith, and Barbara Young

LFT Households:
- Shifting Paradymes: Gunnar Roque, Jasmine Rai, and Zoe Zimmerman
- Fraternity: Guy Wrightley, Matthew Hart, Mickey Dosser, and Frances J. Worthington III
- Sorority: Sarah Love, DJ Verse, Monica Bratford, and Jessie Pilferson
- Dorm: Stella Terrano, Aldric and Almeric Davis, Blossom Moonbeam, Klara Vonderstein, and William Williamson

Circe had two well-spaced pregnancies. I think Nervous had reunited with his mother by this time and moved to his own place.



Calypso is very neat, serious, and mean, just like her parents. Fenris is also neat and serious, but nicer. All Beakers love to play chess.



While visiting the Curious brothers, Loki was changed into a werewolf (and lost some hair?).



Loki pushed himself too hard trying to become a mad scientist and died during one of his experiments.



Circe was very upset he died, depriving her of all that extra income from his lucrative career.



After Loki's death, Circe discovered her bisexuality and started inviting Kristen Loste over for visits. They have 3 bolts (and matching underwear)!



Kristen suspects that not everyone wants her in the Beaker house, though.

The Singles girls started out by throwing lots of parties and having lots of visitors, but eventually, Lola, Chloe, and Erin got into serious relationships and moved out. Kristen invited two recent graduates from La Fiesta Tech to move in as her new roommates: DJ Verse and Stella Terrano. Kristen and Stella both work at the hospital on the Strangetown military base, and DJ is a career criminal.



DJ and Kristen hit it off right away and got into a relationship. But Kristen was gone a lot, which enabled DJ and Stella to become closer as well.



The evolving triangle has created some awkward situations in such a cramped house

Johnny went to university and met Tiffany Riley there. He broke up with Ophelia and started dating Tiffany. After graduating, he moved home and got a job as an athlete, pursuing his dream of becoming a Hall of Famer. I had replaced the Smiths' house by this time (no lawns ordinance went into effect). Johnny married Tiffany and they had a daughter, Jewel, who is very spoiled by her grandparents. Jewel looks a lot like Tiffany.



Johnny also started seeing Erin Beaker from next door, who seems to have no qualms about dating married men. She was also seeing Johnson Goss during this time.



At Jewel's birthday party, Tiffany snuck upstairs with Ajay Loner--whom she had just met!--as Johnny was getting home from work. Johnny was pretty upset and not at all aware of what a giant hypocrite he was being. Johnny slept on the couch one night, then decided to end things with Tiffany. He quickly asked Erin to move in. Although Johnny wanted to get engaged, Erin said no. She is a "live in the moment" kind of gal. She does, however, want to acquire some pets, and the Smiths' house is much bigger than where she had been living.

The Smiths and the Grunts are getting along better now. General Buzz Grunt was living with Lola Curious and about to have a child with her, so he and PT#9 buried the hatchet. They have been seen playing chess together on community lots (all Grunts love to play chess). Johnny was a little salty about his ex-girlfriend Ophelia dating Tank in college after they broke up, but he's a friendly guy and would rather tell Tank a dirty joke when they run into each other than get into a fight.

Tank also went to La Fiesta Tech, but Ripp did not have the grades to get in, so Buzz kicked him out. Ripp crashed at the Smiths' for a while, sleeping in Johnny's old room, until he met Chloe Curious there. They were immediately attracted to each other, and soon after they started dating, they moved in together. They don't have a lot of money; both work low-level jobs in the slacker career. They had a daughter named Lulu.



Johnny is Ripp's favorite person in the world after Chloe, and he is a frequent houseguest. Chloe barely tolerates him.

When Lulu started getting older, Chloe and Ripp decided to commit to one another--even though it went against their romantic natures--and they got married. Ripp took Chloe's last name and shed himself of the Grunt family for good (although he's still good friends with Buck). Ripp is now very much a family man who wants at least three kids. They have had a second child named Jojo.



With Tank and Ripp gone, the Grunts no longer needed such a big house, so they moved to a house on the base. Buck pursued his passions for art and astronomy and earned several scholarships. After Tank graduated, he moved home to work in the law career, and Buck went to university. Tank also took over Buck's job of keeping the house tidy. Tank had dated Ophelia Nigmos for a while in university, but it was Barbara Young who won his heart, and they got married. Barbara is a scientist and also a passionate astronomer. By this time, Buzz had fallen for Lola Curious and persuaded her to leave her fiance, Gary, and move in with him. He had no plans to marry a half alien, though!



General Buzz shot down a suspicious spacecraft over the base and earned a huge bonus, which enabled the family to move to a much bigger house on the base. This also motivated Buzz to get into politics and run for mayor. Buzz considers the current mayor of Strangetown, Trista Vu, to be a degenerate and would love to run her out of town. Tank and Barbara took advantage of the extra room to have their first child, Chip (the older child in the picture). Lola also got accidentally pregnant around the same time and had Chas. But Lola became very sick after her pregnancy and died.



Buck is home from college now and was also able to move into the larger house. He does much of the childcare and cleaning, since Buzz, Tank, and Barbara are preoccupied with their careers. General Buzz--now Senator Buzz--is the first playable in Strangetown to transition to elderhood. He has terrible taste in clothes, but I put him in a different outfit soon after this picture was taken.

At the Curious household, Pascal and Vidcund were abducted by aliens as scripted, and both had daughters. Despite his best efforts, Lazlo was never able to be abducted. Or maybe he didn't put forth his actual best effort--Lazlo didn't really take the whole alien-abduction thing all that seriously.



The Curious brothers were very focused on their careers and improving their skills, so they didn't spend much time dating at first. Then, Pascal met Joel Jeffries, and they hit it off. Joel moved in, and they got engaged. But Pascal got cold feet around setting a date for the wedding, which caused Joel's eye to wander. He ended up leaving Pascal for his best friend, Nervous.

Lazlo got fired from his job at the science lab and found a new job as a journalist. When he met Marion--the wife of his colleague, Matthew Howe--he was smitten. They started up an affair, but Marion was a family Sim who already had two children with Matthew and didn't want to leave him. She didn't want to give up Lazlo either--not entirely--so she got pregnant without Lazlo's knowledge, so she will always have Lazlo with her, in a way.



Vidcund also started to date once spring came around, but at least he chose someone who was available: Holly Andersen. Holly had been a colleague at the science lab, but had recently moved to the criminal career. She and Vidcund had an awkward start but eventually fell in love. Holly invited Vidcund and his daughter to move in with her on the military base, and they all got along very well.



Other than the two girls and Lazlo's unborn child, of which he is unaware, the Curious brothers have had no other children so far. Celeste is now at university, and Nikola is a teen but will soon follow her.

Nervous met his mother, Olive, early on, and when his cousin Ophelia went to college, he moved out of the Beakers' basement and into Ophelia's old room. He changed his last name to Specter.



Nervous desperately wanted to find love. The first person he fell for was his best friend, Pascal, but Pascal was already in a relationship with a townie, Joel Jeffries. Then, Nervous fell for Joel. Somehow, he persuaded Joel to leave Pascal and move in with him. Maybe Olive had something to do with that--it was rumored that she was a witch. On the day after Olive died, Nervous mysteriously got pregnant; there had been no abduction beforehand. He had a daughter whom he named Olivia. Joel was quite miserable living in the haunted Specter house by that time. He was convinced that Olive had cast a spell and that her spirit had actually returned to life as Olivia. Joel wanted a normal family life, so in desperation, he called the adoption service to adopt a child named Adrian. But the night before Adrian was to move in, the Specter house caught fire. The fire rapidly spread through all the rooms. Joel barely got out alive with Olivia in his arms. When the fire was put out, and they were able to sift through the ashes, they found Nervous's body among the burned remains of his old childhood things.



Joel's new son arrived to find the house he was to live in had been destroyed--although he pitched in and started cleaning up the mess immediately (he'll fit right in with the Curious family). Joel called Pascal up and begged for forgiveness. The three of them desperately needed a place to live, and Joel asked if they could move back in to the Curious house. Since Vidcund, Nikola, and Celeste had all just moved out, Pascal agreed. When Joel returned home, he fell right back in love with Pascal. Pascal is being more guarded with his feelings, though. He's not angry at Joel for what he did, and he misses Nervous very much, but it will take some time for him to trust again.



Joel says that it might be more pleasant to have breakfast outside when it's sunny. Lazlo is dancing with Adrian, who is much happier in the Curious house, and Olivia is sat next to them.

Ophelia was never close to her aunt and left for university as soon as she could. She was heartbroken when Johnny broke up with her, and heartbroken again when Tank chose Barbara instead of her. She has never gotten over either of those loves. But she did find love herself, with River Smith (now Nigmos). They don't have a lot of money--Ophelia works in the music career, and River hasn't found a job he's passionate about yet--but they have a nice little house and a good life.



They have had two children: Willow, who has River's hair, and Cedar, who has Ophelia's hair. Cedar is probably the best looking of my born-in-game kids!

Bella Goth was a mysterious businesswoman who appeared in Strangetown one day and bought the nicest house in town. No one knows who she is or where she came from, although she does look a little familiar to some folks. Bella keeps to herself for the most part, except for the string of male visitors to her home. She has such a charm and beauty that men are instantly bewitched by her.

But Bella had an unplanned pregnancy with one of her lovers, the mailman. She named her twin daughters Cassidy and Alexa. At first, Bella was pretty neglectful of the girls, and their father had to take up some of the slack. But Bella soon warmed to childcare, although she did hire help as a live-in "manny": recent La Fiesta Tech graduate Mickey Dosser. Mickey soon befriended both girls, but he's the only man to enter Bella's orbit who seemed oblivious to her charms.



When Mickey left Bella's employ to get married, she did not replace him. She and her girls still keep mainly to themselves. Cassidy's main hobby is talking with her pet falcon, and Alexa has become something of a tomboy who likes swimming and sports.



Cassidy grew up into these pigtails--I did not give them to her! I did give Alexa her glasses, though.

Trent and Trisha moved into an empty house in Strangetown and settled into their new jobs: Trent as an adventurer and Trisha in the culinary career. They already had a daughter named Tina. Trisha got pregnant and had twins, named Tate and Tamara.



By this time, however, Trisha had met their neighbor, Ajay Loner, and had fallen hard for him. They started a passionate secret affair. Ajay wanted Trisha to marry him, but she didn't want to leave her kids. So Ajay forced her hand and told Trent about the affair. Trent was very upset and divorced Trisha immediately, so she had no choice but to move in with Ajay and marry him.

Most days, Trent doesn't know whether he wants Trisha back or he wants to see her ghost.



After Trisha left, Tina had to help out a lot as a teen with taking care of the twins, who were a handful. But Tina is very close to her siblings--they're the coolest kids she knows! Nevertheless, her studies suffered, and she missed out on college. She can't help feeling a little resentful, although she's still very close with her mother.



Trisha and Ajay also had a child, Kiran, but Trisha is pretty unhappy most of the time. There are many days when she wants to call Trent up and beg for forgiveness, although she knows he'll never take her back. They have no money, even though Ajay seems to work so much. Where does he spend his time? Trisha doesn't think he would cheat on her--he's too devoted to her.



Yes, Ajay is an absolute dog in this save. Not only is cheating with Allyn, the former garden club lady who lives next door and is one of Trisha's best friends, but he also broke up Johnny Smith's marriage with Tiffany Riley. Then, Allyn caught him flirting with Tiffany at a party! I wish it had been his wife who had caught him instead.

Those are where all the main families are in my current gameplay. I don't have as many pictures of the other families, so I will post about them gradually as I take more. I will leave you with this picture of Mayor Trista Vu, though.

I've caught up to my game, and so I will post occasionally here as I have enough pictures to make a story. I'm trying to take more pictures and get better at taking them generally. I think I've come a long way, considering that when I started playing I didn't take any pictures at all.

In the Beaker household, Calypso earned her scholarships and left for university. Fenris had a birthday and grew up into the best-looking Beaker child I've ever had. I'd almost believe Loki wasn't his real father if I hadn't actually been there when Circe got pregnant. Fenris wore pink as a child, and apparently, he's still partial to the color.



It was pretty lonely with just the two of them in the big Beaker castle, so Circe invited Kristen over. Circe had a proposal for Kristen. Despite Kristen being involved in a love triangle with both her housemates, she couldn't resist Circe's offer to move into the big house. Circe didn't wait but locked Kristen down right away.



Here's Fenris photo-bombing the wedding pictures.



Back in the Singles household, Kristen moved out without much explanation, leaving DJ and Stella on their own. Stella soon discovered that aliens can get pregnant no matter which gender they are sleeping with.

Johnny had a day off work, so he headed out to the gym to get the body skill point he needs for a promotion. He's terrible about working out at home and will only stay on the weight machine for a few seconds, but at least at the gym, he will focus. While he was there, he ran into Ophelia. Johnny remains good friends with Ophelia, but considering how attracted he still is to her, he sometimes pushes the friendship line a little too much.



Despite her "live for the moment" philosophy, Erin was a little nonplussed when she discovered she was pregnant. Johnny's parents are dying for another grandchild, though.



This picture pretty much sums up Johnny and Erin's relationship: She's relaxing next to him while he sleeps, thinking about their life together, and he's dreaming of Ophelia.

Matthew and Marion are former townies who were married from the start. Even though they are in love and have a high attraction, they have never slept in the same bedroom. I think that was Marion's preference--she always chose the cheaper bed over sleeping with Matthew. Here is Matthew--he used to have long hair, but it looked just like Ripp's so I changed it. He is a journalist and his favorite pastime is debating politics with his pet parrot.



They had two children. Marcus was very ambitious and qualified for university early. Margo is also a precocious child who enjoys playing with toy cars.



As previously mentioned, Marion is having an affair with Lazlo Curious. She is completely in love with Lazlo, but she couldn't see leaving her family, so she decided to make certain that a part of Lazlo would remain with her and got pregnant. She named the baby Lizzie. Fortunately, Lizzie looks a lot like Marion, but there is some of Lazlo in her that may become more apparent as she gets older.



After Lizzie was born, Marion had to tell Lazlo the truth. She knows how much Lazlo loves kids and always wanted one of his own. It came as a bit of shock to him, and he's not sure how to react yet, but of course he loved meeting little Lizzie. When Matthew got home from work, he was a bit surprised to find his best friend and colleague in his house, but he still suspects nothing amiss.

The Vu family has been very chaotic and messy. Originally, the family was Crystal Vu and her sister Trista, Crystal's daughter Vicki, and Trista's daughter Kana. All were originally townies. Other than Crystal, they are all popularity Sims--hugely outgoing, very impulsive, and sometimes weird.

Crystal got married after a while to Quenten McAuley (no pics). They had one child: Daisy. Quentin, however, was already involved in a long-time affair with Margaret Landry, who was married and had a big family of her own. Crystal eventually found out. For a while after they divorced, they lived together in Quenten's home and coparented Daisy, but after Quenten got abducted by aliens and had another baby, Crystal moved back in with Trista. Crystal is very high up in the Athletic career but wishes she had become an adventurer instead.

After Crystal moved out and Vicki and Kana went to college, Trista was elected mayor. Trista's LTW is to have many friends, and it was due to her networking skills that she got elected. Here's where things get a little sketchy. Trista wanted to marry a much younger man, Edward Fuchs, even though she wasn't in love with him, so she did. Edward also wanted to get married, to Blossom Moonbeam, so they established a cult that allowed plural marriage. Then, Edward brought in his boyfriend, Aldric Davis, who actually wants to be a cult leader, although they didn't get married.



Some people started saying Trista had lost her mind, and that's why General Buzz decided to run in the next election against her.



Unfortunately, Edward took some bad drugs one night and died. Blossom came to her senses and moved out with the daughter she had had with Edward. But Aldric and Trista thought they could bring Edward back. Eventually, Aldric was successful in this goal. By this time, though, Trista was no longer feeling the whole cult thing. Kana would be moving back soon, and she wanted to be with family again. It was really Edward and Aldric who were in love, anyway, so they moved out on their own.



Trista's daughter moved back in after graduation. She was dating Samuel Landry (second-oldest of the Landry children), but they were not committed--at least Kana didn't think so. Samuel broke up with her when he caught her flirting with Marcus Howe. A little while after that, Kana discovered she was pregnant with Samuel's child.



Here is Kana eating with Crystal and Quenten's daughter, Daisy. Vicki--Crystal's older daughter from a different relationship--is partners with Tina Traveller and lives with the Travellers now.



After Crystal gave up on getting Quenten back, she became a little desperate to find a new man. She went around town, shooting her shot at anyone--including a very young Buck Grunt and some bartender (or waiter) she almost got engaged to.



But the guy who really did it for her was Gunnar Roque. Gunnar was married, though, and didn't want to leave his family, which made Crystal very unhappy.



Crystal was persistent, though, and kept pursuing Gunnar. Gunnar did really love his wife Jasmine, but Jasmine had recently been turned into a werewolf, and he didn't like that at all. (You can barely tell she is a werewolf with this new default replacement skin I got--I may swap it out.) Jasmine wasn't inclined to get cured, but because no supernaturals were allowed on base, they had to move down into a much smaller house in Strangetown. It put a crimp in Gunnar's music career as well. So in the end, he agreed to leave Jasmine and move in with Crystal.



He wasn't very happy about it, though.



The Vu household is now Trista, who is single but is chasing William Williamson (also a much younger man); Crystal and Gunner; Kana, who is about to pop; and Daisy, who is about to become a teen. They have a lot of money but not a lot of sense.

At the Beaker household, new teen Fenris spends most of his free time checking himself out. We know you're an uncharacteristically good-looking Beaker, Fenris, but really--give it a rest. Fenris also must make sure all the sinks are squeaky clean. He's already working on his scholarships to get into university.



The burglar struck the Beaker house and set a lot of fires. I was really worried about Fenris, but he managed to get the fire department over, so he was okay. I need this boy to pass his genes down!



At university, Calypso got engaged to her boyfriend, Marcus Howe. Marcus is newly graduated, but Calypso is a year behind him. Calypso has insisted that Marcus take the Beaker name when he marries her. Marcus doesn't mind--he's a Fortune Sim and is looking forward to moving into the castle.



And then, this happened. Of course, it was bound to at some point, with Kristen having three bolts with both Circe and DJ, but probably DJ should not have invited the newlyweds to dinner, knowing how fragile the situation is. Or maybe she wanted to stir up some trouble. I'd be worried if I were her. Circe does not know the meaning of the word "forgiveness."



That's the end of summer for the Beakers and the Singles.

Pascal finally fell back in love with Joel, and he decided to make things right and marry Joel just before they both became elders. I've always wanted this couple together! Joel and Nervous really felt like a detour. Pascal also officially adopted Adrian as a Curious, but he didn't adopt Olivia out of respect for Nervous, since she was his biological daughter and no one is quite sure how exactly she was conceived.



Pascal grew up into the most ridiculous outfit for him, but I soon fixed his clothes. He and Joel make such an adorable couple, and they are well suited for each other.



Lazlo was spotted in the hot tub at a community lot with Vidcund's girlfriend, Holly. He was definitely up to no good. Lazlo does not respect the boundaries of monogamous relationship. But let's admire the nice sky mod, shall we?



After this, Lazlo wanted to have public woohoo with three people. Jasmine Roque is recently divorced, and Lazlo has three bolts with her, so he asked her out. Unlike her ex-husband, Lazlo definitely thinks werewolves are hot and is hoping she might turn him into one someday. It was pretty awkward when Gunnar showed up on the lot during their date, though.



Gunnar immediately tried to get under Jasmine's skin by making out with her best friend and their former housemate, Zoe, during Lazlo and Jasmine's date. (Zoe is also married to Gunnar's best friend, Mickey--not cool, Gunnar! But he is going through a rough time right now.) Lazlo and Jasmine ignored him, though, and retreated into the bathroom, where Lazlo proved that he does not understand appropriate date behavior.



Lazlo did not get the public woohoo he wanted, but there's always next time!

Buck Grunt and Jill Smith dated as teens and all through university. Jill really wanted to get married to Buck right after graduation, but Buck is a little slow in his decision-making and didn't immediately propose. That prompted Jill to break up with him and start dating Amin Landry, oldest of the Landry kids, instead. Their relationship went a bit too fast, and they soon were married and expecting a child. It was a girl named Angel.



The problem was that Amin was in love with Jill's best friend, Camryn McAuley. One day, he told Jill that he didn't see himself ever getting over Camryn, and they broke up.



Amin and Samuel Landry started out as townie children whose father was Gerard Landry. Gerard married fellow townie Margaret Howe and had three more children. Here are Samuel and their oldest son, Errol, at university together. Despite not being genetically related, they look a lot alike, and they even chose the same YA outfit.



Jill's brief marriage seemed to have shocked some sense into Buck, who realized she had been his true love all along, and if he didn't act, he might really lose her forever next time. So he finally proposed and seemed really happy (and relieved) that she accepted. The right pairings usually get together in the end.



At the Grunt household, Buzz and Lola's son, Chas, had a birthday and grew up looking just adorable. He may be a contender for best-looking born-in-game Sim.



Tank and Barbara also had their second child, a girl named Scout. Chas is very happy to be an uncle again. It was a good thing Buck was moving out to get married because the Grunt house is getting very full again.

And now for one of my happy families: Chloe and Ripp Curious! It's a brief update because there's not a lot of drama here, so I didn't take a lot of pictures. Lulu Curious is now a teen but is still wearing that cool hat. Jojo is now a child. Despite his prim outfit, he is a gigantic slob like his father and older sister.



Chloe is now pregnant with their third (and probably their last) child. Ripp is super happy about having such a great family, although he is dreaming of the music career he might have had instead of having to work nights as a Slacker. Still, he wouldn't trade his life for anything.



The Curious household is small but it is always busy. People constantly drop round, and Ripp is always inviting in the neighbors, especially the Smith family. I think all three women from the Smith household were visiting when this picture was taken.