Diana Lynn and her mother Kira moved into the trailer behind the school. They only had around $400 but wanted to travel to France.
That first Sunday Kira met people in the park while Diana swung on the swings. Then she picked enough wild flowers so they traveled to France that night. There they met people and Kira harvested grapes and other fruits.
Since Diana's LTW was to become a master of the arts she painted when she wasn't at school or socializing with classmates.
Diana became a teen and ...
... immediately after this party learned the charisma skill. Since she already had 25 acquaintances from her trip to France her relationship with anyone new starts off as halfway to being friends.
Diana registered as a painter at city hall and sold all the paintings she had made so far. With the money Kira made at her business career they were able to travel to China for a work opportunity Kira had. Diana harvested everything in Han's Orchard all 3 days making a little money and reaching level 6 of gardening.
Kira aged up to an elder. She had enough happiness points to get an "inheritance". With that money along with what they had saved they were able to buy the bookstore-spa partnership ($20000) and the film back lot one ($25000).
Diana learned the guitar and played when she wasn't painting, going to school or socializing with her friends.
The ladies went to a spooky day costume party.
They both wanted a third partnership and was able to buy the one for the theater after much flower picking by Kira and painting by Diana.
Kira died a few days before Diana aged up to a young adult.
Diana cut her hair and took to wearing black for awhile.
Suddenly a little over $19,000 (I'm not sure why this money suddenly appeared) was added to Diana's cash. She decided to sell the film back lot partnership and the theater one and was able to buy the combo hospital-science lab one ($70000).
Now that Diana is a young adult and out of mourning she has let her hair grow.
It is the Wednesday in winter. Diana plans to collect the $18,000 of her partnership dividends next Monday and sell the hospital-science lab one. With that she plans to move into a house on the little island in the lake. Since she has painted over 30 paintings Diana paints faster so should be able to start saving again.
Anton found a dragon egg in his house. He talked and talked to to it about friends and a purple dragon hatched. Anton named him Vlad.
Anton goes to university where he rents a house.
He starts making 25 acquaintances at the "meet and greet"
When he goes home Anton has Vlad summon a new sim.
Since the new sim is random Anton is lucky it is Betty Franklin.
They become instant friends (part of the summoning deal) and then good friends.
Anton mind controls Betty so she becomes a part of the household for 4 hours.
With some romantic socials back and forth Anton is able to ask her to go steady. (1 out of 10 of the girl friends he needs for his LTW.)
In the early morning after Betty left Anton played chess.
Later because Anton needed another friend to advance in his charisma skill he had Vlad summon someone new (I forgot this guys name somebody Shelley I think).
Then it was off to class
Samantha Grey asked Anton to a party at the sorority house where they became friends.
When he got home Anton talked to Vlad about charisma to increase his charisma skill.
The next day Anton has Vlad summon a friend. This turned out to be random too. Instead of Betty, Samantha appeared.
Anton then had Vlad try the runic charm on her. It makes the charmed sim come over to interact and increases their relationship.
I left Anton to initiate their interactions. After some back and forth he asked her if she wanted to be turned.
Then he asked her to watch the stars.
The next day Anton called Betty to ask her to come over (since the summon a friend was random). He asked to just be friends and wanted to be friends but she didn't take the breakup too well.
Anton finished up his week at university accomplishing everything he wanted to - getting 25 acquaintances, improving his skills, especially charisma and writing (he wrote 3 books while at university).
After getting some sleep he will be ready to start his first day at work as a politician at city hall.
Thank you. I'm having fun with this one. I had not intended to play with dragons but since there was an egg in Anton's house I thought I'd give it a try. Now I want to try each of the other colors of dragons in future games.
@cwaddell I have played a little with the dragons before. My very first dragon was stolen due to me not knowing that I needed to name it at the time. They are fun.
Thinking of playing the Sims 3 more once my boys are back in school in two weeks. Might be able to play a little today. Kinda have a idea of what I want to do with my game. Thinking of having a sim be a architect.
@cwaddell I have played a little with the dragons before. My very first dragon was stolen due to me not knowing that I needed to name it at the time. They are fun.
Thinking of playing the Sims 3 more once my boys are back in school in two weeks. Might be able to play a little today. Kinda have a idea of what I want to do with my game. Thinking of having a sim be a architect.
Hope you have fun with that. You almost always get bad reviews when you do projects at the lower levels. Practice architectural drawings on the drafting to level up first.
@cwaddell Great new sims and a lovely story. Will be following! I had dragons in my Dragon Valley save and my sim Savannah wrote a book about dragons.
Sorry been away for awhile, dealing with vertigo and other c.rap that doesn't lend well to simming, lol.
The script arrived while Kaydence was on holiday in Starlight Shores with her mother. Madison, the aging but still drop-dead-gorgeous pop music superstar, looked at her daughter with bewilderment. Her head was buried in yet another book.
"What are you reading?" she wondered as she walked into the kitchen.
"Oh, just a new script I got yesterday at the set."
"A new script?" Madison found herself curious. Though she was in studio a lot, she was never into acting studios. She envied her ex-husband, Sebastian, how he could commit hundreds of pages to memory to recite on call, and do so with emotion. She found song lyrics easier.
"Yeah, mom, it's a made-for-TV movie about a teen detective. I think I really like this project. "
Between bites of her hot dog, Madison chuckled. "You would." Definitely her father's daughter, Madison thought to herself.
In the final episode she taped of the TV show she left, Kaydence's character, Alexa, is expelled from the academy she attended after fighting with her rival Lauren at the prom. But Alexa lands on her feet, with an internship at a design studio:
Here's a little sneak peek of her post-soap opera acting career. I am using a mod to give teens Ambitions careers.
@cwaddell Great new sims and a lovely story. Will be following! I had dragons in my Dragon Valley save and my sim Savannah wrote a book about dragons.
Sorry been away for awhile, dealing with vertigo and other plum that doesn't lend well to simming, lol.
...
I am not a video maker by any means.
...
Thank you. I didn't intend to play with dragons but since the egg was there I thought "why not?" The dragon play has sort of taken over Anton's story but it comes in so handy for getting his charisma up and acquiring girl friends.
Sorry you are having problems. Have you found out the cause of your vertigo?
Great update and I enjoyed the videos. What software are you using to make them?
@cwaddell I am using the in game capture tool and plain Windows Movie Maker (on my Windows 7 computer).
As for my vertigo I am not sure but I suspect it has something to do with my ongoing digestive system issues. The dragons are cool, I just never thought to work them into a modern sort of setting. I would think Anton wouldn't need much help with women
BTW that sim Samantha with Anton, was the ex-girlfriend of my sim AJ. Their relationship ended badly.
@blazerntq An architect sounds fun! I did dabble in the career once with one of my sims.
@Venus: I hope you're not in the storm's path! I'm glad you finally got some simming time. I think it's really funny how while she's at home among the Jolina Plumb's she's keeping them at a distance with her partying ways...but away at college after drinking that punch, she went full Jolina Plumb and started reading at the party. (Skylar: "What? This is a limericks book...what you think the only thing people ever wrote down was physics? You should see some of that Roman graffiti, even Bridgeport subway scrawls have more class...oh, wait, I mean, hey, who knows anything about archaeology, that's not my thing at all, and yawn, totally boring! But limericks can be sung, so there.")
Yeah, I think it's very disappointing to look up to your father, and see him be so nice and generous with everyone else, only to find out he's unfaithful to your mother. There tends to be a sense of deep betrayal about that, and it does tend to affect your ability to trust others...in Savannah, one way, either forming few strong attachments that are very strict and guarded or Sebastian, forming shallow attachments that are cast aside easily... Skyler somehow seems to have picked up Sebastian's attitudes...
Well, they've been making faces at each other since before Zelda could even talk to Deedee, so it's kind of a running thing. Oh, they'll get there...but men's clothes are much easier...he only had to try one thing on to get his current measurements...because guy's sizes come in inches, measurements that exist in the real world, not mysterious numbers that fluctuate from brand to brand...and Zelda suddenly put more thought into what she was wearing than she has for years... so he had all that time to fill...which is why he was busy when she came out. So, it's more a situation where they are trying to coordinate and trying to give each other time to wrap up with what they are doing at the same time but they are just a little off. They'll be doing lots of things together soon.
Well, at least it being a script means that Madison has something to talk about with her- even if she can only barely relate, I have a feeling that would be a lot less than she'd get out of her mother if it had been some other book...and by asking Madison is at least aware of what her daughter is up to.
Wow @ Alexa slap fighting with her boss (I'm assuming she's her boss as an intern).
Looks like she's doing a pretty good job of being a teenage detective, it's cool that you've got it all modded up so she can do that. I liked the little movie chase with the music and then catching him at the end there... Dun Dun Dun! Looks like it's going well. I wonder if she enjoys playing a little closer to her personality or misses the outrageousness of Alexa.
@cwaddell: I know how that goes. I once made an evil travel agent to go explore the different EA worlds but couldn't keep up with the two stories...I barely update the one as it is... That sounds like a nice wrap up after he's done all that searching to settle down with an artist. I love what you did with Vlad, I thought he was attractive before, but wow. I love the dragons myself- I wish we could do more with them, they are kinda of an object, but I still think they are so cute. That sounds like a pretty cool iternary, yeah, don't work that hard, they'll just pull out their cell phones in public and serf the web while they are all dolled up in Old West clothes- it's just not worth the frustration lol. (And then someone will age up in future clothes lol) But I mean, selective pictures could ignore all that...but it's so much work and he's got a lot of ground to cover... if you don't enjoy doing it, I can understand you skipping that work! (And this gives us more story faster so...)
Selling flowers can really help get the game rolling! I like that even children can do this, even though they can't pick up seeds. Sounds like a promising start for Diana.
lol @ Hot Dog Diana entertaining burglar Kira at the fooseball table. Aw, poor Diana to lose her mom as a teen. Well, at least she's not hurting for money. Lol @ Anton naming his purple dragon Vlad (Not Waldemar or Walter lol). It's really nice to just be able to pull a sim out a hat so to speak lol. Fun that he got a female straight away! Oh, I love the smile on his face there. Ah, well, we knew with the wish like Heart Breaker, there would be some hearts broken...looks like he's on his way.
@Zabeth0 I was reading this on my phone today and boy was I glad to see it!
I have just about given up on typing anything on my phone but short and sweet sentences, so I decided to wait until I could get to my full sized keyboard to compose an appropriate response. My gene pool didn't see fit to give me anything but large hands
Anyway, thanks so much for your concern, I wasn't in the immediate path of this awful storm, but my sister was, and her part of the area didn't see the worst part of the flooding. I have been in touch with her every day.
I think Skylar is putting up a front. What I mean by that is, she's wanted to be a singer her whole life and she's had this party lifestyle, but at college she's discovering that it's not who she really is. She learned from her actor uncle that pretending to be someone else was the way to go. And the hard lesson that Sebastian may not have learned from his failed relationships was that he had to quit hiding his true identity. He had basically gotten by in his life by 'acting' and not only on screen.
As their father, Nathan was the first male role model that Savannah and Sebastian had in their lives, and they took different lessons from him. Remember that conversation that Nathan had in the lounge in Hidden Springs with Sebastian? Nathan was looking in the mirror at himself and he knew it. While Sebastian unconsciously patterned himself after him, Savannah sought to avoid a Nathan type, and married an anti-Nathan, and controlled every aspect of Andy's being.
As difficult as Savannah's relationship was (and is) with her mother, the last thing she wanted was to become her mother.
As for Madison, give her credit, she is making an attempt, however awkward, to relate to a daughter who in many ways is more mature than she is. Kaydence pretty much raised herself - Sebastian certainly didn't raise her, even though he had full custody of her.
Alexa was slapping her boss, who was played by Emmy Starr (yes that Emmy Starr, as in Alanna's mother and Alan's on-again, off-again girlfriend). Kaydence definitely held her own in a scene with that experienced actress. I would think that Kaydence found some inspiration for the flamboyance of Alexa in her own household After all, she did grow up watching a pop star get dressed every day Even though she herself isn't like Alexa, her personality isn't completely foreign to her.
At the same time, in deciding to take the detective role, you can tell she relished the part. After all, remember it was her and her cousin Sierra who did go into a burning building on a foreign planet to save her cousin and his wife Wouldn't that be a great film? Lol
BTW my mod that had teen detectives also let Skylar begin her singing career as a teen also.
Ok I have a small little update as I did get an opportunity to play a little tonight
My simming time is getting more and more limited as time goes on
We return to Hidden Springs, the land of the glistening mountains and the eternal snows, where AJ and Alexandra are dealing with the pangs of their expectancy...
Alexandra by working out...
and AJ... by forgetting he's now a prince...and longing for his old life...
Meanwhile AJ is getting more and more creeped out by the presence of his sister-in-law prancing around in her lingerie...
And then there are the cravings. Alexandra has a strange craving for strawberry waffles... in the middle of the night...
Yep, she's preggers...
Meanwhile, Anastasia has to talk to Blake Grayson about the art studio she wants done...
Wow, it has been a LONG time since I've been on! I miss you guys!
I've been trying to enjoy the summer as much as possible between work and the fact that I actually really hate summer because heat makes me sick. Summer is our Christmas at work too, so it's been really busy. And well, I was having origin issues, and basically gave up simming on there a few months ago. I did move to Steam during their Summer sale though, when it was cheap to do so, so now I'm back simming and have been *very* slowly making progress with my game. Trying currently to get Weebly to play nice and let me add a couple photos and then I'll have an update on Evie and Alex. So hopefully tonight...
Don't really have much for comments 'cause it's been so long but thought I'd comment on @venusdemilosims current post since she just posted today. First I'm glad to see you got some simming time in, I've lurked here and there and seems like life has been being kind of difficult, so I hope it settles and gives you more play time soon. And congrats to AJ and Alexandra on the pregnancy. LOL at AJ getting creeped out by his sister-in-law walking around in her lingerie... not that I blame him for not being comfortable with it lol... that is a really cute outfit though. The architect career is tough, they're all a tough crowd lol. I liked the art studio though, I like the wall colour.
Weeee Weebly played nice so I have a where are they now kind of post on Evie and Alex since it's been so long. Hopefully soon it'll be back to normal posts and hopefully only like a week or two apart not a month or two or six lol.
We left the newlyweds in Champs Les Sims, France. Though they were about to leave for Al Simhara, Egypt after extending their honeymoon (which was more of a family vacation as they took the baby with them). Well, they had a blast in Egypt, though because of unsatisfactory accommodations (there was nowhere for Lucas and there was definitely nowhere to leave him while the explored) and even more dangerous tombs than they encountered in France (so they couldn't take him with them), they sent Lucas home to stay with his Auntie Mae for a bit (he survived, don't worry!), having her meet them at the airport in France before they left. They also made it a shorter trip than they would have liked so they could get home to their baby faster. Which meant the dropped their quests that meant returning to France to check in, and just explored on their own.
(Apparently we lost half their travel pictures. But, whatever)
Don't worry, nobody died, or even got seriously burned! But they'll probably remember to take the "tomb of fire" thing more seriously next time. Though this is precisely why they didn't bring Lucas, this place is not safe for that little angel.
Speaking of the baby (writing of the baby?)... can you believe he turned 1 a couple months ago?! How is my baby growing up so much! Stop it, Lucas, stay cute and tiny and innocent forever, please!
He's starting to walk and talk. He's even really take to the xylophone, like I thought by this point he'd be crawling all over and getting into EVERYTHING and his parents wouldn't be able to keep up. But if left to his own devices he'll just go play xylophone. He even gets lots of help from mom, I think we have a young prodigy in the making here.
Evie and Alex have also been remodeling the nursery, why I don't know, because they could, I guess (totally not because the whole thing got lost way back last year when my old computer died...*cough*). They did scrap the creepy owl wallpaper though, I mean it's cute but Lucas didn't like them all staring at him.
And the family has a new member. A VERY furry one. Petunia the dog. She was a stray wandering behind the karaoke bar late at night. A poor sickly looking thing too, so Evie and Alex rescued her and she's now a very healthy and happy dog and a treasured family member.
Oh yeah, Evie's started to pick up a few performances around town again. Last we heard she was working on an album with Julianne, and her brother Nolan a bit as well. But other than that she hadn't really been very active in the music scene. But she was starting to get restless not doing much, it's not Evie's style to not be going full steam ahead. Mostly she just performs at the karaoke bar, simple and relaxed.
Though, as the album release approaches, she's been taking more big gigs. At the warehouse turned club, and even the Hoi Polloi event center. And those performances are always with Julianne and Nolan as well, since it's promoting *their* album. Gotta admit, they all look fantastic together, and sound just as great as they look.
And as the album nears completion the talks of a tour have been getting much more serious. And Evie has discovered the one downfall to a booming music career now that's she's married and has a child. How is she possibly going to leave her family for so long?
But enough about that. Alex's career is going pretty well too. If you remember way back, roughly a year ago, he was trying to get on the Moonlight Falls hockey team? But he didn't make the cut and they told him to try again next year. Well, it's next year and he tried again. And he made it!
He hasn't played any real games yet (soon, though), but he's been practicing almost non-stop for the last little bit and pretty much lives in his jersey now.
(Unfortunately I've been banned from watching practices. By Alex. For being too embarrassing. I call it supportive. But, whatever. No proud parent pictures of my baby looking snazzy and killing it on the ice. )
And, of course, he'll now be on the road a lot as well. Why can't they all be home games?
How are they going to raise Lucas with both of them on the road so much? Fight over who he travels with? Leave him home? But who will look after him? Because the rest of the family is a hot mess right now (I could do a whole update on their issues...) and I don't see Evie and Alex leaving their innocent little baby with people who don't seem very stable and sane at the moment.
Well anyway, before we get too much into anything sad or stressful. I think we'll say goodbye for now. We'll ruin the mood later (...just kidding, I hope). We'll leave with some bonus pictures though from the last few months. Pictures that I liked but never had much of a use for or whatever. Just because I want to spam you guys for being away so long (like normally I'd spam on tumblr a lot or something, but I haven't even done that, so here we go).
(oh yeah, Evie and Alex went to Isla Paradiso for the 2nd anniversary of when they met and started dating ♥)
(hehe, I dunno why I never let the karaoke together before. Alex isn't very good lol, that's probably why, I was too scared to find out. He sure was having a blast up there though)
(the day Lucas learned to play a funeral march on xylophone, because Evie would kill Alex if she knew he tried teaching the kid music lol)
(and possibly my all time favourite picture, everybody all tuckered out after a family outing. Sure makes for a cute family portrait).
Rafael: They purchased the clothes: Zelda seemed to be quite thrilled to do it, but there was definitely no way she was used to buying anything, she didn't even know what to do with the credit card, other than hand it to the clerk like it was a business card; it made him wonder how she could even live in Simerican society without buying anything, but perhaps sales clerks just did all the work to get her out of their stores in Moonlight Falls. The first time he'd talked to this clerk, a Mrs. Hale, she'd been friendly and helpful but very laid back, but now she hurried to help Zelda and him with a uncomfortable, on edge smile, told them that their host would be just a few minutes more, asked them to sit on the love seat at the front of the store and excused herself. She left out the back door and locked the door behind her. Which left him and Zelda in the store alone.
Zelda: "Love seat, huh? I'll show you a love seat!"
Rafael: "Zyelda, ve're vaitink forr our host to arrife ve can't be...murmfmm." She kissed him energetically and he didn't have the heart to stop the kiss, so his talking disolved in her mouth, and Zelda seemed to relish the sensation.
Zelda: "What's that?" She said, pulling back playfully and waited.
Rafael: "We're Vait-hrmmrmmfmm..." And then she kissed him again, and he did continue his sentence to the same point, just because she seemed to be having fun with the sensation of him talking in her mouth. He decided that while she was distracted with muffling his words with her mouth, maybe he'd just brush her leg to give her a thrill for later. They definitely didn't have time now...though he did expect that the man would have to open one of the doors which would give them a little time to straighten up, especially with the way the chair had it's own little wooden wall in between them and the door- this broke line of sight and he hadn't seen any recording devices around the store when he'd been shopping...he still felt like he was being ridiculously reckless- with giddiness from being so close to Zelda and amusing her...but too late, it occurred to him that even though he could go from pleasure to all business in a second, Zelda might not do well with that.
Rafael: When the door opened, he knew her irritation was because she didn't like the kiss being interrupted. She was having fun, and she didn't want to stop having fun to do the things they planned even though she knew they needed to, like a child, she was frustrated by having to stop.
Zelda: "I told them no vampires!"
Mr. Reyes: He walked into the store, turned and walked around the railing and over to the chair closest to them, then sat down. "I'm certainly glad I opted to have Mrs. Hale give us some time to talk, I would not have liked to explain that."
Zelda: "I don't want to deal with vampires, how hard is that to get?!"
Rafael: He was completely confused by Zelda's insistence that he was a vampire; the man looked like a human, had a healthy skin color and very non glowing eyes; he did not look like a vampire at all. How could she possibly think he was a vampire? He didn't look like or move like one at all. Was this a witch magical sense being able to see more than him situation? Was Mr. Reyes a vampire who was just disguised as a human?
Mr. Reyes: "I'm a cured vampire, as is your husband, and you are a witch, and now that all of our supernatural positions are on the table, let's move on. I think the active vampires you were dealing with understood that to mean you didn't want to run into active plasma-drinking, mind-reading vampires. If you've got a broader definition than the conventional term, that's fine, let's pin that down and work from there, but I assure you that you're in no danger from me. This is an interview, I haven't actually agreed to help you yet."
Rafael: Mr. Morganthe had even given them this man's address, it seemed like a solid deal, right up until now. Was the man making a power play at the last minute? "Oh? You haf not? Mistyerr Morganth syeems to be confused abyout yourr levyel of coopyerration."
Mr. Reyes: "That or he thinks I'll agree to do it if he is 'optimistic' about it, since he knows threatening me won't work. It's called an assumptive close. So let me clear this up for you: I don't usually deal with criminals and I don't want to start now...and Dante and me...we go way back; not as friends...at best, we have a truce. He must be in some serious trouble if he's trying to get my help... but if I do allow you to stay in my home and give you access to my businesses during off hours to avoid running into vampires, it's not going to be for him, and I don't need the money, so it's really just going to be for my own reasons... Despite my misgivings about the methods you've used to contact me, I've got a few points of sympathy for you; I have kids your age away at college. I've been told that you're both fellow orphans, I'm also generally sympathetic to foreigners living in Simerica... and I too was attacked by vampires, I too was turned against my will, I spent significantly longer than you being controlled, and when I was finally cured by a witch, it was for a price. You both need therapy and nothing I've heard about you makes me think you'll actually get it. I'd like to get you as close as you'll allow."
Zelda: "Wait? What? You want to help us? But you're not agreeing? How do that many yeses add up to no? Rafael, you speak Mr. Prissypants, can you tell, is that a yes or a no?"
Rafael: Rafael's eyes narrowed but he was amused by the mystery and the unexpected challenge of negotiating. This was a brave man. Mr. Reyes had made them more value his help by making it harder to obtain than they'd originally thought. Rafael wondered what Mr. Reyes was really planning to get out of it. If the most he could get out of it was unscathed by a witch, and he wasn't after the money or the criminal connections...why even agree to meet and risk the wrath of an unpredictable witch? Unless he was trying to figure out how easy she was to manipulate? Or was there another player in this? Mr. Reyes seemed to know a fair bit about them, had he gotten that information from Mr. Morganthe or did he have his own sources? Mr. Reyes was telling them he was sympathetic but at the same time he was working on their sympathies.
Rafael had been cured for free by witches that cared about him; he wondered what Mr. Reyes' had to do to get cured...what the price he'd had to pay- what that witch had required if that was what Mr. Morganthe had meant about him dealing with witches before, or how he'd managed to even arrange that when boss vampires could read their minion's minds. Or had the witch cured him and then demanded he pay a price later? But since they had contacted him, not the other way around, Rafael felt confident it couldn't be anything to do with them. Then again, with witches being able to predict the future through a crystal ball...but if it had anything to do with them, Mr. Reyes would be fooolish to even tell them he'd had to pay a price, so he wouldn't do that, and since he had, Rafael could be confident it didn't have to do with them. "It sounds lyike a conditionyal yes, though ve nyeed to know vhat the condyitions arre, Zyelda, but if it vas a no, Mistyerr Morganth vould not haf had an openink for his assumptif close attyempt; and Mistyerr Reyes vould not haf met vith us. Mistyerr Morrgyanth is not herre...so if you make an agrreement vith us, it is not technyically vorrkink vith the Moonlyight Falls criminyals or vith him at all. Also the criminyals arre only facilitatatink this arrangemyent because they arre makink restyitution forr theirr parrt in tryink to kyill my vife, so you can be assurred they arren't tryink to yestablish some lonk terrm goals vith you. Is that vhat you need to know? Or is therre somethink yelse, Mistyerr Reyes?"
Zelda: She sighed in exasperation. "Why can't anything just be easy?"
Mr. Reyes: "I have younger children than the ones that are away at college. I will tell them to leave you alone, there will be a lock on your door, and they will be under the care of our butler, but I don't commonly have house guests...it's quite possible they will be too curious to leave you alone entirely. I don't want them harmed."
Zelda: "Oh, just don't hurt kids? Finally, something easy!"
Rafael: "Ve vill not harrm yourr childrryen, Mistyerr Reyes."
Mr. Reyes: "Excellent. So, if I'm not agreeing to ever dealing with criminals, you understand that you're guests here and do not hurt my children, then I will be happy to help you to the best of my ability."
Gonna comment more later but want to give a big old hug to @dreamerz13 ! Welcome back! Long time no see! Lovely pics of the fam as usual! Looks like they're coming along well! Looks like we have a prodigy on our hands indeed... Nathan (Sebastian's father, Kaydence's grandfather) was that way, very into the xylophone at that age, composing songs before he started school. He became a composer...
@Zabeth0 Glad to see Rafael and Zelda out of their usual dark colors and into their light colors on vacation! Lol Wanted to mention that I vaguely remember the travel agent, Nikolai I think his name was??? He was going all through the EA towns to see what they were like. Sort of like a human travel brochure.
Anyway, another Hidden Springs AJ and Alexandra pregnancy update. (Oh, and a little bit of Alexandra's twin sister too, because why not)
And now the scene shifts to the fairytale palace of the Vanderburgs, the home where Princess Alexandra grew up, a house full of secrets of its own.
The timing of her pregnancy could not have been worse, for many reasons. First, her mother, now gravely ill, had passed the responsibilities of the throne to her half-brother, Crown Prince Sebastian, and his wife, Crown Princess Ella.
Then, Alexandra had been scheduled to pilot an exploratory mission to the planet Sixam, but for obvious reasons, that was now on hold - if not scrapped altogether. AJ confided his worries about the mission to Alexandra when they came in from work.
AJ, though, wasn't dealing with it well. "I'm not ready to be a father!" he said over and over. "I don't know how to be a father! I don't know what to do -"
"You weren't ready to be a prince, either," Alexandra gently reminded him, "and now look where you are." I'm still not ready to be a prince, AJ thought to himself.
Meanwhile, that same day, Anastasia, Alexandra's fraternal twin sister, younger by three minutes, got an offer to cameo in a stage play at the local theater. She was the more artistic of the sisters, having inherited their mother's artistic genes, and who was also working as an architect. She was the one responsible for remodeling the town's landmark lodge and turning it into a resort.
Anastasia calmly walked up to the theater and went inside to do her cameo. She got paid a handsome sum.
Meanwhile, AJ clearly doesn't possess his wife's or his sister Sage's facility with horses. Alexandra's Arabian, Jasmine (named after one of the leads in Aladdin), snapped at him when he tried to put her in her pen.
After a stern battle of wills, however, Jasmine relented and allowed AJ to put her in her pen.
That night, the couple, married about a year and a few months, were asleep in Alexandra's bed when they heard a noise.
They got up to see what was going on...
...only to discover that it was... a ghost!
These folks do not scare easily. Remember, they braved the better part of their marriage as hostages to aliens on Lunar Lakes, so ghosts - no problem for them.
And more evidence that AJ inherited more from Savannah than he did from his namesake...
After their encounter with the ghost, they were famished, so they went downstairs and fished for food in the fridge... very un-royalty-like.
"So," AJ mused, "how would you like it if I wrote about our time in captivity?"
Alexandra nodded, considering all the writers on his side of the family. "Maybe if you didn't rush it?"
"Do you remember how we got out of that jam?" she recalled. "The only reason we're even here is because of your sister and your cousin. Otherwise we'd be dead."
"That's why I'm writing this down. It's a story we have to tell our kid, if no one else." AJ paused. "So. Who is that ghost?"
@Venus: Hey, I know how that can be- I have small fingers, some say 'tiny', but even I prefer a regular keyboard whenever possible. Also I don't like what the phone's auto correct does with my clumsiness! I'm glad you're keeping in touch with your sister!
I hope Skyler makes a different choice than her uncle...but perhaps seeing her make the choice, whether she does or not, will give him pause to reflect on whether he still thinks it's the right choice... sometimes people won't change when they don't realize that they are role models for other people but after seeing how others take their behavior as a guide, they realize the harm they are doing... it doesn't always work that way, but sometimes it's the occasion for a reevaluation.
I'm happy Madison is trying and not just throwing her hands up and saying 'you're too much like your father' and walking away, blaming it on the custody battle letting him have custody... but then again, she only has the one daughter. I'm glad that Sebastian's custody meant she had access to her aunt and cousins more recently and also that she got to participate in making sure Jazz and Sonata didn't get raised in the same way she did- she got them cared after by a Simbot and also helped so they got more than the little bit of interaction her dad and her step mom threw their way. But it's probably painful to go through the divorce as a more grown up person who wonders about custody arrangements and when she'll be able to see her brother and sister again. It probably helps her see the original divorce situation where her mother did not get custody slightly differently and be more open to spending time with her now, volatile as she is. Then again, she might just be of the age where she wants to know who her mom is and her mom's side of the family, things like meeting her grandmother, and understanding where they came from and what their struggle was too. Yeah, when her and Sierra get together and investigate it's totally like a detective story updated with computers...and where no matter of chase is off the table even one off the planet! lol Yeah, oh, that makes sense. I thought she looked familiar.
Thank you for doing the mini update! I've been kinda worried that the computer problems meant that we'd miss out on the royal baby! Well, that's likely pretty weird for him- but he has his own sisters, and lots of them, so it's probably only weird that it's a 'sister' he doesn't know walking around like that or it might even be weird that royal sisters are as casual about it lol. (Aj: "No, really, it's she's walking around blindfolded....what is there some sort of blind fighting course for royalty that I'm missing out on? Do they get trained by little hermit men...? Is she going to pull out a light saber and training droid? What's happening there?") Hmm, well, I see you've used her favorite color and she's childish and you've got some childish decor...but the thing that I'd be working on it for as an art studio is that artists need lots of light...they need to be able to control the sources of light, so even having large windows, you'd want to be able to pull the curtains closed or open... and you'd want to have lots of light sources or track lighting or some way to light the place up in higher or lower light to see how the work is progressing. I'm not sure if the game profession gets that in depth though. What I read about it made it just sound like her traits and the environment numbers were the main things...and I had meant to try out that profession with my evil travel agent when I finished him touring around but I never got around to it.
It's interesting to see Alex, the pregnant one with cravings and bathroom issues, who's career is being affected- as they are trying to assign her dangerous missions now, be so level headed about being pregnant and reassure AJ that it'll be okay. Then again, she's been raised with the responsibility of her nation on her shoulders whereas this is all new for him. It's probably downright calming to have a ghost to worry about since that's more 'normal' danger to him; being who his mom is and what he's been growing up knowing about. He didn't ask 'what is that' he asked 'who'. Perhaps, considering they are royalty, it should be a private family missive lol. Lol @ his struggle with Jasmine, btw. Also it's cool that Anastasia gets to do some cameos.
@Dreamers: Yeah, definitely leave Lucas with his aunt, safe and sound, and not in the fire temple! Things are looking a little hot there, and while it's nice to have some convenient water pools to pop into and get soaked real quick...they really should consider some showers in a can! I know they are expensive but being on fire looks painful! And if you never use them for some strange reason for putting out burning sims, you can always use them for cleaning up hygiene after gardening or that sort of thing. Aw, look at little baby Lucas with his cake! So cute. That's great, I'm sure they'll love to have a little musical prodigy backing up Momma later lol. She must be awesome with the lullabies. Well, hey, it looks more comforting without owl eyes everywhere. Well, that's quite a conundrum, both parents working like that...and her family being a hot mess... and if her sister is touring with her, they'll be busy at the same time. I wonder what they are going to do! Will little Lucas go on tour, being cared for by I don't know, a trusted butler who brings him to visit his mom and aunt on their tour, and then visits his dad at the hotels after his games? Will there be certain rendezvous tour points where mom and dad are in the same place? What timing! I love the tuckered out picture too. It looks like a fun, peaceful cuddle huddle. Even the fuzzy family dog around his legs like that.
Hi everyone, I've spent most of the last few days dealing with my uncooperative stomach. Basically, it hurt whenever I ate and whenever I didn't. Lol
Anyway, I'll get to the comments later, because I've taken 4 Tylenol and hope they're kicking in.
When we last left Skylar, the youngest of Andy and Savannah's four daughters, she was at university, having been unceremoniously dropped there by a desperate Savannah, hoping she'd straighten up her act. But Skylar Róisín, the Irish form of 'Rose,' the name having been given to her honoring both Andy and Savannah's Irish ancestry, was still doing her share of partying on campus.
Evidence that there had indeed been a party was shown by the plates left on the benches, and the smoldering logs on the bonfire.
When Skylar went inside, she got a text message from Paris Vanderbuilt, of the Tri Fruhm sorority. It was an invite to a party.
Skylar rang the doorbell at the sorority house, and Paris answered sweetly, "Come in!"
"Where's the party?" Skylar wondered, looking around in a confused manner.
"There is no party," Paris summed, "it's just you and me."
Skylar couldn't believe she had been deceived in that manner. But finally she was ready to spill her guts. "I've been unable to sleep, tossing and turning in my bed.
I have all sorts of thoughts in my head now. By the time I actually get to sleep, the sun is coming up."
While reassuring Skylar that things were going to be okay, Paris revealed that she had been friends with her older sister, Sierra.
Like Skylar, Paris came from a prominent family. She'd been a debutante at sixteen and even had a southern-style 'coming out,' or cotillion. That kind of tradition was completely foreign to Skylar, and hearing about it fascinated her.
But, her parents kicked her out of the house once they found out she'd been stealing from them. Undaunted, Paris cleaned up her act, enrolling in Sims University's business school and pledging the Tri Fruhm sorority.
"I tried to get Sierra to join," Paris said softly, "but you know her. She's not much of a joiner, on anything."
Skylar scoffed. "I noticed."
"So will you become an official member?"
Hesitating, Skylar replied, "I'll think about it," while shrugging her shoulders.
@Zabeth0 Yeah, psst.... when Sebastian decided to take Kaydence to Sunset Valley for the first time, he actually had misgivings about it. But, as we both know, it was definitely beneficial, both to Kaydence and to Sebastian's family. Even though Kaydence stood out like a sore thumb at the high school and was ostracized for being a geek, she managed to find someone there that she could be a geek with. You're right that in her own way, Kaydence was instrumental in making sure that Jazz and Sonata don't have the childhood she did. And hey, it's unlikely Sebastian will have relations with the plumbot! Lol
I think it's just a matter of Kaydence being a curious individual, who wants to know everything - even about her volatile, pop-star mom. Most importantly, she seems to want to know why her volatile, pop-star mom is the way she is - hence her effort to get in touch with her grandmother. I think Kaydence, being as perceptive as she is, has figured out the reason her mom is the way she is, goes back to her mom. This part of Kaydence's personality is inside of her, but thanks to Sebastian's moderating genetic influence, it only comes out in spurts, instead of most of the time like it does with Madison. However clumsily, Kaydence and Madison are trying to meet each other halfway.
Kaydence says in her blog that at the time her mom got pregnant with her, she was just in the beginning stages of her career. In her logical way, Kaydence attempts to rationalize her mom's attitude towards her:
My friend Terry wonders how I could love a woman who told me to my face that she didn't want me. I tell him that she probably didn't actually mean it, that she was speaking out of a momentary rage at something. And that at the time she got pregnant, she was just getting started on her singing career. I was a pretty big hitch in her plan to be a superstar. After all, lugging a baby around to concerts might be a good temporary photo op, but having them backstage while you're trying to get ready isn't exactly the best idea.
The quote from Kaydence's yet-unfinished blog tells us something else. She's inherited at least some of her mom's attitudes toward children.
As for Skylar, she seems to have rejected her mother's hard-driving example. Which, of course, disappoints Savannah greatly. In their own ways, all three of Savannah's biological daughters have rejected her example, but Skylar's rejection is in favor of a more performance-oriented lifestyle, modeled ironically enough by Savannah's younger brother. Her adopted daughter Satis, remember, left college to have her baby, and is juggling a baby with her internship at the hospital.
AJ is still getting used to his new life as a prince, and he's not entirely thrilled about it, lol. He's not used to government and politics, that is completely and totally new to him, since the Jolina-Plumbs going back to Nigel and Jamie were decidedly apolitical. Although, since Alexandra is not directly in line to the throne, her duties are more ceremonial than official.
Back in Sunset Valley, Savannah and her husband Andy were sitting casually in the living room, preparing for the impending arrival of a documentary production crew.
The producers of the TV show 'Simography' wanted to interview Savannah about the subject of their latest documentary, Savannah's Aunt Maggie.
"Why has it taken this long for her to get her due?" Savannah grumbled. "Aunt Maggie died when I was a teenager, and I'm about to turn elder."
Andy sighed. "She was a quiet woman. She didn't seek the spotlight."
"I know, but still, she did a lot, and has influenced a lot of people. Some of whom without even knowing it. I read Lydia Kincaid's novel, I swear, it had echoes of Maggie in it."
Savannah turned in huge amounts of paperwork to the documentary crew and sat down to talk about the most influential person in her life - her aunt Maggie.
Great updates everyone. I only post mine in the other thread but I pop in here now and then to read,
when I see its back on first page. I now have a gaming desktop and my gaming is so much more fun.
Comments
Diana Lynn and her mother Kira moved into the trailer behind the school. They only had around $400 but wanted to travel to France.
That first Sunday Kira met people in the park while Diana swung on the swings. Then she picked enough wild flowers so they traveled to France that night. There they met people and Kira harvested grapes and other fruits.
Since Diana's LTW was to become a master of the arts she painted when she wasn't at school or socializing with classmates.
Diana became a teen and ...
... immediately after this party learned the charisma skill. Since she already had 25 acquaintances from her trip to France her relationship with anyone new starts off as halfway to being friends.
Diana registered as a painter at city hall and sold all the paintings she had made so far. With the money Kira made at her business career they were able to travel to China for a work opportunity Kira had. Diana harvested everything in Han's Orchard all 3 days making a little money and reaching level 6 of gardening.
Kira aged up to an elder. She had enough happiness points to get an "inheritance". With that money along with what they had saved they were able to buy the bookstore-spa partnership ($20000) and the film back lot one ($25000).
Diana learned the guitar and played when she wasn't painting, going to school or socializing with her friends.
The ladies went to a spooky day costume party.
They both wanted a third partnership and was able to buy the one for the theater after much flower picking by Kira and painting by Diana.
Kira died a few days before Diana aged up to a young adult.
Diana cut her hair and took to wearing black for awhile.
Suddenly a little over $19,000 (I'm not sure why this money suddenly appeared) was added to Diana's cash. She decided to sell the film back lot partnership and the theater one and was able to buy the combo hospital-science lab one ($70000).
Now that Diana is a young adult and out of mourning she has let her hair grow.
It is the Wednesday in winter. Diana plans to collect the $18,000 of her partnership dividends next Monday and sell the hospital-science lab one. With that she plans to move into a house on the little island in the lake. Since she has painted over 30 paintings Diana paints faster so should be able to start saving again.
Anton Dietrich
Anton learned guitar.
Anton found a dragon egg in his house. He talked and talked to to it about friends and a purple dragon hatched. Anton named him Vlad.
Anton goes to university where he rents a house.
He starts making 25 acquaintances at the "meet and greet"
When he goes home Anton has Vlad summon a new sim.
Since the new sim is random Anton is lucky it is Betty Franklin.
They become instant friends (part of the summoning deal) and then good friends.
Anton mind controls Betty so she becomes a part of the household for 4 hours.
With some romantic socials back and forth Anton is able to ask her to go steady. (1 out of 10 of the girl friends he needs for his LTW.)
In the early morning after Betty left Anton played chess.
Later because Anton needed another friend to advance in his charisma skill he had Vlad summon someone new (I forgot this guys name somebody Shelley I think).
Then it was off to class
Samantha Grey asked Anton to a party at the sorority house where they became friends.
When he got home Anton talked to Vlad about charisma to increase his charisma skill.
The next day Anton has Vlad summon a friend. This turned out to be random too. Instead of Betty, Samantha appeared.
Anton then had Vlad try the runic charm on her. It makes the charmed sim come over to interact and increases their relationship.
I left Anton to initiate their interactions. After some back and forth he asked her if she wanted to be turned.
Then he asked her to watch the stars.
The next day Anton called Betty to ask her to come over (since the summon a friend was random). He asked to just be friends and wanted to be friends but she didn't take the breakup too well.
Anton finished up his week at university accomplishing everything he wanted to - getting 25 acquaintances, improving his skills, especially charisma and writing (he wrote 3 books while at university).
After getting some sleep he will be ready to start his first day at work as a politician at city hall.
Thank you. I'm having fun with this one. I had not intended to play with dragons but since there was an egg in Anton's house I thought I'd give it a try. Now I want to try each of the other colors of dragons in future games.
Thinking of playing the Sims 3 more once my boys are back in school in two weeks. Might be able to play a little today. Kinda have a idea of what I want to do with my game. Thinking of having a sim be a architect.
Hope you have fun with that. You almost always get bad reviews when you do projects at the lower levels. Practice architectural drawings on the drafting to level up first.
Sorry been away for awhile, dealing with vertigo and other c.rap that doesn't lend well to simming, lol.
The script arrived while Kaydence was on holiday in Starlight Shores with her mother. Madison, the aging but still drop-dead-gorgeous pop music superstar, looked at her daughter with bewilderment. Her head was buried in yet another book.
"What are you reading?" she wondered as she walked into the kitchen.
"Oh, just a new script I got yesterday at the set."
"A new script?" Madison found herself curious. Though she was in studio a lot, she was never into acting studios. She envied her ex-husband, Sebastian, how he could commit hundreds of pages to memory to recite on call, and do so with emotion. She found song lyrics easier.
"Yeah, mom, it's a made-for-TV movie about a teen detective. I think I really like this project. "
Between bites of her hot dog, Madison chuckled. "You would." Definitely her father's daughter, Madison thought to herself.
In the final episode she taped of the TV show she left, Kaydence's character, Alexa, is expelled from the academy she attended after fighting with her rival Lauren at the prom. But Alexa lands on her feet, with an internship at a design studio:
Here's a little sneak peek of her post-soap opera acting career. I am using a mod to give teens Ambitions careers.
I am not a video maker by any means.
Thank you. I didn't intend to play with dragons but since the egg was there I thought "why not?" The dragon play has sort of taken over Anton's story but it comes in so handy for getting his charisma up and acquiring girl friends.
Sorry you are having problems. Have you found out the cause of your vertigo?
Great update and I enjoyed the videos. What software are you using to make them?
As for my vertigo I am not sure but I suspect it has something to do with my ongoing digestive system issues. The dragons are cool, I just never thought to work them into a modern sort of setting. I would think Anton wouldn't need much help with women
BTW that sim Samantha with Anton, was the ex-girlfriend of my sim AJ. Their relationship ended badly.
@blazerntq An architect sounds fun! I did dabble in the career once with one of my sims.
Yeah, I think it's very disappointing to look up to your father, and see him be so nice and generous with everyone else, only to find out he's unfaithful to your mother. There tends to be a sense of deep betrayal about that, and it does tend to affect your ability to trust others...in Savannah, one way, either forming few strong attachments that are very strict and guarded or Sebastian, forming shallow attachments that are cast aside easily... Skyler somehow seems to have picked up Sebastian's attitudes...
Well, they've been making faces at each other since before Zelda could even talk to Deedee, so it's kind of a running thing.
Well, at least it being a script means that Madison has something to talk about with her- even if she can only barely relate, I have a feeling that would be a lot less than she'd get out of her mother if it had been some other book...and by asking Madison is at least aware of what her daughter is up to.
Wow @ Alexa slap fighting with her boss (I'm assuming she's her boss as an intern).
Looks like she's doing a pretty good job of being a teenage detective, it's cool that you've got it all modded up so she can do that.
@cwaddell: I know how that goes.
Selling flowers can really help get the game rolling!
lol @ Hot Dog Diana entertaining burglar Kira at the fooseball table.
I have just about given up on typing anything on my phone but short and sweet sentences, so I decided to wait until I could get to my full sized keyboard to compose an appropriate response. My gene pool didn't see fit to give me anything but large hands
Anyway, thanks so much for your concern, I wasn't in the immediate path of this awful storm, but my sister was, and her part of the area didn't see the worst part of the flooding. I have been in touch with her every day.
I think Skylar is putting up a front. What I mean by that is, she's wanted to be a singer her whole life and she's had this party lifestyle, but at college she's discovering that it's not who she really is. She learned from her actor uncle that pretending to be someone else was the way to go. And the hard lesson that Sebastian may not have learned from his failed relationships was that he had to quit hiding his true identity. He had basically gotten by in his life by 'acting' and not only on screen.
As their father, Nathan was the first male role model that Savannah and Sebastian had in their lives, and they took different lessons from him. Remember that conversation that Nathan had in the lounge in Hidden Springs with Sebastian? Nathan was looking in the mirror at himself and he knew it. While Sebastian unconsciously patterned himself after him, Savannah sought to avoid a Nathan type, and married an anti-Nathan, and controlled every aspect of Andy's being.
As difficult as Savannah's relationship was (and is) with her mother, the last thing she wanted was to become her mother.
As for Madison, give her credit, she is making an attempt, however awkward, to relate to a daughter who in many ways is more mature than she is. Kaydence pretty much raised herself - Sebastian certainly didn't raise her, even though he had full custody of her.
Alexa was slapping her boss, who was played by Emmy Starr (yes that Emmy Starr, as in Alanna's mother and Alan's on-again, off-again girlfriend). Kaydence definitely held her own in a scene with that experienced actress. I would think that Kaydence found some inspiration for the flamboyance of Alexa in her own household
At the same time, in deciding to take the detective role, you can tell she relished the part. After all, remember it was her and her cousin Sierra who did go into a burning building on a foreign planet to save her cousin and his wife
BTW my mod that had teen detectives also let Skylar begin her singing career as a teen also.
My simming time is getting more and more limited as time goes on
We return to Hidden Springs, the land of the glistening mountains and the eternal snows, where AJ and Alexandra are dealing with the pangs of their expectancy...
Alexandra by working out...
and AJ... by forgetting he's now a prince...and longing for his old life...
Meanwhile AJ is getting more and more creeped out by the presence of his sister-in-law prancing around in her lingerie...
And then there are the cravings. Alexandra has a strange craving for strawberry waffles... in the middle of the night...
Yep, she's preggers...
Meanwhile, Anastasia has to talk to Blake Grayson about the art studio she wants done...
Tough crowd, Blake wasn't happy...
I've been trying to enjoy the summer as much as possible between work and the fact that I actually really hate summer because heat makes me sick. Summer is our Christmas at work too, so it's been really busy. And well, I was having origin issues, and basically gave up simming on there a few months ago. I did move to Steam during their Summer sale though, when it was cheap to do so, so now I'm back simming and have been *very* slowly making progress with my game. Trying currently to get Weebly to play nice and let me add a couple photos and then I'll have an update on Evie and Alex.
Don't really have much for comments 'cause it's been so long but thought I'd comment on @venusdemilosims current post since she just posted today. First I'm glad to see you got some simming time in, I've lurked here and there and seems like life has been being kind of difficult, so I hope it settles and gives you more play time soon. And congrats to AJ and Alexandra on the pregnancy. LOL at AJ getting creeped out by his sister-in-law walking around in her lingerie... not that I blame him for not being comfortable with it lol... that is a really cute outfit though. The architect career is tough, they're all a tough crowd lol. I liked the art studio though, I like the wall colour.
We left the newlyweds in Champs Les Sims, France. Though they were about to leave for Al Simhara, Egypt after extending their honeymoon (which was more of a family vacation as they took the baby with them). Well, they had a blast in Egypt, though because of unsatisfactory accommodations (there was nowhere for Lucas and there was definitely nowhere to leave him while the explored) and even more dangerous tombs than they encountered in France (so they couldn't take him with them), they sent Lucas home to stay with his Auntie Mae for a bit (he survived, don't worry!), having her meet them at the airport in France before they left. They also made it a shorter trip than they would have liked so they could get home to their baby faster. Which meant the dropped their quests that meant returning to France to check in, and just explored on their own.
(Apparently we lost half their travel pictures. But, whatever)
Don't worry, nobody died, or even got seriously burned! But they'll probably remember to take the "tomb of fire" thing more seriously next time. Though this is precisely why they didn't bring Lucas, this place is not safe for that little angel.
Speaking of the baby (writing of the baby?)... can you believe he turned 1 a couple months ago?! How is my baby growing up so much! Stop it, Lucas, stay cute and tiny and innocent forever, please!
He's starting to walk and talk. He's even really take to the xylophone, like I thought by this point he'd be crawling all over and getting into EVERYTHING and his parents wouldn't be able to keep up. But if left to his own devices he'll just go play xylophone. He even gets lots of help from mom, I think we have a young prodigy in the making here.
Evie and Alex have also been remodeling the nursery, why I don't know, because they could, I guess (totally not because the whole thing got lost way back last year when my old computer died...*cough*). They did scrap the creepy owl wallpaper though, I mean it's cute but Lucas didn't like them all staring at him.
And the family has a new member. A VERY furry one. Petunia the dog. She was a stray wandering behind the karaoke bar late at night. A poor sickly looking thing too, so Evie and Alex rescued her and she's now a very healthy and happy dog and a treasured family member.
Oh yeah, Evie's started to pick up a few performances around town again. Last we heard she was working on an album with Julianne, and her brother Nolan a bit as well. But other than that she hadn't really been very active in the music scene. But she was starting to get restless not doing much, it's not Evie's style to not be going full steam ahead. Mostly she just performs at the karaoke bar, simple and relaxed.
Though, as the album release approaches, she's been taking more big gigs. At the warehouse turned club, and even the Hoi Polloi event center. And those performances are always with Julianne and Nolan as well, since it's promoting *their* album. Gotta admit, they all look fantastic together, and sound just as great as they look.
And as the album nears completion the talks of a tour have been getting much more serious. And Evie has discovered the one downfall to a booming music career now that's she's married and has a child. How is she possibly going to leave her family for so long?
But enough about that. Alex's career is going pretty well too. If you remember way back, roughly a year ago, he was trying to get on the Moonlight Falls hockey team? But he didn't make the cut and they told him to try again next year. Well, it's next year and he tried again. And he made it!
He hasn't played any real games yet (soon, though), but he's been practicing almost non-stop for the last little bit and pretty much lives in his jersey now.
(Unfortunately I've been banned from watching practices. By Alex. For being too embarrassing. I call it supportive. But, whatever. No proud parent pictures of my baby looking snazzy and killing it on the ice.
And, of course, he'll now be on the road a lot as well. Why can't they all be home games?
How are they going to raise Lucas with both of them on the road so much? Fight over who he travels with? Leave him home? But who will look after him? Because the rest of the family is a hot mess right now (I could do a whole update on their issues...) and I don't see Evie and Alex leaving their innocent little baby with people who don't seem very stable and sane at the moment.
Well anyway, before we get too much into anything sad or stressful. I think we'll say goodbye for now. We'll ruin the mood later (...just kidding, I hope). We'll leave with some bonus pictures though from the last few months.
(oh yeah, Evie and Alex went to Isla Paradiso for the 2nd anniversary of when they met and started dating ♥)
(hehe, I dunno why I never let the karaoke together before. Alex isn't very good lol, that's probably why, I was too scared to find out. He sure was having a blast up there though)
(the day Lucas learned to play a funeral march on xylophone, because Evie would kill Alex if she knew he tried teaching the kid music lol)
(and possibly my all time favourite picture, everybody all tuckered out after a family outing. Sure makes for a cute family portrait).
Rafael: They purchased the clothes: Zelda seemed to be quite thrilled to do it, but there was definitely no way she was used to buying anything, she didn't even know what to do with the credit card, other than hand it to the clerk like it was a business card; it made him wonder how she could even live in Simerican society without buying anything, but perhaps sales clerks just did all the work to get her out of their stores in Moonlight Falls. The first time he'd talked to this clerk, a Mrs. Hale, she'd been friendly and helpful but very laid back, but now she hurried to help Zelda and him with a uncomfortable, on edge smile, told them that their host would be just a few minutes more, asked them to sit on the love seat at the front of the store and excused herself. She left out the back door and locked the door behind her. Which left him and Zelda in the store alone.
Zelda: "Love seat, huh? I'll show you a love seat!"
Rafael: "Zyelda, ve're vaitink forr our host to arrife ve can't be...murmfmm." She kissed him energetically and he didn't have the heart to stop the kiss, so his talking disolved in her mouth, and Zelda seemed to relish the sensation.
Zelda: "What's that?" She said, pulling back playfully and waited.
Rafael: "We're Vait-hrmmrmmfmm..." And then she kissed him again, and he did continue his sentence to the same point, just because she seemed to be having fun with the sensation of him talking in her mouth. He decided that while she was distracted with muffling his words with her mouth, maybe he'd just brush her leg to give her a thrill for later. They definitely didn't have time now...though he did expect that the man would have to open one of the doors which would give them a little time to straighten up, especially with the way the chair had it's own little wooden wall in between them and the door- this broke line of sight and he hadn't seen any recording devices around the store when he'd been shopping...he still felt like he was being ridiculously reckless- with giddiness from being so close to Zelda and amusing her...but too late, it occurred to him that even though he could go from pleasure to all business in a second, Zelda might not do well with that.
Rafael: When the door opened, he knew her irritation was because she didn't like the kiss being interrupted. She was having fun, and she didn't want to stop having fun to do the things they planned even though she knew they needed to, like a child, she was frustrated by having to stop.
Zelda: "I told them no vampires!"
Mr. Reyes: He walked into the store, turned and walked around the railing and over to the chair closest to them, then sat down. "I'm certainly glad I opted to have Mrs. Hale give us some time to talk, I would not have liked to explain that."
Zelda: "I don't want to deal with vampires, how hard is that to get?!"
Rafael: He was completely confused by Zelda's insistence that he was a vampire; the man looked like a human, had a healthy skin color and very non glowing eyes; he did not look like a vampire at all. How could she possibly think he was a vampire? He didn't look like or move like one at all. Was this a witch magical sense being able to see more than him situation? Was Mr. Reyes a vampire who was just disguised as a human?
Mr. Reyes: "I'm a cured vampire, as is your husband, and you are a witch, and now that all of our supernatural positions are on the table, let's move on. I think the active vampires you were dealing with understood that to mean you didn't want to run into active plasma-drinking, mind-reading vampires. If you've got a broader definition than the conventional term, that's fine, let's pin that down and work from there, but I assure you that you're in no danger from me. This is an interview, I haven't actually agreed to help you yet."
Rafael: Mr. Morganthe had even given them this man's address, it seemed like a solid deal, right up until now. Was the man making a power play at the last minute? "Oh? You haf not? Mistyerr Morganth syeems to be confused abyout yourr levyel of coopyerration."
Mr. Reyes: "That or he thinks I'll agree to do it if he is 'optimistic' about it, since he knows threatening me won't work. It's called an assumptive close. So let me clear this up for you: I don't usually deal with criminals and I don't want to start now...and Dante and me...we go way back; not as friends...at best, we have a truce. He must be in some serious trouble if he's trying to get my help... but if I do allow you to stay in my home and give you access to my businesses during off hours to avoid running into vampires, it's not going to be for him, and I don't need the money, so it's really just going to be for my own reasons... Despite my misgivings about the methods you've used to contact me, I've got a few points of sympathy for you; I have kids your age away at college. I've been told that you're both fellow orphans, I'm also generally sympathetic to foreigners living in Simerica... and I too was attacked by vampires, I too was turned against my will, I spent significantly longer than you being controlled, and when I was finally cured by a witch, it was for a price. You both need therapy and nothing I've heard about you makes me think you'll actually get it. I'd like to get you as close as you'll allow."
Zelda: "Wait? What? You want to help us? But you're not agreeing? How do that many yeses add up to no? Rafael, you speak Mr. Prissypants, can you tell, is that a yes or a no?"
Rafael: Rafael's eyes narrowed but he was amused by the mystery and the unexpected challenge of negotiating. This was a brave man. Mr. Reyes had made them more value his help by making it harder to obtain than they'd originally thought. Rafael wondered what Mr. Reyes was really planning to get out of it. If the most he could get out of it was unscathed by a witch, and he wasn't after the money or the criminal connections...why even agree to meet and risk the wrath of an unpredictable witch? Unless he was trying to figure out how easy she was to manipulate? Or was there another player in this? Mr. Reyes seemed to know a fair bit about them, had he gotten that information from Mr. Morganthe or did he have his own sources? Mr. Reyes was telling them he was sympathetic but at the same time he was working on their sympathies.
Rafael had been cured for free by witches that cared about him; he wondered what Mr. Reyes' had to do to get cured...what the price he'd had to pay- what that witch had required if that was what Mr. Morganthe had meant about him dealing with witches before, or how he'd managed to even arrange that when boss vampires could read their minion's minds. Or had the witch cured him and then demanded he pay a price later? But since they had contacted him, not the other way around, Rafael felt confident it couldn't be anything to do with them. Then again, with witches being able to predict the future through a crystal ball...but if it had anything to do with them, Mr. Reyes would be fooolish to even tell them he'd had to pay a price, so he wouldn't do that, and since he had, Rafael could be confident it didn't have to do with them. "It sounds lyike a conditionyal yes, though ve nyeed to know vhat the condyitions arre, Zyelda, but if it vas a no, Mistyerr Morganth vould not haf had an openink for his assumptif close attyempt; and Mistyerr Reyes vould not haf met vith us. Mistyerr Morrgyanth is not herre...so if you make an agrreement vith us, it is not technyically vorrkink vith the Moonlyight Falls criminyals or vith him at all. Also the criminyals arre only facilitatatink this arrangemyent because they arre makink restyitution forr theirr parrt in tryink to kyill my vife, so you can be assurred they arren't tryink to yestablish some lonk terrm goals vith you. Is that vhat you need to know? Or is therre somethink yelse, Mistyerr Reyes?"
Zelda: She sighed in exasperation. "Why can't anything just be easy?"
Mr. Reyes: "I have younger children than the ones that are away at college. I will tell them to leave you alone, there will be a lock on your door, and they will be under the care of our butler, but I don't commonly have house guests...it's quite possible they will be too curious to leave you alone entirely. I don't want them harmed."
Zelda: "Oh, just don't hurt kids? Finally, something easy!"
Rafael: "Ve vill not harrm yourr childrryen, Mistyerr Reyes."
Mr. Reyes: "Excellent. So, if I'm not agreeing to ever dealing with criminals, you understand that you're guests here and do not hurt my children, then I will be happy to help you to the best of my ability."
@Zabeth0 Glad to see Rafael and Zelda out of their usual dark colors and into their light colors on vacation! Lol Wanted to mention that I vaguely remember the travel agent, Nikolai I think his name was??? He was going all through the EA towns to see what they were like. Sort of like a human travel brochure.
Anyway, another Hidden Springs AJ and Alexandra pregnancy update. (Oh, and a little bit of Alexandra's twin sister too, because why not)
And now the scene shifts to the fairytale palace of the Vanderburgs, the home where Princess Alexandra grew up, a house full of secrets of its own.
The timing of her pregnancy could not have been worse, for many reasons. First, her mother, now gravely ill, had passed the responsibilities of the throne to her half-brother, Crown Prince Sebastian, and his wife, Crown Princess Ella.
Then, Alexandra had been scheduled to pilot an exploratory mission to the planet Sixam, but for obvious reasons, that was now on hold - if not scrapped altogether. AJ confided his worries about the mission to Alexandra when they came in from work.
AJ, though, wasn't dealing with it well. "I'm not ready to be a father!" he said over and over. "I don't know how to be a father! I don't know what to do -"
"You weren't ready to be a prince, either," Alexandra gently reminded him, "and now look where you are."
I'm still not ready to be a prince, AJ thought to himself.
Meanwhile, that same day, Anastasia, Alexandra's fraternal twin sister, younger by three minutes, got an offer to cameo in a stage play at the local theater. She was the more artistic of the sisters, having inherited their mother's artistic genes, and who was also working as an architect. She was the one responsible for remodeling the town's landmark lodge and turning it into a resort.
Anastasia calmly walked up to the theater and went inside to do her cameo. She got paid a handsome sum.
Meanwhile, AJ clearly doesn't possess his wife's or his sister Sage's facility with horses. Alexandra's Arabian, Jasmine (named after one of the leads in Aladdin), snapped at him when he tried to put her in her pen.
After a stern battle of wills, however, Jasmine relented and allowed AJ to put her in her pen.
That night, the couple, married about a year and a few months, were asleep in Alexandra's bed when they heard a noise.
They got up to see what was going on...
...only to discover that it was... a ghost!
These folks do not scare easily. Remember, they braved the better part of their marriage as hostages to aliens on Lunar Lakes, so ghosts - no problem for them.
And more evidence that AJ inherited more from Savannah than he did from his namesake...
After their encounter with the ghost, they were famished, so they went downstairs and fished for food in the fridge... very un-royalty-like.
"So," AJ mused, "how would you like it if I wrote about our time in captivity?"
Alexandra nodded, considering all the writers on his side of the family. "Maybe if you didn't rush it?"
"Do you remember how we got out of that jam?" she recalled. "The only reason we're even here is because of your sister and your cousin. Otherwise we'd be dead."
"That's why I'm writing this down. It's a story we have to tell our kid, if no one else." AJ paused. "So. Who is that ghost?"
I hope Skyler makes a different choice than her uncle...but perhaps seeing her make the choice, whether she does or not, will give him pause to reflect on whether he still thinks it's the right choice... sometimes people won't change when they don't realize that they are role models for other people but after seeing how others take their behavior as a guide, they realize the harm they are doing... it doesn't always work that way, but sometimes it's the occasion for a reevaluation.
I'm happy Madison is trying and not just throwing her hands up and saying 'you're too much like your father' and walking away, blaming it on the custody battle letting him have custody... but then again, she only has the one daughter. I'm glad that Sebastian's custody meant she had access to her aunt and cousins more recently and also that she got to participate in making sure Jazz and Sonata didn't get raised in the same way she did- she got them cared after by a Simbot and also helped so they got more than the little bit of interaction her dad and her step mom threw their way.
Thank you for doing the mini update!
It's interesting to see Alex, the pregnant one with cravings and bathroom issues, who's career is being affected- as they are trying to assign her dangerous missions now, be so level headed about being pregnant and reassure AJ that it'll be okay.
@Dreamers: Yeah, definitely leave Lucas with his aunt, safe and sound, and not in the fire temple!
Anyway, I'll get to the comments later, because I've taken 4 Tylenol and hope they're kicking in.
When we last left Skylar, the youngest of Andy and Savannah's four daughters, she was at university, having been unceremoniously dropped there by a desperate Savannah, hoping she'd straighten up her act. But Skylar Róisín, the Irish form of 'Rose,' the name having been given to her honoring both Andy and Savannah's Irish ancestry, was still doing her share of partying on campus.
Evidence that there had indeed been a party was shown by the plates left on the benches, and the smoldering logs on the bonfire.
When Skylar went inside, she got a text message from Paris Vanderbuilt, of the Tri Fruhm sorority. It was an invite to a party.
Skylar rang the doorbell at the sorority house, and Paris answered sweetly, "Come in!"
"Where's the party?" Skylar wondered, looking around in a confused manner.
"There is no party," Paris summed, "it's just you and me."
Skylar couldn't believe she had been deceived in that manner. But finally she was ready to spill her guts. "I've been unable to sleep, tossing and turning in my bed.
I have all sorts of thoughts in my head now. By the time I actually get to sleep, the sun is coming up."
While reassuring Skylar that things were going to be okay, Paris revealed that she had been friends with her older sister, Sierra.
Like Skylar, Paris came from a prominent family. She'd been a debutante at sixteen and even had a southern-style 'coming out,' or cotillion. That kind of tradition was completely foreign to Skylar, and hearing about it fascinated her.
But, her parents kicked her out of the house once they found out she'd been stealing from them. Undaunted, Paris cleaned up her act, enrolling in Sims University's business school and pledging the Tri Fruhm sorority.
"I tried to get Sierra to join," Paris said softly, "but you know her. She's not much of a joiner, on anything."
Skylar scoffed. "I noticed."
"So will you become an official member?"
Hesitating, Skylar replied, "I'll think about it," while shrugging her shoulders.
I think it's just a matter of Kaydence being a curious individual, who wants to know everything - even about her volatile, pop-star mom. Most importantly, she seems to want to know why her volatile, pop-star mom is the way she is - hence her effort to get in touch with her grandmother. I think Kaydence, being as perceptive as she is, has figured out the reason her mom is the way she is, goes back to her mom. This part of Kaydence's personality is inside of her, but thanks to Sebastian's moderating genetic influence, it only comes out in spurts, instead of most of the time like it does with Madison. However clumsily, Kaydence and Madison are trying to meet each other halfway.
Kaydence says in her blog that at the time her mom got pregnant with her, she was just in the beginning stages of her career. In her logical way, Kaydence attempts to rationalize her mom's attitude towards her:
The quote from Kaydence's yet-unfinished blog tells us something else. She's inherited at least some of her mom's attitudes toward children.
As for Skylar, she seems to have rejected her mother's hard-driving example. Which, of course, disappoints Savannah greatly. In their own ways, all three of Savannah's biological daughters have rejected her example, but Skylar's rejection is in favor of a more performance-oriented lifestyle, modeled ironically enough by Savannah's younger brother. Her adopted daughter Satis, remember, left college to have her baby, and is juggling a baby with her internship at the hospital.
AJ is still getting used to his new life as a prince, and he's not entirely thrilled about it, lol. He's not used to government and politics, that is completely and totally new to him, since the Jolina-Plumbs going back to Nigel and Jamie were decidedly apolitical. Although, since Alexandra is not directly in line to the throne, her duties are more ceremonial than official.
Back in Sunset Valley, Savannah and her husband Andy were sitting casually in the living room, preparing for the impending arrival of a documentary production crew.
The producers of the TV show 'Simography' wanted to interview Savannah about the subject of their latest documentary, Savannah's Aunt Maggie.
"Why has it taken this long for her to get her due?" Savannah grumbled. "Aunt Maggie died when I was a teenager, and I'm about to turn elder."
Andy sighed. "She was a quiet woman. She didn't seek the spotlight."
"I know, but still, she did a lot, and has influenced a lot of people. Some of whom without even knowing it. I read Lydia Kincaid's novel, I swear, it had echoes of Maggie in it."
Savannah turned in huge amounts of paperwork to the documentary crew and sat down to talk about the most influential person in her life - her aunt Maggie.
Here's what I've been doing as soon as I got my hands on my beloved computer:
The Grey Witches Part 1 - Chapter 15 (part 1) "remastered". Enjoy!
It's Taïga's first Halloween...
But the joy finishes in sorrow...
when I see its back on first page. I now have a gaming desktop and my gaming is so much more fun.
@Silverofdreams30 Congrats on the new computer. I bet your gaming life is much easier!
I loved your recent updates.
@dreamerz13 lovely updates im on third generation in my story now atm they are at university.
@jillbg Great update
@Zabeth0 always love your updates