Chapter 6 - Show StopperRose was very much an only child.
She made her own fun, but she spent many hours of her day daydreaming about what life would be like if there were more children, maybe even some siblings around, for her to play with. But Mom had told her, with no ambiguity, that she had created the perfect child first go, and didn't need any more.
Besides, Iris and Joaquin were working hard towards their careers and barely had enough time for the child they did have. Where would they find time to raise another?
Joaquin had maxed his violin skill, and after reaching level 7 of the Musician career, he now had a piano in the family room and was working hard to maximise his piano skill, as well. In working towards completing the 'musical genius' aspiration, he wrote a few songs on the piano and violin respectively, and was selling them to local television stations to boost the family's daily income (at least a little bit).
He was also devoting a fair bit of time to helping Iris with her third skill, violin, which she made easy work of.
While Sergio didn't mind Rose, and rather thought that she had some charm when she wanted, the truth was he just didn't like being around children much. Having maximised his cooking and gourmet cooking skills, he now wanted to devote as much time as possible to collecting Angelfish so he could leave Iris with a decent supply of Ambrosia.
This didn't mean that he was neglecting his pollination duties. Au contraire, he had six children now, running around Windenberg and beyond. He still felt guilty about the whole thing, but had resigned himself to the task. He had tried to explain the situation to the ladies in a more…polite…manner than J would have put it, but eventually just found that seducing them quickly and then ceasing contact was a lot easier.
He didn't get to spend much time working out these days. Iris had filled his gym with all of her energizing career rewards and also put in a computer. Rose maxed her Motor skill in one night, playing keyboard commander while energized during the perpetual meeting of the goofballs.
In the middle of the night, little miss Rose turned on her light and said 'something is not right.'
Upon catching a glimpse of the tentacled monster under her bed, she squealed.
"Mom! Dad! There's a monster under my bed!"
Iris groaned. "Not again."
"Don't worry hun," said Joaquin, "I got it."
"There, now. I've sprayed plenty of Monster-B-Gone, and given him a good stern talking to. He won't be coming back to disturb you anymore tonight, okay?"
Rose nodded. "Okay, Daddy," she replied.
Iris had finally gotten the hang of befriending people. In fact, she discovered, she seemed to have the perfect combinations of traits and perks that made friendmaking an absolute cinch. Between being outgoing, gregarious, and incredibly friendly, added to the perks of being in a popular club, 'cheerful introductions' to other sims guaranteed that Iris would be able to skip the whole 'acquaintances' period and go straight to being friends!
This proved to be incredibly useful when it came to collecting sugar skulls from other sims - it seemed they were far more willing to share their decorated skulls with Sims they could call 'friends'.
Iris also found herself maxing her charisma skill with incredible ease from talking to all these sims, so before long, her 'friend of the world' aspiration was complete!
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Dynasty Achievement Unlocked: Complete Unique Aspiration - Friend of the World.Dynasty Achievement Unlocked: Maximise a Skill - Charisma.Sergio finally got around to perfecting his cooking skills. Behold! His first plate of Ambrosia! Of course, Iris isn't quite ready to eat it yet, so into the family inventory it goes.
"So in this house," Rose explained, "We're all part of a super-secret club that has a super-secret mission. If I told you what it was, I might have to kill you."
"That's pretty cool," said Kori Patel. "What kind of secret mission?"
"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," Rose replied.
"Why would you do that? And why is it such a big secret, anyways?"
"I…hmm. I don't really know."
"Dario said you were keeping something secret from me. Well, I have a secret: I'm Kori's half-brother."
"That's a pretty cool secret, Dario. So Uncle Sergio is your daddy, too?"
"Yup!"
"I wonder why Uncle Sergio has so many kids that don't live with us." Rose muses. She really wouldn't mind too much if some of them did live with the Morvens. She begins wondering why there are so many secrets, and why she can't talk about 'the mission' or even exactly what 'the mission' is, but she thinks it has to do with Uncle Sergio's girlfriends. And his garden. And why he likes fishing so much.
Tired and a little bit stressed, but in the best way possible, Iris returns home with a promotion to Show Stopper. She is the greatest comedienne of her era and sims for years to come with idolise her - of this she is confident.
But right now, she's just grateful that I am not the sort of watcher that makes a habit of denying my sims a good night's rest.
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Dynasty Achievement Unlocked: Reach the Top of a Career - Comedy
(Also achieved at some point: Maximise a Skill: Comedy)
Joaquin also reached the top of his career (music) in his serious-adulting years, and unfortunately the time has come to step up to the plate and face the late-life music. He doesn't fear death - not in the slightest. His only fear is for Iris - will she be okay without him? Will she find the strength to carry on? He will have to talk to Rose about looking after her mother.
With one final, energetic leap, he transitions into the twilight years of his life.
"Not bad," Sergio observes. "My turn!"
Sergio, too, is eager to 'get on with it', as they say. He transitions easily.He doesn't really have any regrets. Sure, his life with Iris, Joaquin, and even Rose, has been far different to what he expected. He has half a dozen children wandering around the world, though admittedly he doesn't have much contact with them. But does he regret not taking on a career?
Truth be told, a simple life of fishing, cooking, gardening and repairs has suited him just fine.
(Take no note of Iris impaling herself in the doorway. As mentioned, she's never been particularly fond of the idea of living forever). "And you know what, Serge, old friend? You and I still look pretty darn good for a couple of old men. What d'you reckon, mate?"
"Well, it's not like I've been having any trouble with the ladies as of late," Sergio replied. "We'll see if my luck changes."
Finally, all on the same day, and during the same party, Rose approaches the cake.
I think it's possible she's the first sim I've ever had complete all 4 childhood aspirations without really pushing it. She went to school every day, and she slept through nearly every night (except the night Sergio spent rallying the troops so he could skill grind cooking). Again, I blame the club. And the verdict is:
I forgot to take a decent screenshot of her after she aged up (it involved pigtails), but here she is post-makeover in CAS.Rose initially selects a family aspiration, so she can get the domestic trait. But as there's little she can do to work towards them at the moment, she quickly switches to the Bestselling Novelist aspiration.
A world of imagination, of literary criticism and the imagining of new experiences await! It's a world of publishers and editors and constantly sending manuscripts in only for them to be rejected over and over again. Oh, wait, no. I'm thinking of the human world. It's not like that in sims - carry on my dear as you were.We're all feeling a little bit partied out when Iris' birthday rolls around 2 sim-days later. But Sergio dutifully bakes her a cake and sings her a song.
And with that, we're officially in the home stretch for Ambrosia.