#elections arc

Coral: Your sister and Dustin were here just yesterday. Did she tell you they got engaged?

Lilith: Tell me? No, she never tells me anything. But I heard it from Mum already. ... She did start grilling me about when I was gonna get engaged too, in the same breath, so now I have to put up with that thanks to Angela.

Coral: Well, I know you don't believe it sometimes, but your mum does actually want what's best for you.

Lilith: She hasn't painted a brilliant picture of married life, to be honest... Why would she want that for me? The only reasonable explanation is because it would make her feel validated if she saw her daughters suffer through the same thing she has had to suffer through.

Coral: You're making very bold assumptions about your mother. And marriage doesn't have to be a pain. Look, I'll be honest, your dad, he's— well, he's not the best of examples. But with a good guy... it can be easy. That Dirk of yours — I think he's a good guy.

Lilith: Eh, he is... he is a good guy... but...

Coral: But what?

Lilith: It's just that ever since I dropped out of college, I feel like he's been angry with me. I get that I've let everyone down, but I think he had the highest hopes for me — and now that I can barely find a job and don't do much with myself, he just looks so disappointed all the time. I think I'm making him unhappy, and that's... making me unhappy too.

Herb: Wanna know what I think? You're still very young, if he's not making you happy, you don't have to settle down with him. There are plenty of other fish in the sea.

Coral: Herb! Lilith, don't listen to your grandfather.

Herb: I'm just saying — she still has options!

Coral: It's one thing to recognise you have options if things go wrong, and another thing to not appreciate what you have and throw it all away recklessly. Just because she's young, doesn't mean she can't know when she's found something real.

a Random Man (Leorio) from the crowd asks a presidental candidate (Ging) why he's a terrible father and then punches that presidential candidate on live TV. this gets a standing ovation and then the crowd is like "well this Random Guy should be president" AND SO THEY VOTE FOR HIM FOR PRESIDENT.

then Random Guy is like "i don't even wanna be president guess i'll just say whatever i want" picks up the mic and delivers the single best speech of all time that is something along the lines of "if i were president i would abuse my power immediately. all of you have to help my buddy you don't get a choice. he did this real cool thing and saved the world and i didn't even know because i was studying, drinking, going from one place to another place, jorking it, partying with women, surfing the net while my bud was dying. so vote for me for president and i'll force you to help my lil bud. forget about the jorking it part" HE GETS A SECOND STANDING OVATION. MORE PEOPLE ARE LIKE "well this guy should be president" and he NEARLY BECOMES PRESIDENT

Jason and Tara couldn't afford a fancy wedding, so they just invited their closest friends and family members to their house for a cake-cutting ceremony.

Natasha: Why is this backyard so empty?

Sanjay: It's not really the backyard — it's more the neighbourhood terrain behind it being completely deco-free that gives it the emptiness feeling.

Priya: Ugh, when is the city leadership going to do something about all these plain neighbourhoods? We try our best to decorate our houses with what we've got, but what's the use when you look out the window and you see nothing but lifeless green grass for miles?

Natasha: I agree, I hope the next mayor will take this more seriously. 'Cause the one in charge for the last 8 years sure walked back on his promises!

Gilbert: You really think this is what the mayor should spend our taxes on? Decoration?

Robi: I'm with the ladies on this one. I know a couple years ago this minimalism was all the rage, but that was because we were used to those old graphics. The lack of stuff is way more visible now that we can see all our surroundings so clearly. We gotta keep up with the times!

Natasha: Exactly. We need an overhaul. Maybe then we can get your outdated H&M original suit swapped for something nicer, too, darling...

Rose: Have you noticed that sunlight has a strange colour again? Is it just that spring has arrived?

Jason: Now that you say that... it really does look warmer and softer.

Jason: It must be the Watcher applying a light mod again. Hm, I wonder what took her so long. I'd almost gotten used to the vanilla settings by now...

Rose: The Watcher? I thought the government actioned things like that...?

Jason: Actually that's not incorrect. Often the Sim leaders we elect will cooperate with the Watcher to bring these changes to us.

Rose: But I don't understand. I thought the Conservative Party [who are currently in power both in the SimNation national government and in the municipality of SimCity] didn't care about upgrading our environment...?

Jason: They don't. In fact, they're all about conserving it, which means trying to keep everything looking the same as it did in 2004 when they came into power.

Rose: Is that why you've had the same haircut ever since we started dating?

Both laughed.

Jason: I mean, it's funny, but it kind of is. Sure, there have been many new clothes and hairstyles made available since then, but somehow not enough to replace everything that's outdated, so now we live with this weird mash of several different aesthetic styles. To tell you the truth – I think this one is not only on the government, but the Watcher being lazy.

Tara: ... Hermia, please believe me when I say: that woman is evil. It's like she has people around her fooled somehow, but I see something is terribly off about her.

Hermia: Look, I understand it's hard to see your dad get remarried, but—

Tara: No, this has nothing to do with her being my step-adoptive-mum, and everything to do with her being a despicable human being, if she even is human... If she ends up as the Workers' Party's mayoral candidate, I swear I'll lose all faith in that party.

Hermia: But... you'll still vote for her, right?

Tara: No! There is no way in hell I'll help that woman to power! It's all she's ever wanted, not to help people, not to make the world or even our city a better place, but just to hold all the power and use it against anyone she doesn't like.

Hermia: Well, be as it may, that is also what my narcissistic brother and his party want to achieve, and you know we can not let that happen, under any circumstance.

Tara: I'm not voting for the conservatives, don't worry. I'll settle for the liberal democrats.

Tybalt: The Montys... have overstayed their welcome in Veronaville. It's time to get rid of them... once and for all...

Ellen: Honey, I couldn't agree more, but you're starting to act a little... possessed. Has something happened recently? Have they done something again?

Tybalt: Do I need a specific reason to want them gone? They're ruining this town. Just their... presense... with their stupid tanned skin and pasta dishes... the locals think they're some godsend because they feed them spaghetti for 3 bucks a bowl and smile at them in the streets like psychopaths.

Ellen: Okay... and what do you think we should do?

Tybalt: I need to win the local elections. I need to be district rep. Then I'm sure I can start an investigation into their "business" and get it shut down with a lawsuit or something.

Ellen: That's if you win the vote. And we still have two years to go.

Tybalt: You're right. In the meantime, we should also consider expanding our family on the same level.

Ellen: What do you mean?

Tybalt: I know Auntie Regan just gave birth to her heir, but so did Mercutio, and who knows what Romeo has planned with my sister, so the game is on for our generation. We can't stay behind.

But Mrs. Crumplebottom wasn't the only inconvenience Mercutio met at the Corner Shoppes that night.

Albany: Excuse me, but who do you think you are cutting the line? I've been stood here for half an hour! I don't know how these things are in your mess of a "restaurant", but this is a cultured place that has its rules set, and some of us are trying to follow those rules.

Mercutio: I wasn't trying to cut the line, I simply bumped in to you accidentally, and apologised.

Albany: You call that ill-spirited mumbling you did an apology? You Montys wouldn't even know what that means.

Mercutio: Like we're the ones constantly stirring up conflict?? Your family advocates for nothing but hate and hostility not only for our family, our neighbourhood, but also for the entirety of this nation!

Albany: The party we back stands for integrity and demands respect for those who have earned it, and you'll see it's going to wipe you snowflakes and your dystopic ideals at the elections in just a little over a year! And when that happens, the Montys will have no place in Veronaville... or SimCity.

Mercutio: Ha, and how are they going to accomplish that? Is Mr. Tybalt "Runner up for assistant to the Deputy Mayor" Capp going to personally come to spit in my face and chase us off the land with a pitchfork?

Albany: You underestimate how dedicated my nephew is to his moral obligations.

Mercutio: Well, you know what? Why wait until 2012? You can send him over to me first thing in the morning, and we'll decide who has a place in the neighbourhood right there and then.

Albany: Tybalt has better things to do with his time than argue with some frustrated Monty. And I see that you have other things to worry about too...