#8901
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25th Jun 2024 at 12:09 AM
Why am I tempted to create a Belladonna Cove soap opera focused around Tara deBateau and Justin Cleveland...
Previously on Taradonna Cove... Justin Cleveland has been in love with his best friend Tara deBateau for most of his teens. He finally made his move just before going to university, but Tara didn't feel the same and rejected his advances, leaving Justin heartbroken.
This time...
School may be over for Justin Cleveland and Tara deBateau, but Sim State University follows. Under normal circumstances, going to the same university as your best friend should be an amazing experience! Someone you can share a house with instead of strangers who may or may not regularly flood the hallways and whose last shower was taken in 2017 (early 2017, at that). However, the "Kiss Debacle" put a major dent on their friendship and both agreed it would be best to have some space, at least while they get settled. Justin takes his room at Landgraab House Dorms while Tara is living at Pinenut Plaza Dorms. Justin is studying Political Science, not that he had much choice, and Tara, seemingly unsure of what she wants to do with her life, is studying Maths... with the Quigley Visual Arts Grant.
Tara, focused as always, never struggled with classes - she found the exams to be
too easy, much to the dismay of her classmates, and so it came as no surprise that she finished the year with a 20 out of 20. Living at the dorm though, that was much harder than excelling at their classes. She struggled to connect with her fellow dormies, seemingly more interested in quietly studying in front of the TV instead of actually talking with her. The one exception was Filipa Vasconcellos. The two became fast friends and decided to find their own place at the end of the year. Filipa was taking a sort of gap year, realising she had chosen the wrong field of study upon being accepted - starting from next year, she would study Maths, just like Tara.
Justin, on the other hand, barely set foot in class for the entirety of the second semester. Term paper? I hardly know her! Either he is a prodigy or the Political Science degree is a sham, because Justin also finished with a 20 out of 20 despite putting in, at best, 10% of Tara's effort. His efforts were spent
elsewhere. And by elsewhere I mean Aurora Santos, Landgraab House Dorms' finest. They flirted through the year almost non-stop (I say almost because they did unfortunately have to stop flirting temporarily because
someone set the kitchen on fire. TWICE.) and shared their first kiss at the Sim State Tower. And their second kiss, their third kiss, their fifty-fourth kiss, they were full-on making out at the Tower when Aurora just... left? And never again flirted with Justin? And the cherry on top: Justin now wants to fall in love with Tara - again.
It's now the start of the second year. Tara and Filipa are living at 25 Peanut Street, Justin is still at the dorm. Justin has also started to "casually" drop by at the girls' house. Tara, oblivious, is trying to set him up with Filipa, but the two have negative chemistry. They might now be friends but they are never, ever, ever getting together. How long will Justin be hung up on Tara? Will Tara realise Justin still likes her? Will Tara ever reciprocate? What is the deal with Aurora?
Coming up on Taradonna Cove... Rumours are starting to swirl around town that both Jason and Marissa Cleveland are actually gay and the marriage is nothing but a beard...
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I'm having a blast playing University. The last time I even opened a university subhood was, at the very least, 6 years ago. I haven't played university ever since I, well, became a university student myself, and I also wasn't playing it before because I hadn't unlocked the university on my BACC hood either, so 6 years might even be an optimistic estimate. It's been fun trying to set up situations organically, like Tara struggling to make friends. I could simply direct her to force talk her way through friendships, but that's not how my university experience went and I tried to replicate that. Luckily I can say I had more success in the friends department than Tara who only managed to naturally form a friendship with one of her dormies. Speaking of, it pisses me off that when you make a dormie move in they'll be undecided and in their first year, so my headcanon is that Filipa chose a major she didn't like (say History) and treated that year as a gap year for her actual major, Maths. This ties up nicely with the way university works where I come from, you get accepted for a specific degree, you choose your "major", if you will, when applying, not after being accepted. If you want to change degrees (unless the classes are similar enough that you have some equivalences) you're back to the first year. Also, while on the one hand I want Justin to move on, on the other hand I can't help but feel a bit sorry for him - we've all had our own Tara deBateau. Romantic Standards is really pulling its weight here.
Nice Rachel we're having.
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