Fanon:Traveller family (SimVille)

The Traveller family is a Maxis-created family in SimVille.

Original MTS post
The following was posted to ModTheSims on December 13, 2018. The original post can be found here.

Time for the Travellers to settle

After a fairly extended hiatus, I'm back! Now to get right back into things, let's open up the Traveller family, the family that EAxis shipped with Bon Voyage.



It's obvious that EAxis intended for the Travellers to be used for visiting those brand spanking new vacation hoods, but let's be real—how are you supposed to make money to eat if you're not employed at all? Since Trent seems to want a life of adventure through travel, I gave him a job in the Adventurer career. Trisha's still looking for a job, but she'll be getting one eventually. Tina, of course, needs to settle in to a school and make some permanent friends around here. I get that Trent wants out from the rat race and wants to travel, and I'm happy to make family vacations a regular thing for him—in fact I took the Travellers out on an island vacation last time I played them—but, you know, you still need a job in order to eat. And pay the bills. And the apartment rent. Speaking of apartments...



I moved the Travellers into the Seaspray Apartments, in the apartment right next door to the McGregors. It isn't a bad place to live, and for a family of three, this apartment is pretty darn cozy, compared to the eight bouncing Sims in a similarly-sized apartment a wall away.

First floor contains the garage and the front door.



Second floor is where their living room, dining room, and kitchen are located.



Third floor is where their two bedrooms are. Tina's bedroom is the same size as the bedroom all of the McGregor kids next door have to share, but she's an only child so all of that space is hers! ...Actually, that might not be such a great thing, since she won't be used to sharing such a large space. Think of the Haiders!



Last time I left them, it's early Saturday morning, and for reasons I can't remember, the landlord is out on the lot. I think he'll stick around until the weekly building party.



Trisha Traveller is not as loyal to her husband as one might expect...



It's hailing, but when did that ever stop Trent? No adventurous father-and-daughter duo would ever pass on the opportunity to have some totally safe swing-around fun while being pelted by little ice pellets!



Trisha isn't so much of a fan of bad weather, however. She seeks shelter in the indoor communal rec room and socializes with the landlord.



Trent and Tina learn their lesson the hard way: hail is not very nice.



Hail cracking down over his head, Trent makes his way to the carpool. As an Adventurer, he's going to have to get used to working every Saturday. Hey, at least it's better than a sour white-collared 9-to-5 internship.



Being uprooted from her old home meant that Tina has to make new friends in SimVille. She has a curious heart like her father, but she also just wants to have a circle of good friends she can get to know for a solid period of time rather than being constantly blown around like dandelion seeds. So far all of the kids she's met in school have been nice enough to give her their numbers.



When the weather clears up, the apartment doors swing open and the neighbours start pouring out... and they're dispersing in different directions! Tina doesn't know the McGregors all to well, which is all too unfortunate. Today she's going to have to change that.



"Did you know that the island natives of Twikkii Island have used the mortar and pestle to make poi out of taro? It used to taste really bad, but then they started to add other stuff to the mixture to make it..."



Luckily for Tina, Lyndsay changed the boring and uninteresting subject.



The pizza has arrived, and it looks like the landlord already made one slice disappear.



I'm just going to save one for Trent, since we all know how much he likes a good pepperoni-and-cheese.



Tina seemed a little shy to ask, but it turns out Lyndsay wanted to play catch with someone too!





Trisha and Alyssa were having a good conversation together when all of a sudden Alyssa turns around and heads back into her apartment. I wonder if Trisha felt the least bit rejected by that.



A townie that hasn't mastered the vacation gestures yet? Oh, Trisha feels glad to be part of something bigger.



Trisha wonders why the landlord doesn't just grab a slice and join her. Is he just antisocial or what?



"Trent is not home. Call again later!" Tina doesn't recognize the voice on the other end. It sounds like a female downtownie, but why on earth would she be interested in her dad?



Alyssa comes out again, this time hungry enough for a slice.



Tina and Lyndsay have gotten close enough to each other to be able to play Cops And Robbers without rejecting the interaction. Tina can ignore that creepy landlord for now!



Lyndsay's able to ignore the commotion too, with an ill-tempered apartment townie fighting with their father for no apparent reason.



For some reason, Alyssa sees fit to compliment him! Trisha is aghast!



"Stop it, Neil!! Stop it already!!"



"Why on earth is your dad getting into a fight with some random stranger?" Tina asks when the two escape the kerfuffle into the safety of the communal rec room.

"He's not like this, I swear!" was Lyndsay's defensive reply.



"Who are you to even think about insulting people like that?!?! Where are your manners, young man?!"

"Ho ho! He he! Look who's trying to save the day now!"



Trent returns home with a promotion and a Thomas Cuevas at 4pm sharp. The McGregors are still playing outside, but Trent wants Thomas to feel right at home.



"It's 4 o'clock, but would you care for a cup [of coffee]?" And the three adults seat themselves in the living room. Trisha goes on about Neil Chalmer's foul behaviour today. Trent is displeased with the news and sides with his wife as the two talk about what to do with him. Thomas sits quietly, wondering about the mess he had moved his family into.



When the dust outside has settled and Neil Chalmers has gone back into his apartment, Lyndsay and Dominic are the only McGregor family members still out and about. Having eight Sims living in one apartment means that the kids will almost always go outside to play, given how there isn't enough space in the apartment for all of them to play tag all at once. Tina will perhaps never know what it's like to have to live with so many people in such a small space, let alone having to share a room with one other person.



It's not uncommon for visitors to leave before mealtimes in SimVille, but both the Travellers and the Cuevas are fairly recent arrivals, so they don't really care. Thomas feels a bit guilty over eating the Traveller's food, but Julio back home has been acting out more than usual and he needs a break. From him. The Travellers don't see it, though. When the flames over Neil Chalmers cool down a bit, the Travellers are talking about where they should vacation next. Thomas picks up on the idea. He doesn't know about Julio, but he's certain that the rest of his family could enjoy a nice, well-deserved vacation, right?



After supper, Trent spends some time with Tina.



"Now I know what you're thinking: Trent was rich enough to retire, and so he did, and he wanted to travel the world. The truth is, though, he didn't get rich and we were still paying 20% of our annual income on housing. I don't mean to be pessimistic, but he's only about 30 right now, and he just barely started in his career. I persuaded him to at least get a job and at least get a house, but he still wants to just live that rustic life of having no permanent address and no permanent connections outside of his family, instead just travelling constantly and exploring the world as a nomad. It sounds fun, but let's be real. We still need to have money and to eat."

"If he really wants such a life, he could always follow me back to the favelas. I lived in a warehouse as a squatter during my teenage years, and on my days off I'd often wander around the city district I lived in looking for work, any work that I could do to net myself a few extra dollars."

"You didn't like that life, did you?"

"Me? Oh, how I desperately wanted a roof of my own and a steady income to support myself back in those days! And I know so many people that are still living there—not much has changed there, really. He should really think about how lucky he is to even have a permanent job rather than just throwing it all away!"



Tina sits in bed and thinks about what their next vacation should be like. She doesn't think about Neil. She doesn't think about Sherman. She doesn't think about why Neil acted the way he did, or why Sherman seemed to have already been close to the tipping point.



Trisha thinks about Thomas and the lengths he went to get out of the life that her husband seemed to desire.



Trent, meanwhile, is wondering what it's like to visit a place with no working showers. How would he get clean then? The answer: sponge baths! He practices in front of the kitchen sink, perhaps out of naïveness.



Conclusion

Thanks for reading! I'm trying out a different layout this time; instead of a really long post divided up into sections, I'm going to try making everything flow together, which will hopefully reduce the amount of time I spend posing Sims and instead letting their daily routine speak for themselves. Again, sorry for the lack of updates; school has been keeping me pretty busy, but with December things start to wind down a little bit, leaving me with some time (and motivation) to play again.