IllusoryThrall's Sims 4 Hub
- Challenges, Tips & Stories
Chapter 3.13 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 4.2
Generation Four: Orange Appearance: Orange hair, Island clothing style Traits: Foodie, Good, Active Aspiration: Friend of the World Occupation: Lifeguard House Goal: 40,000 worth
I didn’t even make it to my new home before Mom called and insisted I meet with her to go shopping. She insisted that it didn’t count as her helping me out, because it was just clothes, and, quite frankly, she said she should have taken me for a makeover before now. I’m not sure whether I agreed or disagreed, but – it WAS Mom… and I always valued spending time with her, anyway. Plus, I was curious about the Thrift shop.. and whatever the heck bubble tea was…?
I stepped off the bus, and wrapped Mom into a big hug. It already felt like forever since I’d seen her. She had always been my cheerleader, and living without her right in the next room all the time… seemed very foreign to me.
We chatted like best friends that hadn’t seen each other in weeks, instead of just a couple hours ago. She insisted, again, that since it was a thrift store, it wasn’t like she was spending a ton of money on me, anyway. Rolling my eyes at her and giggling to myself, I followed her into the store.
Before long, we were both arm-deep in racks of colorful, fun clothes.. and I had to admit that I really did hate my current outfits.
Mom kept finding random orange items and tossing them over to me to inspect, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her antics. I had to wonder who she was actually shopping for… me, or her!
Although, after trying some of the stuff on.. I had to admit, Mom certainly had fashion sense. And I … did not. The pile of clothes quickly filled up the thrift store counter, and doubts began to surface. Was this cheating or the terms of the matriarchy my ancestors had begun? Or… did it actually not matter, like Mom insisted. I guiltily remembered that Mom and I had hidden the fact that I hadn’t been born a Mermaid, so, technically, I shouldn’t have been the heir anyway…. and decided .. to heck with it. Clothes didn’t exactly pay for my new home.
While the cashier totaled everything up, Mom and I sat down to enjoy a bubble tea. Having to chew your drink was weird, but I had to admit.. it was pretty good.
Once again, I thanked Mom for her generosity, and we chatted for quite a while about her first few days as an heiress. These were stories I’d never heard from her before, so I listened intently, realizing instantly that her advice might be the key to my eventual success – that is – if I did succeed.
I giggled at Mom’s screwed up face as she finally tried her tea, and tried not to cringe moments later when the Thrift Store cashier finally announced she’d gotten everything totaled up and packed for its trip to my new home. Mom paid, we hugged one more time, and then we parted ways. Mom had to, apparently, stop by the new high school to register my brother, so she wouldn’t be riding back with me on the bus.
And… just like that… I was on my own. Doubts assailed me, and I wrung my hands as the bus got closer and closer to Sulani. By the time I arrived in the Islands, carried my packages of new clothes to the boat I’d hired to take me home, and sat down for the trip, I was a nervous wreck.
The trip didn’t take long, and the boat driver gave me a seriously strange look as I hopped out of his boat, collected my parcels, and started lugging them towards the little strip of land that was to be my own little piece of paradise. I mean, I can’t blame him. The only thing waiting for me there was a single, lonely mailbox. After the boat driver puttered his little motorboat out of eyeshot, I carefully hid my parcels under the foliage near the mailbox… and stepped out onto my very own beach for the first time in my new life.
For a while, I stood there with a stupid grin on my face, and watched the dolphins in the distance cavorting in the waves.. but then the severity of the situation finally came back home to me. The only thing that was out this far in the islands was the famous seafood restaurant that my grandparents had gotten married at.. and my little stretch of sand. I was completely, utterly, terrifyingly…. alone. With virtually nothing.
Taking a deep, but very shaky, breath, I pulled out my cellphone, and checked the listings for local jobs. I had known for a very long time that all I wanted to do was in these islands. I never wanted to have to commute like Mom did to the city, and the very BEST thing I could think of to do was to be a lifeguard. I quickly found the job posting I had noticed the week before, and sent my resume, such as it was, over as fast as I could. While I was musing over what else I could possibly do, I noticed a part time evening job for divers, as well, and, on the spur of the moment, sent my resume in for that one, too. Then, I put my phone back in my pocket .. and realized that my stomach was already growling. Apparently, bubble tea isn’t exactly an appropriate lunch for an active Mermaid like myself. I could smell (and see) a food stand just down the beach from my land… but the problem was that all I had was my clothes, my phone, and some sad pocket lint.
So, I took a note from the stories Mom had been telling me, and started combing the beach. I found a couple of shells, but nothing particularly valuable, so I swam out to check some of the other islands I could see in the distance.
Before long, I had enough to sell to at the very least get me a nice hot meal, and pay for some canvasses (and paints.. and brushes.. ) for the easel I had noticed on the boardwalk just down the beach from my strip of sand. The meal was taken care of quite quickly, and I juggled the rest of my purchases down the boardwalk, thankful there wasn’t really anyone in eyeshot to watch me struggle.
I knew Mom had been painting for most of her life, so… perhaps I had at least SOME artistic talent? … Although by my first few attempts, it certainly didn’t look like it. Sighing, and taking the loss on the first few finished paintings, I painted over and over until it was too dark to see the easel anymore. At least I had enough money for breakfast when the food stall opened… and it was a nice clear night.
So, being a Mermaid (and not really needing a bed), I waded out, swam a short way off the shore, and settled in for a night’s sleep. It was surprisingly comfortable, just floating under the moon and stars, and the waves quickly lulled me into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Chapter 3.13 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 4.2
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!
Chapter One – Starting Anew
November 2025 Dev DiarySuperSweetBot Commands for Mods & BroadcastersOctober 2025 Dev DiaryProgress Report!Hacking Situation ResolvedHey all…
Welcome to my new webhost!!
Progress Report on Not So Berry & TimelineExtended Not So Berry 2.0 is coming!!
OMG A Thrall Post?? What?Not So Berry Updating
Jaynie’s Gems: By-The-NumberToday
Are you picking your lots with any particular order/system? I’m choosing all of my lots in order from smallest to biggest, and cheapest to most expensive. The only exception to my rule is that Gen 01: Black lives at Caldera Camp, and that’s only because I figured a volcano would be the perfect place for an Evil siren.
My lots in order are Tangled Flat, Caldera Camp, Lagoon Look, Pier Perfection, Kin-Ship, Journey’s End, Reef Finery, Chieftain’s Villa, Key Point, Admiral’s Wreckage, and Sapphire Shores. Though, I may swap Reef Finery and Chieftain’s Villa around, since they cost the same.
Honestly, My instinct was to pick them in order of price for the lot, as well, but I am not 100% sure I’ll stick with it. I have sort of been going with whatever feels right at the time.
Oh that’s great! My Gen 02: Brown heiress just aged up into a teen, and I was debating between moving her to Lagoon look or Pier Perfection due to the drama going on in Gen 01: Black, but I decided to just stick with my original plan of smallest and cheapest first minus Caldera Camp.
It’s funny, My Evil gen was in Caldera Camp, too. Seemed fitting. 🙂
Oh, also.. I’m sorry the promised drama got moved to chapter two. *sheepish look* the chapter got way too long for my taste.
Oh, don’t worry! The delay in drama is just building up the suspense. I’m really looking forward to reading more!
Quick question… How to you figure out how to renovate a house and add rooms? Cuz the only way I can make a house look semi-decent is if I pre-build my vision of the fully constucted build and then either place it as a shell once my sims can afford it or place it room-by-room. Every time I try to renovate a build and add a new room, I end up making it look absolutely AWFUL–which is actually the main reason I started my story with a teen and let her earn enough money to fully construct her Beige House… as well as part of the reason I allow my heiresses to move out with things they can sell to build a house with.
In past generations, I just started with a small room, and slowly expanded the house as need or money (or both) allowed. I just let the house grow organically, and didn’t worry about it looking “good”. This new generation I’m using a floorplan, however, and I saved enough to build the lower floor, which will include the living areas and master bedroom, then, once I can afford, I will build the upstairs. Does that answer the question, I hope?
Ooh, yes. That helps! I normally look at floorplans online, and re-create them to the best of my ability in-game with modifications as needed, like with my Gen 01: Black house, but I built my Gen 00: Beige house over time in a different save file with a Mermaid Legacy that I’m not blogging, and I actually somehow managed to make it look amazing (in my opinion at least) and I didn’t want to ruin the look, so I just plopped it down when Dahlia moved to Sulani, and I’ve barely touched it at all apart from expanding the half-bath by two tiles.
I’ve currently got about 5 in-game days before my Gen 02: Brown heiress becomes a Young Adult, and I’ve already pre-built and saved an empty shell of a house for her that I actually built without a floorplan to base it off of, and it somehow looks pretty decent. I’m not much of a builder, in fact I kinda hate building, but I want to do my own houses for my blogs. And in all honesty, I think the early, smaller houses are gonna look WAY better than the later, bigger houses. Really my best work is small houses, apart from my dream mansion on the gallery, which is the build I made that I am MOST proud of.
Awesome! I will say, even if you don’t like building.. the BEST way to get better? Practice. It’s why I wrote my 100 Day Creativity challenge – it’s just prompts to practice both building and CAS. For me, the CAS is what I’m weak at. But, yes, practice really does help!!
I just finished furnishing the pre-build of Gen 02: Brown’s house (she’s still a teen right now, 3 days left, and it feels like it’s taking FOREVER). I saved the rooms, and I plan to check back on the saved rooms and place the furniture in the same spots one by one when I can afford them. I also intend to upload the build once I begin Gen 02, like I did with Gen 01’s house.
Fun! That’s an interesting way to do it!
Interestingly enough, I JUST started Gen 02 at around the same time you responded. I’ve also pre-written and scheduled all posts of Gen 00 and Gen 01, and they go all the way to October 31. I was REALLY hoping that I’d be able to start Gen 02 before the last chapter of Gen 00 was published, and I actually got my wish!
Nice! Congrats!
My dilemma: I have five posts that need writing for various stories and I have no idea which one to write first. LOL
Have you noticed the elder mermaids living longer than normal sims? Kevin has been an elder for quite some time in my game, and I checked MCCC to see how long he had left because I wanted to make sure I was able to grab his grave/urn when he died so I could move it to his home… And he has 189 days, including 164.5 bonus days. I’m genuinely not certain if that means 189 + 164.5 or if the 164.5 is added, but it seems kinda long either way. And Dahlia is an elder too, and has 204 days, including 164.5 bonus days. I know that mermaid elders’ lifespans are supposed to be longer, plus the fact that they swim so much pretty much guarantees that they max out the fitness skill, so that adds more bonus days, but… 204 seems a little excessive.
Not that I’m complaining, of course, It means that Dahlia and Kevin will probably live to see their Great-Grandkids, and maybe even their Great-Great-Grandkids, if I’m lucky, but I was just wondering if your elder sims have such long lifespans or if it’s just a glitch in my game.
Absolutely. I have noticed them living longer, although usually only by a few days. On the MC command center. I would make sure your in-game settings are set to “Normal” age span, because if you set them to “Long” any change to the MCCC age settings will cause them to be multiplied. Dunno if that’s what happened there, but it seems likely. If it is bonus days, you could set his “days in the age” in MCCC to be higher so he wouldn’t have as long left. I didn’t worry about the mermaids living longer, partially because when the heir moves out, the relatives don’t move with them. That and.. I hate losing my sims – whether I’m playing them or not. LOL.
I have my aging set to Normal, but for some reason my elderly mermaids still have a ridiculously long lifespan. I don’t really mind it much, as long as I can still grab the urns/graves. Plus, it’s KINDA realistic, because sometime great-grandparents and even great-great-grandparents live long enough to see their descendants irl, especially if they all have kids in young adulthood, like 18-early 20s.