And Then I Farkled All Over Myself...

Greetings from somebody stalking Strange_Tomato's friends list! (I've learned that there are some interesting entries from people who I'm not friends with there sometimes, so I do it every once in a while.) I might be mistaken, but I believe you are the person that led me to her wonderful story when I discovered artwork you did a while back on DevinatArt! I know it sounds kinda weird, but thanks for that!

So, back to the picture. THIS IS ADORABLE! I especially like Ripp in it, specifically his hair. I also think that that was an amazing chapter as well. (I've been impatiently waiting for a ROJ threesome too. :P) I've done a bit of sims doodles as well, but cannot seem to get these guys right. But I believe you got them spot on. :)

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Wow! I imagine it must have been from my Jill/Ripp pic on Deviantart, eh? Awesome!!! It's so cool that I helped in leading someone to such an great story.

I love Ripp's girly hair. It suits him. And OMG I have been waiting for the three of them to GET IT for like... ever and a day. I'm so glad she took it in that direction!!! Now I'm hoping that we'll get to see the beginnings of a more romantic Johnny and Ripp relationship. They're already romantically and sexually attached to Ophelia, but they haven't quite gotten there with one another.

These guys are getting pretty easy to draw. I'm getting used to them as they are my faves. Ripp is the hardest to get down, but if you keep working at 'em it gets easier. I'd love to see any doodles you do of them and I'm sure

strange_tomato would love 'em too.

:D

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Yes, I think it was! I have no idea what I was searching for at the time, but apparently that came up. :)

Yeah, it seems to be going in the direction we want it to go, huh? It's interesting to see how people's opinions seem to be so divided now. I think that what is going on now makes so much sense, and yet others are like "this is so wrong; somebody will get hurt!"

Johnny is by far the easiest to draw for me. Funny thing is, recently I've been drawing little sim aliens for the kids that I watch when I volunteer for an aftercare program at a local elementary school. Eventually I drew a teen johnny saying "I'm a normal kid, not an alien!" Boy was he a hit! I think I drew three copies of him that day because kids kept taking them.

I've been drawing my own sims as well. It's so fun!

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:3

Yes! This is the direction I've wanted for like... ever. It's always just made SO MUCH sense to me. When I got to the end of that chapter I was like: "YES, MEGA-WIN!" It felt like a wonderful victory and I was SO HAPPY that the trio stuck together. I-I would have been so heartbroken if they'd broken apart there. I'm not so worried about their future now. They pretty much jumped the biggest hurdle - realizing that they love one another enough to hold on.

I read a lot of the comments about how they don't think it's going to work out - mostly because Ripp and Johnny aren't romantically or sexually linked, but... I think they are. It's just... not so apparent and hasn't been truly acted on. But there are so many little moments between them that come across as romantic and outside a regular friendship.

That's so cool! I love kids and how they're so easily pleased by silly things.

I don't draw much of my own sims as I actually only play every once in awhile. Also, most of the characters in my sims games are characters I made up beforehand. But it is fun to try out the strangetown gang.

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You know how I mentioned that it wasn't my original intention to have them all try to stay together? Well, it was the suggestions of readers like you that first planted the seed in my head. Madame Ugly also said something about it really early on, after she misinterpreted a comment I made about a future unconventional marriage - I was actually thinking about Jill and how she would probably hyphenate her name if ever she did get married, but Madame took what I said and saw the potential for a polyamorus relationship there. She should know all about that sort of thing, since she writes about a trio of her own in her Peculiar stories. You were one of the first, and strongest supporters, of this idea, and I've surely been influenced by your vision of them. Your reactions to the story in your writing and artwork really feeds back into it, and I get inspired by it. Madame gets a lot of credit for inspiring me too.

After some of those comments, I went in to test out the possibilities of a three way relationship in the game (jealousy has to be turned off... that's a given). I have discovered that you can even set up a three-way marriage with InSIM. There's a happy little cloned family in another neighbourhood called the Grunt-Nigmos-Smith family, testing this out right now. Whether the trio ever gets to that point in the story remains to be seen, but you would die from how sweet they are in that hood. They have some children too, and everyone pitches in, regardless of who the biological parents are. Ripp never lets any sleeping child go untucked. It's so sweet. I really need to see him with kids in the story some day.

The thing about the Johnny/Ripp thing is that they don't NEED to be romantically/sexually involved with each other for this to be a working three-way relationship. As long as everyone is romantically linked to someone in the triad, then it can still work. Most menage a trois throughout history have actually been a married couple, and one of their lovers (with or without sexual contact between the two members of the same sex). Yes, I have been doing my research on this. I'm pretty fascinated by it. Johnny and Ripp might not be sexually attracted to each other (or they might be... I haven't actually gone there in the story), but they do share a very intimate relationship, and that could be enough.

Part of what draws me to the situation is how complicated it is and how tricky it will be to make it work out for them. It makes for a very interesting subject to write about.

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I do believe I remember and I do believe that had me VERY FREAKED OUT for forever. It was like watching a slow motion train wreck.

I think it's awesome that you take things from your readers and the characters themselves. It's so cool to know that I may have had a little bit of a hand in it all working out this way. I don't actually remember when I started wanting them all together, because I was actually a little bit Ripp/Ophelia I think. But it's just one of my favorite story things, a love triangle between very good friends that turns into it's own separate thing. I'm also a big fan of harry/ron/hermione, because it's the only thing that really makes sense to me. They made it through seven years as a trio, why wouldn't they keep it going?

And AWWWWWW!!! I've got a trio in my own sims game (my own characters), that was full of a lot of drama for a long time (didn't have jealousy off for awhile), but has finally settled down. They're actually a foursome though now and are all approaching elderhood and quite content in their oddness.

Your Grunt-Nigmos-Smith family sounds so ridiculously charming. I hope that the trio can make it there one day.

You're right that they don't NEED to be that way with one another, but I- I'm kind of hoping they will be at least a little. I'd love to see Johnny realizing that he's JEALOUS when he sees Ripp flirting with women. And at least one Johnny/Ripp kiss, because those two have this weird under the radar chemistry with one another that keeps popping up. I love that you're really looking into their situation!

I'm looking forward to the complexities of their relationship and how the trio decides to continue. They've gone past the breaking point and came out battered but still intact. I can't wait to see where they go from here.

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Yeah, I really just want to see everybody happy in the end too. I always get so attached to certain characters in everything, and if somebody gets left out and doesn't find peace I get so upset. This is actually the first fan fiction that I've ever read that has moved me in that way.

Yeah, the kids do get pleased by silly things, but they also can be extremely demanding too. The next day they sat me down at a table, got me paper and a pencil, and literally forced me to draw stuff for them! As annoying as it gets- I can't help but be thankful for them. If it weren't for these three little girls in particular, I wouldn't know how to write for a specific character (Lydia Mace, the angry little girl stomping her feet in my icon) in my own sims story.

I've only started playing my sims as characters in a story recently. It's pretty fun, but really hard work. I don't know how all these storytellers have been doing it for so long! I still haven't really gotten the hang of it.

I used to make characters that I made up beforehand, but now barely do it. Usually they would get really boring quickly because I knew how they would act in a certain situation, I had their whole personality mapped out, etc. Now I tend to get more attached to characters born in game and (of course) the Maxis ones. They're so unpredictable and there's so much that can happen to make their personalities and my views of them evolve.

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I'm really interested in how some people have reacted so negatively to this situation in the comments too (I have to get around to addressing it there too... I've been falling down on my replies really badly lately. I'm sure I must have some sort of mild attention disorder). I'm not surprised, since people tend to frown on this sort of unconventional relationship in real life too.

Many are not disapproving as much as saying that they don't think it will work, which I think is fair, since they are clearly working against the odds with this. A relationship with two people can be difficult enough. There are some benefits, though. As Ripp said, it takes all the pressure off one person as the only partner. For Ripp, that might work better than trying to be with Ophelia all by himself, where his fear and anxiety about love would have more of an opportunity to overcome him.

Edited Date: 2008-05-26 12:50 pm (UTC)

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Oh, wow. This is really beautiful. You're making me want to update more frequently, since there's a chance I might spur you on to make another one of your lovely artworks.

The way you've composed this, with Johnny in the centre, really makes a lot of sense with the characters. It's as if he's the strong support that they both lean on (while comforting each other at the same time). I love how Ripp is wrapped around them both. The placement of their arms really says a lot. Johnny is captured so well, and he has such a great expression. So peaceful, like he's finally letting himself relax a little.

I noticed you mentioning below about the possibility of attraction between Johnny and Ripp. They're definitely both directing their desire towards Ophelia, but there is something between them too, if not exactly the same thing. I don't mind saying so, since I think I make it fairly obvious at points. They're a bit more intimate with each other than most male friends. I'm still not completely sure where that will go, but they're comfortable enough with each other to allow a certain amount of contact, like sharing a bed at the end of the chapter. Though, in the story, they had clothes on. ;)

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Hah! I always hope that my art will maybe help get you motivated to do more of the story! I guess it works out, huh?

I like Johnny in the center best, because he's really the protector of his two friends. I don't know if Phi and Ripp could really make it without him. They rely on him to lead them through, to tell them wrong from right, even if they don't always listen.

Sexually it's Phi who should be in the center, with the boys keeping her safe, but that ignores the fact that Ripp is in just as much need as Phi, perhaps moreso. Phi's scared, but Ripp is lonely and self-destructive. I'd sooner put him in the center than Phi. Because I think that he needs that in his life, to be surrounded by love.

Originally, Johnny wasn't smiling, but then I changed it. I love how peaceful he looks. He's...happy - content.

The Johnny/Ripp attraction has always interested me. Clearly, it's Ophelia that they're most focused on, but there's still a vibe from the two of them. I don't know if they quite get it or ever will, but I certainly hope so. I believe it was Part Two of the latest chapter that had my heart pounding for them. First when they were hugging and Johnny was just... thinking about Ripp. A-and the tingling feeling down Johnny's neck and then you put in a shot of their lower halves and it was enough to relax Johnny. I mean, that's powerful stuff. And their fight later! When Johnny was on top of Ripp for about four shots made me feel like at any moment Johnny was going to lean down and kiss Ripp.

And they do love each other, but I'm not sure they've ever really seriously considered the sexual side to their friendship. But it's there. Johnny bathing Ripp. Ripp holding Johnny. How they always get so close to one another. They're definitely more intimate than most male friends and I am HOPING that we get to see it start getting a little more sexual between them.

The trio's sexuality is so wonderful fluid and real. Ophelia is no blushing virgin and she is definitely attracted to men. Ripp loves sex and clearly loves woman, but is not completely shy when it comes to men, though it doesn't seem like something he's ever really decided upon. And Johnny reads as so very straight, though he's definitely a prude, but there's Ripp who gets just as close as Phi does and Johnny DOESN'T care.

I-I just LOVE where the story is going. And I'm so glad that the trio is sticking together.

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Oh, it definitely does help to motivate me. It's very exciting to see my characters reflected back through someone else's talent, and I really do feel like you understand the characters in a lot of really important ways. Most of the things you do are essentially true to the characters, if not completely accurate in all the details. That's also very exciting - to see them in a slightly different light, so I thank you for doing that. Authors who have a large fanbase that writes fanfiction must be so interested in that. If I were J.K. Rowling, I would spend so much time reading what the fans have done to her work (though I can see how she got annoyed at all the shipping and stuff - the little epilogue at the end of the last book, where they're all paired off and married, seemed like a blatantly intentional attempt to control the post-story canon for HP fanfiction. It seemed a little cheap and unnecessary to me).

I totally agree. Johnny is very much the head of the household. He's the one that makes sure the bills get paid, and all that day-to-day stuff. It's not easy being the "stick in the mud" responsible adult, but Johnny doesn't mind taking that on. In fact, he really wants to be the one running the show like that. It's the bossy firstborn child in him. Birth order is one of the things I REALLY like to analyze when writing characters. Johnny, Ripp, and Ophelia all have very different situations like that - first, middle, and only, and I think that is really reflected in the way they relate to each other.

That scene just before the fight is really meant to show that there is an intimate connection between Johnny and Ripp. It's subtle, but it's strong. The fight was also oddly intimate, and I feel like they must have been somewhat exhilarated by the close contact there.

I've always intended Ripp to be somewhat bisexual, or a sexual omnivore, or heteroflexible, or whatever you may call it. He's obviously much more attracted to women, but his sexuality touches everything. It's how he experiences the world. It's not surprising that he hasn't been really aware of it (think of him and Stella, who is both a male and a female, and how he sort of realized that, but then explained it away), considering his upbringing. Johnny is definitely trickier. He reads as mostly straight, I agree, so he would be the one to watch, if you're hoping they could be sexually involved. Johnny's not exactly throwing his sexuality around, and he's more concerned about love, above all else. I doubt he's been attracted to a lot of other people besides Phi. I imagine that Johnny would have to be in love with someone before he even found them remotely sexually attractive. So, considering that, the rest of his sexual landscape remains pretty hidden. We know he likes Phi, and that's about it.

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Wee! I'm glad that I can help! You're characters are so interesting that I can't help but be inspired by them. And I know what you mean about how it must be so interesting to have a huge fanbase. I'd never get anything done, because I'd be READING instead of writing all the time. (And I'm not really a fan of the epilogue myself, I know she probably did it because she wanted to give her characters a truly happy end, but I wish it hadn't seemed quite so definitive. Why couldn't it have ended with a happy scene a few years in the future instead of so far ahead? Also, too many new characters at once made my brain explode a bit.)

I love responsible Johnny. He's quickly becoming my favorite character. Even if he doesn't quite get it and is worried about allowing Ripp in in that way, he still does it. Because he loves Phi and Ripp that much.

I like the sibling stuff, but have always found it silly in some ways. Mostly, because I'm the oldest, but don't quite follow the bossy, overprotective role. I'm the dreamer, and my sister is bossy one.

I LOVED both the fight scene and the one before it. The boys always seem to get closer than necessary, even when they're fighting. It's those things that feel like there is something of an underlying sexual tension between the two of them.

Haha to all of the words used to pin down Ripp's sexuality. I haven't really thought of how Ripp was raised affecting how he looks at his own sexuality! But you're right, he probably keeps dismissing his more homosexual tendencies as nothing really. And Johnny too! I never really looked into the fact that he just... doesn't really show off his own sexuality. I love how you described it - Johnny needs a romantic love first and foremost. I can't wait to see this all develop!!

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Oh, I remember the Stella thing! It feels so long ago now, considering what has happened to them in so little time. I knew that he'd be taking a bit of a bisexual route ever since that experience of being "probed". I also remember his fascination with trying to find out if Johnny had any female parts too. I was actually really wanting to see if he would end up doing anything with a guy. (Which is one of the main reasons why I was so excited that night I first read chapter 25 part 3- My prayers were answered! Haha)

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ikichi.livejournal.com

ZOMG I LOVE YOU! ::loves:: I think this and "Shove off Jayne" are my favs. :D

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Aww, thanks.

I am also a fan of the 'shove off jayne' pick, because of how big of a pimp johnny seems to be.

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pixelcurious.livejournal.com

I love this. ^_^

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Thanks. :3

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kin-thalas.livejournal.com

Aww, the cuteness! Though it´s a like ménage á trois, it´s very peaceful

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