Winter was around the corner. The leaves had fallen from the trees, and there was frost in the morning.
Xia prepared Hunter’s garden for the first snow, making sure the sensitive plants had enough mulch around their roots to protect them from freezing.
Abby tried to impress Xia by pretending she was interested in gardening.
Xia knew it was just a ploy for attention, but she didn’t call Abby on it. She wanted Abby to feel loved.
As the sun rose on Saturday morning, Sky painted and Dylan tidied up. Sawyer’s sleep schedule was off from everyone else’s again.
For brunch, Sky made yet another attempt at grilled cheese sandwiches.
They came out golden brown this time, exactly as she’d intended.
She took a tentative bite….
And to her shock, they tasted pretty good!
“Hey everyone!” she called! “Brunch is on!”
“These are great!” Abby quipped. “They taste just like chicken!”
“I have big plans for today,” Sky said with her mouth full.
“Mama!” Dylan complained. “Do you have to do that? It’s disgusting!”
Sky shrugged off Dylan’s rebuke. “Winter is almost here, and I’ve been promising everyone a day at the park. This is our last chance until Spring.”
“Mama,” Abby said patiently, “it’s dark and rainy outside, not to mention almost freezing. I’m not going to the park in that.”
Sky smirked. “Thanks to your grandmother Veronica,” she said, “I can handle that.”
So they packed up and headed off as a family to the park.
“Come climb with me!” Abby said immediately. “They just installed a climbing wall. I bet I can beat you.”
Xia blinked. “Seriously? Which of us is training to be an astronaut?”
Xia took up the challenge, though, and it went pretty much as one would expect.
Worst, Abby seemed genuinely upset about losing.
“Hey now,” Xia chided. “I’ve been doing military exercises since you were in diapers. Give me a little credit here!”
Abby smiled. “I know,” she said. “It’s silly. I just like to win, I guess.”
“Can I invite Mum?” Dylan begged.
Sky froze. “I was thinking this would be a family day out,” she said.
“Mum IS family,” Dylan retorted. “And you said you’d invite her to things. I heard you.”
Sky nodded. “You’re right,” she said. “Call her.”
Sawyer tried to strike up a conversation with Adria Sword, an older girl from school who was hanging around on the basketball court.
He started by trying to explain the scientific principles behind the patented Veronica Sample Weathermaster machine that had allowed Sky to make the day so pretty.
Then he told her about how advanced his brain was. Grownups kept saying that he had learning disabilities, but they couldn’t do calculus in their heads.
Adria nodded a lot, but didn’t say much. Then she said she had to go. Sawyer didn’t think it had gone very well.
Leah came straight over from a champagne brunch at the Castle Marmalade.
She was delighted to see Dylan. It was the first time in a very long time that Sky saw firsthand how close they were.
It was to be expected — in fact, it was a good thing. Still, it was hard not to compare the adoring way Dylan looked at Leah and wonder if if he felt that strongly about his mama.
She found ways to distract herself.
And it did get better.
As the afternoon wore on, Xia taught Abby the basics of basketball.
Sawyer gave up on the social stuff and began collecting, “specimens.”
Sky serenaded the park and brought in a nice collection of tips.
Everyone had a good time, and after the kids were in bed, Sky and Xia sat up and held each other tight.
“There won’t be very many more days like this one,” Sky said sadly. “Sawyer’s about to start high school, and it won’t be that much longer until Dylan graduates.”
Xia sighed. “I know.”
Sky nestled into Xia’s shoulder. “I hope I’ve done all right by them. I never imagined myself as a mom, but it just happened.”
Xia held her close. “You’ve done just fine,” she said.
———-
Just a slice-of-life character building chapter. I debated leaving this one out, but I just can’t let go of these little moments.
Since it was cold, they kept popping in and out of their outerwear, so some of the pictures are in different outfits. Ah well.
Also, Sky is floating again. Her and Charles’s walk styles set to a normal sim sometime while Sky was a teen, and I left it that way to show how human they’d become, especially since Sky was only 1/4 ghost. They could still walk over gaps and through walls, and with Twallan’s mod allowed her to teleport. However, I started experimenting with Showtime and Simports, and it turns out that ghost occults (or possibly any occult?) can’t Simport. So I removed her occult state in order to send her on Simport and then replaced it, which reset her walk style. I left her as human for a stretch later because of Simport, so she’ll be floating on and off. I figure, that’s probably reasonable for a 1/4 ghost anyway :).
BTW: Adria Sw0rd is the late-in-life daughter of Sebastian Hodgins Sw0rd and Lynn Winslow Sw0rd. She got Sebastian’s coloring, but a lot of Lynn’s facial features. You’ll be seeing her again :).
I liked this snippet of family life. I think, despite everything, that Sky is actually a pretty good mum. Her kids seem content and well adjusted … well, except for Sawyer, but that's due to no fault on Sky's part. He does seem happy enough though. Poor Sawyer. Just a little glimpse into how tough it'll be for him in the future. Adria is really pretty … I hope she gives him a chance!
With every chapter, I love Sawyer's specialness more than before, even though I have to agree that his life probably won't be easy for quite some time.
And it seems like Sky is actually doing a great job as a mum! She doesn't have to worry about that.
Love the shot of Sky dribbling food…I always forget she's a slob. Also love Abby's active wear…so cute!
The one pic of Dylan and Leah have me a double take…they look a little TOO close at first.
Sawyer is awesome. I'm pretty sure I'm going to vote for him, so if I vanish before the heir poll, make sure to give him some love from me!
Haha! Sky is Virtuoso, Slob, Lucky, Brave, and Commitment Issues. Virtuoso and Commitment Issues are the ones that define her character most, but I do my best with the Slob part. If you look at the shot of her room at the top of the post, you'll see her underwear on the floor and some empty yogurt cups on the nightstand :). I'd do more, but I get really lazy looking up decor items. I need to create some collections for decor stuff because there's just too much for me to be able to track, so I don't use much of it.
Also, I kind of translate Slob to more meta stuff — she's been impulsive and messy about her personal relationships. If you're going to cheat on your wife, there are probably better places to do it than in a pub with a lot of people to report on you :).
Also, I need to look at what Lucky does because it has been hugely disappointing. It doesn't seem to have increased her chances of having a good Singer performance, and she's burned more food at higher levels of the Cooking skill than any other sim I've played. I basically haven't seen any effect at all. I suppose it could possibly have affected how long it took Leah to learn about Sky's cheating.
Ahh, I love that! I commend you for the details…I barely bother to even decorate half the time, no matter how good my intentions might be, and I always love it when other people do. The little details are the best…now I feel like I need to take a peek at Sawyer's room.
My sim wife and I are always talking about how frustrating we find some if the "throwaway" traits…like light/heavy sleeping; I wonder if lucky/unlucky fit into that group as well? Sara Simptoms is Unlucky, which seems to mean she's always breaking things…but that's all I've really noticed with her, other than the occasional "feeling unlucky" moodlet….
The more I read, the more Sawyer grows on me. I think he's getting very close to becoming my favourite for this generation.
I love seeing the family interact. Leah's clearly still an important part of it, at least for Dylan, and it's interesting to see how Sky copes with that. I'm really pleased that she's actually trying to heal that rift (as much as such a large rift can be healed, anyway). I have to wonder a little at how Xia copes though. I imagine it must be pretty awkward for her too.
Also, apparently Lucky influences winning games (such as chess), raises, chances of breaking objects, getting robbed, the Ring of Fire (for Acrobats), and apparently food burning. Although, as you say, Sky seems to burn an awful lot of food…
I'm starting to see how this heir vote is probably going to go :).
Xia hasn't gotten much character time. This is mostly my fault. She's Brave, Adventurous, Party Animal, and a couple other things I'll remember later. SP moved her from career to career, and when she joined the household at almost Adult, she had been pointlessly moved into the Band career (with no band and no musical skills), and she had the Visa Level 3 LTW that Charles already did (and I will so never do again). I pondered her LTW options and saved up her happiness points to change it to something both in character and achievable, thus Astronaut. But she had to start from 0 in the military career, and I had her doing that almost every spare moment. She has neither done much partying nor any character building on her own failed almost-marriage.
I noticed that around now, and Xia will be getting some attention in the very next post, actually. Getting the Legacy points is nice, but not if it keeps me from having a story to tell. Plus, she's now level 7, I think, and not yet Elder, so she's going to make it — unless she electrocutes herself or somesuch.
I'm pretty annoyed at Lucky. It really ought to affect most random-roll sorts of events, like the success of Sky's performances. And if it affects that one stunt for Acrobats, why doesn't it affect the chance of killing yourself with a magic trick? Base game traits seem to get ignored a lot in the expansions, which is pretty irritating. I guess Sky would get much more benefit from being Lucky if she had a rabbithole career.
Unlucky seems to mean you break a lot of things, but how does that really distinguish it from Clumsy?
After Forest moved out, Sawyer moved from Hunter's old room, which he shared with Dylan, into Forest's room. I redid both boy rooms then. Abby kept the tiny nursery, but she loves its fairy tale theme and hasn't wanted to redecorate. I have screenshots of the boys' rooms coming up, I think (hope?).
The most annoying throwaway trait to me is Easily Impressed. It is probably relevant for a celebrity NPC to have it, but it's COMPLETELY USELESS to an active character. Ada was Easily Impressed, and that trait is dead to me now.
Easily impressed….gah. Alopecia has that AND diva….how can you be an easily impressed diva? Don't the two cancel each other out??
Never nude is another pointless one to me.
Diva and Easily Impressed should totally be mutually exclusive traits. They probably aren't because they're from different expansions. Fail.
Never Nude COULD have been entertaining if it were Prude and included stuff other than just wearing your swimsuit in the bathtub — which indicates to me that you're prudish AND gross, since it's pretty hard to get clean that way.
Heavy Sleeper, BTW, is not actually useless. It's golden in a house full of babies and toddlers because you can sleep through them screaming. Hunter was the only one who got enough sleep when we had Abby and Ash. I've never had a light sleeper, so I don't know what extra things wake them up. Also I thought I heard Heavy Sleepers might snore or talk in their sleep? Or is that another trait?
I can see how she might be a fairly busy sim… We've had some character stuff for her, of course. I just love unusual family structures, and really enjoy seeing how the characters deal with the complicated and unusual demands they can put on people.
I can't wait to see what happens with her 🙂
Yeah, Lucky feels kind of underused in some ways. Like they got halfway there, and then ran out of time.