Tag Archive | charles

4.39 Final Meditation

It was Fabian’s day off, and he was up early to train at the dojo. He crept out carefully to be sure he didn’t disturb Zahra while she slept. Mad Science was taking more out of her these days, and she needed her beauty rest.

Fabian was going to test for his red belt, and he wanted Charles to be wowwed by his moves. He threw his all at the training dummy. But all of a sudden, something felt wrong.

Lisette Williams wouldn’t take her eyes off him. He wanted to believe that he was a hot stud muffing all sweaty and working out, but he was too old and wise for that fantasy. “What are you looking at?” he demanded. But the words came out strange and hollow….

Then he realized what was wrong.

The air grew cold, and he felt icy breath on the back of his head. He turned around to face the Grim Reaper.

Well, that kind of wrecked the mood. Fabian looked the dread apparition up and down. “Aren’t you a little young for a soul collector?”

“Hey,” the Reaper growled. His voice was the sound of breaking glass. “We have to start someplace.”

This was it. Fabian thought of Zahra. He’d left her sleeping sweetly in their bed. And Ada. She was getting married tomorrow, and it had never occurred to him that he wouldn’t be there to give her away. This was so sudden. It wasn’t fair. A moment ago, he felt more alive than ever in his life. And now it was over?

“Please!” he cried, falling to his knees. “Please let me have just a little more time! I want to be a better a better father and husband! You didn’t give me time to make my mistakes up to Zahra!”

The Reaper tapped his foot impatiently. He was probably rolling his invisible eyes. “If you haven’t made good on your life by now, it’s too late to start,” the Reaper said. “You done now? I have a schedule to keep.”

Thus Fabian Branch Sample was called to the Netherworld.

Zahra felt it immediately. Mad Science had raised her awareness of the invisible forces that surround us. Something cried out in the fabric of the universe and was suddenly silent.

The roaring emptiness nearly knocked her out of her chair.

“Your step-grandfather is gone,” Zahra told the triplets. He chest was so tight and aching that she could barely get the words out.

Charles also felt it. This was the first person close to him who had died since Granddad Lance when he was a teenager. This was different. He felt it like a like a burning flash across his connection to the Netherworld.

And how did he feel? Fabian hadn’t been a perfect father-figure, but he was the only father figure Charles could remember. The void he left in Charles’s life was large and aching.

The time that followed was rough. Fabian hadn’t been a perfect man, but he’d been enough. He’d touched the lives of his family.

Zahra pulled weeds until her hands were sore.

Charles tried to fill Fabian’s shoes. He was clumsy at best.

(Dude. Your spoon is *upside down*.)

After a while, the ache became a little less. Fabian had led a good life. He’d reached his career ambition. He’d managed not to destroy his marriage. He had a beautiful and talented daughter. He’d done all right with his life, really.

The Samples started letting themselves have a bit more fun again.

So long, Fabian. You have a complicated afterlife ahead of you.

[Missing picture of Cycl0n3 and Fabian’s gravestones, with a space between them for Zahra’s.]

———-

OK, what’s with Grim going around town dressed up to graduate from high school???

Blast it, Fabian had just gotten a new belt. I was going to cancel his training so that he would show it off and pose for a picture. Then I played some of the rest of the household, and looked up to see his thumbnail had disappeared from the display. I’d’ve liked to get him with a belt other than white. Sim Fu really was his passion there at the end. His queue was filled with wishes to train and exercise.

It’s amusing how everyone in the household starts grieving instantly, no matter where they are.

Fabian died at the age of 93 with 160 happiness point.

4.36 End of an Era

Oct23

The rest of the vacation flew by with everyone separating and drawing back together in a comfortable rhythm.

Charles continued to explore, sometimes with Veronica and sometimes on his own.

He was glad nobody was there to see it when he tripped over the lightning trap.

He had a chance to clean up by the time he stumbled back to camp and passed the bruises off as an epic battle with the ghost of Queen Hatshepsut. Nobody believed him. Charles is a really terrible liar.

Ada and her muse reconciled, and she spent several days with her mind so filled with art that she barely slept.

Rutabagas of War, the sequel to Kiwis of Peace, was a 900-page epic written entirely in the snack shop at the Al Simhara Bazar.

“Wow, I’m hungry,” Ada mused during a rare break.

“We have all sorts of food here!” the shop girl crooned.

“Gee thanks!” Ada said. “Oh, don’t get up. I’ll help myself.”

Left to his own devices, Alberto spent his time offending other adventurers.

“You don’t find the hip thrust romantic? I swear it gets me the highest tips. Maybe it’s the thong that does it.”

Charles even got a little time to fish.

The mini crocodiles were in particular demand. He brought back a dozen for the local pet shop and paid for the entire vacation from just a few hours of fishing.

(Dude, do you have any idea how large crocodiles actually ARE?)

Back at camp, Ada and Veronica got into a freak out competition.

Veronica won.

She picked some kind of crushed bug up from the ground and ate it. Ada’s muse could never produce anything that upsetting.

And Alberto offended more travelers.

“You don’t think I’m sexy? Really? Could you explain why? In the interest of professional development, of course.”

The steady stream of rejection finally got to Alberto. Even without his promise to Ada, the writing was on the wall that he needed to find a new career. He found himself wandering and thinking, and he eventually found himself in a garden around a secluded oasis.

The plants made him feel something he’d never felt before. This was what he was meant to do.

“Ada!” he cried when he found her that evening. “Do you know how many different kinds of booze you can make with fruits? I can make my own! Why didn’t I think of this before?”

Veronica spent entirely too much time with the local fire pit.

Alberto spent a bit too much time adventuring in the local catacombs.

The end was the same.

Actually, in the end, neither Veronica turned out to be the freakiest vacationer in Al Simhara.

Both paled in comparison to one other.

Alberto might have lost his edge as an exotic dancer, but he was still quite the showman. He told the gang a ghost story one evening that even gave Charles nightmares.

As the vacation rolled to a close, Veronica and Alberto made a decision.

“We’re headed home early,” they told Ada and Charles at breakfast one morning. “This trip is really about you two, and we’re just tagging along.”

Charles was a aghast. “You’re never just a tagalong,” he told Veronica.

“I don’t mean it like that,” Veronica said. “Besides, when you get home, I’ll let you make it up to me.”

So they parted with an unexpectedly close new friendship to show for it.

Ada and Charles found themselves alone for their last night in Al Simhara.

“This is it, isn’t it?” Charles said as he watched his sister over the fire. “You’re going to get married and move out. This is the last time we’re going to take a trip like this together.”

Ada sighed. “Yeah,” she said. “I don’t think it can ever be the same. I’ll miss it. I’m looking forward to showing Alberto France, though. Their art museum is has the greatest hospitality.”

Charles opened his mouth to ask what she meant. Then he decided he he was just as happy not knowing.

They sat back and and drank in the stars on their last night alone on vacation together.

———-

This post doesn’t even have much content, but it took forever to write because life kept happening. October 12 was my 10th wedding anniversary, and the hubbie and I spent four days at a lake retreat with two other close couples and our daughter, and we renewed our vows. Then we had toxic lead paint removed from our house, which required us to crash at our friends’ place with a toddler for two days. Then we went to a wedding at Virginia Beach. I’m exhausted. But we are nailing our feet to the floor now. No more travel until after the new year AT LEAST.

Most of this is cute stuff the sims did autonomously. It was a very entertaining vacation.

I swear, every time I left Alberto to his own devices, he tried to flirt was a stranger, and it never worked out well. He also flirted autonomously with Veronica, who loved it, and neither Charles nor Ada gave a whit while they were on the lot. Sims are forever mysterious.

Alberto’s LTW is actually Bottomless Nectar Cellar, thus the booze remark :).

Since Wishacies taught me that I could get my sims to figure out how to fulfill their needs by clicking on the moodlet (I honestly did not know this), many more entertaining things happen for the most mundane of reasons. Which leads me to ask — should the snack shop REALLY have a working fridge? Isn’t that bad for business?

Apparently Daredevils are immune to fire naturally, and they have a Play with Fire interaction that entertains them and gives them the Adrenaline Rush moodlet. I need to do more with that. Daredevils appear to be the actual perfect firefighters, which I’ll keep in mind for any future child who rolls it. Oh, and Daredevils also have the Watch This interaction, which leads them to eat dirt and gross out another sim. That also gives them an Adrenaline Rush :).

4.35 Some Kind of Honeymoon

Oct2

Now that the kids were settled in school, Charles and Veronica found that they suddenly had time for their hobbies again. It was hard to remember when Charles had been able to find enough time to go fishing. Now that they lived on a lake, he could just roll out of bed early, grab his fishing rod, and float out in his pajamas.

But as time passed, he got more and more restless. Something was missing. What could it possibly be?

Travel!

He called and made reservations for a flight to Egypt as a surprise.

“You know,” he said as he brandished a printout of the tickets, “We had kids so fast, we never had a chance to go traveling together. Mom and Fabian can look after the triplets. I think it’s time for a second honeymoon.”

“I knew there was a reason I married you!” Veronica threw herself into her arms, laughing.

“I hope you don’t mind that Ada’s coming too,” Charles said. “We’ve been traveling together since we were kids. She loves to paint in exotic locations, but she’s not going to horn in on our time together.”

Veronica gave him a mock pout. “I suppose I can share all of Al Simhara with your sister.”

When Charles brought out his traveling knapsack to wait for the taxi to the airport, someone unexpected ran up to meet him.

“I’m not late am I?” Alberto asked.

“Um, late for what?” Charles asked, staring at him blankly.

“Ada told me to meet her here,” Alberto said. “She said she was going to take me traveling! I’ve been saving up to take a trip out of Sunset Valley forever!”

“She invited you?” Charles said, raising his eyebrows. “She didn’t tell me.”

“Yeah. I hope we’ll all get along great. Your wife should remember me. I stripped for her at her bachelorette party.”

Charles looked Alberto up and down. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Then he sneezed. “Aaaahtchoo!”

“Bless you,” Charles said.

“Thanks,” Alberto said, wiping his nose on the back of his hand. “Hey, there’s not much dust or mold in Egypt is there? I’m allergic.”

Charles sighed. “You’d better take that up with Ada,” he said.

Alberto couldn’t stop talking all the way to Egypt. Eventually, Charles and Veronica slipped to some empty seats in the back to leave him and Ada alone.

“This is amazing!” Alberto exclaimed when they made it to base camp. “This place just cries out for adventure!”

“And so much to paint!” Ada agreed.

Charles left them to make eyes at each other and slipped away to move their stuff into the tent. When he emerged, he was dressed to get grubby. “Ada, I was thinking you’d like to show Alberto around the area,” he said. “I have a tip for some an unexplored tomb in the area. Veronica and I could check it out.”

Veronica’s eyes glittered. “I’ve never been tomb raiding,” she said eagerly. “I bet there’s a lot of danger.”

“Can’t I come too?” Alberto pleaded. “You can’t imagine how long I’ve been dreaming of this kind of adventure. And you’re an oldtimer who can show me how it’s done!”

“Oldtimer, right,” Charles said levelly. “Well, Veronica and I are here on our first big getaway since we got married. You and Ada should go make your own romance.”

“Oh, it’s fine!” Ada said brightly. “I brought my easel to paint the pyramid. I’m sure Alberto will have a better time with you two.”

“Please?” Alberto said.

Veronica started laughing. “It’s ok,” she said. “Come along. Charles can make it up to me later.”

“This is so incredible,” Alberto gaped as Charles escorted his guests into the ruin. “Everything’s so old!”

“You have to know where to look for hidden switches,” Charles said, beginning to warm up to having an audience. Long ago, Grandad Lancelot had taught him the same things. “See these scrapes on the floor?” He took Veronica’s hand. “I’m going to bet that if we stand here –“

A rattling scraping sound echoed through the room. Charles gestured to the newly opened doorway. “You’ll find the way to the catacombs.”

“Me next!” Alberto chortled. Then he glanced to his side, “Wow, I guess that guy didn’t know about the scrapes on the floor, huh?”

“Treasure!” he dashed through the chamber door to open the chest within.

“Good for you!” Charles said. “We don’t have to look for any more hidden passages here. Job well done! Now, you can get back to Ada, Alberto.” Veronica snorted and put her hand over her mouth, eyes dancing. Charles winked at her as he floated by.

They emerged into the Egyptian sun. The next step was to find an antiquities dealer for the artifacts they’d uncovered. Alberto wasn’t nearly as excited about that prospect, so Charles and Veronica were able to disentangle and wander down to the bazaar together.

The dealer, however, treated Charles in the way to which he had long become accustomed.

He kept his meeting with her as short as possible and finished their dealing with a weary smile. The thing about people finding you repulsive was that you got a little extra bargaining power.

Veronica, however, stared silent daggers as they haggled. When Charles turned back to base camp, she took matters into her own hands.

“If my husband weren’t one of the most gracious men alive,” she hissed. “He would have ripped you a new one you rude little wench. Let me do it for him.”

The result was probably not an advance in ghost-human relations, but it at least made Veronica feel better.

Meanwhile, Ada didn’t set her easel up after all when the trio disappeared to treasure hunt. Instead, she had a long argument with her muse.

“What do you know about love?” she demanded. “The trouble with you is that you think you’re real.”

“I will not be talked to like that by a figment of my own imagination!”

“The trick,” she confided to the leprechaun looking over her shoulder, “is that you have let an uppity muse know who’s boss.”

Once Alberto was safely reunited with his girlfriend at base camp, Charles and Veronica slipped off to the tombs to do some more exploration of their own.

“Now THIS is more like it,” Charles said.

“Come on now,” Veronica said. “It’s time for you to make it up to me.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

And the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut saw a lot more action that night than she had seen in a very, very long time.

Ada and Alberto watched the sun go down together.

“I didn’t know they lit up the Pyramid,” Alberto said. “Ingenious.”

“You’re lit up like the Pyramid in my eyes,” Ada said. “Wait, my muse told me to say that. She’s really pretty stupid about love.”

Alberto chuckled. “I think I know what you mean. Thank you.”

“This part I thought about all on my own!” she said and got down on one knee.

“You’re kidding!” Alberto gasped. “You got me a ring! Hee! Hee! So romantic.”

Then he sobered. “Wait. You mean this is THE ring, don’t you? Are you asking me to marry you?”

“Please promise be my husband and from this day forward, promise to only take your clothes off for me.”

“Ada my love, this seems so totally backward and yet so wonderful. Nothing would make me happier than to take my clothes off just for you.”

Alberto pulled Ada into his arms.

And very quickly made good on his promise.

———-

Whee! Thought I’d never post again, didn’t you? I was starting to wonder myself.

Charles is back to adventuring. And wow, the animations that go with the “Talk to Self” insane interaction are just gold.

I finally came across a good shot of Veronica in her midlife crisis makeover. However, here it seemed more logical for her to change back to her simpler torn jeans look. So instead I put the shot back on the midlife crisis post: Here. Eventually we’ll see Veronica in her Eccentric scientist look in the plot, but it seems to be taking a silly amount of time with all the other plots going on.

4.34 Wet Mishaps

Sep18

Hunter liked food. Since his folks wouldn’t let him use the stove, he persuaded them to buy him an Easy Bake oven for his creations.

“You should try this one,” he told Forest in between bites of muffin. “I remembered the sugar this time, and it’s a lot less crunchy.”

“Um, thanks,” Forest said. “I think I’m going to have a can of soup.”

“I’ve been planning on what to do with my math homework,” Forest said while he slurped. “I tested out of arithmetic, but now I’m stuck in algebra, and they told me that nobody does Calculus until high school at least. So I was going to tell my teacher –“

He stood up suddenly, looking surprised. “I was supposed to do something wasn’t I?”

“Wow. I was thinking so hard that I didn’t even notice I had to go! I’ll make a note to check before dinner.”

“Yeah,” Hunter said, looking from the puddle to Forest’s bemused face and back again. “You do that. Go pee before dinner.”

Forest gave his brother a hard stare across the table. “This never happened. I mean it.”

Hunter shrank. “Right. Don’t know what you’re talking about. Why don’t I go run you a bath?”

But no sooner had Hunter turned on the bath water than the hot water knob came off in his hand. The fountaining leak got all over everything.

“This always happens,” Hunter said forlornly.

“Let your mom fix the tub when she gets home,” Zahra said. “I used to do that sort of thing, but now she’s the up and coming technician in this house. Why don’t you pick out a story, and I’ll read it to you.”

Hunter picked out the one about the dryad defending her forest from the builder who wanted to cut it down. It was his favorite story, and he never tired of listening to it. Listening was easier than reading it himself. He still had trouble with some of the words.

Veronica came home to find her quietest child curled around her pillow, smiling at some happy dream. She sighed. “Zahra could have used her own bed.”

Sky woke up in the middle of the night. “Daddy? Why are you sleeping in Hunter’s bed? Where’s Mom?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Charles whispered back.

———-

Stop the presses, Sara! I got February into the game. It turned out the alternate installer was throwing errors, but it was actually working after all. I even got February’s custom hair. So if you haven’t wasted a bunch of time making a new version for me, forget about it. If you have, well, sorry about that :-p

This is a bit disjoint. I’m trying to assemble some episodes from the pics I took of the kids. Some later events resolve themselves better.

It turns out that Sky is underrepresented in childhood. I think that’s going to remedy itself during teenagerhood, since she’s a Virtuoso who is *not allowed to play any instruments* while a child. Ugh. These people have clearly never heard of the Suzuki Method. Or, really, actually looked at a school music program. I started at age 11 with the viola, and that was kind of late.

Sigh. More peeing. There was a lot of peeing in the first few days of the triplets’ childhood. Yes, Forest is Absent Minded, and Hunter is Clumsy :).

4.30 For the Children

Aug11

Charles called on Aunt Shanni as soon as he could get away the next day. He dropped by the Crumplebottom Estate, but Jeanette reported that her mom was at work. Charles dropped by to find her at closing time.

Shanni’s eyes looked empty as he hurried up to her. He suddenly found himself unsure of what to say.

“I didn’t expect you to be here,” he said awkwardly. “You don’t need the money. Why don’t you take some time to heal?”

“I’m trying,” Shanni said. Her voice was raw. “It’s just–” She brushed a tear out of her eye almost angrily. “It’s just that work reminds me of Agnes a lot less that home does.”

“I’m sorry. You can stay with us for a few days if you need to. You should’t be alone at a time like this.”

Shanni smiled wanly. “I’m not alone. The kids have been wonderful. Especially Jeanette. She’s growing up to be an amazing young woman.”

Then a real smile played on Shanni’s lips. It makes me think of what Agnes said to me when we were getting together. “You’ll do it, and you’ll be the better for it.”

Charles smiled back. “She was usually right.”

Shanni nodded. “And I usually didn’t notice until later. You know thing she said the same day that has helped me through my entire career? ‘The line between trashy and powerful is all about style!'”

Shanni was going to be OK.

“Please come home for dinner at least. It’s the kids’ birthday. They’d love to see you.”

Shanni shook her head. “Give them my love. Jeannette and Garry are making dinner, and I think we need some family time.”

So the triplets’ birthday was a local family affair, but it was plenty happy for all that.

In order of birth, first Forest blew out the candles.

(Better picture, but without glasses:)

Then Hunter.

Then Sky.

The partying ran too late on a school night, but eventually Veronica kicked them upstairs to sleep in their newly renovated bedroom.

Tomorrow would be a long and exciting day.

The next morning, after the hustle and bustle of getting the kids off to their first day of school, Charles heard Veronica calling his name from the yard.

“Oh, Charlllles!” she called. Her voice was almost a singsong.

He found her at the gazebo, engaging in her favorite hobby.

“Hey stranger,” she said with a sly smile. “You know, I keep having this dream where we were wicked young things who used to go skinny dipping and worse at all hours of the day. You ever have that dream?”

“Once or twice,” Charles admitted.

“We did it!” Veronica chortled. “The kids are off to school. Your folks are off at work. We have the whole place to ourselves! It’s been so long I’ve almost forgotten what to do.”

“I haven’t,” Charles said. “I’d be glad to remind you.”

Veronica sank into his arms with a sigh. “It’s good to get some of our own back.”

“They’re great kids,” Charles said, “But I’m looking forward to recovering my hobbies.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself!” Veronica exclaimed and pulled him down under the water.

——–

Patient readers, the triplets finally grew up!

After the bit with Shanni, which was actually Charles’s failed attempt to get a makeover, I completely redid the lighting at the Salon. I have no idea why nothing I did would make things light up in there. Argh. And now I don’t think there will be another reason for the Samples to go there before they move.

Come to think of it, I had that problem with the dojo when I placed it. There was a lot of lighting in there already, but none of it activated. I had to redo the lighting in there too.

4.29 Third Shift

Aug11

The triplets were growing like weeds. Every time Veronica and Charles turned around, they seemed to have learned a word or a new skill.

Three toddlers were a lot of work, and that means a LOT of work. There was barely time for anyone to follow their personal lives. Zahra and Charles’s beloved garden became overgrown with weeds. Charles cancelled his classes at the dojo as often as he taught them.

Fabian at least made it his personal mission to make sure everyone was fed.

He spent most of his spare time cooking. It was nice to at least not have to worry about food.

Especially since Fabian had the least patience of the family. And with the way things were going at work, he didn’t always treat the adventures of parenthood with good grace.

Then every once in a while, in the middle of all the hard work and exhaustion, there was a golden moment where everything was quiet…

but those moments seldom lasted long enough for anyone to do anything about them.

There were new ideas to teach the children.

And new physical skills too.

And then there was potty training.

And potty training.

And did we mention potty training?

The lifestyle was hardest on Veronica. She often came home from a long shift gathering ghost specimens to jump right into child care. She subsisted on catnaps and stubbornness.

Charles would ask her over and over again if she needed a break. She’d smile and say, “Of course not! I’m fine!” And then in a heartbeat she’d become a raving, sobbing lunatic. During those times, Charles banished her to her room to get some sleep.

But all the hard work, long nights, and lost sleep were paying off. Day by day, the triplets were becoming their own people.

Hunter’s first word was, “Pretty.”

Forest’s was, “Color,” but he seemed to mean more by it, like he wanted to color the world to his liking.

Sky’s was, simply, “Art!”

There were lots of fun times too. There’s nothing that warms your heart like a happy toddler.

And those unexpected moments of silliness.

One day, Charles realized how independent they were becoming. The workload was lifting. They were getting some of their own back.

Charles began to walk with a spring in his step. This parenthood thing was hard, but he was schooled in the arts of zen and endurance. He would win, and it would be worth it.

That’s when Fabian got the call. “Shanni? Is that you? I can barely hear you. Are you crying?”

Shanni was at Sacred Speen Memorial Hospital. Agnes was rushed there in the night, but it was too late. She had passed on.

———-

Sorry to end on such a downer, but it had to happen sometime :(. I actually saw Agnes’s age on a Twallan menu, and she was 92.

I have a great picture of Fabian throwing a temper tantrum over being awakened by screaming kids, but I can’t find it. Not like it vanished, just that I didn’t get it into the right folder and haven’t been able to find it again in the mountains of pictures that I take. I may try once more tonight if I have some time :). EDIT: Found it!

I’ve really been blocking on this post too because I just dumped all the cute toddler pics into a big pile, but I couldn’t think of anything to say about them. So here were are — the toddler skilling redux. Dang, five adults pretty much did nothing but work, sleep, and skill toddlers, and Hunter still finishing potty training on the morning of his birthday!

Avalon Update: I am VERY close to moving the family over in current gameplay. I’ve downloaded all the families except the ones you let me know about in the last week-ish. Once I finish up playing in Sunset Valley, I’ll download the last, drop in the other sims I’m downloading and adding to round out the population, and to the final tweaks to the world. Then we cross our fingers and go.

I am about a bajillion posts behind, so the plan is that I’ll get my posting up to current while I’m finishing getting the world in order.

Yes to Simmentary, I love doing the town updates, and I hope they’re something fun and distinctive about this legacy. I definitely plan to do updates on the cross-pollination families. I think I will do a post with a quick introduction to the families so that you guys can follow along.

4.27 The Battle of Midway

Jul31

Charles and Veronica’s birthdays passed almost unnoticed. They weren’t even able to celebrate together because Veronica had an extra shift at work.

The truth is that both of them were so exhausted from night feedings, toddler training, and long work hours that the best celebration they could come up with was sleep.

Here they were, halfway through their prime years. What did they have to show for it?

This problem seemed to bother Veronica a lot. She came home from her night shifts at work and woke Charles up to talk about it. Some of the reasons were obvious. She’d quit one career, had three babies, and picked up another. Most of her life was just starting out, so she hadn’t had much time to accomplish anything on her new path.

Still, her sense of uncertainty showed up in some strange places.

When she showed up at her regular appointment with at the salon to have her hair done, she asked Shanni to build her a completely new look.

“Tear me down and start over!” she said cheerfully.

Shanni raised her eyebrows. “All right. No looking back now!”

The first attempt was all right, but it was too, well, corporate culture for Veronica’s tastes.

“Let’s keep the hair,” she said.

“You hate it, don’t you?” Shanni asked.

“Just between friends? Yeah.”

The second attempt was much more to Veronica’s liking.

She went home and gave Charles The Eye until he clued in and complimented her on her new look.

[Insert missing picture of Veronica posing with her new look. As far ahead as I have played, and I don’t seem to have ANY simple poses of her. You’ll just have get an idea as we go along. ;-p. At least the shot of the game makeover above gives you a good look at her new hairstyle. I think her new clothes better suit an Eccentric.

ETA: OK, here is a totally out-of-context shot to show off the new look:

]

And then there was the car. Charles spent weeks persuading Zahra and Fabian to sell the gas-guzzling SUV monstrosity that Fabian had bought before he married Zahra. Neither of them drove it. Fabian preferred to tool around in his patrol car, and Zahra usually made her trips to the Science Center in the Prius because she felt that she ought to be using more advanced technology.

“Don’t worry,” Veronica said when Fabian finally agreed. “Leave it to me. I’ll take care of it.”

She headed off in the Tofunda Wagon in the morning.

And she came home in the afternoon with a shiny green Margaret Vaguester.

Sure, it had wiped out most of their savings, but MAN could that car go fast. Veronica looked fabulous behind the wheel, too.

For Charles, the whole growing older thing felt completely different. He had the Spirit Sample Dojo, and he’d spent half of his adult life finding and settling down with the woman of his dreams. What was so wonderful about recapturing his youth? His life now was better that it was then, and he hardly felt like he’d been wasting his time.

He did grow a beard that he was very proud of.

And he wasn’t at all happy to see the new car. “Forget how much it costs. Do you know what kind of gas mileage it gets?” he demanded. “You can hear the trees sobbing when you drive by!”

“We live out in the stix,” Veronica said. “I’ve cut my commute down to just minutes. Trust me. It’s really a very practical car.”

“That’s enough,” Charles said, and there was steel to his voice that Veronica had never heard. “You’re beautiful just as you are. You don’t have anything to prove. So stop trying to prove it. We don’t have to act young by being immature.”

“I’m not–!” Veronica started, but he held her gaze until the words trailed away. She dropped her eyes. “You’re right. I’m making a fool of myself. I’ll stop now.”

“Thank you,” Charles said. “I love you.” She did calm down, and that was the last they spoke of it.

But, Veronica still admitted in private, it really was a beautiful car.

———-

My ghost baby is middle aged!

Among the mysteriously missing pictures are the shots I took of both Veronica and Charles’s new looks. I have no idea what the heck happened to these shots.

Both of them rolled Midlife Crises as a matter of fact. Both of them wished to get a makeover, so I sent them to the Salon to get some cute shots of Shanni doing her job. However, when CHARLES arrived, I got a message saying that Occult sims couldn’t have makovers! What’s with that? So here he was with a wish locked in his queue that he couldn’t dismiss and couldn’t fulfill. I gave up on it and sent him to the hospital to get therapy instead. Stupid EA.

Veronica rolled the wish to buy an expensive car, but I did splurge on the fastest car in the game to reduce her commute into town. Their current lot is about as far from downtown as you can get, so she was wasting a lot of time during work.

Here’s Charles getting his head shrunk with Arvid Voss.

(Amhranai, “head shrinking” is slang for psychiatric therapy. I cannot keep my idiom under control. I do try :).)

I’m not sure if you can really get a good look at Charles’s new beard from that picture, but it really puts the crown on his John Lennon look. Middle aged Charles has delightfully chiseled features. I think he is my favorite sim so far, appearance-wise. I’m not sure the kids were quite as dominated by Veronica’s features after all; Charles’s cheekbones are quite distinctive.

4.26 Real Men

Jul30

More time passed with no promotion for Fabian. The harder he worked to model crime scenes in 3D, the more he might as well have been doing it in 2D. He felt himself tense up every time Malcolm Landgraab walked into the lab.

It just wasn’t fair.

Fabian wasn’t getting any younger. Plenty of men younger than he had retired to lives of leisure. Except Fabian didn’t know what he’d do with a life of leisure try to find more work.

The choice was quit so close to his goal or try something new.

“All right then,” he decided in one of his moments of quiet contemplation. “I’ll start acting the part of the hero.”

That’s how he found himself outside the Sample Spirit Dojo one evening after work.

Charles was outside, cooling off from a sparring match and looking at the stars. He looked up as Fabian approached, leaning on his glittery lama-head cane. “Fabian! What are you doing here?”

Fabian puffed up his chest. “It shouldn’t seem THAT strange that I would want to learn a thing or two about fighting,” he said. “Let’s go inside and see what you can teach me.”

“So this is the place,” Fabian said, looking around at the bamboo furnishings and artifacts from his stepson’s travel. “I’ve never been here before.”

Charles’s phone chirped, and he snatched it to put it on mute. “That’s right,” he said. “You haven’t.”

“It looks nice,” Fabian said. His voice sounded pathetic even to his own ears.

“So let me get this straight,” Charles said. “You want to learn how to fight?”

“What?” Fabian demanded. “You think I’m too old?”

Charles chuckled. “You wouldn’t be my oldest student. We get all kinds here. All right then, if you’re serious, let’s see what you can do.”

“What does that mean?” Fabian asked.

“This is a training dummy,” Charles said patiently. “Give it your best shot.”

Fabian took a deep breath. He’d never worked out more than Sunset Valley’s Finest required of him, and that had been when he was a beat cop half a lifetime away. He knew he was going to like an idiot. Backing down now would make him look even more like an idiot.

He dropped his cane and let it clatter on the polished floor. “Here goes!” he cried.

It was like opening up a cage and letting out Fabian the Animal. The dummy became Malcolm Landgraab, and he let the bastard have it!

Charles knew what he was doing, and Fabian found himself gently directed to strike in ways that hurt less and made the dummy make much more satisfying noises.

Finally, Fabian stopped and leaned on his knees. “I have to take a break,” he wheezed. Sweat dripped down his back and soaked into his shirt.

“That was a lot better than I expected,” Charles admitted. “You qualify for a white belt. Let me get you a gi.”

Fabian grinned. He qualified for a belt!

He was a one man martial arts machine, that’s what!

———-

I was desperate for anything to get Fabian’s job performance up, and he got an Opportunity to learn Martial Arts. Then he turned out to love it!

Finally got something out. Hopefully I can continue rolling before I drown myself in backposts.

The poll is officially closed, and I think we all know what I’m doing!

4.20 Strategic Retreat

May15

The next few days were a blur of out-of-sync feeding schedules and catnaps in between. Everyone pitched in to help, but three infants was still a staggering amount of work.

Finally, a bit of a rhythm began to develop to life, and there were small segments of time to do something other than feed babies, cuddle babies, change babies, and sleep.

At which point, Veronica looked out the window to watch her parents-in-law and saw red.

She ran out of the house shrieking. “You crazy trespassing bastard! Get out of my house! Get off my lawn!”

The paparazzi was so taken by surprise that he dropped his camera and ran. Veronica ground the expensive equipment under her heel and glared at Fabian, Zahra, and a shocked Charles standing in the doorway.

“That’s it,” she said. “We’re moving.”

Nobody saw fit to protest. “It’s nice to be on the beach,” Charles said haltingly, “but this place is awfully close to downtown. It would be nice to live a bit closer to nature.”

“Close to nature we’ll have,” Veronica agreed. “Someplace nice, secluded, and private. Let’s go hunting.”

While Veronica and Charles looked for a new place to live, Fabian and Zahra picked up the slack. They scheduled movers and packed up the car in between baby feedings.

They really outdid themselves. 57 Waterfall Way was an old park that had been converted into private property. It was private, secluded, and breathtakingly beautiful while still within an acceptable drive of town.

The house itself was rustic and cozy.

With a few incredibly luxurious features.

And best of all, it was on the shores of a private lake stocked with fish.

With some of the most beautiful fishing views to be found anywhere.

There was a perfect nursery with space for three cribs.

A downstairs bedroom that would be perfect for Fabian and Zahra just as soon as Fabian took down all the decorations and replaced them with Ada’s paintings.

There was a cozy little bedroom with just enough space for Ada’s bed and writing desk.

And an upstairs master bedroom right next to the nursery with a back deck just the right size for Veronica’s chemistry gear.

“Thank you for rolling with me on this, Veronica told Charles as they retired, exhausted from the move.

“I think you could make it up to me,” Charles suggested with a raised eyebrow.

And she did.

Meanwhile, Zahra reinterred Cyclone’s ashes in the newly-relocated family graveyard.

“It’s time,” she confided in his headstone. “You’ve been sitting beside my bed for most of my adult life. I miss you. I hope there’s something for us to find in the Netherworld. But I’m ready for just the living to sleep inside my house.”

Veronica took breakfast at the new breakfast bar, gazing out over the beautiful scenery that was now theirs.”

“All right, you bastards,” she said under her breath. “This place is my castle. If you cross me here, you’ll regret it.”

———

The story timing was good, but the truth is that I got completely fed up with the English Country Estate. It was a lovely home, but it was clearly not well playtested and was filled with things that looked pretty but didn’t work. There were navigation issues in the house. Something was rotting in the kitchen/dining area that the maid never cleaned up and I couldn’t find, so whenever anyone walked into that area, they took something like a -40 hit for being in a disgusting environment. The stairs in the landscaped yard never worked — the sims would take forever to walk way around them on the grass.

And then the final blow was that I added the garden improperly to the concrete patio. The sprinklers dumped huge amounts of water onto the patio, and the water couldn’t be cleaned up due to routing issues. I wanted to add a fence around the garden to keep the water in, but you can’t put fencing on top of water puddles, and the water puddles couldn’t be cleaned up because of routing problems ARGH!

On the contrary, THIS house is the best house I have EVER played in the game, hands down.

Waterfall Way Estate.

It had a couple of weird minor issues, like the bathroom had no wall covering and gave an “unfinished” moodlet. That was easy to fix. And it had almost no lighting. But it’s very attractively decorated and has perfect routing. And it’s just a friggin gorgeous lot. It’s such a delight to play in that it is affecting my decision to move to Elfland soon. I think I may have to try to move the lot too, even though it doesn’t fit the style of the Harry Potter world very well. And I’ll lose the water fall because that is part of the worldscape. Ah, well.

In best news of all, I have gotten to play!

4.19 Too Much of a Good Thing

May11

By the end, pregnancy wasn’t sitting so well with Veronica anymore. She got huge. She couldn’t sleep. She had to eat in tiny snacks and spent half her days in the bathroom.

“Please,” she moaned to Charles in a fit of weakness, “just bring back the morning sickness. That part was grand.”

Charles was beside himself trying to be supportive. He massaged her shoulders, fetched her breakfast in bed, and hovered around until she kicked him out of the house to get some space.

“At least try to do something comfortable for yourself,” he said almost pleadingly. “You don’t have to suck it up. Take a day at the spa or something.”

Veronica thought about it. “All right, I will.” She pulled 1000 simoleons out of their joint bank account and bought herself a day of the royal treatment.

And, she had to admit, it worked. She left the spa feeling like a million bucks even with indigestion and a baby stomping on her bladder.

In fact, she felt so great that when she got home and found that Fabian had broken the shower before leaving for work and just left it that way, she had to do something about it.

Didn’t that make a perfect moment for the baby to come?

Charles was at the dojo. She called him on her cell phone, lay out plastic on the seat of her car, and drove herself to the hospital. She could have waited for Charles to teleport home and drive her, but the thought didn’t occur in the haze of contractions.

Charles was there with her by the time she got to the hospital, though, and he never left her side through the long labor.

“AAAAAUGH! Well, THAT was the hardest thing I have done in my entire life!”

It’s a boy! Forest Sample was born at 6:29 AM.

“No! Not again! There can’t be another one in there!”

And another boy! Hunter Sample was born at 6:33 AM.

“YOU! YOU DID THIS TO ME! You have some kind of twisted occult ghost fertility!”

And a girl! Sky Sample was born at 6:37 AM.

Babies are all doing fine.

Mother is doing fine, but it may be a while before she speaks to the father.

When it became clear just how much bigger their bundle of joy was going to be than they expected, Charles called his mother in a panic.

By the time they made it home from the hospital, Zahra and Fabian had turned Lance and Layla’s old room into a fine triplet-sized nursery.

This really was going to take a village.

Charles had spent Veronica’s entire pregnancy worrying about what he would do if his child turned out to be like him. When Forest and Hunter were born with totally normal, squalling, mocha-skinned faces, he was delighted.

But the third child, Sky, realized his fears. Life has a half-ghost, an “occult” according the newspaper, had been no easy road for Charles. How could he wish that on his only daughter?

When he looked back on his isolated, lonely life, though, he had trouble convincing himself that it had been either isolated or lonely. Even beyond his supportive family was Jabari, Zhan Wu, and now dozens of students who looked to him as a Sim Fu master.

There was no use trying to fight Sky’s battles before he even knew what they were.

Veronica fed little Forest and lay him gently in his crib. For a brief moment, all three babies were sleeping.

She drew Charles into her arms. “I’m sorry for being a monster,” she said.

He relaxed against her. “Childbirth is monstrous,” he said. “I’m sorry you had to do it alone.”

“Our children are beautiful,” she said. “I love you with all my heart.”

“And I you,” he replied huskily.

“I also want you to know that I’m calling the doctor tomorrow and getting my tubes tied. If you want any more kids, you can goddamn have them yourself.”

———-

Surprise three times over! Gotta get posts out while I have the time. Plus I know all you really want to do is see the babies 🙂 🙂 :).

In case you didn’t catch it, the naming theme is nature words. What else would an eco-hippie name his kids? (Sure, Veronica named them too, but Charles is still the patron dangit.)

The multiples thing wasn’t an accident. I gave Charles Fertility Treatment, and I managed to get enough Happiness Points to give it to Veronica too by their wedding night. In Gen 2, I had given just Layla Fertility Treatment, and she didn’t get twins until her second pregnancy. I wasn’t sure what the probability of multiples was, and I didn’t want to take any chances. Once the honeymoon vacation and maternity leave were up, Veronica was going to be a full adult before she even got to start her new job as a Ghost Hunter, and she has a career LTW. I didn’t want her to take the career hit for multiple pregnancies and run the risk of not making her wish.

And I knew triplets were a possibility, but I thought, “Hey great! Three’s a charm!”

I had no idea how hard it would be to skill three toddlers before their child birthday. The whole five-adult household has been skilling in shifts and dropping almost all their personal wishes for the whole life stage, and it still will be a near thing. Charles and Veronica spent about a week with an unfulfilled wish to Woohoo sitting in their queues. Ah, that is perhaps too close to what new parenthood is really like :).

Veronica got a wish to spend 1000 simoleons at the spa, and she got a huge mood bonus for a WEEK! Don’t say the spa never did anything for you. It got her through a whole lot of the grind of starting a new job and endless endless toddler skilling.

Oh, and sorry about the crappy unfinished state of the nursery. The house had routing problems in that room, and I had to restructure the wall just a little bit. I THOUGHT I had repainted everything properly in the inside, but man was I wrong! And the roof doesn’t even connect property to the half wall! I’d’ve paused everything and gone into Build Mode to fix it, but I’d already had to reload twice at that point and just want to save and GET OUT.

I’m not entirely sure what I want to do with Sky. On one hand, I’m glad one kid turned out to be a ghost. OTOH, Charles’s aging is completely borked and I’m just aging him up using Twallan’s mods when Veronica has a birthday because they are exactly the same age. Cyclone got so borked that I had to annihilate him. It just seems like there are real game issues with playable ghosts, and I’m not sure I want to risk it again. I have been boosting Charles’s fishing and Fabian’s cooking with the thought of feeding her ambrosia before her YA birthday. She can still be a ghost child for story purposes, but unless I can find some fix for the aging trouble, I think enough ghosts is enough for one game.

(Oh, and I have to say that I thought Veronica’s game-generated maternity wear was adorable. It’s the first time I think I’ve liked any of the maternity wear.)