The Morven Family Dynasty - Chapter 46 (4 March 2017)

[oshizu]

Awww, Gerald is such a sweetie! I appreciate your letting us see past his tough-guy facade!

Oh no, the suspense!!! *sits back for a long, enjoyable ride until that particular mystery is revealed

What a wonderful family you're sharing with us, Whirligig!

[FrancescaFiori]

What a great chapter! Your dialogue just gets better and better. Gerald worrying, deep-down, about his brother dying really got me. I just wanted to give him a hug. The mother-daughter tough conversation was really intense as well. Emotions are running high, but I think this family will pull together. They seem very strong.

Whew! That was a doozy! Can't wait for the next one!

[Whirligig]

Awww, Gerald is such a sweetie! I appreciate your letting us see past his tough-guy facade!

Oh no, the suspense!!! *sits back for a long, enjoyable ride until that particular mystery is revealed

What a wonderful family you're sharing with us, Whirligig!

@oshizu  Haha, never thought 'sweetie' would ever be used to describe a kid like Gerald. But thank you - he has certain sims that he'll autonomously perform mean interactions with, but he still has a really good relationship with most of his family. I think he really does care about them.

In my mind, each of the three immortals so far has a different view of the challenge. To Iris, it's a curse. And yes, the reasons for this will be revealed. To Rose, it's a matter of duty. It was for this purpose she was born, and to this purpose she will live. And to Gerald, it's power - but as with any great power, there is a great cost associated. He understands this, and is trying to do away with it. Whether or not he succeeds in this remains to be seen...

What a great chapter! Your dialogue just gets better and better. Gerald worrying, deep-down, about his brother dying really got me. I just wanted to give him a hug. The mother-daughter tough conversation was really intense as well. Emotions are running high, but I think this family will pull together. They seem very strong.

Whew! That was a doozy! Can't wait for the next one!

Thank you for the kind words! This was another chapter that I just sort of started writing and ended up...here. Gerald and Henry really are BFFs as well as brothers, so it makes sense for Gerald to be genuinely concerned for him.

And yes, Iris can't keep the real reason they're all there a secret forever.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I think the next few chapters will be back to focusing on gameplay (I have as many chapters for Gen 2 as I had for Gen 1 now, and the Gen 3 heir is still a child!), which is why I wanted to wind-down the mother-daughter conversation the way I did. But not to worry, I'm already planning more story for later on down the track.

[Whirligig]

Chapter 25 - Back to Normal?

The next morning, life for the Morvens tried to resume some semblance of normalcy. As much fun as it was to tell of their histories and personalities, eventually time would have to move forward, as the Ambrosia requirements loomed over everyone's heads.



Rose would keep her word to her mother. She wouldn't tell anyone - not even Norman - about the conversation she'd had in the basement.

If there was a threat, Iris seemed confident that the threat was not immediate and wouldn't affect any of them, so long as she herself kept her word. Even after mulling it over, Rose had eventually decided that yes, she would just have to trust her mother. Sure, she worried, but if it was over nothing, no sense in anyone else in the house worry over it, too.



And so, what could be more normal than Henry happily eating his cereal before heading off to school?



What could be more normal than Colette mourning the death of dear old Joaquin?



"Really, Colette? Really?" I ask, not sure whether to be annoyed or amused.

"I can't hear you. I'm a ghost now."

"Somehow I doubt that."



And what could be more normal than birthdays for babies?



"Waaaoh! Am I jumping? Am I flying? Am I falling?"



"Aaand, touchdown! Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing."



"Edith Colette Morven, at your service. The youngest, but certainly not the least of the Morven children. It's a pleasure to meet you all."



"And that's why I'm here now!" she exclaimed. "I was in the crib, and then I was in the world. It's a mystery, a wonderful, beautiful mystery."

"Well," said Iris, "I'm impressed."

"Where's everyone else?" asked Edith. "I want to show them all what I can do!"

"Your mother just went to work, but your Dad and your brothers should all be getting home soon from work and school, respectively," said Iris.



"And Antwan is…well, don't go looking for Antwan, okay?"



True to the plan, Iris had disbanded the Goofballs. She had yet to think of a creative name for the new club, but she had settled on simply "Morvens" for now.

The family soon realised just how much they missed 'rally the troops,' and so top priority became earning enough club points to earn that perk back - as with Networked, of course.



"Sul Sul! I'm your little sister, Edith, and I just wanted you to know that I am one hundred per cent behind you on your plan to take over the world. In fact, I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell you just how I think I can be useful to you."

"I'm listening," said Gerald, curiously.

Edith smiled.

"I'm going to be your brains," she said. "You be the unyielding iron fist, the face of our fortitude. Henry will be the Public Relations. And I'll be the scientist, the analyst, the genius behind it all!"

Gerald sniggered. "Going for Whiz Kid, are you?" he asked.



"Oh, I can assure you that I intend to complete all four childish aspirations, just as you do. But I'm talking about beyond childhood. I'm talking about a lifetime dedicated the pursuit of scientific discovery, of logical development and feats of the mind. I - I mean, you will take this family above and beyond, brother. Above and beyond. With my help, of course."

Gerald pondered this offer thoughtfully, but he had to admit he liked the sound of it.



Maybe Edith was the true sidekick he'd needed, not Henry? Oh, but he liked Henry, too. Perhaps she was right. The three of them could be a team. A great team.

"Alright," he said, enthusiastically. "You're on, Edith."

"Yes!" exclaimed Edith with a fist-pump.



What remained now, of course, was to put their plan into action. Three more drawings, and Gerald would be finished with Artistic Prodigy.



While Nana helped Henry with the 5-hour instrumental aspect of the goal.



And Edith settled in the gym in the basement to put in her mandatory four-hour session of typing practice.



Norman had figured out a great way to get through his interview requirements for article writing. He formed a club of his own, named it Journal Together, and invited a handful of townies from the trailer park beyond the world to join it. He assured them he wasn't just using them - he knew where they had come from, and he genuinely wanted to be their friend.

Five club members, five interviews, five positive articles, and the daily task was complete. Rinse and repeat.



Rose had a good feeling.

She had a good feeling that today she would finally write that elusive final Bestseller and complete her bestselling author aspiration.

She wrote every day, nearly without fail. Churning out excellent novel after excellent novel. But that final bestseller eluded her.

But today. Today she would finish with an epic fantasy about the daughter of a wizard…



Make that the biography of the fascinating life of her late mother-in-law, Colette Johnston…



Okay, fine. Poems. Poems about failed Ambitions.



Ha! Yes! That did it! Finally, dear readers, you are looking at a woman who just completed her first unique aspiration!



After work tomorrow, she would get started on writing books of life for everyone in the household. In the meantime, she and Norman wanted to celebrate.

"I suppose now's not the best time to remind you that Norman is still two bestsellers away from completing the same aspiration?" I said.

"Shut it, Watcher," Rose replied, curtly.

"Oh ho ho boy!" laughed Norman, who was apparently ignoring me completely.

Ah, yes, it's great fun pretending everything is normal, isn't it?

[Whirligig]

Chapter 26 - What are Weekends For?



"And that's how I'm going to become the most powerful supervillain in the world," finished Gerald with a flourish.

"Oh ho, wow," laughed Norman, "sounds like you've got it all worked out little buddy."

"Yup. I'm just that brilliant."



"And you're sure your brother and sister are going to help you out with all of that?" Norman prompted.

"Oh yes, I know they will. I have mother to thank, of course, for producing Henry and Edith. They'll each suit my plans perfectly," he continued.

Norman sniggered.

"By the way, father, do you know if mother intends to produce any further offspring? I could do with a good butler. Like Alfred."



Norman nearly choked on his asparagus. "Er, uh, nope. I'm, uh, pretty sure your mother's done having kids, Gerald," he replied clumsily.

"Oh. Well so much for that idea then." Gerald chewed thoughtfully on his frittata.

"Father," he said finally, "apart from Antwan, who's old, you seem to be of the least use to me in this house. Would you be my butler?"



Norman seemed to consider this proposal. He had to admit, Alfred was pretty cool. But he was a pretty busy journalist, so he explained to Gerald that he was pretty busy at the moment, but maybe once he became a Scribe of History, he would consider picking up some extra work on the side.

"So…is that a yes?" asked Gerald.

Norman laughed. "It's a maybe, son. Maybe."



"You know," I said, "I'm really starting to regret giving you that sympathetic backstory right about now, Colette."

"I still can't hear you."

"These books are here to be Rose's museum items," I explained. "They're meant to stay on the shelves, on display."

"They should be on the bookshelves, where they belong."

"I thought you couldn't hear me?"

"I'm just cleaning up, Watcher. I thought you liked it when we helped out with that?"



"No, I liked when Sergio did useful cleaning, like cleaning the sink in Iris' bathroom. But now I have to go find those books and keep dragging them back to the shelf."

Or maybe I just liked Sergio better, full stop.



Nothing says Saturday morning like a joint homework session in Mom and Dad's room, hey kids?



Or, in Gerald's case, nothing says Saturday morning like Arithmetic Attack.



Rose had written her first ever book of life (first of many, I assume). In order to show him just how supportive she actually is of his dreams, she dedicated this first one to Gerald.



All Norman needed to do was write two more bestsellers and he would be able to write a book of life for Rose, and then we'll be all set for the rest of the Dynasty.

Norman, however, seemed to be struggling to make his literary fascination with ducks appeal to a wider audience. While he, like Rose, was writing several Excellent books and between the two of them, they were raking in around $13,000 per day in royalties, he just couldn't get the bestsellers he needed to progress.



And so he, along with the rest of the family, decided to spend the remainder of their Saturday at the park. Gerald needed two more friends, Edith needed to introduce herself to five sims, and the Angelfish had stopped biting in Windenburg again, so they needed to be restocked.



Gerald was, as usual, less than thrilled with being told to 'go make some friends,' but it seemed there were boys in the neighbourhood again - Antwan's sons, he learned. This made him incredibly confused, because Antwan was old, and Antwan lived with him. If Trenton Bjergsen was Antwan's son, how come he didn't live with Antwan?



But cheerful Trenton didn't seem to mind not living with Antwan. He also didn't seem to offer up any answers to Gerald's questions about not living with Antwan. Eventually, however, the two of them became friends, so Gerald could leave him be and possibly never have to speak to him again.



Henry was meant to be making friend with the other Rambunctious Rascals, but for the most part, the Watcher had left him to his own devices so he didn't get nearly as much friend-making done as I would have liked.



Norman and Antwan (and later, Rose) devoted most of the time at the park to fishing. Norman didn't catch a single angelfish, but Antwan managed to catch 3, so I was pleased with that.



"So what's this club cosplay thing you're in?" asked Gerald, bored.

"It's a club," replied Jensen Behr, "We dress up in fun costumes and hang out at the park."

"You know, super-powerful clubs aren't allowed anymore. Is yours a super-powerful club?" asked Gerald, who wanted to ensure that everyone else in town was obliged to follow the same club-rules as he had to follow.

"We just…hang out in costumes," Jensen replied. He wasn't sure what Gerald meant by super-powerful clubs.

"Oh, hey, you know what? You and I just became friends!" said Gerald. Another aspiration down! "Alright, thanks for the chat, Jensen. See ya!"



If Saturday had been a day for hanging out at the park and making friends, Sunday was a day to get down to the rest of the household business.

Sergio's garden had been left to Colette in perfect condition. She, and then Antwan, had done a wonderful job maintaining it, too. But it was by no means a complete garden. Several plants were missing, though I hadn't really been paying attention to which ones. Once I got death flowers and cowplant berries, I was happy to leave it at that.

While fishing in Oasis Springs, however, Antwan had caught some Roses - a plant that in fact had not been growing in Sergio's garden. With the gentle hands of an expert gardener, Antwan planted the roses in the ground.



With everything else that had been happening, Iris had put her piano skills on the backburner. Today, however, she returned to Joaquin's ivories and finally finished writing the song she had started several weeks ago.

Hmm, let's see, what else happened?



How To Take Over the World
By Gerald Morven.

I am just writing to tell you how awesome I am. I still hate school, but I get all As and I can now Dominate my Homework in a matter of minutes.



My sister, Edith, has proven to be a highly useful minion. I'm considering replacing Henry with her as my sidekick, but I also don't want to hurt Henry's feelings. It's a really tough choice.

She's really smart though. Smarter than, me, even, but don't you dare tell anyone I said that. This weekend I finished the Social Butterfly aspiration (took freaking long enough), which meant all I had left was Whiz Kid. I needed to raise my mental skill, Edith needed someone to play chess with her.

She beat me. Her first ever game, she beat me.



She's going to devote her life to scientific pursuits, which I find admirable. I am confident that whatever technologies she ends up developing will be highly beneficial to me.



After she beat me at two games of chess, I gave up and made her play her third game with Antwan. I have better things to do than get beaten at chess by my little sister.



While I can see that scientific development could be a useful asset to world domination, I do not consider it to be of the greatest importance. Having said that, after developing and creating three emotional potions, I had completed the final childhood aspiration!

Step 1: Become Gifted: Complete!
Step 2: Recruit Minions: Complete!
Step 3: Train Sidekicks: In Progress!
Step 4:

Now then, I'm not about to tell you all of my plans! You never know if this guidebook might fall into the wrong hands, do you?



"Well, Bleary, it's been fun and you've been amazing! But tomorrow's my birthday and I have to become a teenager. I'm still not sure what trait I want to pick. I wanted to pick childish so you could continue to be of use to me, but I guess that's not allowed."

Gerald paused, taking a deep breath.

"I'm really gonna miss you," he said, brushing away a small tear.



"What's that Bleary? Oh, you'll miss me too? Aww, come here, let me give you a hug! I'll see if Edith wants to be your friend once I'm a teen."

Gerald even made sure no one was watching before he gave Bleary a small kiss on the cheek.

"But you know, Bleary, I can't make any promises."

[FrancescaFiori]

And Edith leaps onto the scene in a storm of enthusiasm! Girl has got her elevator pitch down, and I respect that. Her chattiness regardless of whether anyone wants to listen to her reminds me of more than one real-life little person I know and makes me smile. I'm glad Gerald has recognized her potential.
I love Norman being recruited as Butler. I'm sure he was just playing along, but honestly he might make a very good one.
So excited to see Gerald as a teen!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[oshizu]

Ahhh, my sims have discovered a surefire way to produce a bestseller. (heavy sarcasm and some tears...)
1. Buy Creative Visionary and reach L10 Writing
2. "Temporarily" switch to another aspiration.
3. Forget to switch back.

Gerald is as entertaining as ever! Edith is really cute and resembles Rose a lot at this age.
Can't Gerald just have two sidekicks? It doesn't seem that the roles of Henry and Edit in Gerald's plan would overlap...
I thought that any plushie Gerald befriends would remain his friend forever...

Gerald as teenager? I cannot wait to see what havoc he causes as a teen!

[Whirligig]

And Edith leaps onto the scene in a storm of enthusiasm! Girl has got her elevator pitch down, and I respect that. Her chattiness regardless of whether anyone wants to listen to her reminds me of more than one real-life little person I know and makes me smile. I'm glad Gerald has recognized her potential.
I love Norman being recruited as Butler. I'm sure he was just playing along, but honestly he might make a very good one.
So excited to see Gerald as a teen!

I'm honestly having so much fun with all these kids. Edith is great! I wasn't sure how I'd go with making sure each of the kids has their own 'voice'.

Haha, clumsy Norman would make an awesome butler! It was just a spur of the moment thing, but, well, he didn't say 'no', did he?

Ahhh, my sims have discovered a surefire way to produce a bestseller. (heavy sarcasm and some tears...)
1. Buy Creative Visionary and reach L10 Writing
2. "Temporarily" switch to another aspiration.
3. Forget to switch back.

Gerald is as entertaining as ever! Edith is really cute and resembles Rose a lot at this age.
Can't Gerald just have two sidekicks? It doesn't seem that the roles of Henry and Edit in Gerald's plan would overlap...
I thought that any plushie Gerald befriends would remain his friend forever...

Gerald as teenager? I cannot wait to see what havoc he causes as a teen!

That sounds exactly like how my sims write bestsellers! I think Rose wrote one or two before she was even at that tier of the aspiration. I refused to allow her to switch aspirations for aaages while I was working towards that requirement, glad it's finally done for her. *glares at Norman*

I think Gerald is going to end up with a great many sidekicks.

And I actually haven't had a sim child befriend a plushie in so long that I don't think I realized it worked that way. I'll have to check next time I'm in game if Gerald can still interact with Bleary (their relationship was pretty darn high).

[Whirligig]

Chapter 27 - Gerald Unleashed



"Can you believe our oldest will be a teenager by this time tomorrow?" asked Rose. She could scarcely believe how quickly it had gone.

"Oh ho, Rose! I remember being so nervous the night he was born!"

Rose laughed, thinking of the pre-parental panic that had gripped Norman.



"We can't take full credit, of course, for everything he's accomplished," Rose continued. "He's worked so hard himself, and what on earth would we have done without our mothers to help out, Norman?"

"I think he's gonna be a great heir for your…your?"

"Dynasty?" Rose prompted.

"Haha, yeah, that's it!" said Norman. "A great heir for your dynasty!"



Rose was suddenly rather serious.

"I don't know, Norman," she said, "do you think he'll be alright? I mean, he doesn't seem to have much respect for the rules, and he's not too fond of making friends with other sims…"

Rose's voice trailed off.

"Aww, Rose, he's just a little troublemaker, but I don't think you need to worry about him," said Norman. "I don't."

"I know," sighed Rose. She loved Gerald dearly, and was proud of his accomplishments as a child, but was she proud of the sim he was becoming?



Monday was her day off. And though there was lots of Dynasty work to do - she had three books in the museum at the moment, and she did want to write more bestsellers for that collection. She also still needed to write books of life for her other two children, having completed one each for Norman and Iris the other day. And then, there was the ever looming problem, she was reminded, of not enough angelfish.

But the house was in disarray, and so she opted instead to spend Monday morning working on one of her favourite activities: a cleaning frenzy!



Antwan, for the most part, had been left to his own devices. Olivia Spencer-Kim and Elsa Bjergsen had finally become elders, but he still had girlfriends in some of Sergio's children: Brittany Rosa, Kori Patel, and Sloane Goth.

After fathering three sons and no daughters, he'd started a club for the girls, so they could come over and listen to pop music while pregnant in an attempt to bring more girls into the world. What he hadn't done was set romantic interactions as forbidden club activities and, well, Sloane was so beautiful he hadn't been able to help himself.

Next thing he knew, he was slapped by Brittany, dumped by Kori, and Sloane was refusing to talk to him.

(All while the watcher had been occupied with something else that was probably important).



This left him feeling rather embarrassed and useless as a pollinator. I couldn't blame him for the blunder of course - it was a simple matter my stupidly leaving the club on free-will, allowing him to flirt unsupervised, as well as RNG that meant he'd fathered mostly boys before being dumped by most women of legal child-bearing age in town. To be honest, I was feeling guilty about the whole fiasco. But he'd decided on Sunday to spend the day fishing, in order to attempt to take his mind off things.



I felt even worse when I sent him back to the house for a bathroom break, and he didn't even make it to the toilet before he was bidding the cruel, cruel world adieu.

How had I missed his warnings?



Iris had only been in the kitchen, preparing some meals for the family to eat as necessary, when she noted the presence of a rather familiar supernatural being.

Initially, she panicked. What sort of unexpected incident had befallen her daughter? Did this mean they'd failed the challenge?

I think she may have breathed a sigh of relief when she realized it was 'only Antwan' who had died in the study.



Still, however, he had contributed to the success of the dynasty and deserved a rightfully sympathetic send-off.

"Now, Iris, you may consider me an old friend, but I'm not exactly here for you to be a shoulder to cry on. Or a shoulder to cry in, as the case may be," said Grimmy, rather snippily. "Could you take a few steps back?"

But Iris didn't move.



"Hey Mom, did you leave another pile of rubbish in the…oh my?" Rose exclaimed, as she happened upon the scene.

"Really? You also have to stand right there?" muttered the Grim Reaper.

"Don't blame them, blame Antwan for choosing to die right here." I replied. Seriously, were Sergio and Joaquin the only sims with enough sense to die outside where there was plenty of space for sims to mourn and for me to get half decent screenshots?



"Right, that's enough," said Grimmy, finally fed up with the all the sims crying in his arms (and not at all in the romantic way). "I'm reaping this soul now, if no one's going to plead for it."

Oh, come on Grim, you know the rules.



RIP Antwan Paul. You were fun to have around, if only for a little while, and I really didn't mind you as a sim. I'm sorry your last few days were kind of sucky and that I missed your death notices. Could you please maybe consider not being an annoying ghost for us?



"Oh, the kids are home!" exclaimed Iris. "It's three o'clock!"

"Indeed," agreed Grimmy, still rather annoyed.

"Well, the show must go on!" exclaimed Iris. She pulled out her phone, not to call the sadness hotline like any reasonable sim would, but in order to organise a birthday party for her grandson.



"Nana, that doesn't look like a recipe for cake! It looks like a recipe for disaster!" commented Henry. But he hardly flinched, so he seemed to trust Iris completely.

But Iris just laughed as she effortlessly caught the bowl of batter.

"Nana, stop goofing around," moaned Gerald. "The party guests will be here soon!"



"Happy Birthday, Gerald!" exclaimed Edith, finding her brother in the kitchen.

Gerald was touched. "Gee, thanks Edith," he said.

"So, I was thinking about the kid's club? Since you're about to become a teen, do you think you might consider passing the leadership on to me?" she asked.



"Are you suggesting that, I Gerald Morven, am unfit to lead my own club?" he asked, angrily.

But Edith didn't bat an eye.



"No, I'm saying once you're a teenager, you won't have time for such childish things. I merely want to ensure that control of your club stays within your own family. Don't you trust me?"

Gerald wasn't too impressed with the idea, but what Edith was saying made sense. Eventually, he conceded the leadership of the Rambunctious Rascals to her.



The sadness, however, was short-lived. It was his birthday, after all, and he was going to celebrate!

"I love the Zombie cake, Nana!" he exclaimed.

"What? Oh, that's nice dear." Iris replied. The gravity of what had just happened to Antwan was finally starting to sink in, and she was a bit…distracted for the rest of the party.



She did manage a weak fist-pump when Gerald blew out the candles.

"Woo! Go Gerald!" she murmured.



"At last! A teenager! Independence, responsibility, real aspirational goals! World domination, here I come!" Gerald exclaimed. "Right after I have a quick shower and change into some different clothes."

It was just as well the rest of the family was more than capable to keep the party going without him. Not that this one counted or anything.



"I propose a toast!" exclaimed Norman, "to my son Gerald!"

Iris blinked. "You what now."

Gosh, I need to give that woman a moodlet solver or something, hey?



"This would be a much better party if Antwan were here," thought Rose, as she poured herself another drink.

…not that it was much of a party, really.



In the end, the guests even looked bored with the cake!

(Still got a gold medal, just FYI).



And with that, dear readers, a teenaged Gerald Morven is unleashed upon the world.

Pretty sure everyone's doomed now.

[oshizu]

Poor Antwan and his angry club members! Sometimes things seem fine with a sim to the point of near-boredom then, if we look elsewhere for a second, things start running amok.
Rest in peace, Antwan. (You'll be leaving out all the tombstones!? What a valiant Watcher you are!)

Great that Edith remembered to switch club leaders so they wouldn't accidentally lose control of the club! And she knows how to get on Gerald's sweet side, persuasion wise. Yay, Edith!

Woot, woot, happy birthday, Gerald! Bring it on! (And he's gorgeous to boot!)

[FrancescaFiori]

Woo! Teen Gerald! I agree that he's quite good-looking. I have never been more delighted to be doomed!

I think you do an excellent job of keeping the kids' personalities distinct. Persuading Gerald to give over control of the club was very brave and very Edith.

Iris attempting to be festive while deeply depressed was quite entertaining, though I feel a little bad about writing that. Sorry, Iris. Hope you feel better soon.

Oh, and farewell Antwan. Sorry your club caught up to you. Been there. Hazards of the job. You and poor Dimitri should have a drink in the netherworld.

[Whirligig]

Poor Antwan and his angry club members! Sometimes things seem fine with a sim to the point of near-boredom then, if we look elsewhere for a second, things start running amok.
Rest in peace, Antwan. (You'll be leaving out all the tombstones!? What a valiant Watcher you are!)

Great that Edith remembered to switch club leaders so they wouldn't accidentally lose control of the club! And she knows how to get on Gerald's sweet side, persuasion wise. Yay, Edith!

Woot, woot, happy birthday, Gerald! Bring it on! (And he's gorgeous to boot!)

Initially I thought 'no problem, he can recover from this. Just get the girls in a flirty mood and try to win them over again.'

No, that definitely wasn't happening. The only would who would pay attention to him was already pregnant. So yeah, I eventually just sort of threw up my hands and sent him fishing. And I'll probably leave most of the tombstones out, at least for a while. We'll see how long I stick to that resolution, though.

LOL, I almost forgot to change leaders, which is why it happened at the birthday party. Gerald took it surprisingly well.

I'm impressed with just how good he looks! I selected Norman as a spouse mostly out of convenience - same with Joaquin, really, so I'm not out to get the prettiest sims. But yeah, he's definitely a looker.

Woo! Teen Gerald! I agree that he's quite good-looking. I have never been more delighted to be doomed!

I think you do an excellent job of keeping the kids' personalities distinct. Persuading Gerald to give over control of the club was very brave and very Edith.

Iris attempting to be festive while deeply depressed was quite entertaining, though I feel a little bad about writing that. Sorry, Iris. Hope you feel better soon.

Oh, and farewell Antwan. Sorry your club caught up to you. Been there. Hazards of the job. You and poor Dimitri should have a drink in the netherworld.

For a Goofball/Joke Star/Friend of the World, Iris is surprisingly depressed and serious rather often. Not quite Colette-level, but not far off.

Hazards of the job indeed. That embarassed moodlet seemed to last forever, too. I've never had that death type in my game, but I certainly didn't intend to see it anytime soon. I knew Antwan was close to death, so I was disappointed not to get two more kiddies out of him. I'm really not sure how many he had at the end of the day - forgot to check.

[Whirligig]

Chapter 28 - Ugh, Lame.



After the party, Edith very graciously and without being asked offered to help clean up the mess. Perhaps she inherited some of her mother's neatness? Or, perhaps, she was just trying to earn herself some brownie points in the eyes of a certain Watcher.



If Gerald was planning on getting straight to work taking over the world, he was sorely mistaken. Instead, Norman sat him down in the kitchen and lectured him about his new responsibilities.

"And, uh, make sure you work very hard. Your mother needs you and she's afraid of dying alone. Also, how do you feel about business management? Reckon you have what it takes to become a tycoon in less than three days?"



Gerald didn't exactly take the patronising 'lecture' very well.

"You can't tell me what to do, old man," he grumbled. "I'm going to figure all of this out for myself! You'll see, I'm going to take over the world, remember?"

"Oh," said Norman, perhaps a bit surprised.

"Come on, old man, you weren't thinking of me just then, you were thinking of you!"

"Oh yeah," said Norman. "Yeah, that's right."

"Lame," Gerald muttered.



In all honesty, perhaps Norman wasn't the best sim in the household to sit down with Gerald to discuss his responsibilities now that he was becoming an adult. Perhaps, in his stead, another family member should have been the one to discuss the future of the dynasty with Gerald - a family member whom Gerald held in the highest of regards.



"And when you're done that, the shower in the downstairs bathroom also needs fixing," Iris smiled. She was more than happy to relinquish all repairsim responsibilities to Gerald. "Keep this up, and you'll be building wooden toilets in no time," she said.

"It'd help immensely, Nana, if you could mentor me in this," Gerald replied, mumbling.



"Oh, I'm sure I will. Eventually. But I gotta say, I am really enjoying that someone else will be fixing the sinks around here. Because trust me,



"I've fixed a lot of sinks."

"Ugh," Gerald rolled his eyes, "lame."



"Franklin could slide down a riverbank all by himself. He could count forwards and backwards. He could even zip zippers and button buttons. But Franklin was afraid of small, dark places and that was a problem because…"

Edith looked on eagerly as Rose turned the page.



"Franklin was a turtle. He was afraid of crawling inside his small, dark shell. And so Franklin the turtle dragged his shell behind him."

"Ugh, lame." groaned Edith, rolling her eyes.

"Oh come on, Edith. I know this is a bit beyond your intellect, but could please try to enjoy this? You and I both need this right now for our aspirations," said Rose. "Besides, you sound like your brother…"



"Wait, so there are imaginary numbers, too?" Groaned Gerald. He couldn't wait until he could dominate his high school homework, too. "Ugh, lame."



Being the outgoing sim of the bunch, you would think that Henry here would be claiming more of the spotlight. But the truth was, he would be a teenager by Friday, and he had a lot of work to do between now and then if he wanted to be as gifted as his brother was.



So he quietly hid himself away from the main household activity to focus on levelling various skills, and to complete his required tasks. He wasn't allowed to miss school for any reason, and he had no weekends left, so it would probably be a mad dash to get everything done.

((Remember how I said Rose was the first child sim I had who finished all four childhood aspirations without much of a hassle? Yeah. This is more like my usual pace. I'm looking forward to one kid per generation from here on in.))



Through the next few days, nothing terribly noteworthy happened, Iris ate her fourth plate of Ambrosia. She still hadn't maxed the gourmet cooking skill, but thankfully Sergio had left several plates behind.

She was already getting tired of the taste of the stuff.



Joaquin came by for a visit. It always lifted Iris' spirits (no pun intended) to get a visit from him. She quickly filled him in on what had been going on before leading him upstairs to their bedroom…



Colette also visited again. After fooling around in the house, haunting, checking up on Norman and being generally annoying, she actually made herself useful…



Gardening! Oh, yes, Colette! This is what I mean when I say useful ghosts. Yes, yes, yes! No one has officially taken over gardening since Antwan left, and it was starting to fade a bit.

"I couldn't agree more," Colette scolded, "this is in shocking condition!"

Well, it wasn't quite that bad. I was thinking maybe Henry, once he becomes a teen…

Colette just shook her head, muttering that "Sergio would be ashamed…"



Alright, Henry, once you finish that last drawing, Rambunctious Scamp and Artistic Prodigy are complete! What's next---wait. You haven't completed "Homework 2 times while focused"??

"I've done my homework plenty of times. Just not with that aspiration selected," Henry explained, nonchalantly.

Aaagggh, right, okay, this is fine, everything is fine. You haven't done your homework today at all so you should be able to…



So he finished his homework before Rose even got to him, thus he wasn't being tutored (though I'm pretty sure he was focused), thus it didn't count. Rose tutors him through his extra credit work, so that counts for one of them. He'll have to do his homework the second time as soon as he gets home from school tomorrow afternoon, just before *gulp* he ages up. He has an "A" already, no worries about that, but he needs to max the mental skill. Looks like we're rallying the troops for Henry tonight. Just as well we can still buy club perks for the child skills.

Okay Henry, what next? A child friend, and an adult friend. Right.



"Hey Sabrina Rosa! Will you be my child friend?" asked Henry.

"Gee, I dunno," murmured Sabrina.

"Please, I thought you liked me."

"I do like you Henry," Sabrina replied.

"Pleeeeeaaase," Henry repeated.

Okay, great. We'll get an adult friend out of one Gerald's club members. Now go find Rose and a chess table and get to work grinding that mental skill! I'm going to go see what the others are…



"That looks nice. It doesn't look like taking over the world, but it sure looks nice."

"Even supervillains need to relax every once in a while."

I sigh. Someone's going to have to talk to him about the villain thing.

"Just because I've been focusing on Henry doesn't mean you get off the hook, Mister. You're not immortal yet, and you've got lots of work to do to get to that point."



But for some reason, Gerald didn't seem to complain about the type of 'work' I had him do.



"Aha!" Gerald exclaimed. "That'll teach those lame SJWs, telling me to 'check my privilege'. Just wait! Once I take over the world, I'll show everyone what privilege really looks like!"

He seemed to enjoy 'trolling the forums' rather a lot.



"And," Gerald finished his rant with a flourish, "your mother is a llama."

"How dare you?" gasped Andrew Bjergsen. "You know as well as anyone that both of my parents are dead."

"Crap, really?" asked Gerald.

Andrew nodded, explaining through near-tears that he was the love child of Sergio Romeo and the late Sofia Bjergsen.

"Geeze man, I'm sorry," Gerald started to say.

"R-really?" Andrew asked.

"No," said Gerald, "now get out, llameo."



I know he doesn't look too impressed about it, but it's Thursday afternoon and in the last 24 hours, Gerald gained 5 mental skill points, made 2 new friends (one being this townie, Jarett DeLuca), did his homework 4 times and spent a whole day at school in the midst of that.

All he needs now is 3 emotion potions and…



"Yay! Fireworks! Hurray for Henry, you did it!"

*slumps*

((See, my problem isn't that I can't get the childhood aspirations done in a few days. My problem is I don't. I let my sims relax, do their own things, focus on other stuff (or nothing at all). I allow far too many days to pass where I accomplish nothing, and then it's a scramble to the finish line. Remember the comment I made about Sergio? I thought I'd be better off playing one sim well, rather than 3 sims badly? This is me playing 3 sims badly.))

[oshizu]

Way to go, Henry!

Haha, don't be so hard on yourself! It's really hard when all three children are born at different times. Plus your three mentors are all still working.
Nevertheless, you and Henry did a great job!

Edith is turning out to be such a perfect child! Autonomous cleaning? Yes, please!
As for Gerald, I look forward to finding out whether he'll go into the Criminal/Oracle or Secret Agent/Villain career.
I do love that your three children are so different!

[FrancescaFiori]

Oh, Norman! You never disappoint! Confusing your teenage son with yourself and giving advice accordingly? That really, really won't work. Poor guy. He tries.

Loved Gerald relaxing in the bathtub. I agree that super-villains need to relax now and then. As long as it's in a black bathtub with a few mildy-sinister candles burning nearby. Now that he's a teen, how will you ever find a spouse worthy of him? Or at least useful enough?

Also enjoyed his conversation with poor Andrew Bjergsen. Foolish boy, don't you know that Gerald has no mercy?

Sorry childhood has been so lame for your kiddos this chapter! I'm sure better times are just around the corner.