All in step for the Grunt Family!





I don't know but I've been told
I don't know but I've been told



That Tank Grunt has a heart of gold
That Tank Grunt has a heart of gold




Tells me where I need to be
Tells me where I need to be



And late at night he reads to me
And late at night he reads to me



Tells me that he's met this girl
Tells me that he's met this girl



And brother, does she rock his world!
And brother, does she rock his world!



He trains real hard, gives it his all
He trains real hard, gives it his all

Cuz' he wants to be a general
Cuz' he wants to be a general

Right, that's enough military rhyming for now :) Let's have a look at the remodelled Grunt house.







Tank isn't the only one to have found love. The General paid the matchmaker gypsy a tidy sum to find a new mate for him, and he was introduced to townie Crystal Vu. Who's actually supposed to be Lazlo Curious' girlfriend, I suppose, but we all know the General wouldn't let a tiny detail like that stop him.

Is it just me, or does she look vaguely like his deceased wife?



Staying in the romantic spheres, Ripp Grunt has his eyes set on Lilith Pleasant. I thought it was rather hilarious they gave eachother socialite airkisses when he invited her over :p

Lilith is definitely playing hard to get, however. Damn you, noinstantlove. He'd been wooing her for several days, but she still rejected even the lightest flirt.



That only makes Ripp more determined though. And he's not above calling in some help to further his cause.



Something tells me the love potion effects are going to be slightly, erh, dampened by that cold waterballoon Lilith's hiding behind her back.



What with all these affairs of the heart going on, I almost missed Buck's birthday. Almost! He got his cake and everything, and then grew up in this horribly weather-inappropriate sweater, and the cheesiest grin I've ever seen on a sim.



The fishtank is the main entertainment in this household. All guests immediately flock to it to watch and make clammy hands at the fishies. The TV sits around in a corner, forgotten. That's the backsides of Lilith Pleasant and Jill Smith, who came over for Buck's birthday.



The theme of this household so far seems to be make love, not war. I don't think the Grunt men did anything else this week apart from eat, sleep, and chase women.



Angela... what would Dustin say if he caught you like this?

Angela: "Dustin who?"

Poor Dustin. You can't really compete with natural three-bolters.



Buck Grunt, master of the Cheesy Grin.



Seems to work for him, though.

I find it rather hilarious that every single Grunt, despite their social awkwardness, looks or personality, has a flourishing lovelife. Except for Ripp, the Romance sim. He still gets spurned by Icequeen Lilith. Maybe she's just really loyal to Dirk, despite the fact that their relationship is sub-zero at the moment?



The General doesn't waste any time in popping the question. He isn't getting any younger here, you know. Soon his sons will all have fled the nest, and he really doesn't want to end up all alone in those barracks.



Here's Crystal with her new makeover. Notice the dead fish floating in their tank, by the way. While everyone was more than happy to watch the fish, nobody actually thought to feed them.



On Sunday evening, when I'd almost given up hope for these two alltogether, Lilith finally gave in to Ripp's charms. They're a bit of a ship for me, so I was over the moon :) They're two-bolters, which is about as good as it gets without having the same aspiration. Squee!





Allright, enough Ripp/Lilith spam :)



And as Tank's taxi sets off into the sunset, taking him to college, we move on from the Grunt household. Bunch of loving hippies that they are.


The Curious Brothers

I gave the Curious house a second floor, seeing as they really needed the extra space. I like their house, it's spacious, light and airy. The upstairs has no personality yet, but it'll get decorated as I play along, as I ran out of funds for now.

The little indoors area with the plants is Vidcund's. He's in the Natural Science career, which I thought suited him (he's got an unnatural fondness for violets, after all). Pascal wants to be a Mad Scientist, while Lazlo has set his hopes on becoming a Space Pirate.







The first big event in the household was Pascal giving birth to a baby boy, which he named Orion. And one day I might even name my alien babies something more creative than starsigns. Right about when pigs start to fly, I'm guessing.



Erin Beaker decided to drop by and say hi to the brothers. I've always seen her as the airhead of the Beaker family, and she doesn't really give a rat's about their families feuding.
She gets along swimmingly with Lazlo, perhaps not surprisingly so, seeing as both their bios comment on their love for the paranormal.



You can't keep Pascal away from the telescope for very long. You'd think he'd be more careful after last time.



He got abducted pretty quickly, and when he was dropped back off in front of the house, he wore this rather, uhm, satisfied/swooning expression. I just don't want to know, Pascal.



Birthday time! Little Orion has been fortunate enough not to inherite the more extreme alien features. He sort of looks like a small green Pascal, really.





Pascal makes a really good dad for a Knowledge sim. I feel a secondary aspiration coming up!



Pop!



Time flies when you're having fun, and soon it's time for Orion's birthday. I'm a big fan of all the horn-tooting and rattle-waving. Is it bad that I'd like people to do this on my birthday, too? :3



I really lucked out with Orion. He looks fantastic for being the offspring of the original P.T.



The question 'where do babies come from' is always a bit trickier with half-alien children. It'd help if he waited until he could actually see some stars, as well.



It's getting towards the end of the week, and Vidcund has invited over his new girlfriend to stay over for the weekend.



Vidcund: "Eat your heart out, Don Lothario."

Even though Cassie was married to Don for a while, they never actually woohoo'd, and Vidcund's her first :)



What better location to propose than on top of the roof, with the whole of Strangetown laying at your feet?

Vidcund: "Cassandra, if you delight me by consenting to become my wife, I promise not to be a lying, cheating, mal-odorous and obnoxious bag of waste like your last husband was."



She said yes! :)



They stayed up on the roof until it was dark, celebrating and just enjoying eachother's company.


Meanwhile, Lazlo and Erin have become bestest of friends, and she's agreed to move in with the Curious brothers. Life can be pretty lonely if you live all on your own in a desert. (That, and the trailer park she originally lived in got extremely glitchy, producing multiple copies of Crystal Vu.)

That's Lazlo's bedroom, which has been done up to reflect his love for strange and faraway countries.



Second baby! It's another boy, which Pascal named Perseus, or Percy for short. Judging by the eyebrows, he's going to be blond, when he actually grows some hair.



Vidcund and Cassandra have decided to live together in Cassie's house back in Pleasantview, making Vidcund the first sim to move between the two neighbourhoods.


The Curious Sisters

The Curious Sisters originally lived in the trailer park, as did Erin Beaker and Kristen Loste (I split up the Singles household, they couldn't afford anything large enough to house them all together anyway)

But then the thing with the multiple Crystals started to happen...



... and I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to try and play this obviously glitched lot. So out they went, into a little house that's pretty much identical to Ajay Loner's one.



Chloe's a very friendly sim, and wants to be friends with everyone, including the mailman. She's a romance sim, but her bio sounds more like popularity:

The complete opposite of her sister, Chloe just wants to meet new people and to have a good time. She can often be found daydreaming or chatting on the phone.

So I gave her popularity as her secondary aspiration, which is now the only thing she ever rolls wants for.



Which is not to say that she doesn't appreciate some attention from the opposite sex occasionally, though.



Chloe frequently rolls wants to throw parties, and after a while she gets a regular crowd. Dina and Nina Caliente, Bella Goth, Jennifer Burb, Brandi Broke and, despite her age quite the party animal, Coral Oldie.
She's already best friends with all of them. I'm telling you, that romance aspiration is wasted on Chloe. She's a natural popularity sim. I might actually reroll her.



Seriously, what neighbours exactly are they disturbing, in the middle of the desert?



Lola is working on her career in Law, aided by Remington the maid, who's actually quite a good match for her.



Who she really fancies is Don Lothario. But that's a dangerous path to stray onto.



Besides, Remington's got the moves. And he looks quite good. Allright, he doesn't earn a lot as a maid, but neither does Don as a Golf Caddy or whatever he's doing these days.



I've never really liked the red hair on Chloe, so she got a new makeover. There's very few sims who I think are suited to sport a neon haircolour, but Chloe is one of them.


Kristen Loste



Kristen has the same house as Ajay and the Curious Sisters, but the layout is slightly different.



Her LTW is to reach the top of the Athletic career track, and most of her time is spent working out. Really, that's pretty much the week wrapped up for her.



Life living on your own in a desert town isn't all sunshine and cacti, as Kristen soon discovers. She's desperate for some simmish contact.



Luckily hapless walkby's are always there to be snagged up for a chat. This is Kennedy Cox, He of the Knee-high White Sock. He's been made over when visiting another household though, and now looks, well, normal.

I've come to appreciate the Maxis sims more and more. I still don't like the default CAS faces in the game, but I have switched recently from my Pooklet Legacy face set to Terrakosmos' toned-down Maxis faces. One thing you can't accuse the Maxis faces from is being bland.



Kennedy takes it on himself to hang around the house a bit and keep Kristen company, her being new in the neighbourhood and all that.



Occasionally, Kristen takes some time out from the rat race to appreciate the wonderful nightskies they get here in Strangetown. Maybe this place isn't so bad, after all.


Wow, the first round is already done! This 'hood really flies compared to the Megahood :)
I'm toying with the idea of doing a legacy in between Strangely Pleasant updates, but that won't be for a while just yet. I'd have to set up a neighbourhood and all that, and all the decisions and makeovers and things involved would definitely take a while.

Thanks for reading!