Note: There is some language in this chapter, but isn't frequent.
Chapter 1: Harmful Interactions.
One month later…
"YES! It's finally finished!" Donatello praised out loud from his computer desk. Curious as to what Donny was cheering about, Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo headed over. They looked at his computer screen with interest.
"Watcha playing?" Michelangelo asked while munching on some popcorn. He dug his three-fingered hand into the bowl he was carrying, and stuffed some more popcorn into his mouth.
"The Sims Unleashed. I've made a replica of our household. Pretty cool huh?" Donatello explained, boasting a little. The boys looked at the screen. Five humans and a cat stood around aimlessly.
"Where are we?" Leonardo asked. "I can't see any turtles."
"Leo, it's a human game. They're not exactly going to have mutant turtles available," Donatello said.
"Lemme guess. Leo is the dumb blonde," Raphael said while pointing to the computer image of a blonde male wearing a blue shirt. Leonardo shot him a glance. Raphael and Leonardo still hadn't completely gotten over a fight they had earlier that day.
"It is actually," Donatello admitted. Leonardo frowned. The turtles looked at their Sim counterparts.
SimLeonardo had blonde hair and wore a somewhat sophisticated blue business suit. When it came to personality points, out of a possible ten in each category (twenty-five points in all), SimLeo had ten points in Neat, three Outgoing, seven Active, zero Playful and five Nice. Donatello noted that most of SimLeo's time was spent on cleaning up (usually he was cleaning up after his brothers). SimLeo only had skills in Logic and Body, and a few in Charisma and Mechanical (as Donatello thought, and others would agree, that SimLeo doesn't deserve any skill points in Cooking).
SimRaphael had brown hair and wore a bikie outfit consisting of a leather jacket and blue jeans. He had full Outgoing and Active personality points, and absolutely no Neat, Playful or Nice. This meant that whenever SimRaph struck up a conversation with someone, the 'Insult' option was ALWAYS available. SimRaphael's skills were found only in Body, and had no skills whatsoever in Cooking, Mechanical, Charisma and Creativity… and there were definitely no points in Logic.
SimMichelangelo had bright orange hair and wore a reddish Hawaiian shirt and grey shorts. As far as personality went, SimMike had zero out of ten points for Neat, seven Outgoing, five Active, six Playful and seven Nice. He was constantly bored and usually resorted to petting ALL of the stray animals in the street! He even patted the skunk when it came around (the skunk came because SimMike kept on dumping his $20 chip packets… which he found in the refrigerator… on the floor after he consumed its contents). SimMike had full Cooking skills, full Charisma and a fair number in Creativity.
SimDonatello on the other hand, had black hair and wore a regular light blue top and brown pants. As for his personality, SimDon had five Neat, zero Outgoing, five Active, five Playful and ten Nice. SimDon was easy to please. Give him a book, and he'll read it until his 'fun' life bar was filled. His skills were found in Mechanical (ten out of ten for that one… duh), Logic and Creativity.
SimVenus had short black hair and wore a blue and white dress, making her look like the modest and reserved girl that she was. With her personality, she had ten Neat points, zero Outgoing (not that Venus wasn't outgoing. The boys simply wouldn't let her go out), five Active, three Playful and seven Nice. She had gained no skills in Cooking (Venus was a good cook… until the guys found out what they were really eating…) and Mechanical, but she did have a few points in Charisma, Body and Creativity. She had gained quite a lot in the Logic section.
Then, of course, there was SimKlunk who, because Donatello had no control over the personality of animals, was the most disloyal and dumbest cat you could adopt. He hadn't gained any skills in Hunting or Obedience… but SimMike did manage to teach him a few tricks.
"Where's Master Splinter?" Leonardo questioned.
"Six Sims is enough, Leo. Trust me on this one," Donatello said while continuously ordering his Sims around. A 'beep' was heard and SimRaphael suddenly changed his clothes and hopped into the car that had just pulled up.
"Where's Raphael going?" Leonardo queried, eyes narrowing.
"He's going to work. We have to earn some sort of income. Scrounging around the sewers for cash wasn't available in this game," Donatello answered.
"Work? Job?!… I better not be doing some bloody office job or some boring shit that Leo would do," Raph threatened.
"Don't worry. I found you a job in the Xtreme career track, working as a daredevil. I made everyone have a job. Leo's in the military career track as a commander, Venus is into the paranormal as a psychic friend, Mike is a party DJ in the slacker career track, and I'm in the science career track, working as an inventor," Donatello informed.
Just then, another carpool arrived, making a loud 'beep' to alert the remaining sims. SimLeo, SimDon, SimMike and SimVenus all changed clothes and disappeared into the car. The game went into triple speed where stray animals, paper deliverers and bill collectors zoomed past.
"So can the computer people talk to each other?" Mike asked curiously in between mouthfuls of popcorn.
"Yeah. Of course," Donatello said, then clicked on his sim's face to bring up the relationship bar. "This shows how much the particular sim likes the others, and who they have met," Donatello informed. Leonardo moved his head closer to the screen.
"Don, how come there is a red heart beside Venus' face?" Leo asked suspiciously.
"…Never mind, Leo. Never mind," Donatello answered nervously.
The game returned to normal speed when everyone finally arrived home from their respective jobs. SimKlunk bounded over to SimMike for a welcoming cuddle.
"MmGmet 'hmm 'o m'alk' 'o ee o'her," Mike said with a mouthful of popcorn, causing little bits to fly out of his overloaded mouth as he spoke. Leonardo and Raphael absentmindedly wiped off the wet bits of popcorn that had appeared on their shoulders. Over the years they had grown used to Mike's food showers.
"Was that in English? What did you say Mikey?" Donatello asked, then turned away from his computer to look at the stuffed turtle in orange. Mike swallowed his food with one gulp.
"I said 'Get them to talk to each other'," Mike repeated for his brother's sanity.
"Oh! Yeah, sure thing," Donatello agreed, then turned back to his game. The purple turtle clicked on SimRaph's face and made him the active character. He then clicked on SimLeo. SimRaphael was given two interactions to do with SimLeo; 'Insult' or 'Talk'.
"Cool! Lemme insult 'im," Raphael said. Leonardo gave him a look.
"Nah, I'll think we'll just let you two talk," Donatello said, fearing what would happen otherwise. Raphael though, had other things on his mind.
"Raph!" Donatello yelled in protest when Raphael pushed him aside. Raph grabbed the mouse and clicked 'Insult'. SimRaph yelled in SimLeo's face. SimLeo didn't respond to SimRaph's actions to well and insulted him back. Raphael clicked on 'Insult' again.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Leonardo protested. He grabbed the mouse off Raphael, switched characters and ordered his simulated self to 'Insult' SimRaph.
Finished with her meditation, Venus ventured out into the living room to see what the rest of her family was doing. What she found was a rather ordinary sight. Leonardo and Raphael were squabbling over the computer mouse, Donatello was unsuccessfully trying to stop his brothers from fighting, all while Michaelangelo was choking on a piece of popcorn that had gone down the wrong way. Venus sighed. "Boys," the female turtle murmured to herself before returning to her room to meditate once again.
It wasn't long till the 'Shove' option became available, making the 'Insult' option look minuscule. Leonardo and Raphael continued to fight over the mouse, pushing each other out of the way. Eventually, the almighty 'Fight' option appeared. Raphael couldn't resist the opportunity to use the interaction on SimLeo. SimRaph and SimLeo growled and transformed into a cloud of dust, fighting each other ferociously. SimRaph and SimLeo fought again straight after, this time they didn't have to be instructed to do so.
After the second fight, a message appeared on the screen. "What happened?" Leonardo asked while holding Raphael in a headlock. Donatello sat back down at his computer and snatched the mouse off Raphael.
"It says that Raphael is being evicted and that he will never return," Donatello summarised.
Leonardo smiled and released his hold on Raphael. "Even your simulated self is a loser!" Leonardo said smugly.
"That's it. You and me, right now in the dojo!" Raphael announced, brimming with anger. Leonardo welcomed his challenge and the two turtles briskly headed towards the training area. Donatello sighed and turned off the game without saving, after he performed the Heimlich Maneuver on Mike.
"Thanks… Donny," Mike squeaked, still catching his breath.
*****
Snores from various turtles were heard throughout the lair, all except for one. The awakened turtle smiled to himself. His eyes were wide open, adjusting to the darkness. He crept over to where Donatello lay sleeping; on his computer chair. The turtle smoothly pushed his brainy brother aside and sneakily turned on the computer. After years of seeing Donatello do this, the turtle knew exactly how to work the machine, even though he'd never tell his brothers that.
It wasn't long till the 'Sims Unleashed' game screen appeared. The naughty turtle smiled evilly as he played the game. He saved the changes he made, turned the computer off and returned himself to bed, pretending that nothing had happened.