Josie graduates. She is named Most Likely to Become a Rock Star!
After graduation the family takes a few hours to say goodbye to the town, then packs everything and leaves.
"The landscaping isn't finished," Josie observes.
"It's great," Marlin enthuses.
Alex is silent. He wishes Shanti were here.
Josie leaves right away to go find Racquel Rocket. She's very excited to be hanging out with a celebrity! When she finds her, she immediately puts on her most charming smile and asks for a job application, maybe as a coffee runner or something, at the film backlot.
Racquel Rocket, in the flesh.
Racquel laughs at her. "You? Girl, they're not going to hire you!" Her city accent is distracting. "They only hire celebrities, that's the rule. And you? Sorry, but you're nobody. Don't pout, it looks stupid, let's just go out and party! Forget about that depressing shit."
Josie doesn't give up.
"They don't even have to pay me a whole lot, I'll just do assistant stuff, you know, like fetching things and delivering things and I'll work my way up! Please, I know you know I can do it, you heard me act."
Racquel is growing annoyed. "Listen, I told you it's not my decision. They have a strict policy of not hiring nobodies."
"But I'm not a nobody! I just need a chance to prove it!" Josie grows desperate. "I need a job, Racquel, my family just bought a mansion and we're short on money, and I'm hoping to move into an apartment around here as soon as possible so I really, really need this job. Please, all I'm asking is for you to put a good word in." She tries another charming smile.
Racquel's eyebrows are raised. "Girl, what? You moved here? I told you to come and visit, not pack up your family and move." She sighs. "You know, I hate doing people favors, but as it happens I am looking for a roommate right now. So why don't you move in with me, do some jobs around town and pay rent? And during your spare time you can go to bars and party and gain a name for yourself. Then we'll see about getting you a job."
Josie smiles weakly. "All right, I guess that's as good as I can hope for."
She pulls out her phone and calls Ida and tell her the news. Racquel also pulls out her phone, and calls her boyfriend, Rolando.
Ida is dubious over the phone. "What kind of jobs are we talking about, when you say 'jobs around town'?"
Josie laughs. "Nothing like that, Mom, don't worry! Just, like, cleaning up at bars or whatever. Actually, I know a little about mixology, maybe I can moonlight at a few bars and make tips and stuff. It'll be great!"
Ida is still unconvinced. "And who is this Racquel person you'll be living with? She sounds sketchy."
Josie groans. "Mom, she's famous. A star! She's in the movies! Don't worry, I'll take care of everything! And I promise to call a lot and meet up with you anytime you like, really!"
Finally, Ida lets her go. Josie rolls her eyes at her mother's protectiveness, but she's internally pleased to see that her parents care about her. She could be like Racquel, who, according to what Josie read on Simpedia, grew up in a foster home and never had anyone around to care for her.
Racquel interrupts her thoughts. "All right, Rolando's on his way over, do you want to see the apartment?"
And that's how Josie ends up living with Racquel Rocket, famous movie actress.
She meets Rolando, who is also quite famous and, quite frankly, bizarre. Racquel says they live apart because their relationship would never survive if they lived together. "We're totally in love, and not living together is the only way we can keep it that way," she says. "If we lived together I'd probably end up killing him." There's no hit of sarcasm or humor in her voice when she says this. "Besides, I hate living with guys, they leave their shit everywhere and it's disgusting."
The apartment has a balcony and a bar, so Josie practices mixing drinks when she's not partying with Racquel and Rolando.
Yes, yes, very impressive.
For her part, Racquel spends her time prettying up the walls with spray-paint.
Her lifetime wish is to leave seven street art masterpieces around the city, making her mark on the world. Proving herself to those bastards at the foster home who said she could never be an artist.
After a few days of settling in, Racquel has to go back to work, so Josie is left to fend for herself. She's improved her mixology skill enough to be able to take on a few hours of moonlighting a night, but only at small dive bars and pubs. She's only barely making enough to make rent.
She's having a lot more fun with it that she thought she would, though. And she gets to hang out at bars and meet people all the time, so really it's kind of perfect.
There are tons of new things to experience in Storybrook City, things like bowling and club dancing and arcades. Racquel takes Josie to a bubble bar for the first time, and Josie spends the evening gazing dreamily at the ceiling and giggling.
"I feel like... I'm in the middle of.. everything.... everything is turning around me... like I'm the center of the universe....."
"Girl, you are too much," Racquel snickers.
She orders at least one drink at every bar or club she goes to, and watches the bartenders do tricks and flips with their bottles and learns a little bit more every day.
She waits until she's at home before trying to imitate them, though. It's harder than it looks.
Grandpa Alex visits Josie at "work."
"Check out this neat trick I learned," Josie says. Alex beams at her, but his smile is a little unfocused.
Paparazzi follow Racquel everywhere when they go out. Josie wonders when she'll be famous enough to have herself photographed doing mundane things like getting into an elevator or ordering a drink at a bar.
I'm not jealous, I'm not jealous, I'm not jealous... Josie chants silently.
...Okay, maybe she's a little bit jealous. Racquel says she likes that the motorcycle makes her intimidating and unapproachable. "I like scaring people off," she says with a nonchalant shrug.
"Girl, you are evil," Josie says in response, attempting to copy Racquel's city-slicker drawl. Racquel just laughs at her.
"I'm not evil, I just like watching people suffer. ...Okay, I'm a little bit evil." The girls smirk at each other. Racquel thinks, This one's all right. If she were on fire, I probably wouldn't sit and watch her die. Josie thinks, Just because she's not Good doesn't mean she doesn't deserve a friend.
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Notes -
Short chapter, we're just settling into a new town. I've never used NRaas's traveler to move towns before, so I'm still figuring some stuff out. Also, like I've said, the transition from one generation to the next is always really hard for me. I feel like I get into a groove with the previous generation and I forget what I'm supposed to do for the new one. >.>
A couple of things got lost in the move. Most notably, Ida's bot-building station and Shanti's urn. The bot builder can be replaced, but I'm really really bummed about losing Shanti. I might have Josie pop back to Sunset Valley and see if I can retrieve it...
I'm going to miss Marlin and Ida, and Alex, but to me it just didn't make sense having Josie live at home. But I spent a long time on that big old house (it's still not totally finished, but whatever), and I will definitely be using it in the future. I set story progression to make sure the Hands stay put and maybe Josie and Racquel will move there when generation four pops their little heads up. But that's way in the future. Probably.
Some background on Racquel: her traits are Night Owl, Daredevil, Evil, Avant Garde, Artistic, and Rebellious. She has six traits because she's an import from an abandoned Isla Paradiso save, where she was a descendant from the Goldbergs (and some other families, I don't remember now), and got an art degree. I really liked her so I kept her in the library just for a situation just like this one, and changed only her last name. Her boyfriend is from the same save, he's a descendant of Palmira Medina (and some other folks). In the old save, she stole him from his ex-wife, and took their newborn baby too. In this save, she's not as actively evil but still enjoys sitting back and watching people crash and burn. She's not incapable of being a good friend, though, and she and Rolando really are "totally" in love.
Oh also! The misc fun is A Sim For All Seasons. So I decorated the apartment rugs with butterflies for summer, and their outfits are of course very summer-y, and they will be throwing holiday parties quite often. Their first one will be a little small, the town is still populating itself.
Lot of notes, today xD sorry... If you read all this you're an angel and I love you <3
Ah, mixology. I had that in my first gen. Fun for the most part, but any time the drinks weren't foul was a miracle. Even into level 9 skill level, the drinks usually had the green stink.
ReplyDeleteRacquel is fun so far! I like that she's evil, but still a good friend to people she likes.