The End of Time.

Those of you who follow the thread on MTS (Im severedsolo) will know that I have failed the challenge.


Basically, Grace's 2nd Child failed to achieve perfection during her toddler years, so I played her through to her (not quite) natural death. Ironically, she achieved perfection with all the other stages but didn't manage to get all the toddler books. I have actually started again now, but have decided not to blog it as I found it was actually taking away my enjoyment of playing the game.

Thank you for reading.

Martin
(aka severedsolo)

Chapter 9 - What Alex did Next.

I hope you liked the direction I took with the last post, this one is going to be more of the same, little update and then story. I'm starting to feel REALLY sorry for Alex, especially as I know whats coming up next.

Chapter 9 - What Alex did Next.

After they got back from the disaster that was Reece's wedding,  Harry became an Elder he decided though that he was going to keep his Stylist Job because it was easy money, and not very stressful Besides, he liked riding around on his Motorbike.

I'm not so sure there isn't Bayless blood in his bloodline somewhere, check out those ears!

Mind you, some clients there wasn't a huge amount that Harry could do, He was beginning to suspect that Twinbrook had been infiltrated by aliens after seeing this particular client...

Elsewhere in Twinbrook, Charlie and Shanita had another child, this one a boy, they called him Tom, and at the time of writing, he was still only a baby.

(Mandatory Update out the way, On with the Story!)

A few days later Alex became a Young Adult, he decided on the spot that his Lifetime Ambition would be to be an International Superspy (YES! Finally a LTW that corresponds with the career!) and he began to think of his future, specifically whether he should move into Lester's home, or whether Lester should move in with them.

While it's nice to see that the Genetic traits being favoured seem to be a strong Jawline, its a shame that Genetics are going to make no difference anyway.... as Alex is Gay and must adopt

He invited Lester over to the house to get a feeling for what Lester wanted to do about their situation, but Alex was in for a suprise. Lester informed Alex, that he had changed his mind, and he wasn't actually gay at all! In fact he had started to see Bianca, Alex's cousin! Needless to say, Alex was less than impressed by this news, and told Lester exactly what he thought of him.

Lester didn't exactly take too kindly to this, and proceeded to unleash a torrent of insults of his own on Alex

Needless to say, after this picture was taken, Lester was asked to leave.... rather quickly.

As soon as he had left, Alex began muttering to himself, "Fine, who needs him anyway, I don't need him to be happy, I just need.... hmm... Children! Yes! Children will make everything right again! I can give THEM all my love!" Immediately, Alex picked up the phone and phoned the adoption agency.

The woman on the other end of the phone sounded so excited that he had called! "You want to adopt? Wonderful! So few parents adopt, we have so many children waiting for a home! Umm... How do you feel about twins?"
"Twins?" asked Alex dubiously
"Yes Twins, you see, we have two wonderful twin girls who have just come in, and they desperately need a home, they are children not toddlers so they won't need much cleaning up after"
"Well... I was really only wanting one for now, but as its for a good cause, ok then"
"Wonderful! I'll be right round" said the voice, and immediately hung up on Alex.

Roughly an hour later, the Social Worker came around, with two little girls, "This is Grace and Keira, their parents recently passed away in a tragic "Disappearing Door" accident" she explained, "Girls, this is your new Daddy, he'll take care of you now"

Grace

Keira

(Obviously they arent actually twins... but they look so similar, and have exactly the same time to aging up, so I'm saying they are for story's sake)

Grace is a Flirty, Virtuoso, Perfectionist and Kiera is a Party Animal who Loves the Outdoors (I forget her last trait)

Delighted to have such wonderful little girls, the family decided to host a party at the beach to celebrate, they invited the whole family, and  a few friends, including Alex's new Police Partner, who turned out to be his Auntie Shanika, whom Alex took the oppurtunity to make very good friends with.

The party was a roaring success, and everyone had a great time! Mainly due to Live Entertainment provided by both Karyn, and Connor Frio

And that seems like a good place to leave it. As ever, feedback is appreciated. Hope you enjoyed!

Chapter 8 - Oh Brother!

Firstly, an update that actually happened during Chapter 7 but I couldn't write about it because blogger decided that I couldn't type anything after the last picture. Charlie (2nd Generation Spare) has had a child, who's name I can't remember at the moment, I know its a girl though, (yay for Nraas Story Progression giving you updates on your Blood Relations!)

I'm going in a slightly different direction with this post. All my other posts have been quite bland, this one, (and the next one) will hopefully be a little more interesting. There will be the usual manadtorty update bit, and then the last section will be more "storylike" Hopefully you'll enjoy it. I would appreciate hearing what you think, (whether good or bad).

Chapter 8 - Oh Brother!

Delilah had big news for Reece, she was pregnant! Reece was understandably excited but nervous, they had only Woohoo'ed twice (this must have happened before I turned Oopsie Baby off) and he was still a little unsure of their relationship. He agreed to do the honourable thing though, and proposed to her, despite the fact that he was a little creeped out that she had exactly the same maternity wear as his mother....

Harry was awarded the key to the city, for being such a great stylist. Although he couldn't quite tell if some of the audience were there to applaud him, or protest against makeovers....

Lastly, Karyn has taken up fishing, not for money, just for sport. (now i just have to figure out what in God's name I'm going to do with all the fish she caught before I remembered I couldn't sell them....)

Meanwhile, Alex and Lester continued to see each other, Lester had told his family, and they all 100% supported his decision, Alex however hadn't told the Bartletts yet, worried about how they would react, so he and Lester spent most of their time at Lester's house.

However, things were about to come to a head, and Alex's decision would be taken out of his own hands. A week later, Reece aged up into a Young Adult, and began making plans for his and Delilah's wedding.

Reece decided to close his eyes just as this shot was taken... and now I cant take another because he has moved out.

Remembering the story of Uncle Charlie's wedding, Reece arranged an evening wedding. Soon the entire family were heading over to Twinbrook Community Swimming Pool for the ceremony. (Everyone in my family got a wish to visit the pool, so I figured it was fate)

Alex was especially looking forward to the wedding, as he had managed to persuade Reece to invite Lester, and he was hoping they could sneak off while everyone's attention was distracted by the blushing bride. To his suprise though, the moment he got out of the car, he was greeted by Lester, who immediately gave him a very long slow kiss in front of everyone!

As everyone stared at them in shock, Lester remarked cooly, "Well at least you don't have to worry about how to tell them now."
Once the suprise had died down a bit, Harry and Karyn were delighted for their son, and promised to support him in any way they could. Reece however, was less impressed. He was furious at his brother for upstaging his wedding, and told Alex exactly what he thought of him

He even went so far as to imply that his mother was a Llama! (which is pretty funny really if you think about it)

"Your mother is a Llama!" "Uhh.. she's your mother too?"

Alex was distraught that his brother had said those things to him, and rushed off home crying his eyes out. Eventually, the wedding went ahead and Reece and Delilah were married, and Reece left the Bartlett household to live with his new bride.

Next Time: More Heartbreak for Alex.

So yeah, I just pretty much destroyed Alex and Reece's relationship making that, they absolutely hate each other. So I hope you liked it ;)

Oh and the more observant among you might notice that Delilah isn't pregnant at the wedding. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl who she named Misty. (Misty? really? As in Pokemon?) Luckily, as Reece is the spare, he isn't bound by the "adoption" rule so this is all good :)

I definitely made the right decision making Alex the heir. Reece turned out looking like my Dad.... that isn't a good thing. That and the fact that he ended up getting Delilah (another stupid name) pregnant means that he would have been forced out of his inheritance anyway. (Mind you... the Heir was always going to be gay, so maybe it wouldn't have come up)

Chapter 7 - To Live and Love in Twinbrook

Yes I know the title sucks.... I have a great title for the next one though.

Apologies, this is mainly filler, but it is important as it sets the scene for the next Chapter, which is going to be full of Drama!

Chapter 7 - To Live and Love in Twinbrook

Its lucky really that Karyn was a Repair Technician before she met Harry, it certainly helps when she has a certain blonde son who likes to break everything.... (he's neither clumsy nor unlucky, but everything he touches breaks!)

Again with the inappropraite footwear!

Things were going well between Reece and his new Girlfriend (who is called Delilah Greenwood by the way... I couldn't remember it in the last post) Reece went to visit her in her new house, and she was obviously delighted that he popped by

Delilah: Is that a Twix in your pocket? Or are you just pleased to see me?

In other news, Harry made a new friend, called Marion (who is a man....) he popped round the house to book himself in for one of Harry's legendary makeovers.

Alex meanwhile, made friends with the boy who lives across the road, Lester Bayless (who has the trademark Bayless big ears) although sometimes Alex couldn't help but wonder if his new friend was ignoring him

Im sure some of you are wondering what Harry is up to these days, so here is a little update. Harry has reached Level 10 of the Stylist Career, and can't remember the last time he gave someone a bad makeover. Sometimes he has to wait a little while before his clients turn up, so he has struck up a little bit of a rapport with Nichole the Paper Girl

Now that he is at the top of his game, Harry felt that it was important to look after himself, so he bought the "Fast Metabolism" LTR and once again hit the treadmill.

Karyn decided that she REALLY liked the new slim Harry and she showed him how much she liked it... physically (Note: This was actually all autonomous, I made him hit the treadmill but the next screenshots were entirely Free Will)

Is it just me or does Harry look very scared in this picture?

I've got nothing to hold on to anymore! I love it!

Feeling good about his career, his weight, and his love life, Harry has developed a.... unique approach to his styling clients.

This Sim apparently can't stop eating, even when there isn't actually any food in her hand.

The brief for this client was "I want to look good when excersising" Harry personally doubts she has ever done any excersise in her life

Ahh, the "Midlife Crisis" look. A popular choice among Harry's clients

Harry likes to call this one "The Hot Librarian" look

Finally, Alex has grown into a Teenager, he has inherited his Dad's bigger build but happily it won't matter,  He wants to be a Super Spy and so will spend alot of time on the treadmill.

As you can tell from the trousers, Alex has inherited his fathers "unique" sense of style

A few days later, Alex's childhood friend Lester also aged into a teen, and Alex decided to pop across the road to pay him a visit. Alex found himself having the strangest feelings towards Lester, and before they knew it....

Happily for Alex and Lester, they quickly found that despite what they were taught in Sim School, your willy does NOT drop off if you have carnal relations with another man. Now Alex just needed to figure out how to tell his family....

Next Time: Alex comes out, in a rather unexpected way.

(Just a little update on my Mods, I have disabled Oopsie Baby because there is a glitch in it where Same sex couples can get pregant even if Same Sex Pregnancy is off, also I have tweaked Twallan's SP a little bit, because it is whinging that the town was dying, Eligible Sims and Pregnancy were maxing out, so I have lowered the threshold for Immigration, so that if there is a lack of eligible Sims for partners and a lack  of pregnancies, its allowed to Immigrate people, expect to see some new families cropping up soon.)

"Still there?" "Yup, is yours?"

Chapter 6 - Hatched, Matched and Dispatched.

Harry and Karyn had a very hectic week!

Immediately after they got home from Charlie and Shanita's wedding, Karyn's waters broke and she had to rush to hospital. She gave birth to a healthy little boy who they named Reece. This means it was time to roll for Generation 3, this is what I got:
Marital Status: Adoptive Single Parent.
Number of Children: 2 (again)
Primary Income: Law Enforcement (Super Spy)
Generation Goal: Do something Awesome!
More Fun: Hoarder (can't sell anything in Buy Mode once the heir comes into their inheritance when they age into a YA)

Figuring that Millie would probably stick around until she was at least 95-100 as most Sims do, so she could help babysit. Harry and Karyn almost immediately started trying for another baby. However, just after Karyn got pregnant for the 2nd time, disaster struck. Millie began to glow, and the Grim Reaper came to usher her soul into the other side

I say.... I appear to be glowing

(To be honest, I wasn't sorry to see Millie go, I wasn't very attached to her, she was just there to make money while I concentrated on her kids.)

Two days later, another boy was born to Karyn, this time they named him Alex (thats 4 boys on the trot now! I wonder if my "random gender" mod is actually working?) As Harry and Karyn were at the hospital bringing Alex into the world, Reece aged up into a toddler

Reece as a toddler, slightly worried that he is already bald by the age of 3... are we seeing a new line of Genetics?

After all tis excitement, Harry began to think about what to do with Millie's remains. As they already had a major building project underway, Harry decided that they couldn't afford to build a proper Graveyard, and so for now, Millies grave was placed at the furthest end of the garden.

Millies Grave looks so lonely there by itself....

I don't think Millie was very happy about this, as that very night she came back to haunt her descendants. (Try putting a toddler to bed when his cot is possessed by an angry Grandmother.... nightmare)

The next day, Karyn began to pursue her "career" of Adventuring. Unfortunately, she didn't really pack appropriately, and turned a heel in Egypt....

Next time, I'm bringing some sensible shoes!

(Note: After this, I realised I had nowhere to sell the Relics she had collected, as I couldn't drop things down the Inventory Hole due to "Hands Off" and the Consignment Store wouldn't accept Relics, therefore I decided that Karyn will be a stay at home mum. As far as I can tell there is nothing in the rules that says she HAS to make a living like that, just that she can't make a living another way)

Harry's Stylist job was now going very well, even his brother Charlie allowed Harry to give him a makeover when Charlie was promoted to Elementary School Teacher (Twallans Story Progression decided he should take after his mother.... no Neices and Nephews yet though)

 After this, there was a quick succession of birthdays, with Harry becoming a full Adult and Reece becoming a Child

Alex meanwhile, grew up into a toddler, and has inherited his mothers blonde hair

It seems that Karyn's Vegetarian Trait is working in her favour, as she actually regressed in age by about 13 days.... as a result, Harry became an Adult when she was only a quarter of her way through Young Adulthood again.

Im sorry to tell you, that after becoming a supposedly "fully mature" adult, Harry had a bit of a mid life crisis, and bought himself a motorcycle, supposedly for "getting around town quickly when visiting clients"

Its "For Work" honest

Luckily, not ALL of the family funds were squandered on the bike, and Harry finally finished the extension he had been working on. A fully self contained Studio Flat on the First Floor of the family house:

Well thats $10,000 we'll never see again....

Not much happened for the next week or so, until Reece and Alex again had their birthday's within a day of each other, Reece becoming a Teen and Alex becoming a Child

Reece seems to have inherited his fathers weight problems

I really love Alex's colour, it looks like EA came good on their promise on "proper Genetic Blending for different skin colours"

There were no problems for Reece in finding a girlfriend, his best friend from childhood, (who's name eludes me at the moment... something Greenwood will update this bit later) was just waiting for him to ask! So he did, they quickly fell in love and were inseperable.

RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! HE THINKS YOU HAVE COOKIES!

Lucky for him that he had found happiness, because Harry and Karyn had just informed him that Alex was the heir, (mainly because he looks just like a male Millie, and as the genetic line is going to die out next time (adoption) I felt it was fitting that it ends as it started. Also I feel a bit guilty for abandoning Millie, so want to make it up to her "male equivalent") and he would have to move out as soon as he hit Adulthood! Reeces Girlfriend immediately offered to let him move in with her when that day came, as long as he promised to do the honourable thing and marry her.

(Challenge Notes: Generation 2 Complete!
Marital Structure: Couple - check
Number of Children: 2 - Check
Generation Goal: Expansionist - Studio Apartment - Check
Misc Fun: Hands Off (still ongoing but so far check)

I already know what I am going to do for Alex's "Awesome" I am going to convert the back yard into a family graveyard, complete with all decorations etc.)

Next Time: Adoption. I WILL get a girl!