Tag Archive | sky

5.12 Start of a New Life

As it turned out, whether childbirth was better than staying pregnant was highly debatable. Sky’s labor had complications. Dr. Sebastian Hodgins, the area authority on supernatural childbirth, was called in to assist.

Leah was a flutter of worry. She dashed in and out of Sky’s hospital room, fetching coconut water, or a fan, or something to massage Sky’s feet.

The labor was long and hard, but the two of them made it through all right in the end. Dylan Sample was born big, bouncing, and healthy.

And entirely unghostlike.

As Leah drove them home, Sky couldn’t shake off the unreality of the whole thing. She was a mother. She’d sort of figured that someday she’d be a mother, but even through her pregnancy it had seemed a remote eventuality. Now the baby here in the car with her was hers.

She gazed into his face as she placed him in his crib for the first time. He slept so peacefully.

It was hard to be sure what she felt yet.

“Isn’t he amazing?” Leah whispered.

“Yeah,” Sky said, smiling distantly.

“And you’re amazing!” Leah continued. “You have made it through the greatest rite of womanhood! You gave birth to a child!”

“Well, yeah,” Sky said, unsure how to react. It hadn’t been a lot of fun, and she wasn’t so keen on doing it again any time soon.

But Leah’s appreciation did help.

“We’re parents now. It changes everything,” Leah said. “Dylan is affected by all the decisions we make in our life from here on out.”

“I suppose so,” Sky said. She wasn’t sure she wanted to think about that kind of responsibility.

“I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have with me on this journey,” Leah said.

Sky opened her mouth, but Leah raised her hand. “Don’t say anything yet.”

Leah knelt on the floor of the nursery.

Sky suddenly found it hard to breathe.

“I love you so much Sky. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Please marry me.”

Sky tried to speak, but no words came out. She held out her hand, and Leah slipped on the ring.

Leah pulled Sky into her arms, and Sky clung to her.

Running through her mind, over and over, were the words, the rest of my life.

She suddenly knew what was more terrifying than motherhood.

———-

I gotta get caught up on this blog before I finish my play session with the Wonderlands!

At last we meed Generation 6. It might not be clear from the pictures, but Dylan does have Leah’s light bronze skin.

5.11 Anticipation

Jun18

Veronica was inventing again. That made for plenty of adventures for the family.

“I call in the Routine Machine!” Veronica explained after she roped Sky into helping her test. “It uses advanced levitation and teleportation technology to get you fed, lighten your bladder, and zap you to your chosen location!”

Testing it was certainly exciting.

But the teleportation part turned out to need some work.

Hunter’s production was down for the winter, as expected.

But he could hardly spend a lot of time fretting. In addition to emails, he was exchanging letters with Eliana Baerwyn every other day.

She would be graduating soon, and he was terribly nervous. He wanted to visit her and tell her how he felt, but what if turned him down?

After the failure of his last date, Forest paid a lot more attention to Ali. One evening, he invited her out to the new western-themed club to watch a Simfest.

“I know things haven’t been great between us,” he said to Ali sincerely. “I’m hoping we can have some fun together and get past our troubles.”

Ali looked troubled, but she nodded. “I’m willing to try if you are.”

They watched a couple of performers and then made it upstairs to the lounge to get away from the noise and heat for a little while.

“How was your presentation?” Forest asked.

“It went very well!” Ali said. “I think they’re putting me up for a promotion.”

“That’s wonderful. I’m bringing in some great profits as well. We could make a good team.”

Ali gave him a hard look. “You never told me what you do,” she said.

“It’s really boring,” Forest said quickly. “You wouldn’t want to hear about it. Here, why don’t I help you relax –“

“Don’t you do that again!” Ali shouted.

She jumped to her feet and out of his reach. “I’m sick of you treated me like I’m some kind of gullible innocent! You’re involved in something you think I won’t like. I’m done with being patient. Tell me now, and we’ll see what it does to our relationship.”

Forest was suddenly terrified. “I–” he began.

Then he reached into his pocket and brought out the one thing that could end this conversation.

“Hey,” he said. “Let’s go back down and watch the rest of the performance.”

“Yeah,” Ali replied, sounding dazed. “Sure thing.”

Sky spent the tail end of her pregnancy bumming around the house. She felt too tired and too much like a whale to do any promotional work for Ghostwriter. Leah had decorated the nursery. Veronica was so eager to share intimate advice that Sky had started avoiding her. Charles was always asking her if she was warm enough or had had enough to eat.

Just to defy all of them, she took to practicing guitar on the front porch.

She also returned to painting, something she hadn’t touched since her band became a reality. First on her list was a portrait of Leah.

“I’ll start with your eyes. They’re so captivating.”

Leah enjoyed the attention, at least.

When the contractions came, Sky was more than ready for them. Childbirth couldn’t be as bad as continuing to be pregnant.

———-

Sorry to end on a cliffhanger! The second half will be posted shortly.

It turns out that the Not So Routine Machine teleportation feature conflicts with Sky and Charles’s innate teleporting, so it’ll be a while before you see it used again.

5.10 Homestead

Jun11

It didn’t take much deciding. If Sky and Leah were going to raise this child together, Leah would move in with Sky and not the other way round. Leah was from a large family herself. In addition to her parents Arthrit and Mazuki and her younger sister Miyuki, she had a teenage brother Raen and kid brother just starting elementary school. Her parents had started their family young and weren’t even sure they were done yet. The Samples, on the other hand, were all adult. Baby-on-the-way would never want for care. In fact, if anything, there was a danger the poor kid would suffocate under too much affection.

But as winter descended on Avalon with a vengeance, it became clear that the newer, larger household just couldn’t stay where they were. Charles and Veronica were already sleeping on a bedroll in the basement. Sky’s room fit a single bed with no room for expansion. And let’s just forget about a nursery.

No one wanted to bring the idea up to Veronica that they abandon the home she had designed and worked on herself. In the end, Veronica had to call the issue. “I have a lot more years of creation ahead of me,” she said. “You just see what I do with the next place.” So they started looking for a place to live that was a bit more scalable.

“We have quite a lot of money, really,” Sky suggested. “Why don’t we get a much bigger, nicer place? Not that this place isn’t nice, Mom.”

“I’d like someplace a little more rural,” Hunter said. “I need to be able to raise more produce if I’m going to expand this business.”

“Just so long as there’s a good dark basement for my research,” Forest said.

With those parameters, they cast about the island until they happened in Windemere Cottage, an agricultural estate in a less-developed area that had laid vacant for some years.

Sky was still barely showing by the time they were packing up to leave.

If Veronica felt badly about leaving her biggest creation behind, she never said anything. She did stand on the step of their new home for a while to look out at the tip of the top tower that you could see in the distance. But even then, she didn’t seem sad. More… admiring, perhaps.

They had found a buyer for the place. Some couple named Sean and Cynthia Flynn.

“This is the master bedroom?” Leah gasped when Sky showed her the space. “It’s so elegant and cozy. And so much velvet!”

“And the bed is so soft!”

Sky beamed. “I’m so glad you like it!”

“Shall we give it a whirl?”

In light of the fact that they’d have to move their bedroom back indoors, Veronica did extra work on her bedroom.

Charles was very appreciative.

The boys set up their bedrooms in the large, comfortable basement.

Hunter began to set up his winter greenhouse in the barn.

To his surprise, Leah followed him there.

“Could you use any help?” she asked brightly.

Hunter scuffed his foot. “Well, I can’t pay you,” he said sheepishly. “I’m barely breaking even right now.”

Leah shrugged. “I don’t need money,” she said. “I just love to work with plants.”

“Well, sure then!”

They worked together in near silence for hours. Hunter couldn’t remember when he last felt so comfortable with someone.

Sky hadn’t done too badly on her choice of baby mama.

Since there was a baby on the way, Leah bowed to Sky’s hopeful pressure and quit her job at the police academy. It was a grueling job with long hours that didn’t pay very much, and it seemed more important to have the time to spend with the baby when it arrived.

Since there was no child just yet, she found herself with a lot of spare time. When she wasn’t helping Hunter in the garden, she decorated the nursery.

“Wow,” Sky said. “It’s so pink.”

Leah clapped her handes and squealed. “I knew you’d like it!”

“But what if it’s not a girl?”

“Sky!” Leah said. “I’m surprised at you. It’s terribly sexist to think that a boy can’t appreciate pink. Pink is such a nice color.”

“Yeah,” Forest piped up. “What’s wrong with pink? It’s a great color for anyone.” That pretty much ended the discussion. Who was going to argue with Forest about manliness?

Hunter didn’t say anything. He just looked.

But he was grateful that when he stumbled over the pink mermaid doll, Enigma was there to catch his fall.

There was even something for feline family.

And canine.

And avian.

The pond had fish in it, to Charles’s delight.

All he had to do was cut a hole in the ice.

It seemed like just the right place for the Samples.

While Veronica was full of more pregnancy advice and horror stories than Sky could handle, Charles took it upon himself to take care of her. He was always near to make sure she was warm, fed, and comfortable.

Their new home was wood heated, so this often meant he trailed his daughter around and stoked the fire wherever she was.

The prospect of a grandchild was clearly on his mind a lot. On one hand, how could he not be delighted? On the other, it was a solid reminder that they were growing older. He sometimes had trouble believing he was old enough to have a child, much less a grandchild.

It turned out that the place was not quite as perfect as it first appeared. Some of it was in disrepair, and not always in obvious ways.

They discovered too late that the living room fireplace was not vented properly.

Leah was terrified when she saw the flames. She shrieked and cried.

The Samples were largely annoyed.

Charles and Forest dealt with the immediate problem.

Though the aftermath would take a lot more time for a lot less reward.

Nobody was hurt, though, and the Samples knew better than to take that for granted.

Veronica immediately got out her tools. “All right, then,” she said. “You’re going to be harmless as a kitten when my grandbaby gets here!”

Leah threw herself into Sky’s arms, choking on tears. “I was terrified for you and the baby! I’m so glad you’re all right!”

“It’s all right, love,” Sky said. “It’s all right. We took care of it. Don’t cry.”

“I don’t want to be jerk,” Hunter said. “But could you two please go to your room?”

———-

Leah is an Artistic, Hopeless Romantic, Green Thumb, Schmoozer who Loves the Outdoors. She is quite seriously the Sample dream-in-law. I’m a bit perplexed as to why Story Progression assigned her to law enforcement, though.

This is mostly slice of life transitional stuff to show off the new lot. I loved this place and wish it could have worked out better. But as you’ll see, not so much. Primarily, the problem was that the landscaping was so elaborate that there was almost no place you could do anything outdoors. No flat places. Too bad.

The nursery came with the lot, but Leah’s favorite color turns out to the spiceberry, which is essentially pink. I guess spiceberry would be the “bashful” in “blush and bashful.” (You foreigners can look that up :). )

Tangentially, I don’t think I ever mentioned it, but you might have noticed anyway. Forest’s favorite color is pink. I find this very entertaining and always make sure he’s wearing the color someplace.

Oh, yeah, and the Mai family is in fact large and still growing. I created the family from four anime sims I downloaded from ModtheSims, who I assembled into parents and two teenagers. The child Raen is actually the genetic product of his parents. (And he turned out very nice — I’ve seen him around town.) Then I forgot and left both parents as YA. They’re madly in love and still cranking out kids.

5.9 Escape to Reality

Jun2

After Veronica’s little freezing incident, it wasn’t a big surprise that a cold winter was coming. It descended on the Sample house almost overnight, bringing beautiful snow and ice with it.

Veronica set Charles and herself up with a bedroll in the basement, which was hardly living in the style they had become accustomed.

Veronica was spending more time at a desk processing research and less time out in the field these days, but she relished her field assignments when they came.

And there were always new discoveries to be made.

Ghostly snow prints in the kitchen….hmmm….

Eventually the nagging cold combined with Charles’s wanderlust. Charles booked tickets

And the two swinging seniors escaped to France for a long vacation.

It had been a long time since they’d had so much time to spend on each other. What to do first?

Oh, right.

The hotel had trouble with random people wandering into hotel rooms, but the elder Samples didn’t particularly care if rude people got a show.

The skies were so dark in Shang Simla that you could see the stars in a way you simply couldn’t at home.

Around the town, Charles even happened to run into his old flame.

After so many years, the spark was still there with Berthe. But they had their own lives and were too wise to do anything about it.

She did invite him back to her house, however, and they enjoyed a nice afternoon of tea and catching up on each other’s lives.

And then there were adventures.

If Charles was losing his touch, he wasn’t going to admit it to anyone, even himself.

But he did take some breaks in between scorching flame traps and sleeping gas traps to enjoy the simpler things in life.

Meanwhile, Sky tried to reconcile herself to domestic life. What was it that mothers did, anyway? They probably had to be able to cook healthy, nutritious meals for their offspring.

Oh, dear.

Wow, it probably wasn’t supposed to smoke.

All, right, her child was just going to have to live on pizza.

When the doorbell rang, Sky fully expected it to be pizza delivery. Instead, to her shock, it was Leah.

“C-come in,” Sky stammered at the door. “It’s freezing out there.”

“Yeah,” Leah said. “I think I need a heavier coat!”

She stepped inside, stomping the snow off her shoes.

“I, I thought maybe I should give you some space,” Sky ventured.

Leah nodded. “Yeah, that was probably a good idea. I had a lot to think about.”

“I swear I’m not lying to you,” Sky said. “It’s really your baby. I didn’t cheat on you.”

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” Leah said. “And I’ve decided to trust you. I mean, who could make this stuff up?”

“Leah!” Sky threw herself into her girlfriend’s arms. “You’re amazing!”

“I love you so much,” Leah breathed.

“And we’re having a baby!”

———-

Not the best organized post, but what I had to work with was kind of eclectic. I couldn’t NOT post Veronica on the bannister.

5.8 Please Hold Me

May31

Forest woke late the next morning.

His mouth was dry. His head was pounding. He could only dimly recall waking up on the front lawn at dawn and dragging himself up to his bedroom.

What Flynn had done to him was only too obvious. It was clear that Flynn had some kind of supernatural powers — he was too young, too strong, too cold to the touch. Now Forest knew what kind of supernatural first hand.

As the fog cleared from his head, another frightening possibility occurred to him. He pulled on clothes and dashed to the bathroom to peer at himself in the mirror.

Not a mark or a blemish. No visual evidence at all that a creature of the night had taken a nightcap from his jugular vein. Though the skin around the puncture was tender when he touched it. He couldn’t even try to convince himself it was a dream.

As to whether Flynn had done more than just drink, there was nothing in his reflection to tell him. What else could Flynn have done? Turned him into another vampire, certainly, though Forest would like to think he would feel something if that had happened.

Flynn had played his hand. Not Forest at least knew what he was. What he didn’t know was whether last night’s display of power had been a hazing ritual for a new recruit or some kind of declaration of hostilities. What could Forest expect from now on?

One thing he did know — he was going to have to protect himself. Forest knew precious little about vampires, and he was going to have to start learning fast.

After drinking all the orange juice in the refrigerator, Forest felt a little better. But instead of heading to the Arcane Institute to look for references on vampirism, he instead grabbed his phone to call Ali.

They met at Enchanted Mirror Art Gallery in a downpour that kept most sane people at home.

“Are you all right?” Ali asked. “You sounded terrible on the phone!”

Forest beckoned her inside to mostly-vacant building to get them out of the rain. He opened his mouth to tell her everything — his plans and frustrations, his terror at coming face to face with his first dangerous supernatural creature, the nagging loneliness that followed him everywhere but when he was with her.

What would she think if she knew what kind of life he really led? Instead, his sense of self-protection won over. “I just had a bad day yesterday,” he said. “I was hoping we could hang out and you could help me relax.”

“Oh,” Ali said, her eyes searching his face for more information. “I had a really bad day too.” And she started to tell him about some sort of high-stress presentation she had to give at work.

“Never mind about that,” Forest said, reaching for her. “Let’s get to the relaxing part.”

“Hey!” Ali snapped, stepping out of reach of his arms. “I’m really not in the mood. Have you been listening to how much stress I’m under?”

Even Ali had it in for him. “You’re supposed to be the one who’s there for me!” he cried. “I called you up looking for support, and this is how you treat me!”

“How can I be a supportive girlfriend if you won’t even tell me what you’re upset about?” Ali demanded. “You don’t tell me anything about yourself. And I don’t know about you, but I expect a boyfriend to be for me too! I’m starting to wonder what I get out of this relationship.”

Forest just stared at her. “I’m sorry,” he said in a tired voice. “Tell me about your presentation.”

Ali shook her head. “I have a headache, and I’m going to be up all night writing this thing. I’m going to head home. I hope you feel better, Forest.”

Forest watched her go, and suddenly loneliness seemed as frightening as vampires.

If Sky pretended the drink had alcohol in it, it was almost as relaxing as a real cocktail.

She’d taken the test four times, and the result was the same every time. She was pregnant. That shouldn’t be possible.

At last, she nerved herself up and brought the test to her mother. She couldn’t come up with anything to say, so she just handed the pee-stick to Veronica without commentary.

Veronica started at it, her eyes widening. “Well,” she said. “Congratulations? It looks like I’m going to be a grandmother.”

“I can’t be pregnant!” Sky burst out. “I’m a virgin!”

Veronica raised her eyebrows and gave Sky That Look. “I love you, my dear,” she said. “But I’m not that gullible.”

Sky flushed. “I’m a virgin in the way that counts for babies,” she said. “I’ve never been with a guy.” She knew that she and Leah could have children someday — if they wanted them — via a medical fertilization procedure, but that wasn’t something that happened unexpectedly.

Veronica sighed. “Oh dear,” she said. “I hypothesized that this might be possible, but it just seemed too crazy.”

“What might be possible?” Sky demanded.

“Sit down,” Veronica said. “I’ll make us some coffee.”

Sky waited nervously while Veronica outlined some of her research in the spirit world. “I don’t think it’s the same for you and Charles,” she said. “I think the part of your soul connected to the Netherworld just reaches out and binds on to life wherever it finds it. I don’t know how you feel about this, but I only wanted to have one child. After Charles demonstrated his, um, alarming fertility, I had myself sterilized to prevent any more unplanned children. Not that I’d unmake any of you,” she added hastily.

Sky nodded slowly. “So I could, like, get pregnant from a really good kiss or something?”

Veronica shrugged. “I hope not. Your guess is probably better than mine because it’s your body. It’s not like we have a lot of test subject for people with partial ghost genetics.”

“It would be good to know this before,” Sky said plaintively.

Veronica gave her a hug. “We’re here for you, and I’m happy for a grandchild however I get one.”

Sky wasn’t so sure about the part where she was having the child, but it seemed she was stuck with it. The question was how to bring it up with Leah.

She, Leah, and Adam Bookabet had started jamming in clubs on off hours. The clubs got a bit of extra live entertainment, and they got a chance to play on some nice instruments. The group had decided to call themselves Ghostwriter, which fit since Sky wrote most of their songs. Folks seemed to like what they heard, or at least the ones who stuck around did.

Sky found she already had to wear loose-fitting clothes, so if she didn’t say something soon, the problem was going to start to get obvious.

“Hey,” said said to Leah as they were packing up after a nice session. “I was wondering if I could have a word with you.”

“That’s an odd way to say it,” Leah said. She saw the terrified look on Sky’s face and grew visibly alarmed. “Something’s wrong. Tell me.”

Sky opened her mouth, but her mind went blank. “I’m pregnant,” she blurted out. “I’m having your baby.”

Leah stared at her blankly. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“I’d never kid about that,” Sky said. “I’m really pregnant. And I know this is hard to believe, but it’s really your baby. Mom can explain what happened. I couldn’t follow all of it.”

Leah froze, her jaw hanging open.

Then she struggled to pull herself together. “That’s insane,” she said. “I don’t care what your mom says. Getting pregnant doesn’t work that way.”

Sky reached out to hold her girlfriend. “I love you, Leah,” she said earnestly. “You have to believe me.”

“Don’t touch me!” Leah cried.

Then, “Look, I’m sorry. You’re just not making sense. Why don’t you have a good night’s sleep. Maybe things will look different in the morning.”

Sky looked at her miserably. “It won’t be any different in the morning.”

Leah backed away from Sky, said her goodbyes, and vanished into the darkness. Sky was left to wonder if she’d just ruined the best thing that had ever happened to her.

———-

What really happened with Forest is that he asked Ali out on a date to the art museum, which was set to No Visitors for some bizarre reason (I fixed it after that scene). Ali was running pretty low on motives, and then while I was off dealing with something else, Forest autonomously used the voodoo doll to make her pee herself. GOOD GOING, Forest! Can you help me out a little here? After that, Ali was having nothing to do with affection.

It seemed like a good hint that even a love spell can wear thin after a while.

Leah was also running low on motives after the jam session. Sky tried to help by zapping her, but it failed out and took her clothes off for a few seconds. I couldn’t figure out anything to do with that in the story, so it’ll have to stay between us.

Note Nemo Hodgins and Alberto Sample-Royale in the audience. Adam Bookabet is there the whole time but manages to stand behind Sky or Leah in every shot.

5.6 Chills

May26

It was morning, and Ghost was up to his favorite hobby.

The temperature dropped suddenly in the night. Avalon was setting a new low temperature record. Even Charles and Veronica, who were very good at keeping each other warm, were starting to feel it.

Sky had been out late with Leah again, but she slept poorly. She felt like her insides were tying themselves into knots. There was no point to trying to sleep longer, so she might as well take the opportunity to paint the sunrise.

“This frost chills all the way to my bones!” Veronica growled a she got up, also earlier than she had intended.

“Well, you *are* getting older,” Charles pointed out. “You bones probably chill a lot easier than they used to.” His eyes twinkled as he said it. Charles never really felt the cold himself.

“I am NOT getting older!” Veronica declared. “I can take on anything I could when I was 20. I dare you to let me prove it to yoouuueerrg.” The last word was hard to make out over the chattering of her teeth.

Then something unexpected happened. Veronica stopped shivering. In fact, she stopped moving altogether.

“What the–” she said in a strained voice.

KEEE-RUNK! Over she fell, landing on the frost-hardened ground with a thunk.

“Are you all right?” Charles asked. “Did you freeze up?”

“Will you hush up and get something to warm me up with??”

Charles smiled blandly and went to get a hair dryer.

“That did not happen,” Veronica said when she could get to her feet. “We may have to rethink our sleeping arrangement.”

Sky, watching from the garden, couldn’t help but giggle. But when she tried, it suddenly turned into a gag. She felt terrible.

Almost as if — but that was impossible. Impossible!

Right?

———–

Couple of short posts lined up because I didn’t really want to mix up the different moods.

HOPEFULLY they’ll be out quickly.

5.4 Open Doors

Apr16

Things only seemed to get more intense for Sky and Leah.

They liked to keep things adventurous, and they were always sneaking away to woohoo in strange and exciting locations.

When Leah wasn’t around, Sky was usually thinking about her.

Hunter was also in a pretty good mood, though he didn’t talk much about details.

Forecasts warned that this would be a record-breaking winter in Avalon. Hunter stored most of his seeds and moved a few important plants into a makeshift greenhouse to last out the cold.

But the thing that his family noticed most was that he was suddenly spending a lot of time sending email on the computer. Sky thought she heard him say something about Eliana Baerwyn. She still had another term left in high school, so email seemed like a good place to talk.

Meanwhile, time passed for the Samples. Veronica and Forest bonded over chess — it was a good thing to fall back on when they couldn’t find much to talk about.

Charles took care of Ghost.

And one day Veronica’s phone rang. When she answered, it was the Mayor of Avalon on the line. They wanted to give her the key to the city as a tribute to all her work with the supernatural.

It took a lot to floor Veronica Krane Sample, but this definitely was it.

On the day of the ceremony, the old Motive Mobile pulled up at the gates of Camelot.

Sky took the chance to entertain the crowd before the ceremony began. If nothing else, it was a good way to increase her visibility.

Shanni made it to the ceremony. “I’m getting too old for this sort of thing,” she admitted. “But then again, I’m getting too old for a lot of things these days.” It was hard to take her seriously when she said that while she was holding her toddler daughter Holly.

Jeannette was there, along with Shanni’s elder daughter with Jeanna, Renee.

Jeanna and Shanni had shared a long and loving marriage after all, which was more than Shanni thought she was offering when they got married. They took every day as a gift.

It was a gift that couldn’t keep giving forever, unfortunately. This was the last time Shanni spent time with her extended family. She died quietly in her sleep not long after. Since she and Jeanna were married, she’d been saying, “If I die in bed with a hot younger woman, I’ll consider myself lucky.” And that’s exactly how it worked out.

As the clock struck 4pm, Veronica stepped into the Great Hall and accepted the award from the major, who she’d never met before. He shook her hand warmly and thanked her for everything she’d done for supernatural understanding within Avalon and throughout the simworld.

Veronica, who had been thinking for a long time about how she would respond, grinned and said, “Yes. About that.”

She walked out of the hall onto the lawn, held up a flask filled with colored liquid. “This is my latest invention, and I think it might help with supernatural understanding.” Then she threw it at her feet. The crowd gasped as Veronica was enveloped in glowing smoke.

When the smoke cleared, Veronica was a ghost.

“I wanted to know what it’s like,” she declared in a voice that echoed like Charles’s. Then she floated over to her bemused husband.

He seemed awfully human and solid by comparison. But neither of them was really paying attention any longer.

“You always surprise me,” Charles said breathlessly when they returned home.

Veronica chuckled. “Well, I try.”

Then she was suddenly solid again. “Oh, that’s not fair!” Veronica exclaimed. “I was hoping it would at least last long enough for me to take you to bed. Now I’ll have to make another one!”

But in the meantime, they headed to bed anyway.

[I had a picture of the key, but I can’t seem to find it. I’ll put it in a post at some point.]

———-

This was a really cute end-of-career award opportunity that got totally borked in some later expansion. I ran it about five times, and the Mayor disappeared every time without giving Veronica the key. I assumed this had something to do with the Jynx rabbithole rug I was using for City Hall, but no — when I looked it up online, this opportunity has been borked for ages. So I built a story out of it and gave Veronica the key using buydebug. 🙂

And, once again, how the heck did Hunter get to be so hot??

This is where I finally had to kill Shanni manually. She was caught in some kind of in-between glitch where half the system thought she was dead and the other half did not. I felt bed doing it; she’s a favorite of mine. But she’d already lived an unnaturally long life, so it was way past time. I didn’t even know that Renee existed until this sequence. I was only aware of Holly, who was an adoptee I replaced with a genetic child by both of them — I couldn’t figure out why Jeanna was adopting, and when I went into MasterController to fix it, I discovered Shanni listed under dead sims. Renee certainly looks like she’s a genetic child of Shanni’s though.

5.2 Work Your Way Up

Apr8

The Charles Sample Martial Arts Academy barely needed Charles’s time anymore. Sometimes he felt like his biggest contribution these days was to hang his name on the door.

Charles was now a Grand Master, and he had blessed several Masters in the Sample Spirit branch of Sim Fu. They were doing most of the teaching now.

That was really how it should be. He didn’t want to be indispensable. He wanted to build something that would live on after he was gone. It looked like that was already happening. It made him feel good, though sometimes just a little bit lonely.

Of course, if he needed a bit of an ego boost, there were always students who desperately wanted to take lessons from him and him alone. Ariel Hodgins was that kind of student.

“Do you mind if I take a picture?” Ariel asked one day after their lesson. “I’ve always wanted a record of my hero doing, you know, every day stuff.”

“Uh, sure,” Charles said. “I was just going to send some email.”

“Thank you!” Ariel cried! “I’ll keep this on my phone forever!”

Her enthusiasm was good and cute until she started calling him up at home, hoping to get him to go out on a date.

Boundaries. Charles needed to set clearer ones, obviously.

Hunter was now pretty sure what he wanted to do when he grew up. Using his classes in sustainable food production from the Round Table Academy, he’d taken over the garden started by his great-grandmother Layla and made it thrive.

And it didn’t hurt that he knew exactly what to do with the food he produced. The Sample family was eating in style these days.

But it did take something of a sales pitch. “I was thinking I could turn this isn’t a business,” he told his parents. “Locally grown, sustainable food, and maybe some guidelines on how to prepare it. It’s just that, um, I can’t really afford the kind of land it would take to do this on my own yet. If I could continue to live with you guys while I get on my feet, I’m sure I could make it worth your while.”

“Just keep cooking!” Veronica declared between mouthfuls.

Charles watched Hunter with his gentle smile, but his eyes were alight with pride. “You didn’t fall far from the tree, did you?” he said quietly. “I think your mother agrees with me that you can stay as long as you like. It’s not like we’re so eager to kick you out.

Hunter beamed. “Thanks Dad, Mom! You won’t regret it, I swear.”

“We couldn’t possibly regret helping you follow your dreams,” Charles said.

So with some advice from his father on self-employment, Hunter headed down to Avalon’s Great Hall to fill out a lot of very tedious paperwork.

He was now a certified organic farmer! Well, he would be once the inspections and certification process were done.

After that, it was just a matter of finding customers! No big deal, right? Well, seeing as he hated talking to people he didn’t know, that would be the hardest part. But he was going to give it his best try.

Sky and Leah were seeing a lot of each other, and that meant really a lot.

“The thing is,” Sky said, “If we practice really hard, I think we could make a living with our music. You’re a great jazz pianist. I think we have a shot at this.”

Leah was more skeptical. “Most garage bands never make it out of the garage,” she said. “I don’t think I’m ready to give up a day job.”

Leah was in training to be a police officer, and her work hours were only going to get longer once she got out of the police academy. Sky figured that she had until Leah graduated to persuade her to quit.

So they spent most of their time practicing. And practicing. And practicing.

Enigma appreciated the music the most. Sometimes she came down to join in.

“She isn’t half bad,” Leah pointed out. “I’m not sure if that says good things about our music, though.”

Actually, they were starting to sound pretty good. Charles sometimes came down to the basement just to groove.

“You really shouldn’t ever dance where I can see you, Dad,” Sky pointed out.

Charles rolled his eyes. “You think you can make me self-conscious just because you’re my daughter? In my day, I creeped out more hipsters than you before breakfast. Just shut up and play.”

“I think we can do this!” Sky said as they were wrapping up one evening.

“I think you’re right!” Leah squealed. They threw themselves into each other’s arms.

“Do you think you’d consider it?” Sky said for the dozenth time. “Just consider making a living as a musician? With me?”

Leah took a deep breath. “I’m thinking about it. It’s just such a big leap of faith. I’m not sure I’m ready.” Then she looked deep into Sky’s eyes. “But I think I know one thing I AM ready for.”

Sky gulped. “Really? With me?” She was exhilarated and terrified all at the same time.

Leah giggled. “Who else do you think I’d want to do it with? I only have eyes for you.”

“You’re amazing,” Sky breathed. “And beautiful. And sexy. And a whole bunch of adjectives I can’t think of right now.” And she lost herself in Leah’s kisses.

Then, abruptly, she pulled back, looking embarrassed. “Um,” she said. “There’s this problem of where. My bedroom is so tiny.”

Leah pulled her close. “Then let’s get creative.”

And they did.

“Oh, hey,” Charles said when he came downstairs the next morning. “I thought you’d gone home.”

“Ah,” Leah said, casting about for where Sky had gone. “No, I, um, didn’t”

Charles raised his eyebrows. “Ah, I see. Well, I hope you and Sky had a very nice time.”

Well THAT was awkward.

———-

Sky and Leah really are very cute together :).

5.1 The First (and Last) Day of the Rest of Your Life

Apr4

The day dawned cold and rainy, but that couldn’t keep anyone’s spirits down.

It was Graduation Day!

The crowd at the Great Hall for the ceremony was boggling.

All the people was just exhausting for Hunter. He had to back away and close his eyes for a bit.

Great Aunt Toya Ursine-Sample was there with her half-sister and foster-daughter Valerie Ursine Mentary. Valerie was sporting a great big ring and an an even bigger smile.

Her new husband was the renowned Mad Scientist Doctor U. Mentary.

Sure, he was a bit old for her, but her father Harvey Ursine had been a bit old for her mother Zelda Mae too. What did age matter when love was on the line?

Leah joined them at the ceremony, along with their mutual friend Adam Bookabet. Sky thought Leah looked amazing in graduation gowns.

Then again, Leah looked amazing in anything… or nothing a all.

The ceremony ran on forever, and Forest’s speech as Valedictorian made it even worse. Forest just couldn’t stop talking himself up. But at last, after dark, they escaped with their diplomas.

Then all hell broke loose.

And that wasn’t the worst of it.

The shock of seeing U. go was apparently too much for Toya. There were rumors about her and U, though Valerie always denied them.

Toya hadn’t built a corrupt political empire nearly as large as she’d planned when she was young. She kept getting distracted by being a mother. You could argue that she was better at the motherhood part.

Poor Valerie. She lost the two people closest to her in the same day.

Days after, she would learn she was pregnant. Fortunately, she still had Adjo and Toya’s children, who she had been raised with as siblings, to take care of her while she got back on her feet. Taking care of people was something that the Ursine-Samples did very well.

———-

Well, that was a bit of a downer of a graduation. And sorry for all the noxious green clouds. Mandatory graduation actions hit without warning at a very inopportune time.

So here’s the end of U’s story. He lived much longer, but had almost as problematic a life in my game as his own story. After dithering between Toya and Valerie for quite a while, he settled down with Valerie, but they didn’t get long together.

This stuff actually happened a couple of days after the events of the next couple of posts because graduation lags so far behind age-up. So I placed in the story where it would make more sense.

I have played quite a bit ahead now, and I think I’m going to head over and play the Wonderlands for a while. I have a lot of material for posts before I catch up :).

5.0 Passing the Torch to Sky

Mar27

Charles sat down at the academy to work on some financial records and was met with a nasty surprise.

“Yes!” Forest said to himself as his smartphone pinged that his trap was sprung. “I set that trojan last year. How often does Dad run his finances anyway?”

“You have got to be kidding me,” was Charles’s only response. “An ape?”

Veronica was busy with a new invention that helped the stove learn how to make better meals and teach the chefs.

“But wait!” she suddenly exclaimed to thin air. “We’re forgetting something important.” She dove for her phone and scheduled a party.

It was to be held in the clubhouse of the Little Cottage Park. All the extended family was invited. Darrin Wu-Ursine arrived with the happy regards of his pregnant wife Azaela, Zahn Wu’s niece.

Shanni was still kicking. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world!” she declared. “Nothing tells you’re old like watching your great niece and nephews grow up.”

She was approaching 100, had raised two families, and didn’t look a day over 80.

Oh, and of course there were a couple of party crashers who just showed up to get free cake.

This time, Sky took the first turn.

Though nobody said it explicitly, everyone knew that she would be the one to care for her parents in their advancing age and carry on the family line. Why? Close families just know these things sometimes.

Then it was Hunter’s turn.

He and Sky met eyes across the room and shared a private smile that was all their own.

And at last Forest, who had dashed over to the party after work in his bookstore clerk uniform, or as he liked to call it, his “monkey suit.”

During the mad scramble for cake and ice cream, the three siblings of honor carved out a place for themselves together.

“This is it,” Sky said. “Now we’re going to go out to live in the big scary adult world together. Do you think we can handle it?” It was kind of a trick question. Sky knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life, and the fact that she could finally start doing it made her giddy with excitement.

“I’m ready for the challenge,” Hunter said. “Life is all about finding beauty, and I think I’ve learned a lot about how to look this year.” Indeed, this kid who had barely managed to get out of middle school without being held back a grade had finished Round Table Culinary Institute near the top of his class. Hunter was just as quiet as always, but it was a more confident quiet than it once was.

Forest just smiled that unsettling smile of his and took another bite of cake.

———-

And here it is! Generation 5!!! Can you believe it? I’m not sure I can.

I have to actually update the Story So Far page, which needs pretty much Charles’s entire life story.

I included the bits in the beginning because Charles did autonomously trigger some prank that had been set on the academy computer while I wasn’t watching. Then Forest got a “Successful prank!” moodlet while he was at school. I guess he must’ve set it while he was at the academy peeing himself while talking to Ali, though I hadn’t realized he’d gone that long on autonomy. I found the whole little episode very entertaining.

Sky and Hunter’s age-up looks were actually pretty good, just not suitable to their personalities. Forest’s, on the other hand, was the kind of sim awesomeness that makes me wonder if my ISBI should follow DragonWife’s a make all the idiots dress themselves. Get a load of that kilt.

I cannot believe Hunter aged up so hot. *fans self*

Oh, and it turned out that Shanni was bugged, and it took me a long time to discover it. SP thought she was dead, but somehow her death sequence didn’t complete, and she was stuck wandering around town essentially immortal. I’ve caught that happening to two more sims since (Martin Luther Butterfield-Callender and Willem Yo, if you’re curious.) In fact, I’m not completely sure if ANY sim who dies off-screen is actually dying. The only way I found to fix it was to click a sim who is actually on the screen and use the sim’s NRaas menu to force kill her, which I did I think the next time she came up. But the good news is that she had a *very* long life, and she saw her eldest daughter with Jeanna age into a teen.