The Blackburns In Monte Vista

[Brooke.]

Founder: Hope

Second Generation: Spiller

Third Generation: Clarissa

Fourth Generation: Lucas

Fifth Generation: Tommy

Sixth Generation: Serena

Seventh Generation: Harmony




Author's Note:
I don't like using Midas Touch but I had to as I wasn't able to save my game after coming out of build mode. There is no dialogue, I tried my best but you have yourself the female George Lucas here.
Screenshots that appear to be from other towns were purely for the sake of an interesting story and, of course, better looking screenshots.




Credit
Most screenshots outside of the game file were taken in lots created by Ruby's Home Design.

[Brooke.]

Hope Blackburn

Hope Blackburn was new to the town of Monte Vista. Due to her kleptomaniac nature she had been run out of every single town she'd ever been to, she'd forgotten most of their names by now, but Hope intended to stay in this beautiful little town and so she resolved to keep a keen eye on her sticky fingers.





With only §7,000 she was able to build a very modest home with the basics. Unlike an Immortal Dynasty she didn't need to go man-hunting yet. She set herself before her brand new, though second-hand, computer and began to play games.





In the evening she visited one of her neighbours, Francisca Pantalone. Everything was going perfectly well until Hope tried to drink the older woman's plasma. Taking offense, Francisca promptly asked her to leave.





So Hope went through her days playing computer games and visiting Aleister's searching desperately for a Midas Touch elixir. When she did find one there was a problem - she didn't have much money left over to buy things to transmute. Promising herself this was the one and only time she'd steal again, Hope visited Francisca once more. She didn't get much, but three days worth of sneaking around and she was able use the Midas Touch. She hired a local architect who built her the house she'd always hoped to own.

She went straight back to video games while listening to the Writing tabcast and was glad to be out of the sun and working towards unlocking her choice of career.





Another thing she needed to work on was making an occult friend. On one of her daily haunts to the elixir store, she met Eduardo GilsCarbo. He was a good looking man but Hope isn't a home wrecker nevertheless she is content to throw an elixir at him so he lets her take a sip of his plasma.





Hope finally joined the Video Game Developer career. On her days off she wrote mystery novels having been inspired by the likes of Jane Marple and Jessica Fletcher, and to rid herself of stress she played online games with her fellow nerds - and met a hopeful lifelong friend in the form of Michelle Harris.





On Leisure Day, Hope threw a party at the local vampire lounge, Plasma 501. Sadly no one turned up and she spent the evening drinking away her sorrows and rambled away all night to the mixologist on duty.





Undeterred, she tried again some days later. Quite a few of her neighbours had turned into vampires and werewolves, but they behaved themselves at the party which was a great success - Hope supposed it was because of the good quality drinks served by the mixologist.





When the opportunity came, Hope joined the Engineer branch of her career. She had already gained a few levels in logic and forced herself into people's homes to tutor children after school. The parents were only too glad when she said her services were free of charge and no longer complained. Her favourite student was the youngest Monty, with the unusual name of Ti-Ning - in a previous life he'd been named Claudio, he told her.





Hope's telescope from Barnacle Bay arrived while she was at work, so once she'd rested for a while she set to finding stars and naming  them after herself with an associated number. Who honestly had time to think of new and clever names, anyway?





Now that Hope needed just a few more potions to learn,  she invited an old friend to live with her - Goopy GilsCarbo. Sometime after graduating he had turned into a witch like his father, and his mother was unlucky enough to get bitten by a werewolf.

Hope purchased Plasma 501 and gave it a much needed refurbishment. She spent the night dancing away with Goopy who had recently agreed to go steady.





With all her requirements done, Hope mixed the last potion for her mausoleum...





...only to be abducted by aliens who were suspicious of her searching the galaxy. She didn't remember much of what happened, and was only too glad to return home to her boyfriend.





She surprised Goopy by accepting a date to one of the local fishing holes, usually he had to poke and prod her to  stop being so lazy on her days off. Of course, he had a surprise of his own.






The couple bought empty land overlooking the river for their wedding venue. Just hours before the ceremony, Hope went on a quick trip to Aleister's for spare vampiric sunscreen and invigorating elixirs - no one was allowed to mess up her big day. There, she met the Hightowers, an old couple who were endlessly fighting over the worn out rocking chair.





The ceremony was beautiful. Eduardo and Carlotta couldn't keep their eyes off each other for long, perhaps remembering their own wedding, and Hope inwardly forgave her mother-in-law's wolfishness. Unknown to Hope, two of her guests would one day become part of her dynasty. Although there was an awkward silence over cake, no one wanted to mention Carlotta's appearance when she was doing her best to act so normal in her werewolf form.






Afterwards, Hope and Goopy Blackburn had their first slow dance while the stars shone all around them. It didn't matter that her husband wasn't a fairy, she hadn't married him for his plasma type and his sloppiness no longer bothered her when a maid was available, he at least loved her in spite of her kleptomania - he'd taught her to return peoples belongings via the post-box - and he would love their children whether they were vampires or witches.





Soon enough, Hope was expecting. She'd heard of women stuffing themselves with apples and watermelons, but she loved plasma and would let nature take its course, however watching the kids channel was something she followed.





During his wife's pregnancy, Goopy learned to cook and garden since Hope had never needed to do either of those.





And at long last Hope went into labour. She didn't want to take risks and drive herself to the hospital, Goopy slept all the way through her screaming, therefore she opted for a home birth. First there was Arrietty, a vampire and then came Spiller, her heir.








Requirements

Founder: Hope Blackburn
Life State: Vampire
Traits: Adventurous, Couch Potato, Artistic, Kleptomaniac, No Sense Of Humour & Hydrophobic (Nerd)
Partner: Goopy GilsCarbo (Blackburn)
1 Best Friend: Michelle Harris (Fairy)
2 Career Rewards: Writing Skill Certificate & Logic Skill Certificate
3 Unique Opportunities: Add A Little Drama, To Boldly Go & Offsite Brainstorming Session
4 Unique LTRs: Inheritance, Acclaimed Author, No Bills Ever & Professional Slacker
5 5k+ Wishes: Master Writing Skill, Master Logic Skill, Make §5,000 Per Week In Royalties, Reach Level 10 Of Career (Engineer) & Write 25 Novels
6 Unique Skill Challenges: Mystery Novel Specialist, Speed Writer, Master Chemist, Teacher Extraordinaire, Celestial Explorer & Prolific Writer
7 Mausoleum Pieces: Liquid Horror Potions
Vacation Days Used: 0

[Lisa46]

Yay, another life states dynasty story! Welcome to the (small) club. I'll be reading this, I love the life states dynasty.

[KRae]

It hasn't been that long since I finished my Life States, so it's fun to read someone else's stab at it.

[Brooke.]

Yay, another life states dynasty story! Welcome to the (small) club. I'll be reading this, I love the life states dynasty.

Thank you very much! I also love this dynasty challenge  more than the other challenges and have played it many times over.

It hasn't been that long since I finished my Life States, so it's fun to read someone else's stab at it.

I've ghost read a lot of your stories and can't believe how many you've gone through, glad to see you here 

[Brooke.]

Spiller Blackburn

Arrietty was a cautious girl. She liked playing with her dollhouse, learned her toddler skills without a fuss and definitely did not want to play inside the toy box. Her brother, however, crawled into his box after breakfast and each lesson his parents tried to teach him were interrupted by his eagerness to hide from them and cause mayhem when they feared he'd lock himself in.





Learning to talk was boring. Spiller loved the language only toddlers knew, now Arrietty no longer understood him and would spend hours watching the TV, and his parents would shake their heads and insist he'd soon want to join in with their conversations.





That was until his grandparents came to spend the weekend. His grandmother Carlotta immediately picked him up and introduced him to the tickle monster. He was eager to please her and spent an entire afternoon learning new words, the xylophone and the peg box before he was allowed to enjoy the last hour of toddlerhood on the spring rider.






After planning his outfit, his mother sat him down and started a long and tiring day of tutoring. His sister was lucky enough to be born a spare and would dress as a princess for hours on end and invite him to tea parties.






His grandparents visited almost every day. Arrietty was most like Eduardo, they were both clumsy and preferred to read books together whilst Carlotta would chase Spiller all over the grounds despite her old age and high heels.





There was time for one last go on the see-saw before the children blew out their birthday candles.





Spiller passed most of his teen days practising magic in his bedroom. He was able to purchase a higher quality wand and shortly began the slow process of upgrading appliances around the house.





Marcy came home with him after school one day and right after doing their homework together, flirting ensued. She worked as a babysitter around town but always seemed eager to go on dates and Spiller was certain she'd be his future wife.





His part-time job at the cemetery kept him busy enough that he left homework for when he was actually at home. His mother didn't agree and gave him a earful. His father let him off the hook when Hope's back was turned.





Upon aging up he was able to start working on one of his desired skills - charisma which he raised through speaking with the magic mirror and his family.





His favourite skill to learn by far was alchemy. An attic had been created for his personal use with an alchemy station and gem cutting machine. Hours would trickle away by as he blended alchemical ingredients, crushed gems for their special dusts and poured it all into the already bubbling cauldron. He showered several times a day just to rid himself of the clinging smell of brimstone and failed experiments.





Spiller joined the Acting career which required charisma at a higher level. His boss, Antonio Monty, always gave him a raise and promotion when he asked and this soon led him to be considered for a part in an up-and-coming version of The Count Of Monte Vista.





Having brewed quite a handful of elixirs, Spiller tested many out on his family. Starting with his sister - their relationship had deteriorated after entering high school as they no longer seemed to find time to socialise. She was also grateful for the invigorating elixirs that helped her stay awake to strum away at her guitar for her rock star career and to woo Antonio every time he came over.





Soon his schedule became very busy as he was now playing the role of Benedetto and his alter ego, Andrea Cavalcanti, for which he won a Sims' Choice Award. All over town Sims stop to fangirl over him and once Alessandra Giordano fainted at the sight of him.





His long time human girlfriend, Marcy, was dumped when he found that the gorgeous Victoria Costa had turned into Monte Vista's very first mermaid. Spiller took that as an opportunity to invite her to move in. She had to fish for her own dinner though.






Spiller booked two tickets for Sunlit Tides. Now that he'd accomplished all his goals he had free time to woo Victoria properly. She was shy and kept mostly to herself and just once managed to join Spiller as he splashed around in the shallows outside their rented abode. She did like to drink fruit juices so Spiller made sure to stock the fridge well as they sheltered from the sun under a flowing canopy.





Before long she warmed to him and by evening Spiller was ready to get down on his knee and proposed as the scorching sun set.






They held a private wedding - his mother was furious and Arrietty did complain a little at missing the chance to be a bridesmaid.





When the time came, Hope offered Victoria two choices of fruits. Victoria opted for watermelons.





Three days later, the proud parents left the hospital with twin girls - Sabrina, a witch, and Clarissa, a mermaid.






Requirements

Second Generation: Spiller Blackburn
Life State: Witch
Traits: Artistic, Grumpy, Love The Heat, Hopeless Romantic & Proper
Partner: Victoria Costa (Blackburn)
Toddler: Best Friends, Peg Box & Xylophone
Child: Quest For The Lead & Honour Roll
Teen: Marcy Seay - Love Interest, Honour Roll & Level 3 Mausoleum Worker
1 Best Friend: Lia Rasi (Vampire)
2 Career Rewards: Charisma Skill Certificate & Sims' Choice Award
3 Unique Opportunities: Background Acting, Networking Is Key & State Of The City
4 Unique LTRs: Magic Hands, Flying Vacuum, No Jealousy & Map To The Stars
5 5k+ Wishes: Master Alchemy Skill, Master Charisma Skill, Reach Level 10 Of Career (Actor), Marry Victoria & Master Social Networking Skill
6 Unique Skill Challenges: Alchemists Anonymous, Excellent Elixirs, Everybody's Best Friend, Celebrity, Super Friendly & Master Alchemist
7 Mausoleum Pieces: Flask Of Sleep Elixirs
Vacation Days Used: 0

[Malley]

Great start so far!  Nice to see another person taking a stab at a lifestates dynasty 

[Brooke.]

Great start so far!  Nice to see another person taking a stab at a lifestates dynasty 

Thank you  I love this challenge but writing is difficult. I finished a week ago and I'm trying to get the other heirs stories written.

[KRae]

That explains why this is going so quickly. I write as I go. I'm afraid my senior brain won't remember why I took those screen shots.

[Lisa46]

Why did you move towns?

[Brooke.]

That explains why this is going so quickly. I write as I go. I'm afraid my senior brain won't remember why I took those screen shots.

I did write very short and obscure notes. I've found from experience it's better to play and finish before posting a dynasty 

Why did you move towns?

Oops. I guess I forgot to explain this. I didn't move town - in reality they went on a date to the movies, had dinner, got engaged outside the restaurant and married in the back garden. Pretty boring, right? So for the sake of a better story and prettier screenshots I pretended they went on a holiday to Sunlit Tides instead.

[Brooke.]

Clarissa Blackburn

Clarissa was the apple of her parents eyes. They spent all their time with her toddler training, barely having enough left over for their other child - they left Sabrina to Goopy and Hope. Perhaps this was what caused the friction between the two girls later on.






Although both girls were signed up for ballet classes Sabrina chased her sister away from the ballet barre and wouldn't even leave her in peace to play pretend.





Clarissa's only solace came from her mother's bedtime stories of faraway Simdoms where even princess were heroines in their own right and dragons were not creatures to be feared and hunted.





Though sometimes those stories turned into nightmares. She'd often find herself in Baba Yaga's hut - Baba Yaga was none other than her sister and she'd also roped in Aunt Arrietty to taunt her. She lived through her days tormented by her sister and nights were filled with Baba Yaga and chicken-leg dreams.





Several fights occurred, all of which Sabrina won. Hope and Victoria scolded them both many times to no avail.





Then their father intervened. Pulling them apart he summoned powerful magic and took away Sabrina's witchitude and sent her to stand in a corner. Sabrina gesticulated wildly at how unfair it all was and stamped her feet and sobbed freely.






Seeing the severe action her father had taken, Clarissa admitted that she'd initiated the fight this time and perhaps it wasn't entirely Sabrina's fault she behaved in such a way. Spiller smiled and mentioned making a secret promise with Sabrina though he wouldn't say exactly what.

After that, the girls kept their distance and Clarissa moved to the male heir bedroom.






As the eldest child, Sabrina had her birthday first and rushed upstairs for a makeover, having no desire to watch the heir be cheered by everyone in the household.

Her father summoned her to the attic room where no one else was allowed and presented her with a small box. Reminding her of the promise, he handed it over to her and hoped she'd use it soon.





The house was quite full at this moment. Arrietty married Antonio in a small private ceremony and moved in with him and his siblings. Clarissa was sad to see her go but her aunt visited often and would taken selfies with her at every opportunity.





Clarissa was shocked one evening when her sister rabidly approached her with what looked like an elixir. Before she could make a run for it, the bottle smashed at her feet and she suddenly wondered why she'd been afraid of her sister - they were best friends, after all.





She kept herself busy with homework and her job at the mausoleum, and was finally able to find herself a romantic interest at Mick's. Francisco only fancied her because she was the daughter of a famous actor and she herself was quite a celebrity. Their first kiss made it into the gossip column and Clarissa got rid of him on Prom night.





Before blowing out their candles, Sabrina called to Clarissa as she set up the timer on her camera. Asking what was going on her sister only replied with, "Evidence."





Clarissa's first wish was to visit China. Just moments after landing and visiting the local market place she met Zhan Su. Pink hearts fluttered above both of their heads, it hadn't been like that with Francisco, and Zhan didn't even know she was famous. He liked her for herself.





Spiller had given her enough invigorating elixirs to last a lifetime. She put those to use as she practised endlessly at the Phoenix Academy. She had a tent pitched and dried food in her bag and other than the occasional shower she worked tirelessly.





She won her first spar against Ho Sung Kim. Then against his wife and sister who were at the Academy just as much as her.





Once back home, Clarissa concentrated on swimming around to raise her athletics skill - which she needed for her Acrobat career - and also to keep her mermaid tail. The waters of Monte Vista were cool except no one bothered with boating trips so she pretty much had the whole river and ocean to herself.

In the evenings she'd jog all over town and grew muscular. Sabrina trained at the local branch of the Phoenix Academy to help her sister with the sparring challenge.






Clarissa also worked on breaking space rock boards. With the full moon out many zombies and annoying paparazzi heckled her until Grim came to take two very old paparazzi to their afterlives. He stopped afterwards to admire her handiwork.





There had been several SimFests during her grandmother and father's time, now that Clarissa needed a career reward no one was organising any. When she visited the proprietors they shook their heads and turned her away, explaining there was a SimFest taking place already when clearly there was not.

By some miracle she got a notice one day about a SimFest at Performance Park. She headed over to procure her place and rang her family to watch her perform. For a mermaid she wasn't at all afraid of fire and gave one of her best performances, encouraged mostly by her family to win the event - well, there was hardly any competition as all the other acts were by elderly sims.





Clarissa booked her next flight to China. She was only allowed another seven days and she made the most of it, beating ranked champions, calling Zhan for woohoo in her slightly small tent and taking an awful long time to beat Sima Zhi to be Grand Master.





She only had to fulfil her last wish before being able to move Zhan in. Her last performance at Port-A-Party Mini Warehouse blew her fans away and there were several disappointed faces when she announced her retirement.






Zhan joined the household and Clarissa proposed to him at Plasma 501. He was shocked and jumped around with a silly grin on his face that made her heart melt and her eyes tear. They had a family-only wedding at the Autumn Court which reminded Zhan of China.






Even though Clarissa had watched the kids channel she didn't have twins but baby Lucas was human like his father and he was just perfect. Or so she thought.






Requirements

Third Generation: Clarissa Blackburn
Life State: Mermaid
Traits: Inappropriate, Frugal, Supernatural Fan, Night Owl & Party Animal
Partner: Zhan Su (Blackburn)
Toddler: Best Friends, Peg Box & Xylophone
Child: Ballet Recital & Honour Roll
Teen: Francisco Rowe - Love Interest, Honour Roll & Level 3 Mausoleum Worker
1 Best Friend: Simona Valenci (Werewolf)
2 Career Rewards: Athletic Skill Certificate & SimFest Trophy
3 Unique Opportunities: Meditation Benefits, Try The Tourney & Art Performance Art
4 Unique LTRs: The Next Big Thing, Engaging, That Was Deliberate & Permanent Mermaid
5 5k+ Wishes: Master Martial Arts Skill, Master Athletics Skill, Win A Martial Arts Tournament, Meditate For 24 Hours  & Reach Top Of Career (Acrobat)
6 Unique Skill Challenges: Timber Terminator, Grand Master, Marathon Runner, Fitness Nut, Sim Fu King & Master Of Meditation
7 Mausoleum Pieces: Heart Cut Gems From Board Breaking
Vacation Days Used: 14 (China)

[Brooke.]

Lucas Blackburn

As an only child Lucas was spoilt by everyone in the family - the household had reduced in size as Goopy, Victoria and Sabrina went to live in a huge mansion nearer to town.

His mother took care of the messy business and teaching him to walk. His father taught him words and read to him about exciting things like paints, colours and not staying within the lines.






He was closest to his grandfather who helped him with his birthday candles while his mother laughed at him.





Sometimes being an only child was fun. On some days he was a prince, strutting around in a proud manner, other days he was a king and would stand on the chair to proclaim new laws onto his imaginary audience.





Other times he wished there was another person to share his fear of monsters with. The adults didn't believe in such things, even though they were supernatural creatures themselves - except for his father. So he started to booby trap showers and the computer his mother loved to make inappropriate forums posts on.





All too soon his teenage birthday came around. His great grandfather Goopy threw a party so Lucas went instead of his mother to meet his extended family.

He met a pretty werewolf by the name of Emma Perry. She loved to have her belly rubbed, but his great grandfather scolded him for his inappropriate behaviour with an older woman.





So Lucas found a teenage girl to throw himself at. Marisol was a commitment-phobe and wasn't too fussed about breaking up after Prom.





It wouldn't be a Blackburn dynasty without unnecessary grounding from an adult. Lucas tried to explain he'd done the gentlemanly thing in letting Marisol take the limo home but Spiller wasn't having any of it. Later he got his revenge by donating several thousand simoleons to undermine charities around the Simverse.





Lucas signed up for the Stylist career. He had a whole day before his first day of work and spent most of it drawing up fashion ideas to be interrupted by Town Hall summons to attend graduation. Somehow he'd been chosen as valedictorian. Utterly unprepared he murmured a few words of "Thanks," and "Good luck with the future and all," and went straight back to his drafting table to earn his first promotion.





One of his first clients was his Aunt Sabrina. They hit it off right away, they were both evil and had great fashion taste - yet his aunt thought her sleepwear could be spiced up a little. Lucas obliged and she was beyond impressed with the result - enough to get him another promotion.






There was a sudden visit one evening from his Great Aunt Arrietty who brought her teenage daughter along. They were attracted to each other but Arrietty grabbed her daughter away before anything scandalous could occur and Lucas set his sights on a far better candidate.






Emma Perry was unfortunate her werewolf form didn't always look so appealing. She was a natural beauty. With a little help from Lucas she came out stunning and also helped him to get his career trophy. How could he not invite her to live at Blackburn Manor after that?






On the weekends when he was free from work, Lucas focused on creating masterpiece paintings. His evil trait often led him to paint in hues of red and pink.





For inspiration he planned a trip to France with Emma. He dragged her around to the museum - she was artistic - but she showed little interest but perked up after a plate of delicious crêpes at a local bakery - the French sure did know how to bake so well.






They raided the nectary to harvest grapes, buy a few machines and also swam to the little island to get the rare variety. Having run out of things to do, Lucas and Emma proclaimed their love for each other in someone's front garden.





With the position of his future wife secured, Lucas was able to make a start on his street art skill. Long and tedious hours were spent in tagging the garden and all the walls outside until he had completed all the challenges.





He only needed a few more clients to reach the top of his career. Jalissa Rivers was glad of a much needed makeover. Lucas had taken to giving bad makeovers to NPCs around town but original townies got treated with a little bit of respect.





As soon as his requirements were complete there was only two things left to do. Lucas married Emma in the back garden with his family making heartfelt noises when they could tear themselves away from the sprinklers.





Their wedding night and the kids TV channel resulted in the birth of two boys. Merton, human like his father, and Tommy, like his namesake, was the werewolf heir.







Requirements

Fourth Generation: Lucas Blackburn
Life State: Human
Traits: Clumsy, Easily Impressed, Evil, Social Butterfly, Perceptive & Proper (Rebel)
Partner: Emma Perry (Blackburn)
Toddler: Best Friends, Peg Box & Painting Books
Child: Research Project & Honour Roll
Teen:  Marisol Paxton - Love Interest, Honour Roll & Level 3 Mausoleum Worker
1 Best Friend: Khang Seng (Vampire)
2 Career Rewards: Painting Skill Certificate & Stylist's Trophy
3 Unique Opportunities: The Business Of Décor, Commissioned Street Art & Fresco Fest
4 Unique LTRs: Extra Creative, Attractive, Never Dull & Hover Bed
5 5k+ Wishes: Master Painting Skill, Donate §10k To Undermine Charity, Reach Top Of Career (Stylist), Master Street Art Skill & Marry Emma
6 Unique Skill Challenges: Proficient Painter, Brushmaster, Master Painter, Master Muralist, Precision Sprayer & Always Wanted
7 Mausoleum Pieces: Masterpiece Paintings
Vacation Days Used: 2 (France)

[Malley]

Congrats on another completed heir!  Can't wait to see who Tommy takes after 

[Lisa46]

All your CC looks so nice! And was Emma an original townie?