Another Strangetown

I've also already mentioned that PT#9 and Johnny are tall (6ft6-ish to be precise), but what I didn't mention was that Jill is also pretty tall compared to other girls/women in Strangetown. Jill stands humbly at 6 foot after hitting puberty, placing her exactly half way between her parents' respective heights. Jill does wish she was little shorter but there's no changing that without drastic measures.

Unlike his PSP counterpart, PT#9 is fluent in Simlish (shock horror, I don't agree with the PSP lore for a change). But, the thing that makes him stand out is that he doesn't use words that a typical native/fluent speaker would choose. Like instead of saying "be careful" he would say "apply caution", or instead of "what did you have for breakfast?" he'd say "what meal did you consume at first light?" Whatever he says, you can guarantee he's using Simlish in an interesting/creative manner that perhaps follows the grammatical structure of the language used on his home planet. And yes, no one corrects his usage (expect Buzz).

While we're still on PT#9, he understands "Pollination Technician #9" is a bit of mouthful, but he'll only accept "Pol" as a given name, he's not interested in a more human sounding name, he's proud of where he's from and already 100% convinced he's blending in well without one (even though he's very clearly an alien). Though sometimes he does lie about what "Pol" is short for, he does a sense of humour after all.

Jenny Smith doesn't have a lot to do with her brothers for a several reasons, mostly the age gap that basically made her an only child in the family dynamics, and then the lack of common interests with her brothers. But, she knows that her brothers would be obsessed with PT#9, and while her husband would happily answer all of their questions, she knows that the list of questions would be never ending. There'd always be a new question or something her brothers would want more clarification on. Sometimes you got to protect your family from your family, y'know?

At the start elementary school, everyone wanted to be Johnny's friend, everyone wanted to be friends with the green kid because they thought he was cool. But by the end of elementary school those friendships disappeared except for a select few, as biases and xenophobia started creeping in, something that would follow him throughout his life. Heartbreaking, I guess we can blame the Grunts for that.

Johnny, even with his average grades gets into college/university on a Sports scholarship. Personally I see it for basketball, but it can be for whatever sport suits the plot. I like the idea of it being a team sport so Tank Grunt can be Johnny's rival while they still have play on the same side. But it's more likely to be swimming.

I don't know whether this happened in other people's games, but after aging up without Ophelia Johnny would still have thought bubbles about her. To me his means Ophelia is his soulmate either platonically or romantically depending on the story you want to create. If they break up there's no hard feelings and they do remain friends, but things are awkward for a while afterwards.

Like their mother, Johnny and Jill have some contact with their uncles, but they mostly ignore them. This is their choice as Johnny and Jill think they're weird, and don't like the questions their uncles ask about them or their biology. Johnny normally texts back with one word answers, or emojis. Jill doesn't text back at all.

Jill is the primary reason the Smiths have multiple fire extinguishers and fire blankets around the house. Jill has good control of the pyrokinesis now but when she was little she was just starting fires left right and center. PT#9 and Jenny even took fire safety classes. PT#9 wasn't aware pyrokinesis was an ability his species had so it came as a surprise to him too.

Speaking of Jill's pyrokinesis, she has accidentally used it in front of Buck Grunt when he refused to play dolls with her. Buck has never disobeyed Jill since. Jill's just grateful Buck has never told his dad.

The eyes on the back of Jill's head are non-functional, as in she can't use them to see. They can still blink and move, but there are no advantages to having them. Jill hates them with a passion.

One of the reasons Jill was fine with being trapped at Division 47 (in the PSP game anyway) was because Buck was there, even if he doesn't make an appearance in game. She had a friend behind enemy lines with her. She even had Ripp looking out for her.

There are two main reasons the Smiths ended up trapped in Division 47. PT#9 considered Buzz a friend and in naiveity trusted Buzz's judgement. Jenny, having known Lyla Grunt, trusted that Buzz wouldn't betray her. Both of them were wrong, and Johnny can't forgive them for their misjudgement, it even affects his friendship with Ripp.

I feel a lot of people overlook it but it adds to the misery that is their household.

Like all three of her sons are hoping she'll come back for them...

Tank is hoping she comes back so he can be himself because he remembers how soft she used to be with him and he's idolised his mother to this near perfect human being. To Tank she's something she never was.

Ripp is hoping she comes back so he can stop fighting. He doesn't want to argue with his dad but knows if he doesn't put up a fight against Buzz's expectations no one else will. Ripp believes his mother will fight for them so he can just be a teenager again.

Buck is hoping he can get to know her. She left when he was so young he barely remembers her and wants her in his life. He remembers her as the only parent that cared for him.

Tragically none of them will get what they want, the only one who does is Buzz.

And Buzz is terrified Lyla will come back for their sons. He's spend the better part of a decade trying to mould his sons and control them. He might not like Tank, but Tank has met some of his expectations, Tank's desperation for Buzz's approval will have him joining the military in the blink of eye if it means Buzz will be happy. And Lyla could come back a ruin it all, for all he knows Lyla's spent years getting her shit together so she can win custody of them when she couldn't initially.