Household Skills Project Mk 3

[Alex]

Oscar had his first birthday – and Faylene’s hair is still going strong, twelve generations on.

Wow, those are some strong genes!

That particular IF doll disconcerted me more than they usually do – not only did it look exactly like Riley but it was actually called Riley by default.  One of him was quite enough.

Poooooor Riley And poor Twinkle - what a name 

[hazelnut]

The triplets became toddlers and Oscar aged up to teen just in time to help with teaching them their basic skills.  Every young boy’s dream  .





Twinkle, wisely, stayed at Smuggsworth.

Considering that the next heir’s inevitably going to be one of the younger kids, I was slightly disconcerted that the triplets all grew up to be, shall we say, distinctive-looking toddlers.



                                                                                                                  From left to right, Margarita, Roger and Vlad

Possibly because of all the recent practice on the short lifespan, the toddlers were fully trained in a matter of days and everyone had a bit of a break before they grew up some more.



The living space over the pub was now clearly much too small.  The builders were called in and a single-storey extension constructed for the boys’ bedrooms.  Margarita had the old nursery: the pale-blue colour scheme suited her tastes, although she added some frosty touches of her own.



Vlad was already in love with all things gothic and tried to pretend that his room was in a gloomy basement, rather than being part of a new, well-lit, ground floor extension on a tall foundation.



Roger’s tastes weren’t as well defined yet.  He just knew he liked purple and pop.



Oscar might have hoped that the little kids getting older would make his life easier.  Wrong.







Whenever he could, he retreated to his room and his writing.  He’d written one mildly successful book as a child and was keen to progress.



Sybil and then Alex had their final birthdays.  They didn’t let old age and creaky joints get in the way of romance.



Oscar became a young adult (and acquired the ‘dislikes children’ trait, to no-one’s surprise)…



…and Twinkle finally came home.  She and Oscar were still best friends and now seemed likely to become rather more.





Twinkle had grown up into a predictably attractive (if clone-faced) young woman and was keen to ditch her childish name.  Unfortunately, a few things got in the way.  First there was Oscar’s graduation and then a mad dash to get the triplets up to the required standard before their next birthday, a few hours later.  It had been a remarkably snowy winter and they’d only had two days of schooling.  Vlad, who’d been asked to take some papers to the town hall, was fine but the other two were in danger of failing.  Fortunately, Twinkle had come back from Smuggsworth with level 6 logic, as well as an array of lesser skills.  While Alex tutored Margarita (definitely his favourite child), Twinkle sat down in the snow outside the town hall and taught Roger.  With, ooh, all of half an hour to spare, the remaining triplets reached A grades and were able to choose their teen traits.

Margarita and Roger stuck with developments of their childhood looks (although Roger, a would-be teen movie star, was likely to be asked to totally rethink his image at any moment).



Vlad, on the other hand, went all-out goth, had his ears pierced and dyed his hair.

The next morning, Twinkle managed to sneak away and change her name.  Then Astara Haskill, product of the most exclusive private school in the Simverse, signed up as an actress with Plumbbob Pictures.  (Obviously, this had nothing whatsoever to do with the local school’s star pupil being taken on as a fledgeling director a few minutes earlier.)

Margarita settled straight into her chosen specialist subject.  The boys might be moaning about clubs, jobs and homework; she knew that getting a head start on her lifetime wish was time well spent.





Sadly, it wasn’t long before she was interrupted anyway.  Sybil only just made it to the end of the normal lifespan.





She seemed happy enough to go, though.  After all, she had left four kids well set up to continue the Haskill line.

[Alex]

I was slightly disconcerted that the triplets all grew up to be, shall we say, distinctive-looking toddlers.

Wow. Yep, they certainly did.

(Obviously, this had nothing whatsoever to do with the local school’s star pupil being taken on as a fledgeling director a few minutes earlier.)

Glad to hear it 

[hazelnut]

Vlad’s gothic period continued.  He became completely obsessed with The Vampire Blogs.  The family had three copies and they all kept ending up in his inventory however many times I put them away.  Then he ran into Jessica Talon around town and they became good friends.



Nice to see him cooperating so well with my evil plans  .  I was hoping he could ask Jessica to turn him but the option didn’t seem to be there.  Must be an adults-only thing.  Still, there were other options.

Vlad found himself irresistibly compelled to go up to the attic and explore the contents of the two old chests in the corner.  There was a flask full of red liquid in one, labelled ‘Bottled Vampire’s Bite’.



Yes!



He helped himself to a handful of vampiric sunscreens as well. They might come in handy, even though the weather in Bridgeport was permanently awful.

A few days later, the triplets grew up.  I’d never noticed before that vampires have red birthday sparkles .



Vlad went back to his natural colouring: being a vampire was quite gothic enough without added hair dye.



Margarita was almost unchanged; just a little taller.



And Roger…



Roger aged up without his curls but more seriously, developed a clipping blemish on his chin.  It was probably just as well he’d given up his part-time film career.  I considered hiding it with a full beard but he looked ridiculous.  Well, differently ridiculous.  In the end, I settled for enough beard to distract attention from his skin problem without actually covering it.



Vlad graduated as valedictorian and celebrated with his first hunt.  At the library in broad daylight but, hey, he’d given up on all of that dark and brooding stuff.



And Skillz played their first gig.  Alex’s old band, The Meteorites (the default name but it seemed very appropriate for my Sims) had ceased to be along with Romeo Rake, its only other member.  Since the triplets were all learning instruments, Alex had asked them whether they’d like to form a new one.



Slightly unconventional clothing for rockers but, since nobody bothered to turn up and watch, it probably didn’t matter.

That’s Margarita lurking behind the piano, by the way:




The game settled into one of those quiet periods.  Oscar and Astara went to work at the film studio and became boyfriend and girlfriend…



Margarita mixed drinks and became a Master of Mood…



…and Vlad, fuelled by plasma juice, stayed up late practising the guitar.

I was disappointed by Vlad’s skilling rate, by the way.  I was glad I’d given him virtuoso as his final trait.  Even with that, his sister’s skill gain drinks and Chinese incense, the supposedly fast vampire skilling wasn’t exactly startling.  The bats circling around his learning bar were pretty cool, though.



Roger wasn’t allowed to do much.  Alex had completed two of the three bass challenges but hadn’t had a single opportunity (although he turned down loads for mixology).  I was trying to supermax with Roger but wasn’t hopeful after Dorian.  Although maybe some of the Late Night opportunities needed Bridgeport.  That would make a kind of sense.  So Roger played with the band, practised bass occasionally and mostly played with the VR goggles.




About halfway through the triplets’ young adulthood, it became clear that my current strategy (such as it was) wasn’t working.  Oscar and Astara were full adults and still only at level four of their careers and Margarita was the only one who was making significant progress on her lifetime wish (the supermax, not so much).  So the Filmic Two cashed in some happiness points for nerd influence and became workaholics - and both immediately got their first career opportunities, which must have been coincidence but seemed eerily apt.



Roger, who’d only had one bass opportunity, was allowed to give up all hope of a supermax and learn charisma.  He met Jun Xu at the library just after hitting level six and she became the first notch on his bedpost.  (Well, actually, it was Oscar’s bed and doesn’t have posts but let’s not quibble.)



Alex died.  I don’t really know how old he was because I’d given up on the regular daily checks – he seemed to have been around forever.  He was certainly well past a hundred.



And the band played on.  I’d have thought losing a member would make the opportunities less frequent but it seemed to have just the opposite effect – they even had two gigs in the same day.

[hazelnut]

Margarita ventured out into the city’s bars in search of new recipes and chances to moonlight as a mixologist.  It didn’t go well.



Happy Hour was most certainly over.  In the other bar at the Bridgeport Sports Zone, this was happening:



In fact, for a while it seemed as though every time Margarita walked into a bar, the resident mixologist keeled over.  She went back home and worked on Poseidon instead.

Vlad, who was now close to maxing both guitar and bass, decided to concentrate on his bloodthirsty side…



…and Oscar surprised me by becoming a Distinguished Director a couple of days before I’d expected it.



He’d been lucky with the opportunities recently and had a boss who was very amenable to out-of-hours promotions but it was still a surprise – hence the missed screenshot.  Astara, whose boss was a mean-spirited, child-hating grump, was never going to get any early promotions and had only just reached level 8, even though she’d been ahead for most of their careers.

Roger WooHooed with several more inhabitants of Bridgeport (plus a few return matches with Jun Xu).  He had a definite preference for vampires as romantic partners.  Maybe he liked living dangerously.



Vlad also had a daredevil streak.  It was just as well Sev and Sybil had made so much vampiric sunscreen – he definitely preferred practising his music in the great outdoors.




Two out of the three triplets had their adult birthdays and began midlife crises (and Roger lost his curls again)…





…while the third drank from his twentieth victim…





…achieved his lifetime wish and became immortal.

Vlad moved out into the Sugar Cube, down the hill from the family home.  A luxurious one-bedroom house was just the thing for a rich, successful young vampire in search of further conquests.

I must play more with vampires.  I thoroughly enjoyed pursuing his LTW, despite the celebrity disgraces.  (Incidentally, isn’t it a little hypocritical that his vampire friends were among the loudest in decrying his biting habits?)


Inspired by his brother's success, Roger lured the elderly merman Richie Striker into the bathroom at the fire station and completed his own lifetime wish.



He looked quite insufferably smug.



Now all he had to do was get that last half-point of bass skill and then he’d be able to move into a penthouse and really live it up.

As often seems to happen, the game was suddenly rushing towards the next house move.  Oscar proposed to Astara…



…and Margarita celebrated becoming a Professor of Drinks by dancing on the bar.  She’d been trying to do it for ages and I’d kept cancelling the action.  By the way, why is it that drinking a Crazy Drink replaces her party animal trait (always with daredevil, I think)?  You’d expect it to go for something more mundane instead.



She’d now completed four out of five mixology challenges but Master Mixologist looked to be completely out of reach.  Just getting to a bar to moonlight often took five or six attempts – and she'd often stop bartending almost as soon as she’d started.  On top of that, the counter for the challlenge is completely bugged.  I know she’s nowhere near serving 60 drinks but she must be somewhere over twenty, while the counter has just reluctantly ticked over from three patrons served to five.  Another supermax out of reach .

(I’m almost convinced that I’ll have to play a side game after this, with only the base game and Late Night and try to knock out the missing supermaxes.)

Almost a week after Oscar, Astara maxed the film career.  She looked exhausted by the effort.



(Yeah, I pretty much missed another screenshot, even though I was lying in wait outside the studio.)

After a good night’s sleep, she and Oscar finally tied the knot, in a private ceremony in their old favourite tag location.





I’d been intending Roger to be the next heir but he’s too annoying.  Some evil Sims, like Damien, are real sweeties under the surface.  Roger’s just a git.  On the other hand, I’ve grown really fond of Margarita.  As the only triplet without the virtuoso trait, she’s not the obvious candidate to establish yet another musical household.  But then she has loads of spare LTHPs floating around and I don’t really need to keep all three social group influences as unique rewards.  So Margarita became a level eight rebel and, rather late in life, a virtuoso.  She phoned the estate agency…



… put in an offer for the Banzai Lounge…



…and completed her lifetime wish.


The film career rewards (guarded by Bafta) were left behind at the old house.



Oscar and Astara, both of whom have level ten mixology, were also left behind.  Maybe they’ll retire and run the pub together.  On the other hand, they are both workaholics now, so maybe not.

Margarita left her childhood home…



…and, like Roger, drove across the bridge into the city…



…in pursuit of both her midlife-crisis wish to move house and a longer-standing one to live in a penthouse.




House 15 summary
Skills: mixology and bass

Sybil
Career: Fortune Teller (Mystic)
LTW: Master of Mysticism
Level 10 alchemy, photography, charisma and mixology

Alexander
(Traits: good sense of humour, flirty, neat, heavy sleeper, mooch)
Career: Band
LTW: Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous
Level 10 mixology, bass (plus two challenges) and handiness (plus two challenges).

Oscar
Traits: artistic, neurotic, bookworm, star quality, dislikes children
Career: Film (Directing)
LTW: Distinguished Director
Level 10 mixology

Twinkle/Astara
Life state: imaginary friend
Traits: star quality, photographer’s eye, evil, charismatic, snob)
Career: Film (Acting)
LTW: Superstar Actor
Level 10 mixology
Attended Smuggsworth Prep School

Margarita
Traits: friendly, excitable, party animal, night owl, loves the cold (+ virtuoso - from rebel influence)
LTW: Master Mixologist
Level 10 mixology (plus four challenges)
Building/property: Banzai Lounge
Unique rewards: Better Mixologist, Watering Hole Regular

Roger
Traits: evil, virtuoso, lucky, flirty, commitment issues
Career: film (part-time)
LTW: Master Romancer
Level 10 bass

Vlad
Life state: became a vampire
Traits: perceptive, heavy sleeper, night owl, charismatic, virtuoso
LTW: Turn the Town
Level 10 bass and guitar

[Alex]

(Incidentally, isn’t it a little hypocritical that his vampire friends were among the loudest in decrying his biting habits?)

Depends. Are they the nauseating nice sparkly variety of vampire that go to high school and dine only on mountain lions?

I like Bafta guarding the awards. Shame he (she?) couldn't sit on the chair, though.

[hazelnut]

(Incidentally, isn’t it a little hypocritical that his vampire friends were among the loudest in decrying his biting habits?)

Depends. Are they the nauseating nice sparkly variety of vampire that go to high school and dine only on mountain lions?

Most of the Bridgeport vampires look pretty scary to me.  Although, come to think of it, I've only seen them eating plasma fruit and drinking juice, so maybe theyre scary vegetarian vampires.

I like Bafta guarding the awards. Shame he (she?) couldn't sit on the chair, though.

I think Bafta's a he.  There is a mod that lets teddies sit on furniture.  I keep meaning to try it - I hate them always being stuck on the floor.

[hazelnut]

House 16

Margarita moved into the penthouse at One Leo Center, once occupied by the Joneses.



(It’s the brownish-grey building just to the left of centre in that screenshot.)  It has two bedrooms but is still a bit on the small size for raising a family and skilling, so I converted the two hidden rooms behind the lower floor into normal rooms and added a professional bar to one of them.  The other’s empty for now.

With the apartment redecorated to suit her tastes, Margarita went out husband-hunting.  She and I had been looking for a bouncer as the next spouse and we thought we’d found a suitable candidate in Tim Mena, who made a brief appearance in the last chapter helping Vlad to achieve his lifetime wish.  However, Tim was now an elder and we’d prefer someone younger.

After a whistle-stop tour of most of the bars in town, Margarita wound up at the Brightmore and found they’d hired a new bouncer since her last visit.



His name was Leo (“Just like my new house!”) and Rita fancied him at first sight.



Once they got chatting, it quickly became clear that the hardman bouncer had a soft centre: he was over-emotional and loved photography.



(Actually, most of the bouncers seemed to be softies – an astonishing proportion were nurturing, which doesn’t seem like an obvious trait for the job.)

They talked until closing time and then, early the following morning, Margarita invited him over and asked him to move in.



She didn’t hang about.  Leo just had time for a quick makeover…



…and then she made a move.



Several moves.



There were chimes before lunchtime.

While she could still fit into her normal clothes, they had a date on what passes for a beach around Bridgeport, ending with a rather soggy proposal.




Leo had arrived with a Law Enforcement LTW .  Unfortunately, it was International Super Spy, which Solomon had done back in Sunlit Tides.  On the other hand, he should have the happiness points to change it long before he reached the branching point.  Getting through his career might be a bit tough – he was already halfway through adulthood and the work shifts are short in Bridgeport – but ought to be doable.

While Leo was concentrating on his career, Margarita concentrated on the new Haskill-to-be, visiting the spa for their most expensive package and reading parenting books at the library.  While she was there, she ran into her big brother and sister-in-law.  Oscar was looking shockingly old, while Astara, curiously, was as youthful as ever.



For the first time, the Haskills engaged domestic staff, in the shape of Maya Robles, butler.  I’ve only played with a butler once before but quickly got fed up because of the amount of food he cooked that just went to waste.  With a chef’s fridge, though, having a butler for a short time to get it thoroughly stocked seemed like a good idea.

I’m pretty sure Mr Hudson would disapprove of Maya’s make up.  He wouldn’t think much of her job performance, either.  When asked directly, she’d produce decent meals (I think butlers must have been patched) but she did nothing else at all.  She mostly sat around watching the TV.  And she had an insatiable thirst.  Every time Margarita mixed up a batch of skill gain drinks for Leo, or romantic drinks for a special evening à deux,  Maya would drink the lot.



After the usual interval, Rita went into labour (and the tough ex-bouncer had a panic attack).



It was a boy.



Is it just me or does he look worried in the right-hand screenshot?  (No, he’s not neurotic.)

The new parents had a private and not-very-romantic wedding out on the balcony.





(That sticky-out-thing looks downright dangerous.  It’s a good thing it ceases to exist with the walls down.)

Possibly unwisely, they left Maya in charge of baby Nick and went in search of prettier screenshots to visit Rita’s childhood haunts in the hills above the city.



The date nearly had to be cut short because Nick’s portrait had gone red and he looked to be getting dangerously close to the point where the social worker would turn up.  But then, surprisingly, Maya collected her money and left.  She was replaced by Geoffrey George, who couldn’t have been more different.  Not only did he buttle brilliantly, he was amazing with babies.



Instead of rushing home, the newlyweds extended their date, with visits to the cinema, a restaurant and a couple of clubs and didn’t get back until dawn.


Skillz hadn’t played a gig in ages but suddenly were offered their first spot at the Banzai Lounge.



Not sure Roger got the memo about formal dress .

Nick had his first birthday.



(Under the hat, he’s yet another Haskill redhead.)



Geoffrey the Wonder Butler remained his primary carer, although his parents taught him his skills…



…mostly in the lobby for some unknown reason.  At least they didn’t take the potty down there – and it did give me the chance to see the best random Sim name ever .

[Alex]

German Shepherd Wow Any way he can join your household?

Is the lighting funny in that picture of Skillz playing, or is that a weird mouldy variant of the hot dog costume?

[hazelnut]

German Shepherd Wow Any way he can join your household?

Not without breaking the rules, no .  And I'm not sure he'd be able to, anyway - paparazzi don't seem to behave quite like other NPCs.

Is the lighting funny in that picture of Skillz playing, or is that a weird mouldy variant of the hot dog costume?

It's the stage lights: they mostly seem to be green.  Not at all flattering.  Especially to hot dogs.


Nick had a birthday…



…and Margarita discovered that she was having another baby.



The following day, Geoffrey the butler took his money and left.  They must only stay for a week.  I really miss him.  On the other hand, Margarita had been learning cooking and handiness and their family life was quietening down a little.  She called for services and cancelled the butler.  Despite that, half an hour later Useless Maya turned up again and had to be sacked .

Leo was now an elder but wasn’t making much progress with his career, so, like Oscar and Astara, he bought enough social group influence to become a workaholic.  (This is getting a little boring.)

Margarita spent most of her pregnancy playing the drums.  Early exposure to music seems like a good idea for this child – provided that the poor thing isn’t deafened in the womb.  A few hours before she was due to go into labour, she reached level 10.



While she stood panting in front of her mixology certificate (possibly wondering why it’s OK for pregnant Sims to drink cocktails but not ‘nectar’ or ‘juice’ and why no-one was bringing her a large one right now)…



…Leo took refuge in music.



Perhaps the baby found the drumming from the next room reassuring – and it did drown out all those weird noises that Mummy was making.

And it’s a girl!  Welcome, Cecilia.



Leo celebrated his daughter’s arrival by maxing the drums skill.  As you do.



Margarita’s birthday had been delayed by her pregnancy.  Becoming an elder was clearly a shock.



“Mum?  Are you all right?  Mum?  Mum!”

[

The children shared a birthday.  Nick became a teen and looked more than ever like his Uncle Roger, while Cecilia became a toddler.   Both kids have inherited Leo’s eye colour; Cecilia’s also got his hair, which isn’t black as I’d thought but the same dark greenish-brown that Blake had, until he dyed it to a proper brown as a teenager.  I think she will be doing the same.

This time, Margarita managed to teach all of the toddler skills without a single trip in the lift.



Cecilia was the first kid since Late Night was switched on to be allowed to play with the xylophone.



Clearly a star in the making.  She looks as though she’s already practising acknowledging the applause  .

On the day that Cecilia was due to age up to child, Leo finally reached the top of the forensic career.  And not before time – he was 87.



Margarita took advantage of their newly fireproofed house to buy her daughter this generation's first birthday cake.



Cecilia became a snob and insisted on wearing her school uniform, even though no-one else in town bothered...



...and immediately demanded a dressing-up box...



...before Presiding Over the Royal Court for the first of many times.  She's going to be a proper little madam.


All of the gnomes have been in the family inventory for the last few houses, because I got fed up of having to disassemble the garden before each move to find the ones that were hiding in the shrubbery.  Apparently that doesn’t stop them ageing.   I’d noticed when I was looking in the inventory that the Mysterious Mr Gnome someone brought home from a school trip to the mausoleum in the previous household had got old and then found this on the pavement outside their building .



Even in death, it seems gnomes can teleport.

[Alex]

Is it weird that the major comment I want to make is how much I love Cecilia's socks? And Leo maxing the drum skill, obviously

[hazelnut]

Is it weird that the major comment I want to make is how much I love Cecilia's socks?

Doesn't seem weird to me.  The main reason I posted that full-length picture is because I was ridiculously pleased with her socks




With all of their requirements completed, Margarita and Leo settled into enjoying whatever time they had left together.  It wasn’t retirement, exactly – as a workaholic, Leo was never going to retire voluntarily – but he was only working four afternoons a week at most (or three, if you counted time off for seasonal holidays).  That left plenty of time for fun.





It even left spare time for hobbies.  Leo maxed painting…



…and Rita got rather over-ambitious with the repairs.



Nick, who’d been on an A almost since becoming a teenager, had stayed at school for prom and to get onto the honour roll.  Now it was the weekend, he had a cake.  (The old man standing next to Cecilia is Geoffrey George.  He seems to have let himself go rather since retiring.)



Even before Nick had sorted out his new look, his mother asked him to join Skillz.



He accepted.



As a grown-up, Nick has slightly silly facial hair, like his Uncle Roger, and for precisely the same reason.

He celebrated no longer being subject to a curfew by visiting his mother’s childhood home.  I’d been hoping he could stay overnight with Oscar and Astara when he was younger – and maybe relieve them of a few valuables in the depths of the night.  Unfortunately, Rita wasn’t good enough friends with her eldest brother (and life in general was too hectic) for that too happen.  Now, sadly, the house was empty.  I’d had a notification about Astara’s death a couple of days before this but Margarita’s relationship with Oscar hadn’t even been that good.  He was gone but I don’t know when it happened .

Anyway, Nick drove up the hill to the Anchor Inn and got to work in the car park.



The following day he graduated as valedictorian and Most Likely to Get Arrested.  Can’t argue with that.  (Also, that’s the first new graduation ribbon in ages .)





A couple of days later, Nick finished stealing all of the cars parked outside the Anchor Inn.  What now?  He stole a few lights and statues from around Bridgeport but it wasn’t quite the same somehow.

The solution was obvious, really.  I have played through the Possession Is Nine-Tenths of the Law wish properly once (in a legacy that succumbed to bugs a generation later).  It took most of the Sim’s life and was a real pain.  For a family with pots of money, there’s an alternative.  If you’re so obscenely rich that losing a million or two doesn’t matter...  (For instance, f your watcher was stupid enough to let you move house without collecting the rents or selling off your properties first.  Just to take an example completely at random.  Ahem  ).  In that case, you can set up any house you might be about to move out of with a load of cars in the carpark – and buy it back as a second home when they’ve all been stolen, replace the cars and sell it again.



Nick visited the replenished parking space…



…and completed his lifetime wish, less than a week after his birthday.

Meanwhile, back in the family’s apartment, Cecilia slept peacefully, dreaming (as usual) of princesses.



She had an early cake on her teen birthday.  She was already comfortably on an A and getting a head start on her skills seemed like a good idea.



She chose school uniform again for her everyday outfit, of course.



She spent a pleasant day getting all of her instrument skills to level 3…



…until Leo left for work.  He didn’t even make it out of the building.



Happy birthday, kiddo  .

[Alex]

Poor Leo and Cecilia Congrats on getting Possession is Nine-Tenths Etc out of the way, though - I hate that one.

[hazelnut]

Poor Leo and Cecilia Congrats on getting Possession is Nine-Tenths Etc out of the way, though - I hate that one.

Me too.  It was one of the things I was least looking forward to in this game - although that cheaty way of doing it made it something of a non-event in the end.


It was another harsh winter, so Cecilia spent most of her first week as a teenager working on her musical skills at home. 



With his lifetime wish complete, Nick divided his time between lazing in the hot tub and chasing around Bridgeport in search of collectables, taking over one of Roger’s roles from the previous house.

Because I bought Late Night after Showtime, I’d never seen a will o’ the wisp until Wolfgang brought back a pink one from one of his hunts in Moonlight Falls.  Now, with the help of Shimrod’s mod to fix the spawners, Nick went after the other two.



Despite being considerably younger than her husband, Margarita only outlived him by a few days .



Roger lived long enough for one more gig…



…but Skillz’ next performances were as a duo .



Nick seemed worried by spending so much time alone with a vampire (well, alone apart from the bartender and occasional audience member)…



…and I can’t really blame him.  Vlad can look pretty terrifying sometimes.



Cecilia spent hours in front of her dressing table sorting out her prom outfit…



...but then went off in the limo in her outdoor clothes.  It was now spring but no-one had told the weather and it had just snowed again.  She was queen anyway but I can’t help feeling her photo would have looked better if she’d changed back into her dress when she’d arrived at the school.  (Maybe I should have followed her with the camera and insisted but I was concentrating on Nick at the time.)  She did get to wear it for her recital, so it wasn’t a complete waste of effort.



She was clearly thrilled.

As Cecilia’s young adult birthday approached, I realised I was going to have to rethink my plan again.  Nick had had two drum opportunities early on (which was one more than anyone had had for bass) but nothing since, even though I’d been keeping him from building his skill as quickly as he’d have liked and he had no others, apart from collecting and a single point in social networking from sneaking off and playing with his phone.  He could easily die of old age before getting Drum Star and I’d like Cecilia to move to the next town as a young adult.  So I abandoned the opportunities and let Nick play as much as he wanted.  There were a few hiccups, notably his drumkit becoming invisible.



Annoyingly, the same thing happened to a heart-cut pink diamond that I’d been hoarding for generations.  Neither of them became visible again, despite numerous resets and restarts, although the drumkit was definitely still there occupying most of the space in that room, and both siblings would occasionally play it autonomously.  I bought Nick a second set of drums for everyday use.

Cecilia was becoming a distinctly multi-skilled Sim.  She’d already taken up painting as well as her four instruments and now rolled a wish to learn photography.  Why not?  One of my background aims is to complete as many photo collections as possible but I’d been ignoring it recently.  She was on her way into a bar in pursuit of Nightlife shots (not looking at all suspiciously underage, honest) when the birthday sparkles hit.





She graduated as valedictorian and Most Likely to Become A Millionaire, which would probably have made her very happy if she’d not been a multi-millionaire already.



As soon as they were back home after the ceremony, Nick asked her to join Skillz.



Their performances were definitely getting showier…





…but the audiences were still largely absent.

Cecilia ran into Uncle Vlad while she was buying sheet music and started a jam session outside the bookshop.



That seemed to go down a lot better with the townspeople than any of their actual performances.  One of her old schoolfriends joined in and they made a few hundred in tips.

Most of her time, though, was spent at home with Nick, practising the drums.  My poor ears!



On Cecilia’s third day of young adulthood, Nick reached level ten…



…followed, almost exactly 24 hours later, by his younger sister.



Cecilia finished her packing and left the apartment for the last time.



She met up with Nick at the family plot in the graveyard…



…then hugged her brother goodbye and drove out of town.




I’d always felt that Bridgeport doesn’t really suit my usual playing style and I now think that’s right.  Certainly, bringing up even a small family in a penthouse was trying at times and there wasn’t much space for skilling.  Fair enough – that’s not really the type of game it was designed for, after all.  I’ll certainly go back later and play a more conventional band, with four members living in the same house and all learning their instruments together.  Maybe someone will be able to get Gig Master that way.  Margarita came the closest of the Sims in the active household, completing eight gigs.

I’m not sure whether it’s a bug or a feature but the game seemed to treat the apartment as a community lot, cleaning up the mess at 3am.  This was good from the point of view of keeping the house clean but a real nuisance when it also included drinks.  Margarita spent a significant chunk of her last day making perfect skill gain drinks and they all disappeared overnight .


House 16 summary
Skill: drums

Margarita
Level 10 mixology and drums

Leo
(Traits: slob. loves the outdoors, good, over-emotional, photographer’s eye)
Career: Law Enforcement (Forensic)
LTW: Dynamic DNA Profiler
Level 10 drums and painting

Nick
Traits: loves the outdoors, virtuoso, kleptomaniac, mooch, night owl
LTW: Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law
Level 10 drums (plus 2 challenges)

Cecilia
Traits: artistic, virtuoso, snob, proper, diva
LTW to be finished in next house
Level 10 photography and drums
Building/property: Plumbob Pictures Backlot
Unique rewards: The Next Big Thing, Jetsetter
(I’m not sure whether Cecilia will ever travel, other than moving to the next town, but I’m almost certain she’d like to think of herself as a jetsetter .)

The Late Night Collectables



Spider, termite, will o’ the wisps, skull cuts of smithsonite and vampire’s eye, and large ingots of carbon steel and tungsten carbide.  Collected by Roger and Nick, who both completed the metal- and gem-collecting challenges, and transfigured by Nick.

[Alex]

RIP, Margarita and Roger

I didn't much like playing in Bridgeport either. Too many subways, funny shifts, and the lifts get in the way. Shame, when it looks so nice.

Odd about the automatic clean-up - I wish my apartment had that feature! Were you living above a bar or something?