80 sim cats

At home, Melissa's visited by her best friend Marylena Gilscarbo and her husband. They used to work together but are now at different fastfood chains, which is probaby for the better when it comes to their friendship. God knows Melissa's hard to work with.

We'll leave the Cox family here. It was an eventful winter, with some good and some bad. The spring will bring even more... of either, so stay tuned.

Chandler: Whoa, those riffs are awesome! Lemme try the wham-wha-wham-wham!

The brothers take the dogs to the park. Orlando just so happens to accidentally meet Chloe there. A total coincidence. Must be fate. Chandler doesn't mind, being more interested in the soccer field than anything his brother does.

Otis and Heidi get their share of attention, too, of course, but everyone has to head home after an evil witches casts a rain spell that she herself then runs to hide from. That bit

Seen in town: Ricky Centowski hitting on his brother's girl.

Kennedy: Hey beautiful, mind if I buy you a drink?

Melissa and Kennedy don't go on dates often becase Kennedy works a nine-to-five while Melissa mostly does late nights, but now that she's basically jobless, they use their chance to get out of the house together.

While the two of them are gone...

...everything is okay at home. How nice. :D

To cheer herself up, Melissa takes the boys (and Benjamin) to a pet store. They buy a yellow lab called Honey.

Honey's adored by everyone, Otis included, but it turns out she has the hugeblinkermia - a disease that affects large dogs making their eyeballs huge. It's not dangerous or anything, but when the disease makes itself known, Honey's face changes considerably. She's still the goodest girl, though.

Orlando starts dating Chloe LeTourneau. They met when he was hanging out with Chloe's brother Alvin. He didn't get on any of the pictures, but Orlando was even there for Chloe's birthday. They are about the same age, and Chloe is cool and not like other girls and, and and

Their cute little date, however, is interrupted by Melissa, who's just been demoted (again) and now, since her day is ruined, she has to ruin Orlando's day as well by getting home early.

It's Chandler's birthday. As he turns into a teen, he becomes a Pleasure / Popularity sim with a dream of becoming a cult leader. He's interested in entertainment, culture, fashion, work, and sci-fi. Definitely lots of Melissa in there!

Pizza for the birthday dinner...

...is followed by another haunting from Amin. Happy birthday, Chandler, now go change your pants.

This time, Orlando acts smart and leaves to wait the haunting out at a nearby 24/7 store. He buys coffee, chats with a cute cashier, and grabs some groceries while he's there. By the time he returns home, it's almost dawn.

Orlando: Shouldn't have bothered with the groceries, I guess. Bunch of babies, couldn't wait until I get back.

It's too cold to swim but fishing is great at the town's beach this time of year, so Kennedy brings the boys (and Benjamin) out to swing them rods. Orlando's pouting because he'd rather be at home listening to music, but it's a good trip overall.

Seen in town: Andrea Hogan making moves on her failed date Abhijeet.

The ball's back in the Coxs' basket. 'Cause Kennedy is mostly into basketball, and he's showing Chandler his best throws while the weather still allows it. Meanwhile Orlando endures his mother's intrusion on him trying to make friends with his townie classmate. She just has to include herself, doesn't she, even though she doesn't actually care with whom Orlando spends his free time?

Uncle Benjamin is being... Uncle Benjamin.

Kennedy: Ben, what are you teaching my boys?

As we're moving on to the second season, I can start giving some stats. The first rotation was for me to get a feel for the neighborhood and see if I was going to stick with it. In real time, I'm well into the town's first spring by now, so I can safely say I am sticking with Townieville for now.

So, the stats. Traits are 99% randomized, I only tweak them if something really doesn't fit. Aspirations (secondary for adults and both for growing teens) are picked based of ~vibes~ An idea of how a certain sim is is then born out of the combination of their info and gameplay.

Meadow starts her day early to cook breakfast for everyone before the school bus comes. When she's home from school, it's usually at the same time as her nerd kinda brother Alvin, who often has a friend or two over.

That's how she knows her kinda boyfriend Ricky.

Ricky: You're like and alien babe. Not green but like. Distant.

Kinda. Yeah.

Chloe has a birthday, becoming a knowledge sim, and Meadow takes her to the Nerissa's to buy some new clothes because nerds need style too.

It rains cats and dogs, the girls are soaked by the time they get there, and to make things worse, Ricky's there as well. Meadow has too stop his puckered lips in mid-air, asking that they remain just friends because Ricky's just... not it.

At least Chloe is dressed by the end of it.

Soon after, the fall ends. Winter is coming.