2.16 Separate Vacations

Zahra was the light of Lancelot’s life. He hadn’t realized how badly he wanted to be a parent until he was one. Layla was not quite so excited about the prospect of more children. She was enjoying her job, and she was good at it. She had really missed her coworkers while she was on maternity leave. Four days off essentially wiped out a whole Sim-week of her career.

Lance could also tell she was homesick, though she didn’t talk about it. With a demanding toddler in the house, she couldn’t exactly claim time to go to Egypt, and Zahra was too young to travel herself. So he offered her a trade — they would take separate vacations and trade off the child care. Layla agreed.

Lance took the first turn and headed to China to study Sim Fu at his dojo.

Ah, one of the hot married chicks he had hit on while he was wife-hunting!

Lancelot started up the kind of easy conversation one has with a hot woman he doesn’t feel any need to sleep with. He challenged her to a sparring match.

And kicked her ass. Not bad for a newbie! She seemed to really appreciate a man who could best her at Sim Fu.

Warning, Lance! You have a loving wife at home! Be careful!

So he talked her into an athletics training session.

Layla, you have nothing to worry about. Nothing, I tell you.

He sparred some more, then started *another* training session with the same girl. It was certainly chemistry, but not exactly romantic.

At least he scored a green belt.

There’s a better look at his new goatee. I’m think it suits him. Opinions?

After a bit of adventuring, he was challenged by ANOTHER hot married chick he had hit on while single.

She kicked his ass, but she offered him some great technical pointers. Then she showed him pictures of her children.

Layla, you really have nothing to worry about.

His adventure master, who had a serious fashion problem, asked him to return to China soon.

Then talked him into a training session.

Ah, you single-minded athletic Sims.

Then it was Layla’s turn. She returned to Egypt and made a beeline for her family home. An unfamiliar child answered the door.

Her sister Aisha had married Sekmet, not long after Layla left home. This was their son Kazim. He was home alone while his parents were at work. He was even a little older than Zahra. Aisha hadn’t wasted any time. How time passes when you aren’t paying attention.

Kazim was a great kid. They got along swimingly.

In fact, he wanted to follow her everywhere.

She headed to the bazaar to meet up with her sisters and catch up on their lives. Aisha thought she looked wonderful. Glowing. They talked about family and the march of time.

As she recounted it to Aisha, Layla saw anew what great life she had to return to. She loved Zahra. She loved Lance and the home they had made. She even kind of liked Cycl0n3. She missed her sisters, and she wanted to be a part of their lives, but she didn’t want to return to Egypt.

She was eager to get home and play with her family.

Emphasis on the playing.

0 thoughts on “2.16 Separate Vacations

  1. Interesting travels! For a tiny bit I was worried about Lance and all the hot women- but good to know that the only thing they were thinking about was fitness. 🙂

  2. I am glad that Layla finally got some closure with her life in Egypt and realized that her home now was truly with Lance and Zahra. I've had a similar experience in real life, where coming home to a new place made me realize it truly was home now.

    I love that last shot of Lance and Layla, it is a really nice screen cap, as is the one of Layla reading to Zahra.

    Reading your blog I can really see why people miss story progression SO much, it is really fascinating, like when Layla went home and found a new nephew there.

  3. I can see that you're more of a Sims 2 rotational-style player, so I bet the Sims 4 settings work really well for you. I played Sims and Sims 2 for three weeks each, and it never occurred to me to switch households. I didn't learn about rotational play until I discovered the online community much lever.

    I *really* like story progression. And this was just the EA default story progression. I didn't have NRaas or Awesomemod's much better version yet.

    I haven't seen any SP mods in the works for Sims 4 yet. I have to think SOMEONE is working on one. When I finally get the game, I've thought seriously about whether to try one myself.

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