1.4 - A divorce and four birthdays

Remember this scene from last chapter?

Eve rolled the wish to flirt with Bryce, the police officer, as well as the other midlife crisis wishes to divorce Brooks, get a makeover and get a tattoo.
I think we can fulfill all 4 of those!

Their relationship is negative at first because of the arrest, so Eve has to send him 10 text messages before he's even willing to talk on the phone, and then chat 6 times in a row to be able to invite him over.
Be aware that this annoys people in real life and is not an acceptable dating strategy outside of the game.
Bryce arrives in a soccer shirt, a random fez and of course the classic 50% sliders vanilla face that Brooks also had when we first met him.

I gave his face a more drastic makeover than with Brooks, but always keep the original hair/eye/skin color (and the fez) because I like random genetics in this challenge, I just don't like vanilla pudding every day.

Eve and Bryce are flirting it up, Brooks doesn't seem to care.
But this mailbox sure looks interesting.

"They look different from the ones on land. How fascinating!"

"Hey, you alright, wife? I'm making us some mac'n'cheese."
I expected drama but Brooks doesn't seem to care... Whatever, this challenge calls for a half-sibling for Emilio, and so he shall get one!

♪ baby chimes ♫

Brooks hears the familiar sound of incoming baby and comes upstairs. He laughs at the guy being in his underwear, then stops laughing when he notices his wife doesn't have clothes on either.
NOW he gets upset finally. Gee, that took him some time to figure out.

"You cheated on me?! I can't believe that! I never saw that coming, I thought he was just a friend!"
Eve: "Wait a second, I'm not cheating, I'm just fulfilling the generation rolls! That's the opposite of cheating!"

Brooks: "I don't even want to hear any of your excuses, it's over!"
If you're feeling bad for Brooks at this point, don't. Feel bad for Emilio instead, because that whole thing left him utterly miserable.

Poor boy :(

Can anyone tell me what triggers this "costume"? I've had this happen before, I just don't know why it happens. That's Bryce the police officer by the way.

Ah, and we have a minor problem now. Eve and Brooks refuse to sleep in the same bed now that they're divorced.

Brooks had enough of a bad day already, off to the couch with you, Eve.

The NIF challenge rules say that you have to be able to afford a new house before you can move a sim out, so the "kick out" option is not allowed. And since we're still saving up for the criminal warehouse that might still take a while, even with both of them having their skills maxed.
But I will give them separate beds until then; future roommate is not allowed to be romantic with Eve anyway so they'll need separate beds sooner or later.

Emilio is working on the imaginary friend metamorphium.

Until something explodes and he decides that Jelly Bean is also a good companion in toy form.

I find it a bit strange that kids are allowed to experiment with dangerous chemicals but can't even ride horses, but that's just sim logic.
Speaking of logic, his father has already maxed this skill and now he's teaching his son.

As a baby and toddler his mother was the only caretaker, but now that he grew up and especially after Eve's affair he is much closer to Brooks. Shaka Bra!

"Dad, if you're so cold, why are you running around in your underwear?"

I forgot to mention it at the beginning but I disabled snow for Isla Paradiso, increased summertime to 12 days and set winter to only 3 days. This is just for this world to simulate a warmer, tropical climate (although the temperature still drops very low in winter).

Brooks will move out as soon as our funds allow it so for now father and son make the best out of the time they still have together. Eve is painting in the meantime, because every masterpiece brings her closer to being able to afford an own house for Brooks! - far, far way from her...

Can you believe this is actually a "brilliant" artwork from a level 10 painter? I could paint that in ten minutes! (the thing below, not the Mona Sima)

Eve is still doing her five hours of street art per week, but she moved from the port to the new salon. Here she is finishing the tag Bryce had arrested her for. Maybe another attractive sim will arrest her if she keeps doing that?

Nope, not happening. But she will need a roommate so she goes for the cheaper way of getting to know NPCs and orders pizza. By the way, I didn't CASt her pregnancy dress, the game randomly went for the tropical island style.

 She brings the pizza into the kitchen but the pizza girl is gone before Eve can ask her to hang out.
Take #2.

 Eve: "Haha, yeah, it's me again. The pizza was cold, I need another one please. Preferably delivered by the same woman as before, she was attractive enough."

 This time I let Eve drop the pizza right where she stands so she can immediately ask Esther, the pizza girl, to stay around.
Esther (one of my favourite girl names!) is unflirty (Brooks was nice enough to "test" that) and judging by her behavior also childish and insane.

 So, a real catch basically.
Brooks is enamored by so much personality.

I was actually looking for a Shake Up roommate but it looks like she will be Brooks' new girlfriend instead! That's great too, they can move together when we have enough money for a house (island population +1) and maybe StoryProgression will even let them have some kids of their own (island population + ?)

 We're almost at the end of the chapter but I promised four birthdays in the title! They actually all happened on the same night.
First one was the birth of baby boy Camilo, Eve's second child and Emilio's half-brother!

 Right after that, Eve wasn't even out of her pregnancy clothes yet, Brooks ages up into an elder. I knew he was older than Eve but darn, this default lifespan is seriously short.

 ALSO on the same evening, Emilio becomes a teen! There is no school in town so of course I didn't get to choose a trait for him. He became inappropriate...

 And he's showing off his new trait right away when he laughs at his imaginary friend's birthday.

Okay, I admit, this one might not count as a fourth birthday so let's call it three and a half birthdays on one night - still a good count!
_____________________________________________
Skills
Eve
Street Art: 5
Painting: 10
Handiness: 4
Social Networking: 4

Brooks
Logic: 10
Athletic: 10
Social Networking: 3

Emilio
Logic: 7
Painting: 2

Household funds
$44,381 / $50,000