#madeye asks

Who is on top? Who is on the bottom?

Honestly, I think they change it up a lot. Especially given how long they’ve been together -- but I think Taz is probably on top more often than not.

Who has the strangest desires?

Taz, for sure. I don’t think it’s like, “weird kinks” so much as “hey, babe, I heard about this thing I think we should try--” and Gretta at this point is like, “you know what, don’t even try to explain whatever the fuck it is, let’s just go for it”

Any kinks?

Well, we all know Gretta is into Blue Domestic Settled Men, so. There’s that.

Who’s dominant in bed?

Gretta. For sure. (Again, they change it up a lot, but the “default” is definitely Gretta calling the shots.)

Is head ever in the equation?

Is head ever not in the equation?

If so, who is better at performing it?

Taz definitely thinks he’s better at going down. Gretta hasn’t had any complaints, but -- as to who’s better at it -- undetermined.

Ever had sex in public?

Referenced here.

Who moans the most?

Taz.

Who leaves the most marks?

Taz probably leaves the most marks in visible places, but Gretta gives it back just as much when she wants to.

Who screams the loudest?

Gretta.

Who is the more experienced of the two?

Taz has probably had more partners (living that #BachelorLife for so long and having his fair share of one-night-stands that he picked up from bars) -- but Gretta definitely had a number of casual boyfriends after her husband passed and made her experience count.

Do they ‘fuck’ or ‘make love’? Rough or soft?

Depends on the day and what they’re feeling -- but on a typical day, they both like it a little rough.

How long do they usually last?

Depending on how much time they have... ;)

They have some days where they spend all day in bed, and some days where they sneak off into the broom closet for a quickie during the dinner rush at the restaurant. After sixty years together, they know how to make the most of whatever time they have.

Is protection used?

I joke a lot that I mostly fly by the seat of my pants -- and that’s really only half a joke. When I started MV, I had four characters in mind -- Taz, Adia, Gretta, and Sforz. They were the four main characters from a story I’d written 8 years before, and when I set out, I’d intended on just kind of playing TS4 and seeing what happened (with a loose framework for the story I wanted to tell in mind -- that is, Taz having a romance with both Gretta and Adia, and having a baby with Gretta).

About a month or so later, I’d given up on actually “playing the game” and started staging screenshots and telling the story. (Obviously Sforz didn’t make the cut to stay relevant; whoops!) Cadence and Nick’s romance in Gen 2 was as far as I’d planned “ahead” -- which is to say, I knew I wanted Cadence and Nick to have a romance, but not exactly sure how I’d wanted it to play out. Since about January 2017, I’ve been just kind of “planning” what I want to happen in fragments, jotting down ideas or snippets of dialogue, and going from there. So, to answer part of your question -- I plan things out and write them rather than letting my sims drive the story. I honestly don’t remember the last time I just opened my game to play it -- a lot of what you see on my blog is staged and posed screenshots. Even if I’m using in-game animations, I’ve learned which animations will give me the facial expressions/reactions I want to use in my screenshots.

As far as organizing the story and keeping track of the different plot lines -- THIS (Google Sheets) is how I organized my timeline towards the beginning. It’s sort of an interpretation of how JK Rowling organized her outline for Order of the Phoenix that worked for me -- that is, each character has their own personal column/timeline, so I could keep track of how everyone’s story lined up with everyone else’s.

Obviously in some time periods I got very detailed with what was happening (generally the points where lots of people were together at the same time and lots of things were happening at once), and other places were more vague -- ultimately this system got overwhelming for me (and Google Drive) as I continued adding characters, so I switched to a much more streamlined method to keep track of things.

(I’m always on the lookout for other ways to keep track of various characters, their plot lines, and the passage of time -- currently Plotist seems to be a fairly decent way of keeping track of things? There’s a bit of a learning curve, but it’s free and definitely worth a look -- I’m still learning it myself, but I’m definitely willing to share what I’ve learned if you’re interested!)

My new system (Google Sheets) relies a lot on me knowing or remembering when certain events that aren’t births or deaths happen -- and a little bit of retroactive guess-timation. I have a few notes off to the side about particular (recent) events, but generally I retroactively fill in the dates of things in my head, and I won’t lie -- the ambiguous TS4 seasons helps a lot with this. (I’m more than happy to talk about this some more -- just send another ask!!)

Most of my plots tend to be more “sequential” than “simultaneous” (that is, Character A’s plot happens before Character B’s plot, rather than Character A and Character B’s plots happening at the same time), so I tend to keep up with “milestones” to keep track of time -- specifically births, weddings, deaths, and maybe a few others, depending on context. But if you want to talk strategy about planning out some simultaneous plots, hit me up and we can chit-chat!!

I feel like I don’t have anything else to add other than that without getting horribly off-topic and rambling!! But basically -- I wouldn’t say I plot everything out “in advance,” but everything you see is “scripted.” Anything posted on my blog is typically “planned” approximately 48-72 hours in advance on my morning/afternoon commute to/from work -- enough time for me to get in-game, take screenshots, batch edit them, and queue them.

Every now and then inspiration will strike and I’ll get enough screenshots/plot to write out enough posts to queue for more than a few days at a time (especially since my queue only posts 3/day) -- but that hasn’t happened in a while!!

Anyway, I hope this answered your question and helped at least a little!!

Sleeping

Who snores? If both do, who snores the loudest?

They both do a little (Aspen is the louder snorer when she does snore), but Aspen’s a pretty light sleeper and Fugue’s snoring inevitably wakes her up at some point almost every night. She can usually wake him up enough that he stops snoring or push him over onto his side to make him stop.

Do they share a bed or sleep separately?

Share a bed, but Aspen has threatened to kick him out if he keeps waking her up at night (and she has made him go sleep on the couch a time or two).

If they sleep together, do they cozy up together or lay far apart?

Aspen likes her space (she gets uncomfortably warm whenever Fugue tries to cuddle for too long), and usually ends up on the edge of the bed, but Fugue is usually right behind her trying to spoon.

Who talks in their sleep?

Neither.

What do they wear to bed?

Fugue -- not much. Aspen -- yoga pants and a tank top.

Are either of your muses insomniacs? Can sleeping pills be found by the bedside?

Aspen’s a light sleeper and will periodically wake up in the middle of the night, but doesn’t usually have much trouble falling back to sleep. Fugue’s been known to take the occasional Zzzquil to help him fall asleep.

Do they wrap their limbs around each other or just lay side by side?

Fugue likes to get very tangled up. Aspen hates it.

Who wakes up with bed hair?

Fugue.

Who wakes up first?

Aspen, almost always.

Who prepares breakfast in bed for the other?

On the very rare occasion that Fugue wakes up before Aspen, he’ll bring her coffee in bed (and if he really wants to treat her Right(TM), he might make some pancakes or French toast), but this is usually only on special occasions, as he really isn’t much of a morning person.

What is their favourite sleeping position?

Fugue likes to be the big spoon while they sleep. Aspen would rather just lay flat on her back and not be touched.

Who hogs the sheets?

Fugue.

Do they set an alarm each night?

Yes, they each set their own alarm. Aspen usually wakes up naturally before hers goes off, and Fugue hits the snooze fourteen a few times.

Can a television be found in their bedroom?

Nope! Aspen likes to minimize electronics in the bedroom.

Who has nightmares?

They both do.

Who has ridiculous dreams?

Fugue’s dreams are definitely more ridiculous than Aspen’s. If Aspen isn’t having nightmares, she’s usually not dreaming at all.

Who sprawls out and takes up most of the bed? 

Fugue, but it’s less of a “sprawl out” and more of a “you keep rolling away from me so I’m going to keep scootching toward you so we can snuggle.”

Who makes the bed? 

Aspen would if Fugue would ever get out of it. Usually by the time he’s up, they’re running late for whatever it is they’re supposed to be doing and the bed gets left unmade.

What time is bed time?

Aspen’s ideal bed time would be around 10:30 -- but Fugue usually has a few other ideas. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Any routines/rituals before bed?

Aspen is big into skin-care and does a lot of moisturizing routines at night before bed.

Who’s the grumpiest when they wake up?

Definitely Aspen. (Unless she’s waking Fugue up early for something, in which case Fugue is definitely grumpier.)

Affection

Who likes to cuddle?

Fugue!

Who is the little spoon?

Aspen (mostly because she’s usually trying to just have her own space on her side of the bed and Fugue follows her over to her side of the bed to snuggle).

Who gets naughty in the most inappropriate of places?

Fugue. Aspen is a professional and would never get naughty in inappropriate places.

Who struggles to keep their hands to themself?  

Fugue, always.

How long can they cuddle until one becomes uncomfortable?

Fugue could cuddle all day. Aspen... less so. (Read: 15 minutes, tops.)

Who gives the most kisses?

Fugue! (Aspen doesn’t mind, as long as it’s at home and not in the boardroom while they’re waiting on a business meeting to start.)

What is their favourite non-sexual activity?

They really enjoy cooking together! When Fugue was busy being an Angsty Teen(TM) he managed to pick up some cooking tips from his dad, and likes to share them with Aspen on their stay-at-home date nights.

Where is their favourite place to cuddle?

Shockingly, the hot tub.

Who is more likely to playfully grope the other?