Chapter 2.14 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 2.16

Generation Two: Brown

Appearance: Brown hair, unkempt clothing style
Traits: Loves Outdoors, Loner, Child of the Island
Aspiration: Beach Life
Occupation: Conservationist
House Goal: 20,000 worth

Teenagers

---

I knew we had talked about remodeling the downstairs activity room into a toddler room for Reed, but apparently Alexi figured he’d just go for it. I mean, I’m not opposed.. but it seemed sudden. Before I knew it, there were construction workers in my house, removing the archway and putting in a sliding door. Also included in the construction project was the task of moving the huge fish tank out of the room and into the dining room/hallway. It turned out nicely, however, and was done in plenty of time for Reed’s upcoming birthday.

It was also turtle season again. The were far fewer crowds this year, but my survey showed the turtle population was doing well, and the babies all looked healthy.

Aleki’s water garden remains his favorite thing on our property, and he takes such good care of it. The snails have gotten along well with the Koi, and – as far as we know – there have been no major casualties due to munching.

I surprised Jayce with a fun cake when he got home from school, and he considered his wish carefully before blowing out the candles.

I have to wonder if his wish had anything to do with his new tail – because that was the first thing he did – celebrate being a mermaid.

Later that afternoon, I found Kali sound asleep in front of a movie… apparently it had bored her to sleep. Turning off the TV woke her right up, and I convinced her to head downstairs and join Jayce in doing their homework.

Two minds are always better than one, and I was around when both needed help with their math homework. Before long, books were put away and they were able to head outside to enjoy the gorgeous Sulani afternoon.

I’m not sure where Kali ran off to – but I did see Jayce playing in the waves, enjoying his new tail. I can still remember the joy I felt when I got mine. There’s nothing quite like feeling like a part of the ocean as a mermaid.

Little Reed wasn’t far behind Jayce, and we got him started on his toddler skills right away. It’s not like we don’t have plenty of practice with toddlers!

We made sure to give Reed plenty of playtime, too, because all learning doesn’t have to be done at once. Little brains tire easily.

There was still always something to be done at home, so when I wasn’t parenting or working, I tried to keep the house clean and everything in working order. It wasn’t an easy life, but it was certainly one I loved.

That weekend, Kali had a project on Electricity to do, so Aleki offered to help her work on it. It took them most of an afternoon, but based on the laughter I heard from outside, they had a good time doing it.

Kali’s attitude has taken a 180 degree turn since the baby fiasco. She still grumbles a bit when asked to babysit Reed on her own, but I think she enjoys spending time with her little brother. I think Jayce wishes Reed had come along a little sooner so he could have had a playmate, but even he spends time with our youngest. Reed certainly doesn’t lack for attention in this household!

Chapter 2.14 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 2.16

Chapter 2.13 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 2.15

Generation Two: Brown

Appearance: Brown hair, unkempt clothing style
Traits: Loves Outdoors, Loner, Child of the Island
Aspiration: Beach Life
Occupation: Conservationist
House Goal: 20,000 worth

Reconciliation

---

I never worried when my kids headed out to the ocean. With being mermaids, we were all excellent swimmers, and we loved being in the sea. No, my worries this week were of a completely different nature. I watched Maricela, Alexi, and Kali cavorting in the waves past our deck, and frowned to myself. Kali still hadn’t come around. She wouldn’t speak to me, and I don’t think she’d even taken a second look at her new little brother. Alexi kept telling me to wait – that she’d come around – but I wasn’t so sure. She was, after all, my daughter, and came by her stubbornness honestly.

With one last look out the window, I sighed and headed back to Reed’s cradle. He was sound asleep still, but would be waking soon for his feeding, and he was utterly adorable. It wasn’t his fault that his big sister simply didn’t want to have anything to do with him, and the rift in my family felt like it was tearing me apart. Miserably, I curled up in my bed and closed my eyes, waiting for Reed to wake.

Before I knew it, Alexi was shaking me awake.

“If you sleep too much now, you’ll never sleep tonight, love.” he said quietly.

“Oh, shoot. I didn’t mean to sleep!” I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and yawning widely.

“I spoke to Kali.” Alexi said, sitting on the bed next to me.

I stood up, and went over to feed Reed. Unsure of what he meant, I simply waited.

“I think she’s going to come around soon.” he said, smiling as he watched his newest son open and close his tiny fists as he woke up.

“I told her how much her attitude was hurting you. She didn’t say anything, but I could see the guilt on her face. I wouldn’t worry about this mood lasting too much longer. You’ll see. Everything will be alright.” He stood up, then came over and rubbed my shoulders lightly, watching his son with a smile.

“I wish I could be as sure about these things as you are, Aleki.” I murmured.

“Yes, I know you. The worrywort.” He kissed my temple, then left the room. I finished caring for little Reed, then headed downstairs as well.

Passing by Maricela’s room, I overheard her and Jayce discussing their new brother.

“I wonder when he’ll grow up so we can actually play with him!” Jayce said.

“I don’t know.” Mari replied, and hesitated, then said, “Where do you think Mom and Dad will put his new room? Will we get a new addition to the house, do you think?”

“I just hope we don’t lose the TV room!” Jayce said, and I chuckled to myself. Leaving them to their conversation, I let my thoughts turn from Kali to contemplating rearranging the house. I glanced at the activity room, and an idea hit. We could move things around, put the activities upstairs with the TV.. and remodel this room… I wandered about the room, mentally thinking about how it could be re-done, fed the fish in their tank, then went to make dinner for the rest of the family.

After dinner, Jayce and Aleki went to play with the dolls, but from what I overheard, again the conversation was about Reed. Jayce really wanted a little brother to play with, apparently.

Unbeknownst to me, Kali was upstairs finally meeting her new brother. He got fussy, so she fed him a bottle, smiling at the way he kicked his little legs around.

“You’re going to be up and about before we know it, aren’t you, little guy?” she said with a smile. “Look at these strong little legs. Just wait until you get fins! You’ll be a great swimmer!”

After playtime, Jayce spent some time drawing, and managed to finish his aspiration at the same time. He was becoming quite the artist, and his “I want to be like Kali” phase still hadn’t gone away. Maybe it never would.

I grabbed a portion of steak and some vegetables for Kali, and, sighing, headed upstairs to make sure she would at least get some dinner.

To my surprise, I found her playing with Reed.

“Oh. Mom. You didn’t need to bring my dinner up here!” she said, looking around a bit guiltily.

“It’s alright. I wanted to make sure you’d eat.” I replied, handing her the plate and fork.

I sat down on the side of my bed, and Kali sat down beside me.

“So you’re not mad at your brother for being born anymore?” I asked tentatively.

“I never was.” she replied, “I guess I was just being selfish. I’m sorry I hurt you with my attitude.”

“Growing up isn’t easy.” I consoled, and smiled at her, “You forget, I had to do it once, too.”

“Yeah. I guess I’m just worried about my upcoming birthday. Moving out. Starting from nothing. How did you do it?”

“One day at a time. You’ll be fine, Kali. You’re smart and talented, and should have no trouble finding a job. Have you put any thought to where on the islands you want to move?”

“Oh jeez, Mom. I have no idea. I hadn’t even considered that. I could have done without having to worry about that, too!”

I gave her a half hug and chuckled. “You have time still, honey. It’s not like you have to decide tomorrow.”

She sighed and made a face at me, then took her dinner to her room.

I tucked Reed back into his bassinet, and smiled to myself. Aleki had been right. I had nothing to worry about.

Chapter 2.13 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 2.15

House 013 Chapter 1 < | > House 013 Chapter 3

First, we remind ourselves what our goals are:

House 013 Building Goals:
2 Bedroom, 1 Bathroom home worth at least $100k Simoleons
-Must include a designated gaming room
House 013 Generational Goals:
Achieve Level 10 of the Gamer branch of Tech Guru on Jax
1st place in Pro tournament for both Hillock II and Sims Forever on Jax
Achieve Level 10 of Start-Up Entrepreneur branch of Tech Guru on 2nd sim
*Note* All sims are Controllable in this house!
Produce and raise The Heir to the Young Adult life stage

Then, we introduce Adrienne better:

Her original Aspiration was Painter, but I changed it to Computer Whiz, since that’s what she will be doing.

Then, we note that the featured photo is a successful proposal. At the romance fest. Which she invited us to within moments of us arriving home from first meeting and kiss. Handy, that.

Wedding photos. I love the heat of the moment weddings, really. Much better than just eloping.

We get them back home, and let them have a little fun.

The next morning, Jax finds out he was accepted to college on a full ride scholarship to the distinguished Computer Science degree I was hoping to get him into. The degree itself will not help him in the gamer career, but it will allow him to do two things. One, skill up his programming skill as well as take video gaming electives.

And two.. join the Esports team – which WILL help him in the gamer career! At least, it’s supposed to. I’ve never tried doing this before, so this is pretty much all gotten from google research.

Adrienne’s first task.. skilling up programming. And video gaming. Gaming because each level of gaming earned in this house (by anyone!) gets us 1000 simoleons. Which is really nice.

Jax, on the other hand, starts in on studying and doing homework. Classes start the next day, or so I think. Turns out that they don’t start until Tuesday.. but whatever. That just gave him extra time to work on his term papers. Yes, he had to do TWO of them this term!

I finally get a better shot of Lucky. Love the huge ears.

I see sparkles!!

She got Dad’s ears and Mom’s coloring. Very cute, Fiona!

A couple minutes later…

Sophie follows in the sparkle party. She looks like her mama in body type, but I have no idea where her color comes from. I may end up trying to breed her later.

We get invited to the Geek Con, and, while Jax is in classes, we accept for Adrienne. She wins the Hackathon, which gets us some cash and another computer.

… Then fails miserably at the Ultimate Gaming Test. At least she has fun doing it.

We then take advantage of the rocket and the skill boost to work on her Rocket Science skill until the fest ends, and Jax comes to try the Gaming Test. He also fails, and then has to run off to his Gaming Team practice.

This dark photo is commemorating coming home with a promotion.

Good job, buddy! No bonuses for this one, though, so we’ll have to just keep working.

Another dark photo of Prissy in the bathroom that has no lights yet…

Because she’s old now. *frowny face* .. That’s ok, she already had her quota of puppies.

The rest of the week is fairly mundane, lots of homework for Jax, and Skilling like crazy for poor Adrienne. I start to get a little worried when she doesn’t have all four skills at level four by the time I wanted her to.. but I sign her up for scholarships and uni anyway – and cross my fingers.

She gets in, also to the distinguished program, and also with full ride on scholarships. In fact, she has more in the way of scholarships than Jax, which surprises me a little bit.

After Monday’s final exam, Jax’s grades come in and we sign him up for three classes plus a Video Game elective just like last time.

We’ve got about 9k in the bank at this point, which means that traveling isn’t a problem, so I send them to the library for the afternoon. Luckily, both were pretty good on their needs. (Although Jax has had to keep using sleep potions to keep up this past week, and he’s about out of points – so the next week should be interesting!)

Adrienne does all four of her homework for the start of classes. She also wastes time by chatting to this random person across the table, but since she gets her work done, I don’t complain.

Jax is pretty much done on what he can do at this point – and he needs satisfaction points, so I have him do some Research & Debate to get him past the first tier of his Academic Aspiration. I don’t know whether I’ll finish it with all the stuff he has on his plate, but we’ll give it a good try.

I’ll leave this post off here because I, quite honestly, played much farther than I meant to (and ended up with two posts instead of one) – but I was having fun. Here’s a shot of what the “house” looks like by the end of two weeks. I’m keeping it as a Tiny Home for the skill boosts, and excuse the mess in the garden. It’s pretty haphazard, and plants went wherever they landed when they got planted. They’ve taken turns caring for it as much as possible – but let’s be honest, they’re at the point now where they just don’t have time. So I hired a gardener and a maid – because they can afford it – I think. I’d like to get them Free Services, but neither can afford it at this time. The lot is always a disaster which poor Neat Adrienne hates.. but time to clean is very limited, hence the scheduled maid. Over the weekend, we gave all four dogs baths because they were in dire straits cleanliness wise, but nobody, luckily, got sick. Lucky did run away at one point, but he came back within a day – to barely any welcome because Jax was at practice and Adrienne was busy. Anyway, enough blabbing from me. See you next time!

House 013 Chapter 1 < | > House 013 Chapter 3

Chapter 2 Interlude 2 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 2.14

Generation Two: Brown

Appearance: Brown hair, unkempt clothing style
Traits: Loves Outdoors, Loner, Child of the Island
Aspiration: Beach Life
Occupation: Conservationist
House Goal: 20,000 worth

Surprise!

---

Life continues, day by day, to be a blessing. My children are healthy and happy, and Aleki has always been the partner I have needed him to be. Even my career has been a dream come true, and being the boss now means that I can direct others to keep the islands clean and beautiful.

However, even in what seems to be a perfect life – the unexpected can and will happen. I have noticed that breakfast has been making me queasy the last few days, and, with a sinking feeling, I took a pregnancy test.

The results were what I feared, and I retreated to Aleki and my’s bedroom, my mind reeling. I don’t know why we never sold the baby bassinet, but I guess I’m glad that we hadn’t yet, now. It would be one thing, however, if this baby had been planned for. But it hadn’t. And now I had children who were nearly grown with a new baby on the way. And- where were we going to put another baby in this house?! I couldn’t ask any of the kids to give up their bedrooms, and adding on to the house seemed like a poor idea. I knew Aleki would be supportive and excited about a new baby – but I’m not sure I was ready for this idea.

I headed out the back door, and decided to go for a swim. The cool salt water soothed my scales, and, ultimately, my soul. I watched the fish swimming in and amongst the corals, and I enjoyed watching the turtles peacefully swim past.

I noticed a pod of dolphins I had never seen in the distance, so I swam over to say hello.

To my surprise, the leader of the group was a unusual gem – an albino dolphin. Their name was Coral, and they seemed friendly. We chatted for a while, and I found a couple fish to feed them.

Then, they congratulated me on my upcoming baby, which is something I certainly hadn’t mentioned. I guess I was showing more than I had thought – or maybe Coral was just very perceptive. I thanked him for the congratulations, and, I don’t know why – but I confessed all my misgivings to him. He listened quietly, soberly, and agreed that maybe the timing could have been better. Then he reminded me what a huge blessing a new baby was – no matter when it happened.

I was still unsure how I was going to tell my family, but I felt more at peace about the whole idea now. I watched Coral’s pod cavorting in the waves, and giggled as several of them purposely splashed me.

On the way home, Squirt met up with me, and celebrated the new life with a dance. She, too, was expecting, and she was thrilled to find that there was a new mermaid expected in the isles.

I arrived home, and took the boat out to patrol the islands for work, my mind still very much occupied by the new baby.

I tried to make some grilled cheese for dinner, but the stove broke. So I fixed it… and then finished cooking dinner. By this time, everyone was home, and I decided I should call a family meeting.

I had no idea how to tell them, but I knew it needed to be done, so I just blurted it out.

“I’m pregnant.”

There were a range of emotions immediately evident on faces around the table. Mari looked confused, Jayce looked completely unfazed, and Aleki’s face lit up with a huge smile.

“MOM! How could you!?” Kali wailed. I could immediately see she was going to be the one I had to convince that this was a good thing.

“It wasn’t planned, Kali.”

“I thought you guys were done with kids! How am I going to tell all my friends that there’s a new baby at home. How embarrassing!”

“We thought we were done, too, Kali.” I replied. “Sometimes things just happen.”

“Ew, Mom. The things I don’t want to know…” she stood up and stalked out of the house.

“Let her go.” Aleki said quietly, “She will need to come to terms with it on her own.”

The other two children were easy to convince that this was the natural way of things, and I assured them that neither would lose their precious “private” rooms to the new baby.

Over the next few days, Kali proved to be very stubborn. She was sullen and withdrawn, and I couldn’t seem to get her to sit down to actually discuss this. Days slid by, and between keeping up with work and the housework and kids – it was “time” before I knew it.

Of course, it was the middle of the night, and I tried to not wake Aleki, because I wasn’t 100% sure it was true labor. He woke up anyway, and predictably – panicked. He tried to insist we go to the hospital, but I disagreed.

Within a couple of hours, our new little boy was born. We named him Reed, and got him settled.. and gratefully fell back into bed. The morning would be soon enough to introduce him to the rest of the family. I was too exhausted to even worry about Kali’s moodiness and getting her to be okay with this. I curled up under the covers and was almost instantly back to sleep.

---

(A/N: Yes, this truly was an unplanned baby. I’ve recently caved and installed MCCC, and I turned on the story progression and risky woohoo in this particular save. The first time they woohoo’ed – and risky already struck!)

Chapter 2 Interlude 2 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 2.14

Chapter 10 | Chapter 12

The next day was mercifully cloudy, and it allowed me some time to actually work on my painting. While working on it, however, I noticed that my shower was pouring water out of the nozzle without even being turned on. Figures. More going wrong. I laid down my paintbrush, and rummaged through my toolbox in search of a wrench.

I was just coming out of my shower, with the faucet fixed when I realized I had another unexpected visitor.

“Mariko!” I cried, and hurried to her side. It seemed impossible that so much had happened since I had last seen her – nay, since I’d last even thought of her.

I folded her into my arms, and tried not to burst out crying with another rush of inexplicable emotion. I let her go, pushing the tears away, and noticed that she didn’t look the slightest bit happy with me.

…. “What?” …. Bewildered, I just looked at her, “What did I do wrong?”

“Wrong? What would make you think that? Why was I the last to know that you and Alex aren’t a thing anymore?! .. And where have you been!?” She burst out.

I cringed and looked away.

“I am truly sorry, Mari. So much has happened. I’ve hardly been myself these last few days. How did you hear about Alex and I?” I sighed deeply and tried to meet her eyes.

“The gossip is all over Windenburg. How you’re no longer human, you were seen drinking plasma.. and how you attacked Alex and wounded her gravely. It’s hard to even cross the street around town without hearing something else about it. People are afraid your art career is over, and, to be frank – they’re a bit afraid of you, too.” Her voice raised a little more with each statement, and I tried not to flinch away from her.

Her voice evened out, and she sighed. “All of Windenburg has always known about the vampires of Forgotten Hollow, and for the most part, those creatures of the night have always co-existed with us humans peacefully. People are now worried that you will change the balance.”

“I didn’t mean to – ” I began, only to have her interrupt me.

“- Dušan – I’m sure you didn’t. But it happened. And you should have come to me! How am I to help you – to be your friend – if you don’t even think of me in a crisis!” to my horror, her voice sounded near tears, and I reached out a hand to touch her shoulder.

“Did you ever think that maybe I was too far gone to even think of my friends?” I asked quietly, but then I thought of how I’d run to Sonia. I sighed deeply and looked away.

“I’m not very good at having friends.” I confessed miserably. “I’m not used to it. I’ve been a loner most of my life, and losing my mother didn’t help that. I’m not trying to excuse it.. but please, hear me out before you leave me to the wolves. Let me tell you what has happened since we last talked. Rumors hardly ever get the whole truth.”

I took her hand, and guided her over to the fire pit, motioning for her to take a seat. I lit the fire – mostly for it’s comforting presence, and started the story from the beginning.

She sat there quietly, sometimes watching me, sometimes watching the fire, but always listening carefully. Thankfully, she didn’t try to interrupt, or I’m not sure I would have gotten through the whole thing. After I finished, we both just sat there for what felt like forever.

She stood up abruptly a few minutes later, and started pacing in front of my little tent.

“Dušan. Oh, Dušan. I swear, this is not your fault. Don’t even think it. Damn that old vampire, anyway. How could you have known how dangerous he was….” she paused for a moment, then continued pensively, “I don’t think any of us truly knew – he’s always seemed to be harmless up in that old mansion, never bothering anyone. I had no way to know – to be able to warn you – that he had it in for your family. And as for Alex – she was only after your money, you know. Everyone knew it. Everyone – I guess, except for you. Perhaps it served her right for attacking you without knowing how hard you’ve worked to get where you now are. You losing control and feeding on her was probably inevitable.. and also completely forgivable, under the circumstances. How could you have known Vlad’s warning was so true? … You truly had no way to know.”

I watched her pace back and forth, wondering at her apparent unease.

“Mari – just so you know – it won’t happen again. I know I need to prevent hunger now. You’re safe.” I stood up, reaching towards her, but she stopped and pulled away.

“How could you think I was afraid of you?!” She burst out, clenching her fists.

Startled at her anger, I just looked at her speechlessly.

She took a deep breath, as if steeling herself.. and slowly continued, “Dušan – I have not been truthful with you. I should have been – but I think I was lying to myself, too. I have loved you from the moment I met you, but you couldn’t see me. You only saw Alex – so I took the part of you I could have. The friendship. And I held on to it in silence. There are so many things I should have told you about this town, about Alex, about everything.. But I said nothing. And that’s on me. I’m sorry. But it doesn’t mean I’m afraid of you. Never that. I don’t care that you’re not human. I don’t care that you still live in a tent. I never would have. I’m not like.. her.” Her words stumbled to a stop, and she turned away.

Blindly, I turned, and nearly fell into my chair. What was I supposed to say to that?? I felt off balance, out of breath, stunned. How could I have thought I was meant to be with Alex. How could I have ignored Mari so completely! She turned back and watched me warily, then, she too sat down.

We both sat there in silence, watching the fire burn itself out. Finally, I stood up and walked to my garden.

I picked a lone rose out of a tangled bush, and held it out to her.

“I’m sorry, Mari. Please. Please, forgive me. I never meant to hurt you.”

She looked from my face to the rose and back to me, then hesitantly took it. Taking a deep breath, she nodded.. and then left. Without another word. But – at least she had taken the rose. Maybe there was hope, yet….

I threw another log on the fire and sat there for the rest of the night. I don’t truly need sleep anymore, and I didn’t really feel like hiding away inside my tent, anyway. What was I to do now? If I’d thought I was confused before her visit, I’d been sorely mistaken. By morning, the fire had completely burned itself out, and I wandered off, walking mostly blindly about Forgotten Hollow.

I ended up at the “Point” – an area with a bench, and a dead tree that overlooked the bridge out of town. I sat down on the bench, deep in thought. The events of the last few days swirled in my head, and I let them fly. I thought of Alex’s form on the ground – of the feeling of slipping into a darker form of me. I thought of Mariko’s confession, and I wondered at the way her words had made my heart clench. How could I have been so wrong about Alex? About Mari? Would she forgive me, as her head nod seemed to have said… or was that wishful thinking on my part? I went back and forth in my head for a long while, then stood to leave.

To my astonishment, the cat from the other day was walking toward me purposefully.

“You’re an idiot.” I heard in my head. Blinking stupidly, I stopped and stared at the cat.

“… What?” I blurted out, and I would have continued, but the cat interrupted me.

“Yes, yes, I know you can hear me. And I know who you are. You are your mother’s son, after all. She was my friend at a hard time in my life, and I always swore if I could repay her, I would.”

Even more shocked.. I bent down towards the cat, letting it sniff my hand as if it were just any normal cat.

“You.. you knew my mother?”

“I said so, didn’t I?” the cat replied in my head, haughtily. “Now – enough of that. You are what you were meant to be. Now you have to do what your heart dictates. You must go after her, of course.”

“After who? .. My mother?”

The cat laughed in my head, and climbed up on the bench I had just been sitting on. I sat down next to it.

“No, of course not your mother. Your woman. Not the one you attacked, doofus. The other one. The one you are meant to love.”

“I’m meant to… what? Who ARE you? How do you know all this? And what’s this about what I’m meant to be?”

The cat merely stared at me for a long moment, then it left as suddenly as it had arrived.

Nonplussed, I stood up, noticing that sometime while … conversing?… with the cat, the rain had settled in, and now I was getting soaked. I headed home slowly, my thoughts whirling in my head, and my heart still in knots. I had some deciding to do.

Chapter 10 | Chapter 12

House 012 Chapter 6 < | > House 013 Chapter 2

First, we get a look at our brand new goals:

House 013 Building Goals:
2 Bedroom, 1 Bathroom home worth at least $100k Simoleons
-Must include a designated gaming room
House 013 Generational Goals:
Achieve Level 10 of the Gamer branch of Tech Guru on Jax
1st place in Pro tournament for both Hillock II and Sims Forever on Jax
Achieve Level 10 of Start-Up Entrepreneur branch of Tech Guru on 2nd sim
*Note* All sims are Controllable in this house!
Produce and raise The Heir to the Young Adult life stage

Wow.. that’s quite a goal. Hopefully that will keep me more entertained than the last house did! .. And we get to control all sims?? I must have died and gone to heaven!

Next, we run Jax through his makeover…. and I must say, he needed one!!

Then, we plop him onto his new property, strip him of all his worldly goods and money (including a Ducky he had apparently been hoarding since childhood), and take a look at his starting stat panels:

Then, our last – and possibly scariest task before starting this house: rolling for the lot traits:

Okay. Well that could have been a LOT worse.

Finally. It’s time to start. First order of business: decide whether he’s going to college or getting a job instead. Of course, I suppose he could do both… but am I willing to try to work AND do his coursework? .. Probably not. Also: per his traits, he will be getting a dog at some point. Hm… he did roll for Academic….. ARGH. I go to bed to do some major thinking before starting this tomorrow.

I wake up.. and the first conclusion I’ve come to overnight, is our favorite little Prissy is going to come with us on this journey. I’ll have to pay a 200 dollar pet fee before I buy anything else, but Jax is so happy to have a pet, I couldn’t resist. So.. welcome to house 13, Prissy!

So, this challenge starts out SLOWWW.. because the only thing I can think to do to get money right away is collecting… and barely anything is up. I plant the sage I find, hold on to the one frog I found, and head home to say hi to Mom. I don’t figure she and Dad have much time left.

I do manage to get enough to pay for Prissy’s fee, and get her a food bowl. Jax, however, is scrounging for food still, and peeing himself. We have literally a garden, a dog, a mailbox, a dog food bowl and a squeaky toy Prissy found while hunting.

She seems pretty happy with it, though. So that’s good.

Another day, another visit with family. And more collecting. Collect collect collect. Plant what I can, sell the rest. Still, poor Jax is struggling.

This random fella walking down the street became my target for leveling Jax’s mischief, because I want to get level 3 in rocket science, mischief, robotics, and programming before signing up for university. I figure mischief I can do through socials, the other three.. I’ll make him read books from the cheapest book “shelf” I can buy.

… And because I have no idea how long Prissy will still be an adult, I change out one lot trait very briefly (two days) for the Dog Hangout. I picked out this brown and white mutt named Lucky for her mate, and “luckily” they seem to be getting along better than Prissy has with any other dog she’s been introduced to.

Yay! Finally, we got it to work. Puppies are on the way! .. And at about this time, my game started being very weird. The dogs kept leaving lot and I couldn’t get them to come back with the whistle. I ignored it for a while, but then I really got concerned and looked up how to fix it. Apparently it’s a bug – or it could be because I have no home for them yet. I traveled to get them back and went straight back home. Didn’t count it as actual travel because I was just doing it to fix a bug.

All that reading and skilling takes it’s toll.. Poor Jax has about had it with the bench sleeping. I had to spend most of the money he’s gotten from collecting on the books to skill, which was annoying, and then I saved up for 1000 so I can travel. Still, nothing on the lot other than the bookshelf, cooler, and the stuff I mentioned before.

The puppies are here!! This one is Fiona…

… And this is Sadie. I love them both. One has a troublemaker trait, the other is Hairy like her Dad.. so we have hair piles EVERYWHERE .. All. The. Time. I can’t drag them to the trash fast enough. So the dogs are always a mess.

He just dropped his book and passed out. Poor guy. But he’s cutting it close on where I wanted him to be at before signing up for Uni.. and I’m pushing him hard.

Now that we have 1k, we explore the Student Library in Britechester.. while we wait for our scholarship and uni applications to come back. I’ve been looking constantly, but I haven’t seen ONE young adult, male or female, walk past Jax’s .. er.. “house”. Immediately upon getting to the library, I spot this lovely librarian, and all bets are off. I stopped looking right then and there. LOL.

While we were there, we got a money opportunity from our aunt Diedre on the phone, I asked about the conditions.. and she sent us 2500 simoleons. Nice!

So, here we are getting to know the local librarian. Turns out she’s Bookworm, Romantic.. and I have no idea what else. Will introduce her better next post. Her name, however, is Adrienne Hahn…. and I think she’ll make some cute babies with Jax. At least… that’s the plan.

Luckily, she doesn’t seem to mind the romancing plan. First kiss in the bag! I head home after this, planning to let Jax get some needs back up.. but the game has other plans. I’ll explain that next post, too. Because this one is long enough already. I’ll just leave you wondering whether he gets into his distinguished degree or not until next time!

House 012 Chapter 6 < | > House 013 Chapter 2

Chapter 2.12 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 2.13

Generation Two: Brown

Appearance: Brown hair, unkempt clothing style
Traits: Loves Outdoors, Loner, Child of the Island
Aspiration: Beach Life
Occupation: Conservationist
House Goal: 20,000 worth

Wrecked

---

Dear Diary:

After all these years, I’m still not very good at writing in this thing. I try to do it every day, like Mom does, but there are days where I swear I have nothing to say.

Today… is not one of those days. It was supposed to be MY day today. It was meant to be perfect. And what did I get? An impromptu funeral. I mean, sure, it’s sad and all, but it wrecked my party. And I was sure everyone was going to hear about it at school from my cousins. I would never live this down.

I am SO Angry. I think I’m supposed to be sad. But I’m not. Writing out my feelings is supposed to help, but it’s not really doing that, either. Tomorrow is my first day of high school, and I will have to walk through those doors knowing that everyone knows about my ruined party. I guess it’s a good thing I wasn’t allowed to have a REAL party, with kids and not family. Something probably would have gone wrong there, too. I mean, the only good thing I could say about the party is that at least Mom’s cake never fell. I was sure it would, too. Guess I have to pay Jayce 10 simoleons for that stupid bet.

I changed out of my party outfit (which I’m sure I saw Mom cringe over earlier.. I was going to hear it about it, I’m sure…) and went to take a long, hot bath. Halfway through, my phone rang – and I thought I heard Mom and Dad’s phones ringing on the other side of the wall. Which could only mean one thing. More bad news. I ignored the call, and refused to check my messages. It could wait.

I wanted to sleep in the next morning when my alarm went off, but I was still feeling guilty about being so angry the night before. I mean, Kyler DIED. Right in front of me, too. I didn’t know him all that well because he lived in the city and was WAY older than me.. but he was still family. And he just died in our kitchen instead of eating cake.

… Thinking of the kitchen reminded me of what a horrible mess it probably was down there, so, with a deep sigh, I got dressed for school and went to clean up the dishes. I figured it was the least I could do to help Mom out after last night.

While drying off my hands, it occurred to me that I’d never checked my phone message from last night. I did that on my way out the door – and – to my horror, found out that Uncle Tevin and some other guy from the city had died last night in a big traffic accident. I considered just skipping school – I don’t think anyone would blame me under the circumstances – but I decided I’d just go. How bad could the day be?

Amazingly, nobody at school had said a thing to me. I could feel them watching me, though.. so I knew they weren’t going to stay quiet forever. I went about my business, did my classwork, tried to pay attention to my new teachers, and finally, the day ended. I decided I’d swim home from school instead of taking the boat – I mean, I do have fins now.

Feeling a big sad.. I stopped by the waterfall and played in it for a while, reveling in my newfound teenage freedom. There was no way I’d have gotten away with not going straight home when I was just a kid. I was pretty sure I’d get away with it today, though.

.. Okay. So I wasn’t sure at all. And I stopped to clean up the beaches so I could tell Mom I was doing that instead of my actual destination of the waterfall. As big as she was into island clean-up, I bet that would de-rail the lecture about being home late.

I’d been right. The talk of cleaning trash got me right out of trouble, and I grabbed some fruit salad out of the fridge and went upstairs to watch TV. Before I could even get into my show, my annoying kid brother had come up, grabbed the remote – and switched the channel to some damn kid’s cartoon. In disbelief, I snatched the remote back..

… And switched it back to Moonlight Massacre III. Which horrified him enough to make him leave the room. Good riddance. Turned out it wasn’t a half bad movie, either. Despite the fact that I’d missed the first fifteen minutes of it. I left my dishes on the coffee table, aware that I was close to simply passing out from exhaustion.

Back in my room, I changed out of my swimsuit, finished this diary entry.. and I’m going to take a nap. Homework .. can wait for another time. After last night – I need sleep more. And if Mom asked, I’d simply say they hadn’t assigned any homework on the first day of school. I think she’d believe it…

Chapter 2.12 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 2.13

Chapter 3.1 | Chapter 3.3

So, here we go.. Starting the generation completely over. Here’s an abbreviated version of rules/goals for this generation as they stand now.

I start by trying to sell flowers in the retail store after spending time making them. Again, they start wilting and selling for very little. – Plus thunderstorms are making it hard to get sales without killing sims.

Oh – and I told you I’d introduce the potential spouses.

Here they are in no particular order:

Hera is the daughter of the two adults in the neighboring house, the others are “fostered” there. Tryphena and Tryphosa are sisters, the rest are unrelated. I spend quite a while trying to decide which one. I’m leaning towards Tryphosa, I don’t know why, I just like her. So I ask on boolprop discord – and nobody there can decide, either. Although it seems to be between Hera and the two sisters. Everyone else got pretty much eliminated. Finally, my hubby suggests rolling a D6 die. So I make him do it, his desk has more room for rolling a real die.

……

……

Number 5… so that means, my favorite wins!! The second die roll was a 6 (hubby was curious) .. and in honor of her second place finish, Hera will be coming back next gen as the spouse for my Roman Heir. Maybe her arms will help balance out the genetics?

I immediately invite her over and start making friends – which is amazingly easy. These two are so cute together, too. Immediately, I’m happier with the challenge, even though I have no idea if I’ll be able to find a way to complete the generation.

Next time at the store, I bring Madelyn… she cleans, restocks, and greets customers, leaving Matteo to work on the flower bench, ring people out, and nap. (Hey, do what you gotta…) I’m still just not making enough money.. and then another thunderstorm moves in. Sigh. Finally, out of sheer frustration, I sell the entire store. I’ll try the yard table. So I remodel the store room to an open-to-the-outside “market” with a yard table. And I set poor Madelyn to selling.

With a higher markup (300%), I’m getting sales, but it’s still slow. And I’m still frustrated and confused. I KNOW I’ve read you can make money with flower arranging, and I’m just not figuring it out.

By this time, He’s low on social and fun, so we invite over Tryph (pronounced “triff” in my head) .. and set about getting a girlfriend. It goes incredibly smoothly – these two must have been destined.

They have dinner together, and mess around for some fun, then she ends up sleeping over.

The next day, I try selling the flowers just with the table so they don’t wilt so fast, and I’m still not able to really make money. Finally, I do some google research and find a helpful hints page. I’ll link it here because it was invaluable: https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/skills/seasons/flower-arranging/ Turns out Matteo’s skill isn’t high enough. I needed level 7 and to scent the arrangements with bluebells – which I have. So I’m making the Cheapest to make ($0) level 1 chrysanthemum arrangement over and over and scenting it with bluebell so it won’t go bad. Pretty soon, I start making masterpieces and selling them without having them wilt at 300% on the table. Matty is finally making money. Things are looking up. However, I don’t take many pictures.. because quite frankly, Flower Arranging is one of the most boring skills there is in the game. And he does very little else.

I laughed so hard when I got this call. I know, no phones in the era.. but I couldn’t help pushing Try for Baby, because it’s what Marl would do. I’ll check next post whether it worked.

When he needs fun, he invites his now-girlfriend over, and they chat and have fun however they can.

Madelyn, however, is NOT having fun at her “job”. She spends a lot of time cleaning, cooking, or playing Llama. Since it’s the middle of winter I try to discourage her from polar bear swimming in the pool – but it’s a challenge.

Then – I get this. Bussed on the cheek like we’re friends or something. Uh-oh there goes messing around for fun. *frown* She grew up to YA. Cue the last three miserable days of Matty’s Teenage Life.

Finally, he makes it to YA. I wasn’t expecting it when he aged up, so it surprised me, but I was able to pick out the right trait anyway, and immediately invited Tryph over.

Matteo: “You still love me, though, right??”

Tryph: Of course!

Matteo: “Then marry me!”

Smooth, buddy. Real Smooth.

However, smooth or not.. it works. They’re engaged. Look at that ring!

I have them get married ASAP. (and right in front of the door since I still can’t figure out how to get a Generic Lot to show up as a possible wedding venue.. I give up. Seriously.)

Then, Matty carries his new bride over the threshold.. and I start considering when to Try for Baby. Should I wait? Should I just go for it? .. He’s also at 68k/75k towards level 3 of his aspiration. So, I’m hoping that 200k total is actually possible. We’ll see. And I can always wait to pick the heir til later, I did with Skyor, after all. So I’ll probably have them TFB tonite. Well, not tonite. Next post. =D Because this is as good a place to stop as any… and I’m finally feeling more confident about this generation. Which is amazing.

Chapter 3.1 | Chapter 3.3

House 012 Chapter 5 < | > House 013 Chapter 1

First, we check on our house goals:

House 012 Building Goals:
3 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom home worth at least $50k Simoleons (56k)
House 012 Generational Goals:
Complete the Friend of the World aspiration
Have The Drifter Declare another Sim an Enemy
-Then raise the relationship between The Drifter and their Enemy to BFF
Have The Drifter Engage in and WIN 5 fights
-Each win must be with a different Sim opponent
Produce and raise The Heir to the Young Adult life stage (teen)

And here’s hoping I can finish this house’s two weeks in this one post. I plan on taking pictures only when I need to. Like when Sione tries to burn down the house by cooking. Spoiler: no fire.

… Or when the dog is being especially cute.

I start working on Jax’s level three skill, we’re going for Video Gaming for a change. I don’t have a spot for a chess board in this house.

Plus, it’s fun for the whole family.

Lyric.. I swear, girl. Why you gotta break everything..

Um.. sure, Jax. Work on Fitness all by yourself. .. But what exactly are you wearing?!

Winterfest arrives. Even the dog appears to be participating.

Presents. And no, I paid no attention to what anyone got. I am pretty sure I didn’t even bother to sell any of them. So this is just for the sims.

Chattin’ with his little sis.

Tracey decides she wants to be a bear. Okayy then.

Gonna make it hard to play video games with the family with those big paws, but whatever suits ya.

Prissy learning her last trick -playing dead.

Gonna miss this doggy. She’s never once run away, or gotten so dirty she needed a bath, and never needed a vet visit. It’s unheard of. Gotta be some sort of record.

This would be when I’m trying my hardest to get puppies. Tried for like five-six days, finally gave up. She kept refusing – no matter which guy dog I picked. (This particular one was Jim.)

Jax.. what exactly are you planning, there? I mean, other than cooking when you’re not supposed to be.

Don’t think I’ve ever made homemade treats for dogs before. Figured I’d try it.

Birthdays! Sione goes first. (While his son completely ignores the event.)

Oh, NOW you turn around. Little late, kiddo.

Then it’s Lyric’s turn. Would you look at those wrinkles. Not a good look on you, sweetie.

I send Lyric to take care of the garden… and Jax decides to help all by himself. Okayy…

Flower Bunny shows up.. and we just have to fight her again. (I say her, because later I see her in the relationship panel. Definitely a girl.)

Another win. That we didn’t need. But it makes Lyric feel better to kick that fluffy butt.

Is it me, or is the dog getting a little fat? (This is only the second homemade thing I’ve made her)

Time for another birthday.

Congrats, Tracey. *smile*

She’s pretty. Not sure about the outfit, though.

Love Day. Somehow calculations went wrong, so Jax will start in the Summer. Which is okay, too.. I think. So long as he doesn’t roast to death.

We tell Jax to work out, then Mentor him. Doesn’t make him get much in the way of skill, but Level 2 is still something, I guess.

You ready for this? .. I know I sure am!!

Blow out those candles, and make sure you make a wish, there, Jax.

… *face palm* I knew that last trait wouldn’t be the greatest. It had to be, what with all the rest of his rolls being good. I guess I’ll have to get a doggie next gen, too. Just what I needed. (sarcasm)

.. And now for the final stats. Here’s Lyric’s panels.

Proof of that aspiration.

+5?!? That’s definitely a record in my game. And she’s making SO much money. I’m jealous.

… And that’s without really trying for skills.

She’s a pretty good sim.. just too bad I didn’t get as attached to her as I would have liked. The house may have been more fun if I had.

Final funds and family. Somehow the dog isn’t even an elder yet..?

Final house value. .. and I realize I need to head back in-game in and upload the house….

And that’s it! See you in House 13! (And I have to confess, I broke my rule. I was so bored with House 12 I looked up the rules for 13 before playing this two weeks. It at least told me that the next house should be less boring. I think.)

House 012 Chapter 5 < | > House 013 Chapter 1

Chapter 2.11 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 2 Interlude 2

Generation Two: Brown

Appearance: Brown hair, unkempt clothing style
Traits: Loves Outdoors, Loner, Child of the Island
Aspiration: Beach Life
Occupation: Conservationist
House Goal: 20,000 worth

Bittersweet Teen

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After such a great weekend, getting back to work and school seemed harder than ever. We all soldiered on, though, and the days went by faster than you can imagine. Between chasing a toddler, and making sure I didn’t neglect either of the other two kids, I had my hands full. I was especially glad that I had been promoted to the top of my career, because it meant I didn’t have to work as many days, and I could spend more time with my children.

Kali has been diligently trying to raise her Mental skill so she can be a Whiz Kid, but it’s tough on her, and I often see her frowning while just staring at the chessboard.

Jayce has been spending a lot of time outside, and tries to pretend he’s already a mermaid – or maybe a dolphin.. but I’ve never seen anyone swim so very strangely. He does get around, though, so I guess there’s that.

Finally, the day came that little Maricela was ready to grow up… and I baked her a special pink strawberry cake just for her. She was shy about blowing out the candles, however, so that took some coaxing. Eventually, she agreed.. and her journey as a child began.

She grew up to be a Genius, and wants to be a Whiz Kid like her big sister. How she seems to have missed that Kali is more into Art than Logic, I don’t know, but she’s convinced she can do it better. I don’t doubt it.

To help Mari on her aspiration, Aleki took some time out from doing commissions to read to her and Jayce. They loved it, and started making it a bit of a daily tradition for a while. At least until they got through the Lord Of The Swings book.

The family stopped over to bring an island feast again, and the kids all vied for grandma Corina’s attention. She lapped up all the love, and I don’t think I saw her without a smile once all evening.

That night, Maricela woke us up out of a sound sleep. Apparently when I ordered the furniture for her upgraded room, I forgot to include an Anti-Monster light.

… Which was a problem. So I did the right thing, stumbled out of bed, sprayed the monster away, and tucked Mari back in bed. A new light was the first thing on the list for the next day, however!

Tomorrow was Kali’s birthday, and she was terribly worried she wasn’t going to have time to finish her Mental Skill. So I agreed that she could use one of her vacation days to work on it.

I also Mentored her as best I could. (Oh, and yes, the paintings on the wall are Aleki’s doing – he’s been keeping more of his work lately, and seems happier for having them on the walls.)

After several hours of work, we finished her aspiration, and I got a huge hug for my trouble. I told her I really didn’t mind, but she knew I’d taken off work to do it, and she was especially appreciative.

The next day was the big day. After her last day of Elementary School, Kali came home practically bouncing off the walls. I can’t blame her – I still remember my teen birthday, too. She planned to invite the whole family, and I was making a huge tiered cake for the occasion. She had to supervise the whole thing, though, which I thought was quite funny. She knew I hadn’t made a tiered cake before, and she was terrified it would turn out green or something.

She then took the time to clear and set the table while I frosted the cake.

I then started making a group meal – Kali’s favorite, Grilled Cheese, while Kali, again, helped out around the house. Despite the fact that the mop was too big for her.

Then, we all changed into our party wear, and waited for the guests. Kali had to keep running into the kitchen to check and see that the “cake hadn’t fallen” yet. I tried to tell her it wasn’t going to, but she was convinced some disaster was going to happen.

When everyone arrived, Kali made the rounds and made sure to say hello to everyone. She was so excited to be a teen soon like her two cousins, and was practically bubbling over with energy.

Everyone gathered round, while Kali snuck a big finger full of icing, then got ready to blow out her candles.

Everyone made sure she didn’t forget to make a wish… and cheered as she blew the candles out.

… Why wasn’t I surprised by the rebellious, artsy clothes she had picked out. I rolled my eyes, and vowed not to say anything – at least not while everyone else was around. Personally, I wasn’t sure they were all that appropriate.. but I guess that means I’m getting old.

There was plenty of cake to go around, and everyone was getting settled….

when I suddenly heard a thundercrack that sounded so close it must have been in the next room.

It took us all a moment to figure out what was wrong. Tevin’s son Kyler was on the floor, clutching his heart. There was nothing any of us could do – although we did try to plead with Grim.

The party was ruined. Absolutely ruined. I had hoped that Kali would have a memorable birthday party – but I certainly hadn’t wanted to to be remembered for THIS! Everyone cried and comforted each other, but it was clearly time for the party to be over, and people started collecting their belongings and leaving.

The last I saw of Kali before bed was her angrily writing in her journal. I wasn’t even sure she knew the words she was uttering.. but under the circumstances, I didn’t think it was the right time to correct her. I left her alone, and made sure Jayce and Mari got safely into bed before curling up under the covers myself.

However, it turned out the evening wasn’t quite over yet. Before I could get to sleep, my phone rang. Tevin apparently hadn’t made it home. There’d been an accident, and he died not an hour after his son had. Whether the accident was his fault, or something else was “under investigation” – but the fact that it had caused fatalities was obvious. The other car’s driver had died, too. I didn’t much care what the authorities found – Tevin was still going to be gone. But tomorrow was soon enough to deal with telling the kids, and I was exhausted. I curled miserably up into Aleki’s arms, and we both fell asleep.

---

Bloopers:

“Oh, Mommy Dolphin will save you!!”

… That moment when you JUST HAVE TO HAVE microwaved nuggets. Even though you have Maxed your cooking skill. Way to go, Kimber.

.. Right before your sister’s birthday party? .. Sigh. There’s always one!

Chapter 2.11 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 2 Interlude 2