Xia has a panic attack when Vickie goes into labor.
Which Vickie finds hilarious, in between contractions.
Ah, we’ve reached them time in this legacy for plenty of stroller yoga.
And completely age-inappropriate wishes.
Winston has very mixed feelings about Connery’s death.
Jonah catches fire in the haunted house at the Fall Festival?
Um, Susie, I know you get special privileges for being the legacy foundress, but this is a little too close and personal.
Judith wants Forest to know better than to try anything. She knows martial arts.
Edmund, on the other hand, is just really excited that his famous Emperor of Evil family member decided to come visit.
(Forest didn’t have the Emperor glow at this party. He and his lover-rival Sean Flynn have been trading the title back and forth for generations, so I guess he’s on the off-cycle at the moment.)
A bit of townie gossip.
This was a pretty disturbing notification to receive about Joy leaving Edmund and moving back in with her parents…
It didn’t take her too long to move on with my Severus Snape simalike….
Which led to the expected result.
Miguel here is a Brooding Hopeless Romantic. So… kind of a daddy’s boy.
Roderick also moved on to a serious relationship after his rebound with… his new girlfriend’s mother. That’s not creepy at all, guys.
The next few days were difficult. Vickie and her brothers had lost both their parents now. Everywhere she looked, Vickie saw her mom.
Even cooking was difficult. Especially cooking.
Winston’s sense of loss hit him in the moments he was least prepared for it.
Fortunately he never hurt himself badly.
They took comfort in their family.
Caspian was a growing toddler filled with laughter.
He was always out to be the center of attention, and if he wasn’t, he figured out how to get there.
And then there was another one on the way. Vickie had a lot more cravings with this pregnancy than the last one. Ice cream and pickles at midnight it was.
Jonah couldn’t stop looking at her with those adoring eyes. Vickie had never seen anyone so happy to be a father.
Vickie was checking the mail when she realized it was time again.
This time, she was feeling a bit more fae than usual, so she flew herself to the hospital and told Jonah to catch up with her there. Winston stayed kept an eye on Caspian.
They brought home their second son, Wade Sample.
The parenting routine began again, this time in stereo.
On Snowflake day, they decided to have a gift exchange. Vickie, Jonah, and Winston sent out a long list of invitations, and most friends and family attended.
With an extra surprise who wasn’t on anyone’s invitation list.
In fact, most people didn’t recognize him or guess why he was there. Gamora’s face lit up when she saw him, though. “Uncle Forest! How are the creatures of the night these days?”
Maya Ocean dropped in, as well as Uncle Chaim and his son Hans.
Edmund showed up with a twinkle in his eye. Vickie drew him aside and applied some sisterly pressure, and he admitted that he’d met someone. “It’s just been two dates,” he said. “It might not be anything. Don’t spread any gossip yet.”
“My lips are sealed,” Vickie said. “But you should see your face! Those must have been two great dates.”
“She’s captivating,” Edmund said. “I look forward to introducing her to you…. assuming things continue apace.”
And then there was Joyelle Waves. She came, as inappropriately dressed as ever, and just as oblivious to the cold.
But the chill in the looks she exchanged with Jonah was unmistakable. Reconciliation was clearly not going well.
Everyone gathered around the gift pile, talking and squealing over their gifts.
Caspian turned up the charm to pull attention back to him.
Wade slept in his baby swing.
Joyelle and Gamora struck up an unexpected friendship.
Unfortunately, it mostly seemed to be built around complaining about humans in voices loud enough that everyone could hear.
“Are you all right?” Vickie asked Jonah.
“I’m managing,” he said, but the ache in his heart was clear on his face.
To make things even more tense, Forest waved Jonah over after he’d opened his gift. He wanted to discuss the, um, lavish financial circumstances of the Sample family, and what a bad idea it would be for a penniless interloper to try to get a piece of that wealth by romancing an heiress. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Jonah had seen better parties. He was ready to send everyone home.
When the party was finally over, Emilie didn’t go home at all. She and Winston slipped up to the attic rec room with their own plans for the evening.
Jonah escorted his mother to the beach behind the house. He returned after Vickie had said the rest of the goodbyes. His expression was bleak.
“What happened?” Vickie asked. “What did she do?”
Jonah looked past her and stared out at the snow swirling beyond the window. “My mother and had a long talk,” he said. “She won’t be attending any more gatherings. I can consider myself in dispersal from my pod. She is not going to accept my choice of life on land.”
“Oh Jonah,” Vickie breathed. “You didn’t have to do this. I don’t know why you–”
Jonah cut her off with a wave of his hand. “I don’t regret a moment. I want to be here. It was my mother’s choice whether to accept me, and she did not. I’m sad she made that decision, but I don’t want to change how I live… or who I live it with.”
“Can you really be happy? With me? Away from the sea?”
Jonah turned back to face her, and this time his eyes were smiling. “I’m so far from the sea I can watch the surf from our bedroom window,” he said. “And as for you–” He pulled her close and kissed her, then kissed again more hungrily. And for a while there was nothing more to say.
I can’t find the screenshots, but Jonah and Joyelle had a nasty argument in front of the house after this party. I’m grumpy that the screenshots are missing.
Stupid snowfall inside the house. I try to mitigate it, but it’s everywhere.
This is not my most inspired post, but it moves time along and introduces their second kid. It was pretty entertaining to see Forest crash the Snowflake Day party.
There’s just too much goofiness not to record a few things.
With the Samples, I like to record each child’s first successful word. This was Alair’s, though, and I for this game I had no idea what to do with it.
This party in the outhouse is one of the most Sims moments in this game so far. And here we are talking about juicing again. (Or probably soda, but solo cups are pretty strong associated with juiced-up college hijinx in this game….)
This here is teaching your child to walk with The Force.
Townie fashion.
I think I fixed the naked top being enabled for random on women, but apparently the naked bottoms are still a problem.
And then there was this bit of townie drama while Jacqueline was at the market. The chick who was buying from the harvest stand kept stopping to throw these furious idles. I thought at first maybe she had a low motive.
Then I realized she was reacting to something in particular.
A pair of sims were standing on the edge of the market engaged in some pretty seriously flirting. You can see how he’s dressed completely inappropriately for the weather just so that he can show off his bulging muscles.
So, I checked with Mastercontroller — yup, the flirting dude was angry lady’s husband.
So sorry, poor townie lady. Divorce isn’t really a thing here in fake medieval England.
But you might be able to ditch him by leaving town?
The air turned colder, and Autumn eased into Winter.
Winston’s crowds at outdoor venues started to get thinner as it got colder. He’d performed in the snow before. He didn’t feel the chill when he was moving and playing with fire. But the park stage was probably not going to be the best way to draw an audience for a while.
He spent a lot of his personal time on dates with Emilie.
Andria decided to write her memoirs and began to fill spiral-bound notebooks cover-to-cover with pencil scratches. “Don’t tell me to put it on the computer,” she snapped when VIckie suggested just that. “I can’t stand computers. They make everything feel artificial. I guess they call it ‘virtual’ these days.”
Vickie didn’t argue with her.
On the other side of the tech divide, Jonah had just discovered computer video games and would disappear for hours.
They found other ways to have fun too.
That fun had the logical outcome. Vickie was delighted to be expecting another child.
So was Andria. She knew she was living on borrowed time. Every moment she spent with her family, especially her grandchildren, was a blessing.
When Caspian’s birthday rolled around, Vickie decided it was high time for a party. “I’ll invite the entire family, and anyone who can’t come losing the right to complain that I left them out,” she declared.
Jonah looked pensive.
Vickie, who had gotten a lot better at noticing everything he said without words, noticed immediately. “What’s wrong?”
“The Waves pod will be headed back in our direction toward our winter fishing grounds,” he said slowly. “I would like to invite my mother to this party. She hasn’t met her grandson.”
Vickie blinked. “I thought you said your clan disowned you… because of me,” she finished more quietly.
Jonah stared at his hands, “It wasn’t that simple,” he said. “I can’t be a part of the pod anymore, but if I could persuade her to visit, she might want to continue associating with us.” He sighed. “I would like to try.”
Vickie hugged him. “I still don’t understand why you were willing to give all that up to be with me,” she said. “I think she’s crazy to give you up completely. I support you. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
Jonah kissed her instead. He was a merman of few words.
For Andria, the best part of any party was baking the cake.
Snow was falling when the time of the party rolled around. Vickie stood at the door to say hello to Edmund, Gamora and Emmett, Judith and Mason.
Last to arrive was a woman Vickie didn’t recognize but knew without asking.
“Um, you must be Joyelle,” Vickie stammered. She had an ageless face, a far-away look in her eye, and was wearing a completely inappropriate, gauzey dress in the middle of the snow. She didn’t even seem to be cold.
Joyelle of Waves rewarded Vickie with a piercing look. She nodded slowly.
“Jonah’s getting the baby up from his nap…” Vickie trailed off.
Joyelle looked past her and walked by.
Jonah brought Caspian downstairs, and it was time for the big moment.
Caspian grew into a little merman who looked a lot like his father.
But with Grandma Andria’s eyes.
She couldn’t have been more delighted.
Andria served up the cake. Jonah and Joyelle exchanged glances that Vickie couldn’t read, but they didn’t say much to each other. Vickie sat down to spend some time with Judith, which was a lot more comfortable.
Caspian, on the other hand, pondered how to pull the carving knives down off the counter.
“I have to ask,” Judith said. “You have always been such a free spirit. What do you think of motherhood? Doesn’t it tie you down?”
“I was afraid it would,” Vickie admitted. “But I had to try. It’s been crazy but wonderful. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. And I guess I’m doing it again!” She looked down at her belly, which was barely showing her new pregnancy.
“Another baby already!” Judith said. “You didn’t waste any time!”
“I’m not getting any younger,” Vickie said. “I guess I thought it was now or never. Have you and Mason thought about kids at all?”
“We’re…. talking about it,” Judith said. “I think want to, but Mason isn’t so sure. He has such a disruptive job, you know. Would we really be able to raise a family with him working nights and disappearing at odd hours?”
Judith had made it clear that Vickie shouldn’t ask too much about what Mason did for a living, so she didn’t go there. “You always have me to help!” she said instead. “I don’t want to push you into anything, but wouldn’t it be amazing if we were moms with small kids together?”
[Mason James is in the Criminal career, but I realize that I don’t know what Judith does or if she has a job.]
After cake, Jonah started cleaning up, and Joyelle helped him. Vickie called the rest of the guests to come play with Caspian, who had crawled into the kitchen and was trying to pull the grating off the dishwasher. This kid was going to be a handful.
Vickie could hear her husband and mother-in-law speaking in low, singsong voices. She didn’t think it was in Simlish.
After a while, Caspian started throwing a tantrum, and Vickie bundled the overstimulated toddler upstairs to rock for a while in the rocking chair to try to calm him down. Jonah said goodbye to the guests.
“Did it go all right with your mom?” Vickie asked anxiously when he joined her upstairs.
“I… don’t know,” Jonah said. “She was interested in learning more about her grandson. She wants to know what my plans are for his ocean education. We can lose our tails, you know, if we don’t spend enough time in the sea.”
“I didn’t know!” Vickie said. “You haven’t been swimming since Caspian was born. Are you sure–?”
He took her hand. “I know my own body,” he said. “You don’t need to worry.”
Vickie would have said more, but downstairs something more important was happening.
When Grim came for Andria a second time, she didn’t have a flower for him. It seemed almost disappointed.
“Not now!” Andria begged. “I have another grandbaby on the way!”
“I granted you one favor,” Grim said in its deep, grating voice. “Most souls don’t get any. Don’t push your luck.”
Then they departed for the Netherworld together.
Vickie knew she should be grateful for the extra time she had with her mother, but it wasn’t enough. No time could ever be enough.
Not a lot of commentary here. There’s going to be baby and toddler spam for a while.
Joyelle was the original mermaid generated for the dive lots I created on this world. Since she was going to be donating genes to the legacy, though, I gave her a new face.
Vickie had to admit that being a pregnant newlywed wasn’t bad at all.
Morning sickness was light, and Jonah jumped to help whenever she seemed the slightest bit uncomfortable.
He was practically vibrating with anticipation of impending fatherhood, which certainly quelled her own nervousness. She had never felt so pampered in her life.
Days were spent preparing for the baby. And playing with Connery.
And learning about parenthood.
When Vickie couldn’t handle more attention, Jonah roamed in search of the herd of wild horses that wandered the coasts of Avalon Island.
They enchanted him. Every motion was a moment of vivid beauty bound to the world of dry land in which they lived.
They no longer spooked or ran when they saw him. He was beginning to earn trust.
The dreaded day arrived when they had to say goodbye to Connery.
Dis departure wasn’t a surprise. He was an incredibly elderly dog. Aunt Abby had adopted him into the family as a puppy.
It was still incredibly sad. He’d been there for Vickie in some of her darkest moments, and she took it really hard.
She inhaled suddenly from a sob. She felt something new that definitely had nothing to do with crying.
It hit her again. “Jonah,” she called. “I think it’s time.”
Jonah couldn’t drive her to the hospital. He’d never taken a driving lesson. But he was right there to offer support.
They arrived at the same time a Maya Ocean, looking fit and hale. “Hey! I’m getting a sparring injury checked out,” she said. “I guess I don’t need to ask why you’re here. Congratulations. Better you than me.”
It wasn’t Maya’s most supportive moment. Vickie managed not to snarl at her.
As births go, this was an easy one.
The birth announcement was in the newspaper the next day.
Andria cut the birth announcement out of the newspaper. “I’ll cherish this moment forever,” she said. “I got to meet my grandbaby!”
Vickie looked at the birth announcement and scowled. “The CHILD is resting comfortably? What about the mom?” It had been an easy birth, but not that easy.
Motherhood came naturally to Vickie.
She could rock endlessly with him in her arms and doze.
She even enjoyed the never-ending responsibility of keeping Caspian amused, fed, and clean.
Well, she enjoyed it most of the time. When she didn’t, her family was there to pick up the slack.
Winston already worked nights most of the time. It was easy for him to adjust his sleep schedule to accommodate early morning feedings.
And Andria was never far away. She sang lullabies to him when he fussed and kept a sharp eye on how much sleep the beleaguered parents were allowing themselves.
[Jonah did plenty of parenting. I just somehow failed to take pictures of him. Sorry to make you look like a deadbeat, Jonah.]
On Spooky Day, the new expanded family had their first outing.
Caspian laughed and gurgled all the way to the festival. He seemed thrilled to see all the new people. It didn’t hurt that adults compulsively make silly faces at babies.
“Hey,” Winston said. “Thanks for meeting me here. I thought it would be great to have a date at the Spooky Day festival, but I didn’t realize my sister was going to come along and bring the baby parade.”
“Oh, don’t say that!” Emilie said. “Your little nephew adorable. Don’t you think he’s adorable?”
“Yeah,” Winston admitted. “He really is great.”
“Have you ever thought of having kids of your own?” Emilie asked, avoiding his eyes.
“Yeah….” Winston admitted. “Some. Well, a lot more since Vickie got pregnant. It’s not so easy to have a family when you’re performing evening shows, but, well, yeah I think I want kids. Just not right now.”
Emilie beamed at him. “Of course not now, silly,” she said.
They stood around awkwardly for a long moment, searching for a way out of this topic of conversation.
“Hey!” Winston said. “It looks like they’re starting an apple bobbing contest!”
“Oh, great” Emilie said, her voice relieved. “I bet I can grab more apples than you!”
They both lost the contest.
A teen Victoria didn’t know walked up behind her. “Excuse me?” she demanded, “Did you just put your baby on the ground?”
“Well, just for a moment,” Vickie said, “while I–”
“That’s a horrifying way to treat an innocent baby!” the teen shouted. “What kind of parent are you? Have what for!”
“Aiee!” Vickie shrieked in surprise. “Did you–”
“Did you just slap me??”
The teen stuffed the glove back in her pocket. “It’s no worse than you deserve, ruffian!”
“How dare you!” Vickie growled. “I ought to–”
“I think it’s time to go home,” Jonah cut in. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of Caspian.”
[I think this is a Proper interaction “Give What For.” Awesome autonomous sims! I never noticed this with Dylan, and now I’m sorry.]
Vickie was just setting a sleeping Caspian back in his crib after a dawn feeding when she caught a flash of motion from her upstairs window.
Someone was fishing from the little beach of the property. In fact, just the place where Jonah had first stepped out of the ocean to meet her.
That in itself was unusual but no cause for alarm, but then she realized the fisherman was Edmund.
Vickie ran out to meet him. “What are you doing out here?” she cried. “You’ve never wanted to fish in your life!”
“Vickie!” Edmund whirled around, dropping his fishing pole. He looked almost guilty. “I didn’t expect to see anyone here.”
“I certainly didn’t expect to see you here,” Vickie said. “Why the sudden new hobby?”
“I just thought I should take some time alone to clear my head,” Edmund said, but the words came slower and more anxious as he spoke.
Then his face crumpled. “Joy left me,” he said.
“She what?” Vickie said. “Oh, Edmund. I’m so sorry. Do you know what happened?”
“She said she was wrong about me,” Edmund said. “She just didn’t feel for me what I felt for her.” He sighed. “I’d been talking about getting married. I guess she didn’t want to marry me.” A tear rolled down his cheek.
“If she didn’t want you as a husband, she’s the one with a problem,” Vickie said. “You would make a wonderful husband.”
Edmund smiled sadly. “Thanks for saying that,” he said. “We both know I’m an unusual guy with unusual interests. Not everyone is comfortable with fae magic. I thought Joy was, but I guess that wasn’t really what we had in common. I’m not sure I have any idea what I really need in a partner.”
Vickie threw her arms around her brother. “You’re right,” she said. “You’re not an ordinary guy. You’re romantic and brainy and old fashioned in a good way, not to mention mystical and mysterious. Joy may not appreciate that, but someone will. I know it.”
Generation 8 at last!
Spoilers: There are more kids coming, but Caspian is the heir unless something riveting happens with the others. He’s a fabulous counterpoint for rational, reserved Victoria. That is to say, he’s a hot mess.
NRaas StoryProgression broke up Edmund and Joy brutally. You could just see from the notifications that they had some ugly disagreement, she squashed his heart under her heel, and she immediately moved out and back in with her parents. Oooof. Joy was the simalike a fellow simmer build of her own teenage kid years ago, so, um, sorry it turned out like that.
The morning of the wedding dawned gray and drizzly, leaving the beach sand a bit damp was the Samples set up for the event.
“Please don’t rain, please don’t rain, please don’t rain,” Victoria wished fiercely, decked out in her bridal sundress with her makeup just so.
And just like that, the sky cleared. She wondered if her mom had anything to do with it. She was pretty sure Andria was nowhere near that powerful.
Uncle Chaim was one of the first to arrive.
And he brought with him a surprise plus one, one Benjamin Mai, who he nervously introduced as his date.
Everyone still missed Aunt Abby, but it was good to know that Uncle Chaim was moving toward a life after her.
Uncle Sawyer arrived right on time with Gamora and her new husband Emmett in tow.
And Maya Ocean, who couldn’t hide her smirk at the whole event. “I told you so,” she whispered when she came close.
Edmund with Joy.
“It’s about tiiiime!” Vickie’s best friend Judith James cheered to anyone who would listen. “My girl is finally getting herself the right man!”
Jonah and Victoria walked together to the water’s edge. The guests gathered around and conversation slowed to a murmur. They could hear the rush of the gentle waves reaching up onto the shore and pulling back into the sea.
“I guess it’s time to do this thing,” Victoria whispered.
“Any time you’re ready,” Jonah agreed.
They exchanged rings on the sand, under the bright sun, with short, simple vows.
As they sealed their vows with a kiss, the guests erupted into cheers and throw confetti.
Uncle Sawyer really got into the confetti throwing.
“And not a moment too soon,” Victoria said.
“You’ve been living in the same house as that guy,” Edmund said. “What do you think of him? They had one quick courtship. That doesn’t really seem like Vickie’s style.”
“Well, he’s crazy about her,” Winston said. “That part’s pretty obvious. Maybe she just met the one and knew it.”
“We can hope so,” Edmund said.
“Trust you to see the dark side of things,” Winston said. “How are you and Joy, anyway? You thinking about tying the knot? I never thought of you as the kind of guy to live so long with a girlfriend before making yourselves an honest couple.”
“Um,” Edmund said. “Joy takes commitment slowly. I think it’s time to cut the cake.
Andria had really outdone herself on that baking.
Out of the corner of her eye, Vickie did notice that Joy always seemed to be on the opposite side of the beach from Edmund. She hoped everything was all right.
“Gamora Sample-Relevart?” Judith squealed. “The astrophysicist philanthropist? I just read about you in the Avalon Times! You built the new stellar observatory. Could I have your autograph?”
“Uncle Sawyer!” Vickie said. “It’s wonderful to see you! How is the new house and, um, new family?”
“We’re coexisting just fine,” Dr Sawyer Sample said. “It’s a big house. You should make an appointment with me for a pregnancy health check.”
“Oh! I never really thought about that,” Vickie said.
“You’d be surprised what modern medicine can tell us,” Sawyer said. “Your baby is a boy, by the way.”
“It’s, uh, thanks?” Vickie said. She wasn’t totally sure she wanted to know that.
“So there’s a little nephew in there?” said Edmund.
Jonah took a bit of a break from the press of the crowd to play catch in the surf with Connery.
Winston caught up with his cousin, who was certainly older and wiser and more content. He’d never been sure what she did in that lab she kept under Andria’s greenhouse, but apparently it was pretty lucrative.
A distant cousin, one of the Sample-Bookabets, captivated a crowd with some story about her travels.
Uncle Chaim took a moment to think about Abby.
“Take a look at that!” Gamora pointed. Judith had stripped to a swimsuit and was splashing in the surf.
She waved to Edmund. He took off his shoes, rolled up his pants, and started dancing with her.
“That’s a great idea! I’m in!” shouted Danial Ibari.
“I hear that it’s customary for the couple to dance together at their wedding,” Jonah said. “Would you join me?”
“I’d be delighted,” Vickie answered.
“Aren’t they adorable!” cried the cousin. “I’ll be sure to send them the pictures.”
Winston drifted over to Emilie. “Hey, do you like to dance? Would you like to dance with me?”
Emilie beamed at him. “Sure! I’m not a great dancer just to warn you.”
“It’ll be ok,” Winston said. He took her hand and pulled her close.
“Hey you’re not bad at this!” Emilie cried, laughing, as he twirled her.
“Quick moves are part of the job,” Winston said.
“Do you think your date can spare a dance for me?” Andria asked Chaim.
“Oh, of course!” Chaim said.
“Sometimes we geezers just have to stick together,” Andria said. And they were both Sample widows now, which went without saying.
Soon everyone was dancing together on the beach.
“I guess this is it,” Vickie whispered to Jonah. “Mister and Missus Sample. And soon baby makes three.”
Jonah smiled. “I think we’ll be ready,” he said.
One of my more successful wedding parties, if I do say so myself. Even if it did start out raining. I might have had someone back at the house use the weather machine before coming. I don’t actually remember.
Finding an even vaguely wedding-like dress that had a pregnancy morph was a huge pain. After this, went and downloaded a bunch of cc for future needs. Considering how much this game is about making babies, EA sure doesn’t think pregnant ladies need much to wear.
Uncle Chaim and little Hans spent the day with them after the funeral. Victoria still had no idea what possessed them to adopt a son so late in life. What would become of Hans if Uncle Chaim died and the poor kid was orphaned a second time?
Hans might have been thinking something like that himself. He was quiet and sullen for most of his visit. Not that you could blame him.
Victoria did her best to draw out her little cousin, and he did begin to loosen up. He told her about the new, smaller home that he and his father were planning to move to now that Abby’s celebrity lifestyle was behind them. He seemed to be excited about that part at least.
If something happened to Uncle Chaim, Hans would be welcome here, Vickie decided. Even though they hadn’t had nearly enough time so far to really get to know him, he was still family.
After the funeral reception, Vickie started feeling queasy.
A test quickly proved that the problem wasn’t something she ate.
She and Jonah hadn’t talked about children, but they hadn’t been terribly careful either. With her long unsuccessful love life, she hadn’t let her self think much about children. Making plans for them seemed like begging fate to crush them. She knew she wanted children, though hadn’t realized quite how much until she felt the surge of joy in discovering she was pregnant.
Whatever Jonah thought, she was ready to be a mom. More than ready, even.
So then she had to find out what Jonah thought.
“Have you ever thought about… having children?” she began nervously.
“I’ve thought of having them with you,” he admitted. “I hope that’s something you want when the time is right.”
“What if the right time was right now?”
“You’re pregnant!” he gasped.
“Is that good for you?” Vickie asked.
“Good? It’s wonderful! Um, that is if it’s good for you.”
He wrapped his arms around her and held her close, and Vickie decided to go all the way.
“If we’re going to have a baby together, would you like to do it as husband and wife?” she asked. It might not be the most romantic proposal, but she’d really always valued straightforward honesty more.
Jonah laughed. “I have already pledged myself to you in the strongest way of the merfolk,” he said, “but if it makes you happy, we’ll do it the landwalker way too.”
He let her take his hand and kneel to slip a ring on his finger.
Andria squealed with glee at the news.
“I gave up on hoping that I would life to see any of my kids get married or have my grandchildren. Now both at the same time!”
Vickie and Jonah decided on a small simple wedding, and Andria didn’t try to talk them out of it.
“Your father insisted on a big church wedding, and really one of those in a lifetime is more than enough,” she said. She did, however, insist on baking a big wedding cake.
Since there wasn’t a fancy dress, a gourmet reception, or even really a venue, plans came together quickly. It was a good thing too, since they were racing the clock against the baby.
Then, on the night before the wedding, Andria walked out to get the mail and started to feel light.
Vickie, Jonah, and Winston dashed outside as the Grim Reaper made its appearance.
“No no no no no!” Vickie shouted. “You can’t do this! You can’t take her now!”
Grim’s hood turned toward her for a moment and shrugged. Obviously, it could do anything it liked. Only Grim knew when Andria’s time was to go.
Andria, however, looked into the void of the Reaper’s face and grinned. “You’re just the fellow I wanted to see!” she said. “I picked this just for you!”
She reached out her hand, and in it was a hideous, spiny, black flower.
The Grim Reaper paused, then reached out with a bony hand to take it.
It stared at the blossom in silence, twirling it between two skeletal fingers. Then it made a sound, an inhuman grating sound, deep behind its hood. Vickie gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.
That sound turned out to be the Grim Reaper laughing with delight.
It raised its hands in a broad, sweeping gesture.
Andria rose into the air.
And when she fell back to earth, she was flesh and blood again.
———-
Generation 8 finally on the way!
This was a perfect Sims moment. I had no idea Andria was carrying a death flower. I don’t know where she got it. Though, since was Green Thumb sim who was constantly gardening, she’d be the sim to have one. I’d completely forgotten about them. I was furious that Andria picked the eve of Vickie’s wedding to die, but then it all worked out.
Most of the action here was on a full moon night. I did my best to color correct away the color cast from Supernatural and finally looked up how to turn it off. I’m happy to use it in some saves, but zombies and stuff do not suit this one.
In the tech cave beneath the garden in the Sample house, the time machine exploded with light. Gamora emerged and landed lightly on her feet. Finally she could travel through that thing with style.
“Are you all right?” she asked Emmett. “Wait, where’s Fenton? Why is he on the floor?”
“Dunno,” Emmett answered, staring at the baby. “Time distortion? He’s fine, though. Didn’t even wake up.”
It was just minutes after she had left — over a year of subjective time ago. The paradox of time travel made her feel a little dizzy.
So much had happened since she last stood in this lab….
Oasis Landing erected a statue to commemorate her funding of generations of planetary conservationists.
(“I think I like it,” Gamora said.
“Somehow, I thought you would,” Emmett said.)
She filled her days cataloguing life forms that had evolved in this clean, safe, environmentally responsible timeline and comparing them to the flora and fauna of the less-hopeful timelines. She was in the unique position of being able to remember the branching of the timeline. Emit almost certainly could do this too, but they never spoke much after the Cloning Incident.
Here, there were luminescent caterpillars that chirped out encouraging messages when you picked them up.
And enormous flowers that gave off a nectar with amazing psychedelic effects. No wonder the people here seemed to be perpetually high.
In due time, Emmet proposed marriage at just the right moment.
And soon after they had a sunset wedding….
…at her absolute favorite place in the city.
Gamora’s new research direction in genetic splicing…
Resulted in little Fenton, a plantsim baby blended from genetic material she collected from herself and Emmett.
(“Are you using my genes or the Time Traveler’s?” Emmett demanded.
“You want the truth?” Gamora asked. “I don’t know, and I don’t really care. It’s all the same genes.”)
At first, she thought she would never return. Life could have been perfect in the future for the rest of their lives. But as time wore on, she thought about Sawyer more and more. She’d never told him goodbye. He didn’t know where she had gone. Without her, her dad would finish his life all alone. And… she missed him.
Emmett didn’t turn out to be as difficult to convince as she’d expected. “Life’s easy here,” he admitted. “I could use a challenge. Plus, everyone looks at me and thinks I’m that other Relevart guy.”
Gamora looked over the time machine one last time. “You sure you’re ready to do this?” she asked.
“I said I was ready,” Emmett said. “You don’t have to ask again.”
She took a deep breath and flipped the switch at the base of the time machine.
It erupted in a fountain of light that continued up into the heavens. Then it went dark forever.
“Here we go,” she said. “I hope you love my dad, because now we can’t go back. I did enough messing with downstream time by accident. The future’s in a good place. Let’s be sure it stays that way.”
Emmett shrugged. “I’m up with it. Let’s go meet this old man of yours.”
Gamora’s all-terrain hovercar was parked outside the Sample estate, just where she left it. The quick drive to her father’s new house on familiar Avalon roads finally made it feel real that she was finally home.
She burst through the door. “Dad! You won’t believe everything that’s happened since I last saw you. The whole family’s moving in with you, so get ready for company. And come meet your grandson!”
———-
Ugh. I assembled this post about a dozen different ways, and this was the best I could come up with. The gameplay was fairly straightforward, but for some reason nothing I did made a coherent narrative.
So this is the best I can do, but I hope at least I’m out of writer’s purgatory.
This is Gamora’s farewell post. She has triumphantly left the active household.
Sigh. The Samples have really been living in this town for too long.
I looked at their family tree, and Aunt is a bit of a stretch, but they do have a connection a couple of generations back. We’re going to forget we ever saw this.
I will say that the game DOES have incest checking, and it didn’t think they were closely enough related to avoid heart-farts.
This is definitely the best way to hate each other. I’m pretty sure there’s porn for the way Gamora and Jonah feel about each other. Lots of it.
Jonah went off to look at horses and came back by way of a LLAMA. The results were tragic.
Fortunately, Edmund was around to fix things up. I just now noticed Gamora playing on the computer behind them. Ha.
Also Vickie far behind, cooking. She took that up as a passionate new hobby when Jonah moved in, but you better look at it now because I later discovered that her ability to cook was borked. I I thought this might have been related to my Kelp Recipes, which I loaded into my game somwhere around then, and I was terrified that there was something weird about them that borked people’s sims. But, no, I have multiple reports that the recipes work fine for other people. Vickie just now takes about 4x times the time to cook a recipe as she’s supposed to. Like, literally most of a day to cook one dish. Each animation repeats over and over again. I have no idea.
I tried removing the Cooking skill using MasterController, but that doesn’t seem to reset a sim to the state of not having learned a skill. It just removes a pointer to something. When she learned to cook again, the problem resumed.
So she’s going to take up painting, I think, and Jonah can cook his own damn kelp.
At any rate, Jonah is ready for anything this weird landwalker magician might throw at him.
But it turned out all right.
Gamora discovers that she can’t avoid her high school graduation, even by jumping into a time machine and zapping herself hundreds of years into the future.
Graduation will always come for you.
Emit had to take a break from his important moment with Gamora.
OK, the special philanthropist’s money-donating animation is just completely bonkers. Can we just look at this again?
Oh, and after she gives the check, they both are showered in glitter.
Since I wanted to tie up this little loose end of Gamora’s life, I saved JC Sample’s family to the bin and placed him back in Utopia Oasis Landing. After all, nothing Gamora did should have affected the romantic choices of her immediate family, right? Right?
What I didn’t realize is that Dystopian and Utopian sims keep their timeline-related behaviors in a hidden trait. JC’s family immediately turned their lovely utopian home into a trash pile.
Emmett hugs himself. A lot of the Wonderland/Utopian sim idles are adorable, but the walk style is AWFUL. It’s the same as the Imaginary Friend walk, and it must DIE BY FIRE. I had to take the Wonderland trait off Emmett so that he could walk across the room in less than four hours. If there’s a way to just destroy the walk style and keep the rest of the cute stuff from that moodlet, please let me know.
Ah, the romances of our time are just part of a loop that repeats itself over and over through time.
Or maybe ITF doesn’t try very hard when it generates descendants….
