Tag Archive | charles

4.4 Lifestyles of the Wannabe Famous

Feb25

“Zahra! You have to come!” Fabian declared as he burst into the house after work.

“I have to go where?” Zahra demanded.

“There’s a new club opening in town called The Queen. Half priced drinks all week!”

“And why should I be excited that something I’m not going to drink anyway is half price?”

“I’ve heard a rumor that Vita Alto likes the place.”

“The Leader of the Free World? I didn’t vote for her.”

Fabian made puppy dog eyes. “Don’t you ever want to have any fun?”

Which is how Zahra found herself on her way to a disco dance club.

The Queen was creatively lit, Zahra could give it that.

Fabian had failed to mention that if the Leader of the Free World were showing up at a dance club for drinks, there would be extra security. But he sailed right by with his golden tongue and police badge.

“Hey there, Fabian Branch Sample with Sunset Valley’s finest. Keep up the great work!”

The bouncer didn’t even try to keep Fabian out. Zahra slipped through quickly before he changed his mind about her.

There she was: Vita Alto, the Leader of the Free World. Haggling with the bartender over how much vodka should be in her Bloody Mary.

It was as if stars were flashing in Fabian’s eyes. He was drawn to her like a bee to honey.

“Wow, Ms. Alto,” he stammered. “I was really amazed by that, um, speech you gave last week.”

Vita Alto raised an eyebrow. “The one about the trade agreement with Al Simhara, or the one about firefighters rescuing kittens?”

“Um.”

She laughed in a way that was not entirely friendly. “I thought so.”

Zahra sat at the bar and watched her dear husband make a fool of himself.

The food was greasy, but actually not too bad.

She tried to enjoy herself, but the flashing lights and loud sounds gave her a headache. Zahra had no sense of rhythm, and she hated to dance. This really wasn’t the place for her, and she persuaded Fabian to go home early.

“It’s all right if you go out without me,” she told him in the car ride home. “I know you have these… social… needs. I’m perfectly happy to stay home with my science and inventions while you have a good time with other people.”

Fabian’s throat caught. “Are you sure?”

Zahra nodded. “We’re different about this. It’s all right.”

Fabian had never been quite sure that she’d forgiven him for Agnes. It seemed he had her trust back after all.

Time passed, and Hank Goddard was promoted over Fabian. Fabian and Hank had been partners since the beginning of their careers, and it was odd to transition to reporting to him as his boss. There was a little bit of jealousy there too. Fabian was getting close to a promotion to his dream job as a Forensic Specialist, and it stung to know that Hank would get there first. Still, Hank had a list of ex-girlfriends as long as his arm and no real responsibilities, and Fabian and a wife and family. Dues had to be paid.

Fabian’s new partner was Willem Yo. The Yo family had changed since Willem was dating Shanni, however. Willem’s younger sister Michelle had gone into acting and had gotten some attention in martial arts films. Fabian was dying to meet her.

“Ada!” he declared one day as he burst into the house after work. “You have to come with me! I got an invitation to Willem’s birthday party!”

Ada clapped her hands. “Wow! So strange your partner would invite you to his party!”

“This is my big chance to meet Michelle Yo. She is going to be a big star, I’m sure of it. Why don’t you come with me?”

“Sure…” Ada said. “If Charles comes with me.”

Fabian flinched. He and Charles usually stayed in opposite halves of the house. “Why Charles?”

“He helps me keep from doing embarrassing things,” Ada said.

And so they all ended up at the gates of the Yo estate for an evening pool party. Fabian had known that the Yos had money, but he hadn’t really guessed just how much money.

Like any truly fashionable pool party, nobody was swimming. Guests stood around in their swimwear, sipping cocktails and having suave conversations.

Fabian barely spoke to Willem. They could do that at work. Instead, he downed two or three of the bright pink cocktails to get his confidence up to approach Michelle.

“I have all your movies!” he said. “I, um, watch a lot of television. You’re really stellar in Kung Fu Kazam. Sure, you don’t have many lines, but you deliver those kicks with such feeling. That’s acting!”

Michelle seemed to appreciate the adulation. Or at least she didn’t tell him to stop.

An hour and another two cocktails later, and Fabian’s praise was starting to take a more personal tone. “You know you’re an incredibly attractive woman. Do you mind telling me…. what’s your sign?”

Ada gasped and ran to Charles, who was making smalltalk with Michelle and Willem’s younger sister Jenna.

“Charles! Come quick!” she cried. “Dad’s flirting! You can’t let Mom kill him!”

Charles was there as quick as a teleport would let him.

“Hello there, I’m Charles,” he said, shouldering between Fabian and Michelle. “This a great party.”

Fabian seemed to realize that he was being rescued. He went pale. “Hey, um, Michelle, this is my stepson. You should have a lot in common. He runs the dojo in town.”

Michelle offered him a blinding smile, and Charles had a brief insight into what might have made Fabian act like an idiot. Not that it took much to get Fabian to act like an idiot.

“I’ve heard about the Spirit Sample Dojo!” she said. “The choreography in my next film is pretty challenging, and I’ve been thinking about showing up there to see whether you’d be interested in some personal training.”

Charles blinked. “You act in… martial arts films?”

Michelle laughed. “Obviously, you don’t watch as much television as Fabian.”

Actually, Charles never watched television. He didn’t see the point of staying indoors watching pictures of the outdoors when you could just go outside yourself. But he decided it would be rude to say so.

Still, listening to Michelle talk about her career was more interesting than Charles had expected. After quite a while, he was able to pull himself free of the conversation and escort Fabian to the car.

On the way, he picked up Ada, who seemed to have hit it off with Jenna.

“See, it’s not just me,” Ada said brightly as they piled into Fabian’s patrol car. “Charles keeps you from doing embarrassing things too! He’s just like that.”

“I’m a turd,” a sobering Fabian wailed as Charles eased the car out onto the road. Charles shrugged, focusing on the road.

“I’m a great big, stinky, slimy pile of –“

“Please stop.”

“Zahra ought to wise up and kick my ass to the curb.”

“You expect me to disagree with you? Look, I don’t know what Mom sees in you, but you make her happy. If I catch a whiff of you making eyes at another woman, and I’m going to tell her. You know she’ll divorce you.”

“You’re not going to tell her about this?”

Charles sighed. “Not this time. Once Mom knows, there’s no going back. So prove to me you’re not a turd.”

“Thank you,” Fabian said.

“Jenna kept rubbing my knee,” Ada said. “I wonder why. Is my knee more soft than the rest of my body?”

———-

So, after everything Fabian’s been through with Zahra, he started rolling wishes to flirt with Michelle! Ack!

So that’s my Michelle Yo sim. She doesn’t look like Michelle Yeoh, but she don’t look too bad IMHO.

4.3 His Own Master

Feb19

When Charles got back to Sunset Valley, he hit the library for every book he could find on entrepreneurship. If he was going to open his own dojo, he wanted to do it right. He could earn his way as a fisherman, but that was unlikely to make anyone rich. Nobody taught Sim Fu in Sunset Valley, and a dojo had the potential to be a drag on the family finances or a career path that would allow him to make a difference in the community.

Everywhere he went, he had a book in hand. Even in the waiting room of the salon. He’d seen a picture in in one of his Sim Fu books that really inspired him.

Shanni was still out on maternity leave, so the reception he received at the salon was about what he’d come to expect.

He was pleased to note that one of the tattoo artists didn’t seem bothered at all.

Of course, she was the person he picked to do the work.

Charles showed her the picture and where he wanted it to go.

It didn’t really hurt that much, but maybe that was just another effect of being half-ghost. Afterward, he awkwardly tried to start up a conversation.

“Hey, I’m Charles. I was just wondering if you might want to go out for a drink sometime?”

“Well,” she said, “Honestly, my boyfriend might get the wrong idea.”

Ouch. Strike out. Next time, he berated himself, don’t be so forward.

At least he now felt uniquely prepared for this business venture. The tattoo felt like a sort of good luck charm.

(I apparently didn’t take a closeup of the tattoo. It’s a stylized Asian dragon that I downloaded from MTS. I kind of thought Ada might get tattoos, but it was Charles who wished for it while he was training in China!)

The first thing he needed to do was find a property with the right feel. Well, with the right feel that he could afford. That narrowed his options down a whole lot.

However, after some perusal of real estate listings, he discovered an old estate house on the edge of town. An old man had once lived there who was of Japanese descent, and he’d altered the place to suit his heritage.

He died almost two years ago, and the family had put the place up for sale as-is and left it on the market with a slowly dropping price. Charles could use the family savings to buy it without taking out a loan, but just barely.

It was going to be a lot of work to fix up, though. It was musty smelling and filled with the old man’s forgotten belongings.

Charles took a deep breath and signed on the dotted line. This was a big risk, but he was determined to make it work out. He thought about Wu and wanted to make him proud. And Granddad. He always wanted to make Granddad proud.

The first thing he did was strip out the living room and turn it into a training room.

The upper floor he set off-limits for now, except for the bathroom, which did barely function. He would have to renovate as he went along.

He was ready to open the Spirit Sample Dojo.

He took out an ad in the newspaper and anxiously waited to see if anyone would show up. A couple of retirees, Malika Williams and Geoffry Landgraab, did make an appearance. And Adjo showed up to be supportive.

And Charles discovered to his dismay that the lights failed to come on. The circuits were blown, and he’d have to replace a lot of wiring. This place really was a fixer-upper.

(I thought the place had no light. But when I went to edit it, there were lights — they just weren’t coming on. Some kind of glitch with installing the lot, I guess. I had to replace them.)

Still, Landgraab gave it a pretty good go in the dim training room.

Charles was able to teach him a few things, but teaching turned out to be very hard. Setting appropriate drills and expectations for different ages and body types was even harder. Granddad had seemed to have no trouble with these things when he taught Charles the art.

Still, as the weeks went by, and the word got out, things got more encouraging. More people started showing up. He met all sorts of new people from the community.

Darlene Bunch.

(I believe she’s now Arvid Voss’s girlfriend. Heh.)

Velvet Sharpe.

Ayesha Ansari.

Charles worked out the kinks in his teaching style, and he could really see his students start to learn and improve. It was a heady feeling.

Even Adjo, who’d mostly shown up to be a nice guy, caught the bug.

And did he ever.

Though he picked some very strange places to meditate.

Maybe the old broken washer/dryer gave him just the right focus.

The Spirit Sample Dojo was a success. Charles was elated. He was making it work!

Now he really could call himself a Master of Sim Fu.

———-

The idea for this thread unfurled in my head essentially the way I wrote it on his trip to China. Sure, Charles is an adventurer, but I was annoyed that nobody in the hometown knew or could learn Sim Fu without Charles teaching them. So the town should have an Academy. Wait… since he’s the only guy with a high Sim Fu skill in town, what if Charles opened the dojo! It was a fabulous way to get an otherwise solitary sim out there being social.

Then Charles and Ada both rolled wishes to buy another business, and that seemed to seal it.

The dojo lot is Kensei Miyagi Dojo from MTS. Note the picture on the wall in the training room if you’ve seen the old 80s classic The Karate Kid :). All of the pictures with no sims in them of the house and its interior were taken from the MTS post. I was shocked and annoyed to realize I didn’t take any introductory pictures of the place. The creator didn’t take a pic of the outside. I will have to do that and put it in a future post.

Here’s the thing that DID NOT HAPPEN on the dojo’s opening day.

If you thought Adjo looked a little, well, chubbier than usual in his first appearance, you’d be right. Here he is going into labor.

After this, he went to the hospital and gave birth to Darrin, his and Toya’s third child and first son. And I turned off male pregnancy.

4.2 Master of Sim Fu

Feb16

“It’s a girl!” Shanni was breathless on the phone when she reported the news to the family.

“Now she’ll go stir-crazy on maternity leave,” Zahra remarked under her breath. “Mark my words.”

Ada took it upon herself to get Shanni out of the house at least a little bit. She persuaded her aunt to meet her at the Art Museum for a short, low-stress turn through the traveling exhibit.

“Here’s little Jeannette!” Shanni showed off her and Agnes’s daughter with eyes that glowed with pride.

And if there were a few dark circles under those eyes, well that was just the price of admission.

“I brought you a gift,” Ada said. “It’s an apple from grandma’s garden.”

“You, um, wrapped up apple to give me?”

“Sure. It’s the thought that counts. I thought you needed an apple.”

(If you’re wondering where Jeanette is in this shot, she’s lying on the sidewalk. Why wouldn’t that be the best place for her?)

“You have that crazy look,” Ada remarked to Charles one morning over breakfast.

Charles raised his eyebrows. “*I* look crazy? All right. I was thinking about doing some more traveling.”

“OK. Where are we going?”

“Well, Granddad taught me everything I know about the art of Sim Fu. It changed my life. I was thinking about going back to China to study under the masters.”

“I’ll get my paints,” Ada said.

So Charles made the arrangements.

And soon they were checking into a lovely Chinese hotel.

Fortunately the dress code was flexible.

Granddad had told them all about the beautiful Zen Scholar’s Garden, so that’s where they headed first.

Ada almost exploded with painting enthusiasm. There was no place to rest her eyes that didn’t belong on a canvas.

Though her artistic interpretation was sometimes…. interesting.

Charles made a beeline to the koi pond.

With pretty good results.

After the first day, he finally had had it with his hair getting in the way. He cut it back to his old style.

The next morning, Ada woke him up with a surprise. “Get up bright and early, sleepyhead! Vacation is no time for rest!” Sometimes he couldn’t tell if she was joking or being serious.

Then they went their separate ways. Ada headed off in search of subjects to paint.

Charles found his way to the Martial Arts Academy.

As he approached the entrance, he ran into the Special Merchant, who proved that China was not any more comfortable with his kind than Sunset Valley.

But the Academy itself was a haven. It was filled with other martial artists just as passionate as he was.

“Hello!” a woman called in greeting. “I’m Amelia! From France!”

“Are you talking to me?”

To his surprise, Charles found himself pulled into the excited chatter of a fellow traveler. This almost never happened to him. Even now that he was visible and fairly solid, most people still reacted to him as if someone had, well, walked over their grave. It was a while before Charles could even focus on what she was saying.

Amelia was full of advice about the best places to stay and the best bargains at the market.

“What I’m really looking for is a Sim Fu master,” Charles confessed. “Someone who can teach me the secrets of the art.”

“I don’t know about that. I’m just a beginner. But I’ve heard folks talk about a Zhang Wu. He’s supposed to be pretty hot stuff.”

Charles thanked her and went off in search of Wu.

A few inquiries brought him to the home of a man not much older than himself.

Wu was an attractive, charismatic guy. He made Charles feel comfortable and at home immediately. He couldn’t think of anyone he’d ever met who was so easy to talk to. It was enough to make Charles wonder if he was serious about Sim Fu at all. Well, that is, until Charles persuaded him to spar.

They were touch matches, but it was clear who was the better martial artist. After trouncing Charles four consecutive times, Wu panted, “You’re amazing! Have you ever considered opening your own dojo?”

Charles was taken aback. “No. I’ve never considered that.”

“I’m going to be out your way sometime this year,” Wu confessed. When I’m on your side of the ocean, I’ll look you up. We should spar some more.”

Charles smiled comfortably. Other than Jabari, he didn’t have any friends outside his family. It was amazing to find such a connection with another person. “I’d love to get another chance,” he confessed. “You taught me a lot. But do you mind if I ask a personal question.”

Wu flashed a blinding smile. “Shoot. I reserve the right not to answer.”

“Well, do you notice anything…. different about me?”

Wu chuckled. “Of course I do. You’re some kind of spirit man. But people come from all over the world to study with me here. You’re not even the weirdest thing I see before breakfast.”

Charles thought about Wu as he explored the Tomb of The Dragon’s Maw.

Wu was an amazing master of Sim Fu. He was clearly much better than Charles, but he didn’t think that Wu was offering false praise. He had the feeling that Wu’s praise was actually pretty difficult to earn.

He probably should have paid a little more attention to what he was exploring.

As he ran screaming headlong into dive well filled with scummy water, Charles learned one important thing about his ghostly nature.

He had no idea if it could kill him, but fire HURT.

“What do you think of this dojo idea?” He asked Ada when he met her in the marketplace for lunch.

“I can’t talk now,” Ada said. “I have to finish this painting while my subjects will stand still.”

“Your subjects? You mean those canopic jars?”

“Yeah. I don’t know how long they’ll sit. They get restless.”

“Oh.”

She did manage to finish the picture in time.

Back at the hotel, he ran into a familiar face.

“Charles Sample! Remember me? Amelia? From France?”

“Yeah. Thanks for the advice. I found Wu, and he was amazing.”

“I can’t let you leave without getting your phone number. We travelers need to look out for each other. You really must come to France sometime and meet me!”

Charles had initially been thrilled that a woman he was not related to was so comfortable around him, but that quickly melted away to a new kind of discomfort. Amelia was Mom’s age, and her friendliness was starting to sound like something else.

She called him four times before he left China, and after that he screened his calls.

He was still thinking of Wu’s advice as they readied for the return home.

What would it take to open a dojo? What would he need? Was it something that could be turned into a career? Would anyone want to learn Sim Fu from a half-ghost anyway?

One thing he was sure of was that he was never taking a bath like that again. It might feel luxurious, but it took him forever to shake the guilt over how much water it wasted.

“This was amazing!” Ada gushed as they boarded the plane for home. “China has inspired me to write an epic novel. I’m going to call it Kiwis of Peace.”

“Kiwis? What about China makes you think of Kiwis?”

Ada frowned. “I don’t understand the question.”

Charles gave his sister a hug. “Don’t worry. I know it will be a great book.”

———-

Heh. I think I had too many things going on in this post.

One simple bit of CC that I can no longer imagine playing without is the Portable Easel. Since Sims 3 is open world, I was kind of dumbfounded when Lance took up painting and I discovered he could only do it on his home lot. Why have the option of painting a landscape when it can only be your own back yard. Dragging Ada around to paint the travel landscapes is a ton of fun.

Charles is back to the Battler hairstyle! And now his glasses are gold. His skin is silver. He hardly needs more silver.

Eco-friendly sims are hilarious. Charles took a serious mood hit for taking a bath!

4.1 Some Immortality

Feb11

Ada developed an obsession with an upperclassman named Lavar Andrews from her literature class. She looked up his phone number on the school directory and started calling him, trying to persuade him to join her at the art museum. Not anything like a date, really.

Lavar never seemed to have time to talk to her. Then he stopped answering her calls at all. What was wrong? Didn’t the Orbital Mind Control Lasers want him to notice her?

One day, she decided to take matters into her own and called his house. “Oh, yes!” Mrs. Andrews said cheerfully. “Lavar’s home and just watching the television. Come on over?”

But when she arrived, he wasn’t there.

“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Andrews said nervously. “He had to dash out to the store. Maybe another night?”

“I’ll wait for him,” Ada said. And she did.

“I really think you ought to head home, young lady,” Mrs. Andrews said coldly when curfew got close. Ada had to leave without seeing Lavar. The Mind Control Lasers were playing tricks on her.

Charles had heard good things about the fish in the graveyard lake, so he headed out one bright morning to see for himself.

He had the place to himself, except for an old busker and his audience of one.

The graveyard…. What an interesting place to busk.

And there was something terribly odd about the guy who was listening.

(Why yes, that is Sean!)

The fish weren’t biting terribly well, so Charles settled down for a long day. He should have been enjoying himself, but there was something odd in the air. He couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Look!” someone shouted. “In the sky! Get out of there!”

Charles looked up and was paralyzed at the sight. An enormous asteroid, wreathed in flames, was hurtling out the sky toward him.

He should have teleported away, but his mind was empty. His life flashed before his eyes.

Then it hit.

Crimson light flashed. The air was filled with dirt, debris, flame. Then it settled down around him.

He hadn’t felt anything. The asteroid had hit him dead on. He was standing in its crater. He should be dead….

…Unless he already was?

Charles was half-mortal, half-ghost. His skin was warm, but he could feel the pull of the Netherworld that his father had returned to. What was he, really?

He looked across the lawn and locked eyes with the mysterious man he had seen earlier.

They had something in common, he knew suddenly. They were both not quite alive and not quite dead. He didn’t know what the man was, but he wanted to know more.

“Hi, I’m Charles,” he said awkwardly, closing the distance with his hand outstretched.

“What the hell was that?” the stranger said by way of greeting.

Then he collapsed at Charles’s feet. Charles started to check his vitals, but he knew that he wouldn’t find anything. The man was all right, just stunned.

There was more metallic debris lying around the graveyard than Charles had ever seen in his life. He gathered up the scrap to bring home to Mom. She might not need to go back to the junk yard for inventing materials for the rest of her life.

He hauled the meteor itself home and placed it in the lawn as a decoration.

———

OOOOOK. The way this played from the other side of the keyboard:

“Oh, hey, it’s a meteor! I’ve never had a meteor in the game. That’s awesome!”

“Wait. It’s really headed for Charles’s head. I’ll just teleport him out of the way.”

“They won’t let him teleport!! They’re just going to make him stand there and wait? What the heck??”

“Ohmigod ohmigod. Charles is going to die! This can’t be happening! What am I going to do?”

“Dur….?”

*pantpantpant*

So, I’m pretty sure a direct hit was supposed to kill him, wasn’t it? He wasn’t harmed at all. He didn’t event get the soot-face explody hair. I have to assume that’s because he’s a ghost kid?

Gawping at the meteor is apparently like a birthday party. It seems to preempt everything else in the queue, and it can’t be canceled. I don’t understand why you get so much warning if you can’t run away. Bah. Or maybe I was too clever to try to teleport, and he’d’ve responded if I’d just told him to walk. Charles can’t actually run. He just floats at a very slow ghost speed, or he teleports.

It was pretty awesome to run into vampire Sean. 🙂

4.0 Passing the Torch to Charles

Jan27

Charles spent his last night of highschool homework with his best friend Jabari Keaton. Homework was one thing he was not going to miss.

Afterward, they celebrated with an evening spent the evening sparring in his back yard.

Then came graduation and his big step into adulthood.

OK, it was a nice look, but not HIS look.

He immediately registered as a fisherman at City Hall. It was the perfect career. He could set his own hours and spent as much time as possible enjoying the beauty of the outdoors.

“Mom, there’s so much wasted potential,” he enthused. “Grandma’s amazing garden provides all the fruits and vegetables we need. My fish provide protein. All we need is a power source, and we could get completely off the grid.”

Zahra rolled her eyes when he wasn’t looking, but she didn’t argue with him when he began installing solar cells around the yard.

Or even the windmill in the back yard.

The house hadn’t had never been greener, and Charles couldn’t be happier with it.

When he wasn’t fishing, meditating, and recycling, he helped Zahra maintain the garden. It really was too much for one person.

There was only one problem in his new life. Charles had found a way to be visible, but he couldn’t stop frightening people.

His only friend outside the family was Jabari, and he hadn’t managed so much as a date in highschool. It was kind of a lonely life, and he wanted to do better.

He was his own man now. He’d figure it out.

Oh yeah, and Lance is back around and enjoying the afterlife.

———

Finally the start of the new generation! You’ll see Charles roll through a couple of hairstyles before we settle back to Battler :).

3.45 Togetherness

Jan25

Losing Lancelot came down on the Samples like an anvil.

Everyone was struggling and trying not to drag everyone else down.

They all soldiered through the days. But it was Layla who found herself in that empty bed every night.

She tried to put on a brave face, but she wasn’t really fooling anyone.

Everyone wanted to cheer her up. Charles tried his usual fare.

But she barely noticed.

Ada and Fabian dragged her to the art museum to get her out of the house.

Ada was in her element. “It’s so golden,” she whispered, “and the tiny golden men are singing to me.”

Fabian ran into none other than Mayor Tamara Donner. He was so bowled over that he followed her into the bathroom to interview her.

And Layla tried. She really did.

“What’s this thing again? Dadaist? Dada is a movement?”

When she got home, she declared that all she really wanted was a nice bubble bath. Before anyone else could react, Charles had teleported to the to the grocery store to pick up some bath soap.

And got himself picked up for being out after curfew.

When he got home, Zahra really let him have it.

Zahra was terrifying and unforgiving when she was angry.

But Charles was only trying to help. He carried around his resentment until it exploded.

“Do you have any idea the kind of energy your research equipment is wasting? Do you even care?? We all have to live on this planet too!”

Layla listened to the arguing going on downstairs and wracked her brain.

The grief and tension were ripping the family apart at the seams. Lance of all people would have been crushed. She had to think of something to draw them back together.

“The twins’ birthday is coming up,” she told the household. “It’s been so long since we were all together as a family. I think we should throw them a party.”

Everyone jumped to make it so.

The next evening, the Sample house was busting at the seams.

“I don’t know if Agnes said anything,” Shanni confided in Toya as they arrived. “I’m pregnant! Zahra referred us to a doctor who does work for the Science Center.”

“That’s fabulous!” Toya crowed. “Now that money isn’t so tight, Adjo and I are thinking about trying for another one. Let me tell you about babies….”

Adjo slipped away while the women gossiped to pay his respects.

There was hustle and bustle of catching up on everyone’s lives. Adjo and Toya had weathered the lean times, and Adjo was now in business for himself again as a local band manager. “These kids have talent like you wouldn’t believe,” he said. “All they need is one break, and we’re talking national attention, big name label, their voice on every radio station. This is for real.”

While the blood Samples were laughing and comparing notes, Agnes drifted up the stairs alone. Fabian watched her go. He followed and found her sitting on the upstairs couch, staring into space.

“This seat taken?” he asked, not waiting for an answer.

“You!” Agnes said. “What are you doing here? If your wife finds us alone, she’ll cut your balls off.”

“Yeah,” he said amiably. “So she tells me. So what are you doing here all alone?”

“It’s just a little intense down there. I needed a breather.”

“Tell me about it. How’s married life?”

Agnes sighed. “Complicated. It was so much easier with Erik. Or maybe I never got a chance to find out how hard it would be before he died. Don’t get me wrong. I love Shanni. But she’s… intense. And Shanni pregnant is almost more than I can handle. A woman with such a delicate mood should never have a condition that gives her extra mood swings.”

“I know what you mean,” Fabian said. “Monogamy is a lot of work, isn’t it? You might have noticed that Zahra’s the irresistible force AND the unmovable object. I wouldn’t change a thing, but sometimes I wonder how my life could have been different.”

“Yeah,” Agnes said. “I hear you.”

“So we’ve come to this,” Fabian said softly.

Agnes flinched. “Come to what?”

“Old friends. Sometimes old lovers make the best kind.”

She laughed. “Especially old lovers you’d never take back.”

“I deserved that. I think the cake is ready down there. Let’s get going before someone comes looking for us, and I lose my balls.”

And there were laughing, cheering, wishes pondered, and candles blown out.

Under the gaze of old loved ones.

Then cake.

And dancing.

“The thing about the orbital mind control lasers is that most people can’t see or hear them,” Ada told Shanni. “Except me. When the lasers are on, I can feel the heat on the back of my head.”

“I know just what you mean,” Shanni answered eagerly. “Like the invisible words the government inserts into news articles to control the way you think about them.”

“I had no idea you’d understand!”

It was early morning before they could bring themselves to say goodbye. The cloud had lifted from the house. There was cleaning to be done in the morning, but now was the time to unwind.

Layla headed to her empty bedroom with a feeling of peace and contentment. The feeling grew inside her until she realized it was something else entirely.

Layla’s time had come too, and she was ready to embrace it.

It was hard to say goodbye.

But this time, the ones left behind were ready to take comfort in each other.

Who is remembered, lives.

———

And then there were four. Layla left the household also at age 104 with Lifetime Happiness of (sob) 190,000. If I’d really processed how long she was going to live, I could have nudged her to 200,000. I tried at the end, but it wasn’t soon enough. Plus, she went the last day and a half without generating any wishes. Her last big wish was to throw that birthday party. Still, I don’t think there was enough time to get to the goal even if she’d been more helpful.

This is the last post for Generation 3. It seems kind of fitting that it should end with the farewell of Generation 2.

Generation 3 has been by far the most engaging generation so far. Everyone became a well-rounded personality. Everyone had a story arc. It felt more like a story than either 1 or 2. And you can certainly tell by how many posts I managed to generate for them. 45. Damn.

Oh, yeah, and it turns out that both Insane and Neurotic sims have the “Talk about Conspiracies” conversation option, and it gives them a relationship boost instead of a hit. Shanni and Ada really do understand each other in a special way :).

On to Charles!

3.44 Pinnacle

Jan23

Layla had been the Executive Chef of the Little Corsican Bistro for ages. As she grew older, the work became more and more familiar, and it took very little effort to keep the restaurant at the quality it had become known for. Layla began to wonder why she was even bothering to show up for work. She wasn’t getting any younger. She should have retired a long time ago. What kept her coming back?

She did something she’d never done before. She called her boss, the owner of the restaurant, out to meet her outside of work hours.

“I don’t think the bistro needs me anymore,” Layla confessed. “I was thinking of retiring.”

“Of course you can if you want to,” the director admitted, “but I see just the opposite. You have real culinary genius, and if you let yourself apply it, you could take us places we’ve never been before.”

Layla thought about those words overnight, and in the morning she’d made her decision. She sat down and designed a menu that wove the cuisine of her childhood with the bistro’s usual fare. Italian-Egyptian fusion.

Sunset Valley was bowled over. Little Corsican Bistro made national, then international reviews.

Layla was a celebrated 5-star chef.

Her boss had been right. She had more potential than she’d ever expressed. And now that it was expressed, she felt at peace. She’d really done all there was to do in the culinary arts.

She made the call and retired from the bistro.

Lancelot was delighted. He’d never had a proper job, and he’d never really understood her desire to have a career. Now that she’d set it aside, he was eager to enjoy all the extra time together.

They celebrated in proper fashion.

Fabian helped her celebrate by fixing a breakfast she had no need to help with.

Layla felt so free she could sing. There were all sorts of new skills and hobbies to explore in her retirement.

To start with, she took a writing class and sat down to write her memoirs.

All was right in the Sample household. Zahra and Fabian were reconnecting.

Charles finally made the honor roll! Being visible didn’t hurt a bit.

“Hey Granddad,” Ada called to Lancelot after school one day. “I’ve been writing some adventure fiction. Could you take a look?”

“Absolutely, my girl!” Lance crowed, his chest puffed out that his expertise was called for.

And that’s when the tingling sensation washed over him.

It was a warm, fluffy feeling, almost like flying.

Lancelot Sample’s time had finally come.

Surrounded by his family, he said his goodbyes.

“Don’t cry,” he tried to tell them. “It’s actually kind of fun!”

But he was already past speaking. They’d have to figure it out on their own.

Without regret, and proud of all he left behind, Lancelot passed into the Netherworld.

———-

(Woo! Lancelot died at the age of 104 with ~260 happiness points. Even though Susie was the founder, I spent most of her lifetime figuring out how to play the game. Lance has been with me for a long time, and it’s hard to imagine playing the legacy without him. I looked up how long a Vegetarian can live, and it’s up to 15 days longer than normal sims, so I was starting to warm up to the idea of him getting to hold his great-grandchild. In the end, he didn’t make it nearly that far, and not even as crazy long as some Vegetarians. I read in someone else’s legacy of a Veggie who lived to be 111!

I’m gonna miss you, Lance.)

3.43 You Know It’s Time to Leave When…

Jan20

Zahra wandered out of the bedroom, down the hall, and into the kitchen. She was ravenous, and it had been a long night.

Fabian relaxed on the sofa with a book on logic. “Morning dear,” she said absently to him as she passed.

“Morning, love,” Fabian said, looking up. “You don’t happen to think that something is different do you?”

“Different?” Zahra asked, flushing. “What do you think is different?”

“It’s just that we seem to have misplaced the entire kitchen.”

Zahra looked around. “Oh, it’s not that bad! It’s just a few counters… and a stove… and the coffee maker… The refrigerator’s fine!”

“Have you been playing with the space-time continuum again?”

“No! Well, maybe just a little.”

Fabian sighed, setting down his book. “I understand your dedication to science and everything. It’s great. But would you please keep the experiments a the lab?”

“It wasn’t just an experiment,” Zahra began defensively. “I needed– AIGH! Charles! Would you stop that!”

“Ha, Mom! It gets you every time.”

Fabian glanced at the science book he’d left on the sofa. “I’ve been reading up on this stuff. All the mad science is making this place unstable. I think it’s time we moved. There’s nothing about space-time damage on the disclosure form, so we shouldn’t have not declare anything dangerous when we put it on the market. If we wait until the place HAS collapsed, our homeowner’s insurance won’t cover a thing.”

Zahra deflated. “All right. Let’s go house-hunting.”

Fabian grinned. “I have a better idea. Why don’t you collect up your experimental equipment and take it back to the lab. The kids and I will go house-hunting.”

So Fabian, Ada, and Charles picked a place to live.

And soon they were all packed and on their way.

The new place was an old estate in the architecture of the English countryside. It was directly on the beach and surprisingly close to downtown. Fabian had done a pretty good job.

They arrived on the evening of Ada’s birthday, with just enough time to celebrate properly.

And after a makeover:

Ada was…. changed after that birthday. The artistic vision that had always dominated her personality now seemed to take on a life of it own. Sometimes she started talking to the furniture, or walking around outside in her underwear.

“Don’t worry,” Fabian told Zahra uneasily. “It’s a phase. She’ll grow out of it.”

(Ha! Ada rolled Insane for her teen trait! I was totally not expecting that!

And the upcoming Gen 4 has a new house! It’s English Country Estate at ModTheSims. It has a few issues. The 2×1 gothic arches used don’t seem to exist anymore, one of the upstairs beds was unroutable, and so was one half of the dining table. I tweaked the walls a bit to fix those things, and I replaced the arches with some not-as-pretty columns.

Of course, I ended up moving before I’d intended to AGAIN. This is another elaborate Simfail associated with Shanni’s wedding. Why is it that nobody can get out of this household without there being major game issues???

This time, right after Shanni and Agnes got engaged, I started having major game slowdowns. It literally took Shanni all night to get to her bureau and then to the mirror to fix her wedding dress and hair. I actually tried to do the wedding in this state, which is where the pic of bodiless Parker came from, but it was slow and messed up, and nobody came except the immediate household and Parker for some reason. And then I clicked Agnes and there was NO “GET MARRIED” OPTION.

So I downloaded a utility I read about on ModTheSims that would locate corrupted CC, and the utility flagged the entire custom kitchen from the house they were living in. I don’t know how this could have been the problem, since I’ve been playing in that house for like six months of real time, but it’s possible that there was some cumulative problem. I deleted the kitchen, and things improved immediately.

So I figured it was more fun to roll that into the story :).

I wanted to get the household out of the corrupted house as fast as possible, so I actually moved them out before the wedding and staged them in Condor Museum Lofts for the duration of Shanni’s wedding. Then I moved them to the new digs. So, for your Simantic viewing pleasure….

Here is the whole family standing around in the basement of the loft building.

Shanni was so excited that walls could not stand in her way.

And I close with a cute pic of Shanni calling to schedule her own wedding party.

Ha!)

3.41 Family Matters

Dec1

When work nudged her toward more work with vertebrate life forms, Zahra discovered another common interest with Charles.

They’d never needed conversation, which was good because Zahra was so bad at it. But their silent time together said paragraphs.

When he wasn’t fishing, Charles got Granddad to train Jabari Keaton in Sim-Fu.

Finally, someone his age to spar with.

(With the train ability, you can compel random NPCs to learn skills! Awesome!)

Ada, on the other hand, discovered her Easy Bake Oven.

When she had all the muffins she could carry, she went and found Fabian, who was sitting at the computer as usual. “Come on, Dad! You’re going to teach me entrepreneurship.”

“Queen to queen 4… What? I’m going to teach you what?”

“Oh, come on, Dad. I need an adult with me.”

So she dragged Fabian to the square and set up shop. Once Fabian got over the unpleasantness of being dragged out of his nice comfortable house, he found a wealth of opportunity.

Harvey Ursine, for example, couldn’t avoid talking to a guy whose brother-in-law just happened to be married to his daughter.

(And Fabian becomes the first character to actually MEET Harvey.)

Harvey was waiting for his new squeeze, Zelda Mae, to get off work. He took up with her within days of Rachel’s death. But you had to give the old bastard one thing — he never stepped out on her while she was alive. At least not so that anybody found out.

Mortimer Goth showed up at the theater on a date with Madison Langerak.

But he spent most of it complaining about Shanni.

Ada was a born saleswoman, and the crowd around her muffin stand lasted stretched down the block.

Fabian had to drag her home past her bedtime. “But there are still muffins left!” she cried.

And in all of this ebb and flow of daily life, Shanni was nowhere to be found.

She’d barely been home since things started between her and Agnes. She certainly hadn’t slept there.

There was a whole world to Agnes that she never let people see.

It only took a visit to the dark, half-decorated second bedroom to set Shanni thinking on the life Agnes had expected before her husband’s unfortunate accident turned her world upside down. No wonder she was so bitter now.

As she was coming down for breakfast, Agnes dashed out of the downstairs bathroom, looking embarrassed. “Don’t go in there dear. I’ve already called a repair man.”

When the repairman arrived, though, Shanni was in for a surprise.

“Adjo!” She gave her brother a big hug. “It’s been too long. Since when are you fixing toilets?”

(Seriously. If I knew Twallan was going to appoint Adjo as the down repairman, I would have taken a screen shot of Agnes breaking the toilet. It was funny.)

“Since Toya had another baby. You heard, right? Another girl. Her name is Starr.”

Shanni nodded. “Yeah, I heard.” She held her tongue on Adjo’s choice of names. “Congratulations! But appliance repair? I thought you were going to stay with busking and avoid working for The Man.”

Adjo looked to the floor. “Well, that doesn’t exactly pay for a growing family, does it?” The edge to his voice was something Shanni had never heard before. “Toya’s home on maternity leave, and I don’t want her asking her dad for money. I got work as a Roadie at the theater, and I’m picking up odd jobs where I can.”

There were bags under Adjo’s eyes, and he seemed pale and wan under his dark complexion. Shanni could barely find her voice. Adjo had always been so sure of what he wanted. She’d never entertained the possibility that things would be less than perfect for him. “Wow,” she said at last. “I’m sorry.”

Adjo forced a smile that quickly became the real deal. He was tired, not beat. “But enough about me,” he said. “What the hell are YOU doing here?”

Shanni flushed. “Um. About that. I’m kind of here with Agnes.”

Adjo blinked. “With Agnes? You meant WITH with?”

“Yeah. I haven’t told any of the family. I didn’t know how.”

“If you and Agnes are a couple, what’s so hard to say?”

“Well, it’s just that, I don’t know. People expect me to behave a certain way. And good grief, Zahra’s so straitlaced. She’ll completely freak out to see me with another woman.”

Adjo took her by the shoulders. “Look, the real question here is whether she makes you happy. If she does, then we’re all happy for you. Simple as that.”

After he left, Shanni kept on thinking. Adjo might be having a hard time, but he was still people-wise in a way she would never be. He’d taken all the confused thoughts dancing around in her head and made everything clear.

She was happy.

Shanni had dated cops and criminals, nice guys and bastards, smart and dumb, relaxed and ambitious. Nothing had ever stuck. Maybe she hadn’t found the right guy because he wasn’t a guy.

Suddenly, she knew what she wanted.

“Shanni, where are you?” Agnes called. “Come have breakfast.”

“Agnes,” Shanni said from the foyer. “Could you come here? I wanted to ask you something.”

When she got down on one knee, Agnes went white. “You don’t want to. You can’t possibly mean it.”

“I’ve never meant anything more in my life,” Shanni said, and she meant it.
Agnes held her breath while Shanni put the ring on her finger.

“But you might change your mind. When you meet my husband’s ghost–“

“Hush,” Shanni said. “Wait till you meet my nephew.”

(I’m so glad you guys enjoyed Shanni’s big reveal! So here’s the gameplay story behind it. Shanni is a Hopeless Romantic. It turns out that if you ever want to play a Wishacy with no challenge to it, make your heir a Hopeless Romantic. Shanni had tons of romantic wishes, but they were almost never for specific people. The only guy she ever spontaneously had a romantic wish for was actually Michael Bachelor, her first boyfriend. All other times, she just rolled high-point wishes to be in a relationship, and if she talked to anyone for very long, she’d roll a wish to kiss him. So she wasn’t going to tell me who she wanted to settle down with after she fulfilled her LTW. I had to look for cues from the story.

And, well, Agnes was one great big cue. She kept popping up in Shanni’s life. More than that, her “secret” trait is ALSO Hopeless Romantic. It seemed like the two of them were a perfect match that was just a little bit less than obvious.

Now, the Heartbreaker LTW is phrased, “Be the girlfriend of 10 different sims.” It does NOT say, “Break up with 10 different sims.” So I figured that once Shanni became Agnes’ girlfriend, her LTW should be fulfilled. Except that once they made a commitment, she didn’t get it. I was getting pretty ticked off. Agnes was the choice. I didn’t want her to have to break up with the love of her life, wait for things to cool down, and then start the relationship up again. And it wasn’t FAIR because that’s not what the LTW said. Even more annoyingly, her commitment tally was 10/10. She needed to be the girlfriend of 10 different sims; the tally SAID she was the girlfriend of 10 different sims, and yet she hadn’t been granted the wish.

In a fit of impulse, I had Shanni propose, since that’s what she was going to do anyway. And lo-and-behold, as soon as Agnes accepted, Shanni got her LTW. It appears that the actual wish is to STOP being the girlfriend of 10 different sims. How you stop being a girlfriend can go either way :).

But wow. Heartbreaker is one heck of a LTW to try to complete with spare. She barely went to work the last couple of days because I was ready to be done and just rolling her through the relationships :).)

3.39 Meditation and Other Adventures

Nov15

Lance turned 100.

He celebrated by running 3 miles and then pumping iron for six hours straight.

Afterward, he looked… well, pretty much the same as he always looked. His days of bulging biceps and pulsating pectorals were long past, and he tried to take the truth with equanimity.

Lance couldn’t quite grasp the idea that his glory days were past. And the more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t let go of his last trip to Egypt with Charles, where they had been blocked from completing the tomb of the Sphinx.

The thing was, he knew exactly what they needed to smash those boulders. It had been hanging on the wall for ages as the prize trophy of his adventuring days.

Pangu’s Axe.

“All, right, Charles my boy, we are going back to Egypt, and this time we’re going prepared.”

Ada looked up from mixing paints. “You’re going where?”

“Charles and I, we have an unfinished date with the Sphinx,” Lance said with a twinkle in his eye.

Ada beamed. “All right! Just give me a minute to pack!”

“You want to go?” Charles asked in surprise.

“I am SO not going to let you go without me,” Ada retorted.

“But you’re just a little girl.”

“Ha! And it was OK when you were a little boy?”

It was hard to argue with that, even for Charles.

Ada was sure to make sure her mother was all right with things. Nobody mentioned how Lance had whisked Charles away without so much as a by-your-leave.

“I’m going to see the world, Mom! And learn how to ‘walk like an Egyptian’, you know.”

“Ada! You’re one quarter Egyptian! They walk just like everyone else.”

“It’s a joke Mom….”

“I don’t get it.”

“I love you anyway, Mom.”

“What about you, Layla?” Lance asked. “Come with us.”

“That’s all right. You kids have fun.”

“Don’t you miss your homeland? What about your sisters?”

Layla smiled wistfully at her husband. “Lancelot, my love,” she said. “I am an old woman. My joints ache. I hate flying. I like staying home and working in my garden, and my sisters and I do just fine with email. I keep waiting for you to notice that you’re an old man, but you don’t seem to have noticed yet.”

“Eh,” Lance said a bit awkwardly. “Maybe I’m still in denial.”

But she saw them to the airport and made sure everyone had one her amazing perfect apples to eat on the plane.

Ada gasped when they arrived. “It’s so beautiful! So amazing!”

“It’s a campsite,” Lance pointed out. “There’s a lot more than this to see.”

“I have to PAINT IT!” Ada cried.

Charles, on the other hand, was still petrified of flying. It was just unnatural to be tossed through the air in a big tin can. Lance knew to look for his jitters this time and had an idea how to fix them.

“Have I ever taught you any Sim-fu meditation?” he asked.

“No. What’s that?”

“Here, let me show you. First, get comfortable. Yes, like that. Now, let your mind expand.”

And then something amazing happened.

“I’m solid! I can’t believe it, Grandad! Thank you!”

“Ooof! You’re welcome! Who knew the power of Sim-fu?”

Ada dropped her paintbrush and dashed over.

“You don’t look like a ghost at all anymore! Well, maybe a little bit, but it’s a fabulous look. I can’t wait until I can paint your portrait!”

Charles was pleased to see that he really could have it all. He hadn’t lost any of his so-called super-powers. He could still float, pass through solid objects when he wanted to, and teleport all over town. And he could be just as scary as he was before if he choose to be.

But now he was both more visible, and more substantial.

Lance gathered the kids up into Fabian’s patrol car, which he just happened to have with him, and they headed out to the Sphinx.

Ada stayed outside to paint it, while Lance and Charles headed inside for adventure.

Charles had never felt so powerful in his life.

He and Lance made a great team.

And the final conclusion, at the center of the Sphinx, filled him with awe.

Afterward, they took some time to drink in the beauty of the place in their own ways.

On their final day, Lance cooked breakfast on the camp site’s stove.

“You two should appreciate this hot meal! Back in my day, we didn’t have the luxury of a stove at the Egyptian camp site! We had to eat cold cereal out of the refrigerator and like it!”

(Seriously. I had to install a mod just to add that stove. China and France have base camps with stoves, but not Egypt. Why? Don’t ask EA those silly questions.)

Charles got a little bit of exotic fishing in.

And Lance and Ada a little fun.

(Plus some games of tag that looked horribly inappropriate whenever I tried to photograph them. Sigh.)

And they finished their time bonding around the fire, talking of their adventures and future plans.

All too soon, it was time to catch the plane home.

(Herein, I get sick of never being able to see Charles either. What I’m actually doing is using the “Deghostify” option in EA’s testingcheats, made easier to use by Twallan’s DebugEnabler. He still floats and has sparkly ghost effects, but now he is in full color. I downloaded a metallic silver skintone for him so that he could continue to look ethereal. He would have had Cycl0n3’s pasty white skintone, so I made him very pale silver. The hair is just what looks like a ghostly hair color to me. He would have had Layla’s all-black hair. He also inherited Cycl0n3’s ice-blue eyes, which are a nice genetic touch in the Sample family.)