tigeranne | Bad Influence: The Brianna Files

Welcome back, my peepz! This is your Narraelynn narrating to you all!

Brianna has managed to establish a very normal life for herself in Oasis Springs. She's started an animal shelter to take care of all the stray cats and dogs that have nowhere else to go. Her career as a chef is also going really well. Last time she lost one of the few friends she had in her new hometown, though. Her housemate Maegan has been going through the funks, and is addicted to self-punishment. :( It's time to get a furry friend!

WARNING: Contains gnarly descriptions of being munched alive by a vending machine. This is fiction and doesn't happen in reality. That I know of.

Maegan was in art therapy, to help her deal with her emotions and keep herself safe from gardening.

Sims apparently paint some of their best pictures while they're sad.

Maegan: I feel like my last painting was better.

Maegan needed some distractions, so she called up Beverly and arranged to meet her at the park.

BTW, if you're not playing TS4, that boy with the really yellow hair is young Macolm Landgraab. I don't know if he's the same Malcolm as in Sims 2, because A: He's white, and B: He has a whole different face.

Oh no, Maegan! What did you do?

Also, Maegan apparently loves Prank Day because she's got high Mischief skill, but she hates mischief because she's Gloomy. Someone doing a PhD in psychology could have studied Maegan.

Beverly stood watch while Maegan peed, and made sure no one walked in on her.

If Maegan had known Arabella Tolman, she wouldn't have said that.

Ohai, Beverly's brother. You can recognise him a mile away with that shirt. Yeah, I still can't remember his name.

Maegan: Morgan, don't talk to big boys.

Oh no, look at Farhan. x( He needs to shave the rest of his head, for real.

Yes, Maegan. You do. Stop.

Poor Morgan had a nightmare about the eyestalk monster in the bathroom.

Bartholomew A. Bittlebuns Senior: What a rude kid. >:(

Maegan got promoted to Development Captain.

Blue would make a good companion dog for Maegan, yes/yes?

Look at this lost, loving soul. They need her in their lives.

Brianna: WhoOps! Good thing this is a pre-recording!

Aww. This is Mama Kitty and Garrus.

And this is Brant Hecking.

I dunno, the house started eating him!

Or a poltergeist in the desk threw him through the wall.

Brant posting on r/paranomal: Has anyone else been attacked by a house?

Blue and Captain Whitacker didn't get along. Probably best that Brianna didn't adopt him, and rather chose a dog Blue was friends with.

Brant: I'm leaving! I'M LEAVING!!!!

Hey Brant? Maybe you want to adopt the Captain?

Although who wouldn't rather want Blue? All she wants is love. <3

PSA: If you leave story progress on, everyone adopts children. Or 9798 horses if you have that EP. Turn it off if you oppose child- and animal hoarding.

Brianna: Look, I'm the last person you want advice about dating and relationships from. Who's Josephine Diehl? Does she seem nice and worth knowing? This is the kind of thing you have to follow your own instincts on, because mine suck.

Because Blue was more or less part of the family now, Brianna took her to the park.

Blue is like four times the size of Morgan, but she's soooo sweet. Morgan wasn't the least bit afraid of her.

Farhan: So your mom isn't here? Bummer!

Morgan: Mom went away! :(

Brianna: She's working today, but she should be home by six.

Farhan: Okay, I'll call then.

Huh, what's this little round thing bouncing along on the other side of the rocks?

It even casts a shadow and all, so it's not a ghost!

It's a little family of tumblrweeds out on a roll! Aww, that's so cute.

Maegan: Who's a good girl? Is it you? Yes! It is!

Aww!

Brianna talks to her invisible friends: Yeh, so Maegan named one of our shelter cats after my Great-Grandma Brenda. Oh yeah, she's still alive and on the internet! Maegan thought this cat had "the same stern, judging expression on its face." I dunno. Gramma Brenda isn't really very stern, and this cat looks like she wants to murder you. But that's just how cats look when they're not bothered.

Brianna: ANYwhoo, I trust you all to know that you don't use the rind of the watermelon in a fruit parfait, and that these green pieces are the pears I chopped up earlier. No, I'm lying. I know that there's one or two of you out there that can't be trusted not to do that. It's not YOU though, just general "you."

MAEGAN!!

Maegan: Aww, Blue. You've come to be my emotional support while I go through this torment. <3

Maegan: It's for science. It's worth the pain. Keep sciencing!

Aww, Garrus and Maddie are playing paw-tennis!

Then Garrus wisely kept out of an election event.

In her dreams, Brianna had a casual conversaysh with angry Beverly. Yeah, don't ask.

Beverly was there though, and she was in fact angry.

Beverly: THIS POS COMPUTER BROKE AGAIN!

She stromped home to hibernate until the rage died down.

Maegan: No one's watching my Let's Plays. I think I need another platform.

Brianna finally found time to put down mulch and plant a proper garden at the back of the lot.

Brianna: Now I just need a scarecrow, or a stink marker or something, to keep Maegan out of it.

She also spliced some plants for science, so Maegan didn't have to. Science isn't gonna do itself, you know. My Dad always says that when he's exploded something out in his lab in the shed again.

Don't worry, my Dad's not cooking math. He's researching renewable energy.

Brianna: Mastering vertical stirring takes a lot of practice, but once you have it down your elbows and shoulders will thank you!

Brianna: Lactose isn't good for kitty tummies. Let's get you some kibble, and not mention to anyone that you sampled the fruit yoghurt parfait.

Awwwww! Blue was ready to be adopted!

Maegan: Hi there, girl!

Maegan: Come live with us, forever!

JD: Please, someone get the shark fin off me. :C

The skull-shirt cat liked hunting birbs. In TS3 cats can catch small animals, and then you can keep them as caged pets, or sell them for cash if you're doing a challenge. I miss that so much! :(

Beverly: I wish I could have a dog, but Dad says we'd have dog hair on us all the time, and would kill all the children whose parents don't know they're allergic yet.

Maegan: You wouldn't. If that was true it wouldn't be legal to own dogs and cats.

Beverly: Yeh, I thought so. He probably just doesn't wanna have to walk a dog, and take it to the vet's and all that.

Maegan: Why not? He's always out rambling anyway.

Beverly: It's Dad, I don't know.

Beverly: I wish I could take both of you home. :(

Brianna: Teddy's a really great choice! He's very loyal. Nothing wrong with JD either, though.

Remember I said that Brianna's stupid skinny because she does push-ups and sit-ups ALL. THE. TIME? Yeah.

Actually.... You do you, Maegan. It's your depression. And I'm not joking. She gets in such a bad mood from doing anything gardeny that she can't function normally. x(

*SIGH* The cats fight all the time. It doesn't seem like TS4 fights are as serious as in TS2 though. Sometimes cats will fight, and then they'll go and play together.

It wasn't cats! :O Blue beat up JD. Maybe she was jealous that he was hanging out in her new home?

Brianna: Sure, I remember the names of all of them!

Brianna: It's going to be hard to find someone who'll take Tanner.

That night a new dog appeared. Brianna saw him and decided this was going to be her dogo, if he and Blue became friends. She called him Tobie.

Maddie: I love you, Zip!

Garrus: What? I thought you loved me!

The next day Maegan was so wrecked and decrepit she couldn't go to work. She had a few vacation days earned, so it was no big deal. But peeps, gardening litterally makes her mentally unhealthy!

This is how they drink water in the desert in summer. They sit in a tub of water, in the nude, to drink it.

Maegan: Hi Farhan, I was wondering.... WouldYouLikeToGoOnADateWithMe?!

Farhan: Uh, can you repeat that? I didn't proper hear what you said.

Maegan: Do you.... want to togoonadate?

Farhan: Do I want to what?

Maegan: To go on a.... date??

Farhan: Oh! Uh, no thanks.

I don't have the receipt for it, but I remember that he actually said no.

Dude, it was water. I guess that is pretty smooth, though. Although sometimes adding some lemon makes it go down better.

Brianna discovered that having pets in her bedtime story videos helped views. :D

Also I edited Brianna, so now she won't be entirely flat anymore!

Yeah, and Maegan went and invited Farhan over, because she had totally been shamefaced anyway, so maybe they could take it over and make it less awkward. This was how Farhan felt when he showed up.

And then he went and kicked the trash can over. HE'S SUCH AN ASS.

Maegan distracted him with an invention she'd made.

Farhan: Very nice paperweight. My aunt makes these, but hers are clear resin and have flowers and beads in them.

Maegan: It's not a paperweight, it's for measuring toxic energy.

Science: *BEEP*

Farhan: Someone's calling. Take it back.

THIS IS NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!

See. His hands are not even near her and

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! That's where all his hair went?!

If there had been a community cemetery in TS4, Farhan would not have been with us today. (There is a cemetery, but it wasn't added until the Life and Death EP, which I'm not getting until it's decently on sale. And I want Horse Ranch and Get Together first.)

Zip started shredding Farhan. :D

Brianna: Very good bois. You're allowed to wreck him any time you like.

Maegan: Gosh darn, plants are so much better company than Farhan!

She was gonna end in a padded cell at this rate. Someone would have to do something, and the only someone there was Brianna.

Ohai, derpy cat we haven't seen before! Her name is Cleo, and I think she's a Sphynx. (In case you haven't heard of sphynx cats, they're a hairless breed. Nudists!)

Toby could almost look as sad as Blue when he wanted.

Blue loved everyone. When someone came to visit she'd dance with them.

Beverly: Our Anti Cowplant Challenge video has gotten 863 views! Imagine if we've saved that many people! Maybe more, if they spread the word.

(Incidentally, the tattoo Maegan's got on her leg is a cowplant. But her current tattoos aren't canon. She gets some CC ones later, that are her REAL tats which have meaning. The thigh cowplant means nothing, okay.)

This is Santa Claus, LOL! His name is Clement Frost.

Beverly: This is my aunt Madeline. She's my Dad's sister.

Everyone: Hooray for Talk Like A Pirate Day! YARRRR!

Of all the holidays they could put into the game, they included that one. And it's not even the lamest.

Yes! Befriend the strays! Give them homes!

Rite, Brianna got promoted to Pastry Chef. Way better than being a line cook, from what I've heard!

Maegan was calling on her immense brainpowers to return to her, and help her grill sausages. Between Farhan and pesky shrubbery, she was almost become vegetative.

Brianna: Hey, this is tasty! Feel free to cook more often if you want.

Brianna found a way to manage her ADHD energy. (Because Brianna totally has that. I mean, it doesn't explain everything about her.... but it explains some things.)

While she was running Maegan would give her pop-quizzes, to exercise her brain at the same time.

Maegan: Capital of Brazil?

Brianna: Brasilia.

Maegan: Correct. If a train leaves London at 15:30, at 60 miles per hour....

Brianna: Please, no.

Brianna: Wow, yikes! It threw me.

Morgan still loved the "word game" and Maegan was happy she had something educational they could do together.

LO and BEHOLD who came by.

(I know "behold" means to see, in Shakespeare English, but what does "lo" mean? To look? Any language nerds out there who wanna educate me for the low price of feeling superior?)

After talking to Farhan, Maegan had to go and cry for a while.

Brianna took up playing the guitar. She was practicing outside, so she wouldn't disturb Maegan while she worked.

Brianna: Hello! You must be new around here!

Tamara: Yes, I've only lived here for a few days. My name's Tamara Longoria. I live with a friend of mine in the Spanish style house around the bend.

Brianna: I'm Brianna MacAvoy, and I live with a friend of mine too. We moved in here around six months ago.

Tamara: Oh, yes. You're the cooking channel girl. I thought something about you was familiar. You popped up in my recommendations a couple of days ago.

Brianna: Really? Kewl.

(LOL sorry that you can't see what Tamara looks like! I did the same thing with someone in The Scheiler Uglacy too, and only got pics of her from the side or back for a whole chapter! But Tamara will be back, because (spoilers) she's a new member of the supporting cast.)

HOORAY THEY'RE USING THE TABLE! You wanna know what annoys me most about TS4? Sims have so many ants in their asses they can't sit still for ONE MINUTE to finish eating. They wander all around the place with their plates of food. I should really see if there's a mod that fixes it!

Brianna: Why can't I keep my plants alive? :C

I can't either. *cry* See the house behind the tree? That's where Tamara and her friend live.

Garrus and Mama Kitty. :)

Elliot and Brenda. There's a ton of cats here, but you'll get to know them all in good time.

Brianna's garden was growing. She had a lemon tree, mushrooms, green beans, bluebells, strawberries and daisies.

Aww, Elliot loved Brenda.

She didn't love him. :( Maybe she's an abusive GF.

Oh, and you peepz wanna know who the MySims guy in the red and black suit reminds me of? There's this old (60s?) Japanese kids' show called Kamen No Ninja Akakage, "Red Shadow the Masked Ninja." There's a villain in it who's got hair kinda exactly like that. Also, Akakage is the craziest thing ever. And I do mean EVER. I'm talking about stuff like one of the monsters being a giant eye with miles of eye-lashes, that's also a space ship. There are size-shifting villains flying around in it. One of the other bad guys can put it in his face, because it's his right eye. And that's probably not even the weirdest thing that happens. I used to watch it with MK'la. We sync-watched every Friday after school, until we ran out of episodes. :( This show is real, look it up!

Brenda: Garrus, I love you now.

And everyone liked Tobie. :)

Morgan was still around, and she still had half an inch of fuse. The summer heat didn't help.

Suddenly Arabella Tolman came traipsing over and started to rudely lecturing Maegan about general nonsense.

Maegan: Hey, where do you think you're going?

Arabella: Where are YOU going? Stop following me. Stalking is a mental disorder.

Maegan: Crazy lady, I live here!

Maegan started filming for evidence that she wasn't doing anything cruel and unusual to Arabella.

Arabella: YEE-HAW!

Maegan: This is very inappropriate behavior, and I think you should leave now.

Arabella: I'm filming you filming me, to prove that it's me being stalked here.

Maegan had to squeeze her temples to keep her head from exploding in raeg.

Maegan: Here's what I think. ABOUT YOUR FACE!

She had lost it now!

Either one of the animals, or that entity that mauled Brant that one time, did their best to make Arabella wanna go home.

Arabella started crying, as she went over to Morgan's toy box and took out a squid. 0.õ

Morgan: Hey! That's mine!

My peepz, meet Dixie! She's a Lykoi cat. You probably haven't heard of Lykois, because they're super rare. They're also known as wolfcats. Many people think they're weird and kinda ugly, but I'm not many people. I'd love to have one!

Aw, bless. Arabella had met someone on her own emotional maturity level.

Arabella: KAWAII!

Brianna: Today we're BBQing ribs, and this video is dedicated to combating the Cowplant Challenge.

That poor bin. :(

Maegan's self-destructive spiral continued.

Maegan: How do I wish this was me.

The garden got a second row of mulch. Brianna spent almost as much time gardening as she did cooking.

Brianna: Yeh, one of these days I'll get a life.

NOOOOOOOOOOO!

Morgan: I DIDN'T MEAN IT! Whatever I did.

Guess how Maegan coped.

Then it was Brianna's turn to Cry It Out.

She distracted herself with caring for Tobie. Ohai, Brant. You're slightly visible.

Blue returned in a cloud of dirty dust. She even brought home a present from her adventures.

Brianna: Where have you been? We were so worried! Bathtime. Now.

Brianna: I know you're used to coming and going, but you live here now. We're your family, your pack.

Blue wasn't feeling well after coming home, so Maegan took her to the veterinarian clinic in Brindleton Bay.

Maegan: Any hour out of the desert is a good hour!

Another girl was there with a cat that had been trapped in the fridge.

And one guy was out walking a beautiful Golden Retriever.

Aww, do you guys remember Sebastian? The Scheilers' first dog who lives with Studs Axalot? I'll try my best to bring the Scheilers back to you soon, but Arenanueva has been pulled into a warp-hole in time and space, and a lot of rebuilding has to be done.

Veterinarian: Come on, we'll get you fixed right up.

Brant and Brent's dog Rosie was also there. She had Rudolf Virus.

Blue got put on an examination table.

Vet: Open wide, and let me look down your throat.

Vet: No signs of lice or fleas.

Oh, so it was her who'd been leaving those weird, yellow poops around. Best medicine, of course! Do you think Maegan is a barbarian?

Maegan updated her followers about Blue's progress.

Maegan: She had a stomach virus, but she'll be good as new in a day or so. Also, I want to live here.

Brant was waiting for Rosie to be finished with her treatment.

At home, Brianna was doing another video.

Brianna: If you're out camping, or committing to Living on the Land, you can use a BBQ for other things than grilling. As you can see, you can perfectly well plop a pan on it, and cook soups and stews. Today we're doing Three Sisters Chili. The sisters are corn, pepper and squash. If you plant them together, the three different plants will protect each other from pests and the environment.

(If you haven't played TS4, this is what it says in the description of the recipe.)

Brianna: You can put a personal twist on any recipe by adding a secret ingredient. I'm bad at keeping secrets though. This is lime juice.

Brianna: As long as you stir it really quickly, gravity will make sure it stays in the pot. Did you know that science still doesn't fully know how gravity functions? They know what it does, but not why it actually works. I could never be a scientist. I love mysteries too much, and I usually think the answers are disappointing. That, and I don't have a brain for it.

(PSA: I actually read the thing about gravity somewhere. It was an article called something like "Things You Wouldn't Believe We Don't Actually Know." Maybe it was on Cracked. It sounds like a Cracked title. So don't come after me for spreading anti-science propaganda in case it's not true.)

Brianna: Thumbnail!

Blue seemed confused why Brianna wasn't miserable and suffering when she tended the garden.

She went out and got the fam another pressie. I wonder who wrapped it for her.

Brianna opened both of the gifts (The first one was from when she came home from adventures.) and they contained a toy robot and a squeaky ball.

Brant: This is chaos!

Bartholomew thought Brant's jeans looked very scratching post.

Poor JD. Someone plz rescue him from the shark costume!

Blue greeted a stranger outside. Or.... Was this girl really a stranger?

(It depends on whether you've read the Starbloom legacy or not.)

Brianna: Cousin Nerniya! It's been a long time!

Nerniya: Yeah.

Another new dog showed up to find shelter, food and companionship. They called her Pippa. Unfortunately they couldn't get her vet treatment, because she wasn't officially their dog.

(You should be able to take strays to the vet if you're willing to pay for it, IMO. In TS4, I mean. I don't think real life vets ask you to prove you own the animals you bring in, if you pay for their treatment.)

Tanner is SO CUTE.

GARDEN.

Pat the Nanny hung out with Brianna and some animal friends after Morgan fell asleep.

Pat: You must be really impatient to get a bigger place.

Brianna: Yeah. We're moving to a proper house after the summer, and we'll all have our own rooms.

Pat: So you're not Morgan's mom?

Brianna: No, she's Maegan's.

Pat: Funny thing, she looks more like you.

Brianna: I guess she does, a bit, but not what I looked like at 20 months old. You could say I wasn't.... a pretty child. Maybe Morgan looks like her father. I've never seen him. He was killed by a vending machine and Maegan doesn't want to talk about it.

Pat: I don't blame her. Death by vending machines usually happens in two ways. Either the machine tips over and squashes the victim like a grape, or it starts working in reverse and drags them in.

Pat: The opening they're pulled through is too small for a human body. Have you seen the Delta P video of the crab that gets sucked into a tiny crack in a pipe, and all smushed up? It's like that.

Brianna: Are you kidding?

Pat: No, it's very true. What happens is a full body de-gloving. (Don't google that!!!!!) The skin and skull is all that's left on the floor. Everything else is sucked into the machinery inside.

Brianna: Where I used to live there was an urban legend that sometimes vending machines got dimensional rifts attached to them, and that people would try to grab their soda can and just disappear.

Pat: That sounds like how a child would try to make sense of what had happened to their friend.

Brianna: It wasn't just kids who believed it.

Pat: Trauma like that can last a lifetime.

Brianna: I like this cat!

For some reason, Pat didn't show up to babysit Morgan that day. Instead an elderly guy with a ponytail arrived at the door.

After he managed to convince Morgan that he wasn't Mitchell's Uncle Mike, he started chopping fish. Dixie was very interested.

VERY. INTERESTED.

Darion Weaver: Stop nagging, cat. There's kibble in that bowl! Careful so you don't lose a toe.

Brianna used the huge, fluffy dog named Maya for extra kid appeal in her story video.

Even Farhan was shocked to hear about how crap Maegan's whole existence had been lately. He was part of the problem himself, but Maegan frickin liked him, and was happy that he was listening to her.

Then he decided to show up and interrupt her chess lessons with Beverly.

Maegan: You know something, Farhan? Beverly already has excellent logic. You need the chess practice more.

How can it be Pirate Day again? That other day must have been something else.

Maegan was happy, for the first time in ages! She was seriously considering asking Farhan to be FWB. This is what gardening has done to her!

In reality this would be so dangerous!

What am I saying? This is definitely a true story. It all happened just like this! (In a computer. But it's true.)

Brianna had a noodle incident at work. Aw, I wanna know what happened! It probably wasn't as insane as that one time with the acne treatment, but still!

Pat met Farhan for the first time. I'm sure he made a great impression.

When Brianna is the wholesome and pure one, things are in fact weird. Or maybe Brianna was actually growing and changing?

Blue was the happiness and sanity in Maegan's life.

Maegan still had to channel the darkness inside of her outside, somehow. She'd pick out some forum she thought was full of really boring people. Then she'd create an account under a fake name, and pretend to be either really stupid or completely demented, sometimes both. She loved seeing how confused they got when they were forced to interact with someone from outside their own narrow comfort zone.

But she could at least drink a glass of water the normal way, when she wanted to.

Brianna didn't like it when it was really hot. She was used to a much cooler climate.

It was less awful at night, when the sun was down from the top of the sky. Brianna met her other new neighbour, out on a nightly stroll. I can't remember what her first name is, because I have amnesia. Her surname is Mayberry.

Let's just call her May Berry: Don't you think that's a bit unnecessary?

Brianna had made up her mind. Dixie was moving in with them. Furever.

In Chapter 4 you'll probably see her, and all the other animals, with new and pretty eyes. I didn't think I had waited very long to get defaults. Maybe I played this in a short time?