3.10 Technical Difficulties

It's Lincoln's birthday today! He asks to have a party at the spring festival grounds. 

He's invited a few classmates to join him.

Tammi's the only one (besides Holly Crosby, who turned down the invite) that Lincoln finds interesting. The way she brazenly demands the things she wants- extra snacks at lunch, compliments from her friends, praise from her teachers- makes Lincoln laugh hysterically pretty much everyday in class. 

In an effort to impress her, Lincoln starts showing off his scouting badges. 

"They showed me how to make a fire with just some sticks and kindling. I'll survive pretty much anywhere!" he boasts. 

At first, Tammi listens with interest... 

But as soon as one of his classmates starts calling him "lame"...

So does she. 

Lincoln doesn't feel hurt, exactly... but pretty offended. 

"Well, that was randomly mean. See ya," he trots off, leaving Tammi fuming. Who does Lincoln think he is, just leaving her behind like that!? 

He decides to play tag with his cousin Chandra instead. 

Sure, the face-painting booth is for kids, but Olivia figures she should get into the party spirit! 

The weather is chilly, so the family heads home before 9 PM. 

"Can I stay up late tonight, mom? Pleaaaase?" 

"Well, it is your birthday..." 

"On second thought..."

"I'm pretty tired, I'll sleep early..." the sudden change in height really drains Lincoln. 

"Good night, Link." 

While Lincoln sleeps in, Olivia spends the next morning playing with Kipper. 

He's an excellent boy, and she makes sure that he knows it! 

Yikes, someone seems a bit moody today... 

Evan tries to shake off his "unlucky" moodlet and works on discovering some potions. Probably the riskiest thing he could be doing right now, but anything for those logic skill points... 

"Nice hat," Lincoln compliments the mailman. 

The mailman can't tell if he's being mocked or genuinely complimented... 

One thing's for sure, Kipper hates him. 

Olivia comes across a stray cockatoo, all by itself, in the frosty cold. She's come to the sad realisation that many people abandon their exotic pets once they find out that they're hard to take care of. Cockatoos can live up to 70 years, depending on the breed. They're funny, intelligent birds...but also noisy. 70 years is a very long time to live with an animal that likes to scream at random, sometimes for hours, and needs several hours of exercise everyday.

She takes pity on the bird and decides to rescue him. She names him Sully. Hopefully, they'll find a permanent home for him before too long. 

Dealing with the screeching puts Olivia through some intense stress, causing her to change forms. 

Lincoln gives his mother a very wide berth during this time and takes Sully outside for his exercises. 

Thankfully, they find someone willing to take him in before long. Olivia reverts to her human form. 

In between all the animal care, Olivia starts a new hobby. Evan wonders if it's some kind of response to Vincent's accusations of her "not understanding" him because she's not an artist, but he keeps the question to himself. It's still a sensitive topic for her. 

She yawns when she completes the painting. She wanted to paint the fields she talks her long walks in, but it didn't come out at all like she pictured it. She'll have to try again. 

For some reason, Olivia decides that sleeping in the kitchen is preferable to the two double beds or Vincent's old single bed that are perfectly nice and available. 

Lincoln devotes most of his free time to his childhood inventing hobby. 

Besides the Newton's Cradle, his creations are mostly limited to cheap toys. He hopes that with enough hard work that he'll be able to make something really amazing someday, like a Simbot or a time machine! But before any of that, he has to figure out why every toy he makes comes out whale shaped... 

His other, much less frequent hobby, is working out. He doesn't appreciate being called a "dork" by kids like Tammi Duende and wants to show them he can be good at sports too! 

But maybe some things aren't meant to be. 

"Fuck you!" he hisses at the pullup bar. Maybe a break would be a good idea...

Since becoming a teen, Lincoln's picked up the eco-friendly trait. Though he's not a fan of spending time outside, he doesn't want to see the environment waste away. He takes up an interest in gardening and helps out his mom with her plant-care when she's busy. 

But it's always back to the inventing bench eventually. 

Speaking of his mother... 

Honestly, who doesn't want to do this from time to time? 

Olivia sniffs the air. "Burned. What happened?" she questions Lincoln bluntly. 

"Nothin major just," cough, "Some technical difficulties." 

Kipper keeps on the lookout for enemies. If someone burned one of the humans, he must be vigilant. 

Don't worry about Lincoln, though. After a shower, he's right as rain. 

His conclusion from his explosive failure is that he just has to get better at inventing, rather than using any protection or special equipment. Well, Lincoln, you're the eccentric genius here, not me. I'm sure you know what you're doing.

Evan's promotions have him working less hours for more money. He spends his newfound free time doing chores...

...and talking to his son. 

"Nice suit. I told you, blue looks good on you." 

"Well, I've been told that before..." Lincoln thinks back to the odd conversation he had with Evan's aunt Sadie. 

"The last thing is to lose the hat-" 

"No way! This hat, like, defines me." 

Evan blinks, hoping that this conversation won't turn into this.

They're interrupted by the sound of a car pulling up in front of the house. 

"Must be the limo. I'll be home in a few hours." 

"Have fun!" 

Lincoln walks towards the building, outwardly confident, but inwardly doubtful. He'd intended to ask out Holly Crosby, only to find out that her parents sent her to Le Fromage Art School in France. She won't be back before the end of high school at the earliest, if she decides to come back at all. 

His only other choice was Tammi Duende, but she turned him down because his offer wasn't "extravagant" enough. Pft. 

He leaves prom an hour early to spend some time by himself. The music was ok, but it was pretty boring overall. 

I bet they were all just waiting to go to the afterparty, the one no one invited me to, he inwardly scoffs, whatever. Like I need them. 

The view he has here is more than enough for him. 

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AN: I fully intended for Lincoln to befriend and eventually date Holly, but she had the weird glitch that I've suffered from before where a female sim can't age up normally. In the past I've been able to replace these sims with CAS-aged up of themselves, but like Una in my Sykes blog, this didn't work for Holly. I tried saving her for several hours before I had to give up and delete her from the town.