Summer 2010: Dina Caliente is 29
Dina often dreams of what she’s lost. The people rarely cross her mind but the jewels do. The money, the vacations, the sheer luxury of it all often visits her while she sleeps and in those brief moments she feels genuinely happy. Her dreams reinforce what she’s always known, that she deserves all of life’s monetary gems and none of its silly tragedies. How could men like Mortimer and Michael compare to delicate pearl necklace?
During the daylight hours while destroying her well cultivated palate on a grilled cheese sandwich, Dina thinks about the first blushes of love and how its the only thing that can compare to a gift. Chewing slowly she revels in the memories of first encounters, first kisses, first intimate touches and enjoys the way her skin flushes with remembered passion.
It’s desperation that draws her out the solitude of her tiny apartment filled with frivolous amusements and into the noise and grime of the larger apartment complex. Dina will never admit out loud that she wilts from lack of attention. She barely admits to herself that when someone isn’t fawning over her, her hair seems to lose it brilliance, her skin its rosiness and her green eyes its vibrancy. Dina doesn’t admit it because she doesn’t allow it to happen, so she knocks.
She doesn’t remember the first one’s name, dismissing him as quickly as they shook hands when she spots the age spots. Twice widowed at twenty-nine, Dina is tired of men who can’t keep up with her. While the money of the older ones is always enticing, the lack of stamina always sends her looking for something young and virile ,which is how she landed in this mess.
Craig intrigues her for a moment and she allows herself the fantasy of falling in love with him, of waking up some mornings with his freckled nose and cheeks right next to her. The fantasy is delicious and enticing yet missing what she really needs and Dina quickly forgets him when spots the off the rack label on his blazer. Freckles can’t take the place of diamonds, she reminds herself.
Lucas she decides to invite home with her. She’s not really drawn to his look but he’s cheerful and so different from the people she lives around. Dina smiles when he touches her and tolerates the forceful kiss he places on her lips. He’s a party DJ and Dina is excited when he invites her a party in the Warehouse District. When he leaves Dina convinces herself that she likes him and that those fresh touches of love are sincere, there are worse things than never ending parties.
Steven is the one she really wants. His grey eyes and vibrant red hair immediately draws her in and she feels her heart stutter with attraction. He doesn’t live in the hovel Dina does but he doesn’t fault her for it, simply caressing her cheek and telling her about a cousin in need of a legal secretary. He only wants to take care of her, he says and she’s grateful.
Dina’s eyes light up and she kisses him. It doesn’t matter that this is only their third time talking or his first time to her apartment, she just knows that he’s given her exactly what she’s spent two months trying to get – a shot at the Wrights. Feeling him press closer to her, Dina pushes away all thoughts of plots and resentment and simply enjoys the comfort of a body next to her. Tomorrow she’ll think about how to get back at her sister for abandoning her.
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This might sound a bit weird but have you ever had a Sim ‘tell’ you they didn’t want to talk in an update? Every time I tried to expand each paragraphs to two or add dialogue, there was Dina in my head saying “No, not yet.” What can I say I’m a weird gir.
Dina is a trip and very lucky to have PPP (Pretty People Privileges). Not only did Steven offer her that job right after she charmed him for the first time, she got a promotion in the Slacker career from just introducing herself to some dude named Mayhew. Look:
I hope you guys get what I’m trying to do with Dina and her personality. She’s not a bad girl, she just sees the world in a very different way. As you can see she has a very different perspective on what happened between her and Nina and that will play a large part in their future relationship.
Dina has 3 bolts with Steven with an ACR score of 100. He was the highest out of the bunch that she met or who followed her home. Lucas was a 2 and the others vacillated between 2s and 1s. It was super hard to find her a decent match.
Craig is a townie that was randomly generated unlike Steven and Lucas who are custom townies and it was fun to see him with my geneticized freckles. I’ve spotted a few townies wearing them and it amused me. If you ever want the set I have no problem packaging them for you, just ask let me know.
Oh and another question for the longest AN ever. What makes you make certain townies non playable playables? I’m not sure Steven is worth it yet. Dina will probably be briefly fascinated with him until someone richer comes along so I won’t rush to send him into an apartment to live a full life just yet.
September 2, 2009 at 11:09 am
Wow, Dina really does live in her own little world doesn’t she? I make townies playable if they become seriously involved with one of my playables. Even if it’s a teen, I’ll move a teen townie to uni and make them playable. If by graduation my main playable is no longer interested in them, they are returned to there non-playable playable state as an adult.
September 2, 2009 at 2:43 pm
It was good to see what’s happened to Dina and get a peek into her point of view on what happened between her and Nina. I’m looking forward to seeing her plan unfold and find out what happens when she and Nina come face to face again.
I make townies into unplayable playables if they develop a big part in a storyline. If one of my Sims talks to them only a couple of times or shows just a very brief interest in them, but it never goes any farther than that, I leave them as townies. If they actually start dating one of my Sims or have several appearances in a storyline, I make them playable and move them into a house or apartment. Dormies that become involved with my college students and are mentioned several times get to become unplayable playables and graduate, even if none of my playables ends up marrying them, just so that they won’t stick around in the dorm forever, romancing all of the future generations too.
September 4, 2009 at 12:03 am
Dina has quite a plan which will change once she actually meets Nina again.
Shana I really like the way you approach that. It makes sense. I do have a few townies that are already NPP like the Reverend, Mayor,etc.
I plan on aging up all my townies so that there is a constant rotations of them.
September 2, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I was wondering if you were planning on bringing Dina into it and I’m glad you did. It’s good to get a glimpse into her life and character and I’d love to read more about what happened between these two. Is Dina still in Pleasantview? Story-wise, I mean. I realise that you likely have both sisters in the same hood for convenience.
Currently, I make townies playable if my Sims have good chemistry with them and there’s no suitable playable Sim. I’m going to start moving around to Shana’s philosophy though because it’s bothering me that some of my townies have flirted/kissed/slept with multiple generations of my Sims! So I will go the unplayable playable route for at least some of them from now on. Like poor Abhijeet, dumped by at least 3 of my Sim girls. I think I’ll age him to adult and move him in somewhere soon.
September 4, 2009 at 12:04 am
I couldn’t leave Dina out. It wouldn’t have been right. Dina actually lives up on the Hill, which is one of my favorite sub divisions of the hood. It has character. I’ll go into more detail of how she ended up in HC in the next update
September 2, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Wow, I can’t wait to see this family drama explode-great job on fleshing out the character.
September 4, 2009 at 12:04 am
Its going to be a bit of a doozy
September 2, 2009 at 11:46 pm
I loved this portrait of Dina. She really does see the world differently. This entry read perfectly for her character. And yes, I have had a sim not talk to me. (Gabe Mellon does that to me a lot.)
Your discussion question is interesting. I like Shana’s answer. I’d agree with that, if my townies weren’t a sub-culture of their own. My townies can only become real through marriage (most commonly) though I’ve had a few who are set to get sponsorship (one teen who has a sim who will pay for her college education and then make her real). There were at least three townies who became playable because I was tired of seeing them and because they were complete jerks (Peter Sims and Armando Cox to name two– both were technically sponsored by another party who made them useful).
September 4, 2009 at 12:05 am
I really do love the myth of your hood LF. It makes all those idiosyncrasies of the game work.
September 3, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Oooh, great character here – and great writing, I understand exactly what drives her! I love how she compares new love to gifts. That’s so appropriate!
Not weird at all, my characters talk to me all the time. Only writers can hear voices in their heads and not be considered insane
I’m voting for Shana’s answer as well on the townies/non-playables.
September 4, 2009 at 12:06 am
Hahah, good thing I can claim fledgling writer then. It keeps me out of the looney bin
September 13, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Loved the writing and point of view, it was very easy to visualize everything and understand how Dina thought.
I’m similar as Shana for my townies, though I just made two playables cause I liked them, and they are good friends with my regulars.