Mom and Dad getting older was a great opportunity for three teenagers with romance on their minds. Music was playing, the adults were drinking, and there was lots of dancing.

Leah squealed when Sky asked her to be her girlfriend.

It seemed a foregone conclusion that Forest would be taking Ali to the prom, though nobody was quite sure why.

And Hunter took a deep breath and made himself go talk to Miyuki.

“Um, hi. I was wondering if you ever danced?”

“Not really,” Miyuki said. “I’d be really bad at it anyway.”

“Me too,” Hunter agreed. Then he wasn’t sure where to take the conversation. It was a relief when Dad went to blow out the candles.

Everyone else seemed to have this love thing down.

Mom and Dad couldn’t keep their hands off each other.

And were always sneaking off to strange places to do unspeakable things with each other.

Sky and Leah were so head over heels for each other that they stood out in the rain to tell each other sweet nothings.

Even Forest was composing poetry for Ali. It wasn’t terribly good poetry, but nobody dared tell him that.

Why couldn’t Hunter even manage to start a conversation?

Sky was the only person Hunter could talk to without feeling self-conscious. She never made him feel awkward or foolish. So she was really the only person he could turn to for romantic advice. “You make it look so easy,” he told her. “How do you tell someone that she’s all you think about?”

Sky looked wistful. “I don’t think I do,” she said. “I never know how to tell Leah what I think of her. She just seems to know.”

Romantic, but not terribly helpful for Hunter.

It wasn’t all bad. Far from it. The new program at the Round Table Culinary Institute had finally made learning fun. Hunter had always loved to cook, but this wasn’t just about cooking. It was about the entire food supply, including sustainable agricultural and livestock techniques. Hunter was fascinated.

It combined his love of food and flavors with his love of living things.

Hunter started spending a lot of time in Charles’s garden.

And time he spent with Ghost and Enigma became fresh windows into the world of other animals.

He even had new techniques to persuade Enigma to be less destructive. They didn’t always work, but it was progress.

His parents still helped him with his homework, but now it felt more like a conversation than a battle.

Sometimes he and Sky would just sit at the dinner table and work together in companionable silence.

And to his own surprise, he also started gong to the Monmouth Archives library after school to read about exotic plant and animal species.

He’d made huge progress in his special reading class. Dyslexia was a challenge to live with, but now that he knew its name, he could make progress. He couldn’t describe how liberating it felt to spend hours with his nose buried in a book.

Meanwhile, Charles and Veronica were coming to terms with getting older. Or perhaps they were forcing age to come to terms with them.

Charles started to get a taste for the nightlife.

Veronica was hatching schemes for a new invention.

And now that Sky and Leah were settled into their relationship, there was some time for other friends. She started hanging out a lot with Adam Bookabet after school.

They shared a passion for music.

Sometimes they’d head next door to Honeyduke’s just to grab some jam time at their rehearsal space.

Adam was one heck of a drummer.

But these days he looked really sad and distracted, and he’d become too good a friend for Sky to let that unhappy look pass over his face day after day without saying anything.

“What’s wrong?” she asked after a jam session. “You know you can tell me anything.”

“I thought Ali Mentary-Hodgins and I really had something,” Adam said. “All of a sudden she won’t return my phone calls. She dashes away before I can talk to her after school. And now I hear through the grapevine that she’s going to prom with your brother. I would never do anything on purpose to hurt her. She won’t tell me what’s wrong, and it’s tearing me apart.”

“I’m so sorry,” Sky said. “You’re right. I’ve seen her with Forest a lot recently, but my brother really keeps to himself. I’ll see if I can find out something for you.

Adam gave her a grateful smile. “You’re really the best kind of friend,” he said.

———-

So apparently StoryProgression thinks that Adam Bookabet and Ali Mentary are a match made in heaven. Forest used the voodoo doll to max out his relationship with Ali, but she kept having to leave before he asked her to be his girlfriend, and then SP would pair her off with Adam again immediately. Forest had to break them up like 3 times. I could have turned off Ali’s ability to start new townie relationships, but considering that she’s ensorcelled, it didn’t seem right.

I have reduced the frequency that SP runs most of its scenarios. It does seem a little nuts that it can run 2-3 cycles and send someone on a couple of dates and make them committed SOs within 24 sim-hours.

Sky was walking on air. She and Leah spent every spare moment together.

It was if there was magic binding them together, and their relationship progressed quickly.

For Forest, there was most certainly magic in the air. He spent a lot of time alone with his dusty books and arcane equipment.

Hunter couldn’t bring himself to pick up the phone to call Miyuki. He desperately wanted to talk to her, but what if she didn’t want to talk to him?

He poured his heart out into love letters, but he couldn’t bring himself to mail any of them.

Veronica made some time to continue her study in Sim Fu after she returned from China. She could always get a special session with the instructor.

But mostly she blew things up.

A lot.

The Charles Sample Sim Fu Academy had grown larger than Charles could possibly have dreamed. Day and night, it was filled with students young and old.

There were far too many classes for Charles to teach them all anymore, so he focused on teaching the advanced students and hiring the best of them to teach the beginners.

One day, he came to work to find an old friend waiting for him.

“You’ve come a long way,” Wu said. “I wonder if you’re ready now.”

Charles nodded. He appreciated that this was not a social call. “I can only try,” he said.

“Then let’s have at it.”

When the spar was over, both men were panting and covered in sweat. Charles’s entire body was buzzing. He knew he had never fought so well. Wu had forced him to find parts of himself he would not have found on his own.

Wu’s face broke out in a smile. “I knew you could do it,” he coughed between breaths. “I’m honored to call you an equal.”

That day, Charles Sample was inducted into the order of the great masters of Sim Fu.

This was the situation Charles found himself one afternoon as he ordered a drink from the Garden Gnome pub.

The young man who blew out the candles on his birthday cake and took the reins of this family’s future had been lonely, frustrated, and frightened. The future he’d seen for himself had been a simple, solitary one spent fishing.

He wondered if his younger self would ever have believed he could be a husband, father, mentor, and adventurer. That he would have a family and would migrate that family away from their ancestral home to a truly strange and alien place. That he would be a respected teacher that martial arts students came from all over the simworld to study with. That he would make a real difference in helping creatures like himself live as equals with other sims.

Probably not.

Maybe it was just as well.

When you were surrounded by family and friends and the knowledge that you’d made a difference, growing old didn’t seem so bad.

Happy Birthday.

———-

Charles has been my favorite sim, bar none. And he’s lived FOREVER. Aside from 2012 being a year of turmoil for me, probably the biggest reason his generation has taken so long is that I gave him a World Adventures LTW and have been sending him on so much travel. I think he’s lived through enough days for two sim-lifetimes at this point.

I officially pass the torch at the YA birthday of the heir, which will be in 2-3 more posts. But Charles’s story is well and truly told at this point, I think, and he’s already been stepping aside to give the limelight to his kids. I’ll miss him, but it’s time.

BTW: That’s Cherimoya Marmalade in the foreground while Charles is smashing blocks.

Veronica’s career was thriving in her new home.

In addition to her normal work collecting spirits, The Sufficiently Advanced Technology Center had her hosting seminars and giving lectures at Chivalric Preparatory School. Her name was starting to become a household world on the sleepy island.

Some Avalonians like Ariel Hodgins treated her like a local celebrity.

Ariel was full of questions about supernatural creatures that might be in the area. Most of them Veronica had never heard of, but she pretended to know what she was talking about.

Field work had never been more interesting. Current research indicated that Avalon Island lay on an undersea rift with the faery lands, leading to periodic magic eruptions and a higher level of ambient magic in general. That had affected the citizens in pretty eye-catching ways, though it didn’t appear to be dangerous.

Her home visits even took her out to the place where her ex-boyfriend Willem Yo was living with his new young fiance Faith Cagley. They’d apparently moved to Avalon for the climate.

Willem’s intentions were kind of creepy. The third time he asked her if she’d like to go out for drinks sometime, she pointed out that Faith was coming home, and he shut up.

Some relationships were better off dead dead dead.

Forest became even more of a loner than he had been before. It didn’t seem to bother him. He seemed to like it.

He headed out to the park a lot at dusk and never told anyone what he did there.

And then there were all those strange noises that came out of the basement in the middle of the night.

Sky’s eating habits were still disgusting, but she tried to keep them private most of the time.

Hunter’s troubles in elementary school compounded when he got to high school.

Charles and Forest spent a lot of time trying to tutor him, but it didn’t seem to help.

Veronica got really frustrated and yelled at him when his report card came home, which made the whole situation worse.

If so many people were working so hard to help him and his grades were still low, he figured he must be a real moron.

He was in that frame of mind when he had to visit the Sufficiently Advanced Tech Center (SATC) to finish a report for science class.

It happened to be Take Your Daughter to Work Day, and Sky was there with Veronica.

Veronica was called on an emergency house call just as the visit ended, so she left Sky and Hunter to find their own way home.

“Look,” Hunter said. “That’s a nice looking dog coming to visit!”

“Hunter!” Sky hissed! “That’s MacDuff Voss! Stay away from him!”

MacDuff belonged to Emma Voss, one of their new high school classmates. She had brought him to Avalon Island when she came to live with foster parents after her own parents died. MacDuff was the meanest, most dangerous dog on the island, and of course Emma and her foster parents would never believe how bad he was.

And here were Emma’s foster parents now: Tam and Martin-Luther Butterfield-Callender.

“He doesn’t look so bad,” Hunter said. “I think you just have to be extra gentle with him.”

“Hunter, don’t–!” Sky cried. But it was too late. Hunter reached his hand out for MacDuff to sniff. And MacDuff barked happily and nuzzled under Hunter’s hand for a scratch.

“How do you DO that?” Sky demanded.

“Do what?” Hunter asked.

“That,” Sky said in exasperation. “Make every nasty creature you meet into your friend.”

Hunter shrugged. “Animals aren’t that different from people. You just have to figure out how to talk to them.”

Sky sighed. “I don’t think you have any idea how talented you are.”

“I’m not talented,” Hunter said. “Besides, you make every musical instrument you meet into your friend. And Forest makes every math problem he meets into some kind of scientific advancement. I’ll never be like you guys.”

“Why would you need to be like us?” Sky asked.

“Because you guys are smart,” Hunter said scornfully. “I’ll tell you a secret. The only reason I’m not failing school is because I Forest lets me copy his homework. And even then I get it wrong half the time.”

Sky frowned. “I knew it was bad, but that’s even worse than I thought. Look, I know you’re not stupid. Mom says you’re just not applying yourself, but I’ve seen how hard you work. Have you ever thought that there might be something else making it extra hard?”

“What do you mean?” Hunter asked.

“I don’t know. But maybe you should at least talk to your guidance counselor. It’s their job to know things like why smart guys don’t do well in school.”

“Wow,” Hunter said. “I didn’t know you’d even noticed.”

“Of course I noticed,” Sky said. “You’re my brother. I love you.”

And lastly, Charles’s career also took off running. With all the sweat and love he poured into the old dojo building, he made a tidy profit from selling the Sample Spirit Dojo to a businessman from Japan. His business as a Sim Fu instructor was also turning a nice income, and he was able to fund the construction of an entirely new academy building at the top of Isolde Peak in Avalon.

There was no better atmosphere to train and meditate on the whole island.

Charles also officially received his black belt from a panel of Sim Fu masters assembled by Zhan Wu. He was well on his way to becoming a master of the art. And his reputation preceded him to the island. He had students signing up before the Charles Sample Sim Fu Academy opened its doors.

Not long after the academy officially opened, a familiar face turned up.

“I told you I’d make it out here to finish my training,” Adjo Ursine-Sample said with a grin.

Charles’s face lit up when he saw his uncle. “Did I ever say I doubted you?”

And so they got to sparring.

Adjo gave Charles a real run for his money. He’d more than earned his blue belt, and Charles was honored to grant it to him.

They hugged as they parted. Charles didn’t know it was the last time he’d see Uncle Adjo, but it was probably better that way.

Toya called not long after after Adjo returned home to report that her husband had died suddenly of a heart attack.

Adjo had lived a full life. He’d built a musical empire. He had the happy marriage and huge family he’d always dreamed off. Charmaine, Starr, Valerie, and Darrin were all grown and out of the house, and Brenna was about to graduate from high school, but their little late surprise daughter Karina was still a toddler. She’d never really know her father. Charles had lost his father Cyclone at about the same age. “You know I’m here if you need anything,” he told Toya, and he meant it.

“I know,” Toya said through tears on the phone. For an Evil politician, she’d always been a loving wife. “I’ll remember. Thank you.”

——-

Well, it had to happen sometime. Shanni’s still alive, but she’s pretty old. I’ll miss both the twins. I kind of hope Shanni has a child with Jeanna, but no such luck so far.

Hunter followed Forest around for most of his childhood, but soon after everyone’s teen birthday, Sky and Hunter rolled simultaneous wishes to be each other’s BFF. Sky really has come out of her shell, and not just with music :).

I pulled a bunch of interesting pets out of the simbin and scattered them in the town with random traits. One of those dogs was Emma Voss’s dog MacDuff. I get more StoryProgression notifications from him than any other dog, and all of them are about him mauling some poor sim or pet.

Forest has rolled a crazy number of wishes to play hopscotch. I added a game to the park, but there’s never anyone there when he shows up to play with him. I guess he’d want to keep it a secret anyway.

I didn’t have NewSea’s Elizabeth installed when I first ran the game, and thought the hair that Ariel rolled kind of suited her, so I left it. I did give Sebastian back Charles’s hair :).

Willem Yo really did hit on Veronica when I left her on autonomy at the end of a job, pretty much in full view of Faith. If that’s the kind of dirty old man he’s become, I’m no longer sorry for treating him so badly in this legacy. Then again, maybe it was all those rejections that twisted his soul…. At any rate, sorry Redhead about Faith! At least Morand is very happy :).

Well, my memory is upgraded and the Windows 7 virtual machine is running like a charm. The performance is a massive improvement on what I was getting, as tested with the Wonderlands. However, I have been really nervous about loading up the Samples for fear that there was something more wrong with them that was causing the crash on load.

As of this writing, I have loaded the Samples and played for 15 minutes before I had to shut down because my daughter woke up from her nap. During that time, nothing crashed, and that’s much better than I was getting before. That’s not a REAL test, but it’s encouraging. I’ll suck it up and actually try to play a real session soon.

And I’d better because it turns out I’m WAY closer to caught up than I thought. I have laid out one more post after this, and I have parts for about three more, but I have to actually finish playing some current stuff before those can be done. So, wow. I’m not sure if I’ve been that close to caught up this year. It’s a bit unnerving.

One note: I did find one big performance issue that was affecting both the Wonderlands and the Samples. I downloaded some custom content