The Racket-Rotter Chronicles is a Sims 3 fanfic, considered to be the "bizarre companion piece" to the story Eight Cicadas.
The story details the various events of Shark and Sinbad, two men in a relationship, and that of their family and friends. Initially starting as a fairly light-hearted story (with the occasional dramatic event), the tone shifts during Arc 2.
It can be found here
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The Racket-Rotter Chronicles provides examples of:
- Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: The Builder is capable of doing this.
- Abusive Parents:
- Shark's mother Silver is a nasty alcoholic, and tries to kill him in Arc 1.
- Sinbad's mother Maria apparently treated him terribly in the first few years he was alive. As a result, Sinbad does not ever want children.
- According to Marc, his stepfather was an abusive man who beat Marc's mother Melanie to death.
- Ambiguous Gender: The Builder and their Twin are only referred to with gender-neutral terms. Until Arc 9.
- Anthropomorphic Personification: The Builder is evil itself.
- Barely-There Swimwear: Sinbad ends up with this in "Pool Predicament", having it described as "less than modest" (and rendering Shark and Dennis nearly speechless). He predictably loses it after jumping into the pool.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Rackets as a whole are considered this.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Arc 3, in comparison to the Arcs before it.
- Brain Bleach: Sinbad reacts poorly to seeing Annette and Bill naked in the back of his truck in "Disastrous Desires".
- Broken Pedestal: Shark feels this way towards Dennis in the beginning of Arc 4, after what he discovered about him. They get better.
- Broken Record: Zombie Shark to Annette in "Even in Death, You Could Have Lived". His speech is a loop of "I hate you" and "give him back."
- Canine Companion: Sagebear, to Annette and later to Shark.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The chapter "Rancor" marks the official point that the story truly becomes dark.
- Character Overlap: Annette is an import from Eight Cicadas, and there are nods to other characters from Cicadas.
- Cold-Blooded Torture:
- In the chapters "Qualmless Question" and "Restless Rigamarole", this happens to Goodwin.
- Also happens to Shark between "Indecisive Insubordination" and "Lousy Liars".
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The Builder is fond of causing them, especially in Arc 3.
- Dark and Troubled Past: In Arc 5, Sinbad reveals that he was used in dogfighting matches for a good portion of his life.
- Despair Event Horizon: Annette gets her ultimate one in "Tea-Totaled" after The Builder throws her in a cell with the stuffed corpse of Samira, her daughter. Though her encounter with the Julian clones and meeting zombie!Shark might count as lesser event horizons.
- Disappeared Dad: Harwood to Marc and Sinbad. Though Harwood gets better.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The Builder slaughters an entire town, over Annette drinking a bottle of their liquor.
- Downer Ending: In Arc 3. The Builder gets away with the deaths they caused. Additionally, Shark breaks up with Sinbad after finding out he and Dennis were former criminals.
- Driven to Suicide: Jenni is assumed to have done this after discovering her fiancé slept with her best friend. She didn't.
- Horse-Face's companion hangs himself in Arc 9.
- Drives Like Crazy: Bill whenever he drives his golf cart.
- Easily Forgiven: Shark states in "Top of the World, Bottom of the Barrel" that he's already forgiven Sinbad for biting him.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Sagebear knows to bite Goodwin on the rear in "Courtship Cacophony", before anyone else thinks of harming him.
- Everyone Is Bi: As of "Grin and Bear All", every human in the main cast is bisexual to some degree (except for Shark, who's exclusively gay). Dennis and Harwood are the last to reveal it, as neither of them have any qualms making out with each other in Sinbad's truck.
- Expendable Clone: The Builder's store of "Julians". While they don't like the Julians dying suddenly, they're grown simply for them to mess around with or eat.
- Eye Scream: "Memento Mori" reveals this is why The Builder always wears sunglasses.
- Facial Horror: Arc 9 finally reveals this as why Harwood always covered one side of his face with his hair. The damage was so great that he lost an eye as a result.
- Genre Roulette: The story seems to change genre with every Arc.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: The Builder is constantly smoking menthol cigarettes. Meanwhile, Sinbad has stated he's been trying to quit smoking.
- Half-Human Hybrid:
- Annette is one, though it's unclear what exactly her non-human side is.
- Ox-Head is a cambion (half-human, half-demon), making him one of these.
- Hates Being Touched: Ox-Head screams if he's touched directly.
- Heroes Love Dogs: Shark is a big dog person, and lives to spoil Sagebear.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: The Builder is quite adept with their throwing knife. They manage to cut off Marc's arm, among other feats.
- Knight of Cerebus: The Builder's arrival signals the onset of the story going down a park path.
- Married to the Job: Dudley states this as the reason he doesn't find a spouse.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Sinbad has this reaction to biting Shark in "Once Bitten, Twice Shy".
- At the end of Arc 4, Shark feels this way after realizing Sinbad left.
- Naked People Are Funny:
- Used in "Grin and Bear All", with the main cast going on their road trip naked. Much to almost everyone's discomfort.
- Harwood uses nudity in Arc 6 to mess around with his new neighbors.
- No-Dialogue Episode: The chapter "Bed 'n' Breakfast" has neither Shark nor Sinbad saying a word.
- In a later chapter, "Silent Visions", absolutely no dialogue is said (save for Marc moaning in his sleep).
- Offing the Offspring: An inebriated Silver attempts this on Shark in "This Family is No Longer Working!".
- Off with His Head!: Max is decapitated via high kick in "Technological Trashing".
- Only Known by Their Nickname: In Arc 5, Annette finds some medication prescribed to "Dennis Racket, Jr." It's Shark's medication.
- Raised by Grandparents: Harwood tells Annette that his maternal grandparents raised him, much to her surprise. This is because his parents were murdered when he was a child.
- Second Love: Blaise is this to Dennis, after the latter divorced his wife.
- Sinister Shades: The Builder constantly wears shades over their empty eye sockets.
- Son of a Whore: Sinbad's late mother was a prostitute.
- Spoiled Brat: Lolly. As a result, she doesn't take her new change in financial status very well.
- Teens Are Monsters: Lolly is portrayed as spoiled and very mean, especially when it comes to her older brother. Even to the point of inflicting Cold-Blooded Torture on him in Arc 3.
- That Thing Is Not My Child!: Sinbad refuses to believe that Julian is his child. Even though in another universe, he is.
- The Alcoholic: Silver. The Builder. Zombie Shark.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Shark delivers one to his incarcerated mother in "Seasonally Suggilated".
- The Voiceless: Sunny has yet to say a single word in the story.
- The Builder's Twin is a variant of this. Trying to speak directly causes the location surrounding them to shake.
- Time Skip: In Arc 5, a year has passed between the first two chapters. The differences shown between chapters:
- Blaise has married Dennis, and now lives with him and Shark.
- Shark was sent to a psych ward, and now has to take medication.
- Sagebear has become very fat, presumably from being spoiled by Shark.
- Traumatic C-Section: The Builder subjects Silver to one in Arc 3, after slashing her neck. She is then left to die with only her (presumably) stillborn child for company.
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: In Arc 9, when Annette discovers The Builder has become a woman. It also happens with The Twin and the main group.
- Wacky Marriage Proposal: In "Ring Out at Mid-Gar", Sinbad proposes to Shark on the head of a giant mutant fish. While using a teddy bear.
- What Does She See in Him?: Several of the characters don't really understand why Annette wants to be with Bill.
