The Ghosts of Twinbrook (Life States Dynasty)

[hazelnut]

Chapter 16: The Circle of Life

Breaking with tradition, Joe and Macy threw a wedding party and invited as many of the extended family as could come.  Some of them had other commitments (and Emily’s sisters were still missing) but Vicky, Hal, Liv, Georgie and Tom turned up.



Some things stayed the same, though: the bride wore the tiara that had been handed down from Chris to Tina and then Emily.





After the ceremony, everyone went indoors for the cake.





Some of the guests stayed on for the dancing afterwards.  The bride and groom were the last ones left on the dancefloor.



When they realised that everyone else had gone, they decided they had better things to do than dancing.



Bob-Andy had gone to bed early.  He tired easily these days and said that the unaccustomed socialising and dancing had worn him out – although that was partly an excuse.  He and Isabella might not really be a couple but it was still a little awkward when she found him slow-dancing with her sister.

Just before midnight, he woke up, feeling light-headed.



Izzy, somehow aware of Grim’s arrival, woke up and ran into the room.



“Bob-Andy!  I promise I won’t forget.  Thank you for giving me Joe and Tom.”

Bob-Andy was laid to rest in the family mausoleum.  It was almost full now.




“So the time of my release is approaching at long last.  Will it happen as soon as Macy has a child?  I wanted to ask you to help me with a few last details.”
“Hang on a minute, Ana!  Have I missed something here?  Remind me of your family.”
“Well, I married Vernon and had Christabel, who is an electrocution ghost.  Then…





“…and now Joseph has married Macy, who died in a fire.  When she has a baby like herself, I will be freed from the effects of surviving being burnt to death and will, presumably, be free to go.”
“No.  Sorry, Ana, you’ve forgotten one.  That last death, just before we met.  I’m not quite sure how we go about fixing that one.  I think I’d better talk to Grim.  I know he still admires your cheek, trying to pull a stunt like that, and I think he’ll be willing to give us a few hints at least.  Meanwhile, I’m afraid you have one more generation to guide through their tasks.”
“Very well.  I suppose I can keep going for a few more years – and thank you, Deirdra, for everything.”


Now that he was a married man, Joe decided that the time was finally right to join the science career.  Macy registered as an architect but spent most of her time at the inventing bench.  Lacy and Juan might have been obsessed with the idea of creating artificial life but the three of them had discussed other wild ideas, too; now she was determined to turn one of them into reality.  She had no memory at all of the fire.  If only she could create a time machine, she could go back and find out what really happened that day.  Maybe she could even manage to rescue Lacy. 

In an amazingly short time, she’d made something that she thought might work.  Without giving herself time for second thoughts, she went inside and switched it on. Everything seemed to go well at first but then she found it was harder than she’d thought to direct the machine and she went further into the past than she’d intended.  A lot further.



Perhaps she’d better put off any more trips until she’d worked out a way to improve the controls.  Maybe Joe could help: he’d upgraded so many other things.  Could a time machine be harder to improve than a teleporter or a gyroscopic conductor?  She’d ask him later, when she felt less groggy.



At first, Macy thought the persistent nausea was some kind of time travel sickness.  Then she realised what the real cause was.



Joe gave Ana the good news.  With the baby’s arrival, his requirements would be complete – apart from one.  He still needed a special friend.  Did she have any genie lamps left?



Macy was alone in the tower, painting, when the contractions started.




Summary – generation 6

Heir: Joseph Goole
Life state: drowning ghost
Traits: disciplined, virtuoso, workaholic, handy, unlucky
Lifetime wish: Become a Creature-Robot Cross Breeder


Toddler requirements: best friends with both parents, reached  level 3 in two skills (xylophone, painting books)
Child requirements: on honor roll, one opportunity completed (Badging Ceremony)
Teenager requirements: on honor roll, reached  level 3 in mausoleum clerk part-time job, had a romantic interest (Serena Hummel)





Unique best friend: Marcy Roe (genie)
Two career rewards: Gardening Hero's Trophy, Firefighter of the Year Trophy
Three unique opportunities: Funny Looking Fish, Just Business, A Just-In-Time Harvest
Four unique Lifetime Happiness Rewards: Super Green Thumb, Steel Bladder, Dirt Defiant, Climatron Control Unit
Five unique 5000+point wishes: master gardening skill, grow a perfect life plant, master handiness skill, master fishing skill, have first child
Six unique skill challenges: Electrician, Tinkerer, Amateur Ichthyologist, Botanical Boss, Master Farmer, Master Planter
Seven items for mausoleum: mounted fish


Next chapter

[TheTripWasInfraGreen]

Congrats on completing the requirements, and the fireboo!

Oh god, it's the last generation. I'm gonna miss this story when you finish it up.

[RainBeau]

I just consciously realised that Ana has been slowly ageing this whole time. Bravo! That is really quite impressive. I will be re-reading this story when it ends. It's sad that Bob-Andy's second life was not very happy Congratulations on the nooboo, though! Hey, as ghosts even the gender is not given away! What's the new arrival's name? And traits?

You're so close! Good job!

[hazelnut]

Congrats on completing the requirements, and the fireboo!

Oh god, it's the last generation. I'm gonna miss this story when you finish it up.

Thank you.  Around halfway through, when I had a whole series of bugs, I couldn't wait to finish but now I've found I'm trying to draw it out.  The fireboo (I like that word) was born last weekend my time and has only just aged up to child.  I normally play the early stages of each generation on fast speed apart from when I'm trying to get screenshots.

The story will continue past the end of the challenge for a few chapters because Ana's story will still be unfinished and there are some loose ends to tie up.

I just consciously realised that Ana has been slowly ageing this whole time. Bravo! That is really quite impressive. I will be re-reading this story when it ends. It's sad that Bob-Andy's second life was not very happy Congratulations on the nooboo, though! Hey, as ghosts even the gender is not given away! What's the new arrival's name? And traits?

You're so close! Good job!

I tried to keep the ageing subtle but didn't expect to succeed that well  !  It's less obvious in the screenshots than in-game but Ana's on something like her tenth hair colour.  It would have been nice if she'd finished her requirements as a young adult but no-one's managed that so far (Joe and Emily both came close).  She was the slowest of all and was only five days from elder when she finished.  Most of the later screenshots in her part of the story are taken from behind for that reason, although you can spot the lines in the pictures where she's flirting with Vernon.  She had her (second) adult birthday around the time of Will and Tina's wedding and her elder birthday while Joe and Tom were teenagers but kept her current hair both times.

Bob-Andy may be the only Sim ever to start with a large tombstone and finish with a medium one .  He completed his LTW but didn't quite have enough points for the large tombstone.  All of the other spouses have qualified easily.  He really wasn't very interested in the boys and didn't roll any of the wishes to teach toddler skills - almost as though my backstory actually meant something!

And the fireboo?   

[azokka361]

Wait . . . there's only one generation left? But-but-but-but-but--Ana only finished her requirements yesterday! Or was it the day before?

In case you can't tell, I am horrible at keeping track of time in stories, but it will be so sad to see the Ghosts of Twinbrook leave! It's incredibly impressive that you're almost done with a Life States Dynasty, which is hardly even attempted compared to Immortal and Deca, and it's just so . . . cool! Congratulations!

[hazelnut]

Thank you

[hazelnut]

Chapter 17: Life Goes On

Macy and Joe named their new daughter Louisa.



Ana had decided that, if she had to stay around for another generation, she might as well make the most of it.  Now that she was retired, she had plenty of time to appreciate every stage of this child’s life.  She was almost disappointed when it was time for Louisa’s first birthday.

As usually seemed to happen, it was Emily who took the baby to the cake, while her parents looked on.







Louisa was a sweet toddler, although she had a tendency to cry if she was left alone.  Not that that happened much: the whole family competed to make baby food and to play with her.





Joe took her to the library to read picture books…



…and while they were away, Macy spent some time at her inventing bench.  Louisa came back to her nursery to find that her mother had made her some new toys.  The mechanical dog rapidly became her favourite.



Vicky hadn’t yet met the latest addition to the family, so Ana called and invited her over.  Sadly, she had left it too late.  Vicky didn’t even make it through the front door.





Ana was devastated by her younger daughter’s death but Vicky herself was content.  She had lived for a very long time, learned and done everything she had wanted to and had finally, if all too briefly, found happiness with Alonzo.  Now they would be together again.



Their urns were placed side by side in the mausoleum.



Shortly after this, Macy celebrated her adult birthday with a meal of ambrosia.







She was delighted to be fully alive again but sad when she remembered who had made it possible.

Joe was astonished when he noticed for the first time that his wife had a tattoo.



“Mace, when did you get that?  Are you having a midlife crisis or something?”
“This?  I’ve had it for ages; it just wasn’t obvious when I was a ghost.  Lacy and I both had them done just after we moved here, to celebrate our new freedom.  The wings are intended to signify our escape from our old lives – flying away from Bridgeport.  I suppose we were rather young and silly.  Do you want me to have it removed?”
“No.  I think I like it.  Come here and let me have a closer look.”



Joe had been working hard, both at the lab and from home, and soon he achieved his lifetime wish.



Meanwhile, Ana was continuing with her mission to help other members of the family.

“Isabella, do you remember telling me, just after Joseph and Thomas were born, that you wanted to start visiting the gymnasium?”
“And you said I shouldn’t because great-grandma’s the sporty one.”
“Yes.  Well, I have changed my mind.  I believe we are now close enough to the end that you can take up fitness training without invalidating Christabel’s tasks –as long as you are careful not to overdo it.”



“Great!  Mother wanted to join the gym, too.  Shall I tell her she can?”
“Yes, of course.  It will be good for you both.”
So Izzy and Emily started to use the treadmills at the gym in their free time.  Chris sometimes went along to advise and encourage them.





They often met other family members.  Fred and Liv worked out regularly.  Tom was sometimes there, too  – but he seemed more interested in flirting than exercise.



Now Ana turned her attention to Will.  She reminded him that Tina-Patricia had wanted him to pursue a healthier lifestyle.







Chris was going to have her work cut out with this one.

[RainBeau]

This is interesting--why the sudden interest in fitness? Is it, as the story says, because they are so close to the end that it won't make a difference? Or is there a subtler motive?

[hazelnut]

It's January: isn't everyone obsessed with diet and fitness?

It's mostly because it is close enough to the end not to matter.  Izzy and Em really have been rolling repeated wished to learn the athletic skill and Tina was always talking to Will about vegetables (probably because of her green thumb trait but still...)

Will had the body shaper as one of his unique rewards because I was going to slim him down with it before he and Tina tried for a baby.  Then I changed my mind and decided, as with the Twinbrook genes, that I'd stick with what I had and see how the family turned out, especially since Tina was so thin.  When Emily and then Izzy inherited Will's body shape, I started to get a bit fed up.  I mean, a fat starvation ghost?!  So I changed my mind again and Izzy used the body shaper before she had the twins.  I didn't want to keep using it, though, so the workouts are a way to slim them down in story - and another way to keep Will and Izzy apart.  He tends to train at the fire station while the other two are at the gym.

By the way, Lou's traits were virtuoso (another one!) and absent-minded at birth and she added rebellious when she aged up to child.

[hazelnut]

Chapter 18: A Busy Life

“Greats, I don’t get question two.”

Louisa was cheerfully aware that no-one else in the family could get away with addressing Ana so informally.  She’d started off by calling her ‘great-great-great-great-grandmamma’ but it sounded really silly.  And it took ages to say.  ‘Greats’ was the logical conclusion of a perfectly sensible shortening process.  It wasn’t cheek at all, honest.



“It’s a stupid question anyway.  Why are they bothering to fill the bath if it’s got a hole in it?  Who cares how long it’s going to take?  Why don’t they just mend the hole?”
“Yes, dear.  It is a rather silly question – but shall we try to answer it anyway?  Now, how big is the bath…?”

When she wasn’t being tutored or doing her homework, Louisa was free to play.  Educational games, naturally.  Fortunately, she was keener to learn and practise new skills than anyone since Vicky…







…and she could still dream of being a rock star some day, when she’d finished her tasks.



Her childhood sped by and soon she was blowing out another set of candles.



She was delighted to find that one of her teenage requirements was to have a boyfriend.  That seemed like a good one to start with.  The boring stuff like jobs could wait.  Tavares had been her friend at primary school, until he grew up ahead of her and moved on to high school.  Now she noticed that he’d grown up rather well.







But then her dad came over all heavy-handed and said she was too young to get serious about a boy.  She wasn’t!  School was serious.  Tavares was fun.

And then he said she had to get a job at the mausoleum.  Now that was serious.  She told him she was definitely too young for that sort of serious stuff but Dad insisted.



Dear Tavares,
I miss you.  I’m so sorry I couldn’t go to the Prom with you but they wouldn’t let me take time off from my stupid job.  It’s not fair.  My dad called in fake sick when he wanted to go fishing but I can’t have an evening off for the Prom.
I think they’re trying to turn me into some sort of slave.  I don’t mind cooking.  I think I’d quite like to be a chef (or a rock star, of course!) but now they’ve got me fixing the loo…



It all went back to that idiotic maths question about the men trying to fill the leaky bath.  The family insisted she must be a born plumber to have objected that strongly.  It wouldn’t be so bad if it was baths that she had to fix, but no.  She had to mend toilets – and that one in the basement in particular.  It was a ridiculous place to put a toilet anyway.  Drains were supposed to go downhill.  No wonder it kept blocking up.

Oh dear.  Maybe she was a born plumber.  Louisa Goole, the world-famous toilet unblocker.  Didn’t really work, did it?

Still, her life wasn’t all bad.  Her parents had bought her a sculpting station for her birthday.  Chipping away at clay blocks was a bit boring but then she moved on to ice.  How come she wasn’t too young to use a chainsaw?  Not that she was complaining.  Ice sculpting was way better than plumbing.



She finally reached the top of the mausoleum clerk career – if you could call it a career – and told the boss what to do with his stupid job.



Graduation was a good day: valedictorian and Most Likely to Become a Rock Star.  (Told you so!)  And then she went home and sculpted her first masterpiece.  She had to sell it quickly before it melted – but a melty masterpiece is still a masterpiece, right?



She rapidly worked her way up the ranks of the sculpting career and then decided to swap jobs.  Sculpture was getting a bit old.  Maybe she should go back to inventing for a while.





The great thing about inventing was that you could blow things up.  Soon she had the ultimate act of rebellion planned.  A real blow for freedom: destroying the military machine.  Well, a military machine.





Huh!  That was a disappointment.  Maybe she could do better at the junkyard.



Yes!  This was more like it!

With all this creating and destroying, Lou was getting close to her goal and Ana gave her the now-traditional present.



She went over to the island to open her gift.  She’d always liked it there.



But while she was getting to know her new friend, something was happening at home.





Macy was ready to go.  She knew her daughter would soon free them all.



With her genie befriended, all Louisa needed was one phone call.  Didn’t anyone in Twinbrook need an inventor or handywoman?

At last, her phone rang.  It was someone from the Llama Corp. Shipping Company, wanting to commission sculptures from her.  Specifically, seven wooden sculptures.  What on earth could they need those for?  There were rumours around town that not all of the business that went on at the shipping company was strictly above board and this sounded distinctly dodgy.  Whatever.  A commission was a commission.  She wished they’d wanted ice sculptures, though.  Mum had done some woodcarving but she’d never tried it herself.  Still, she might as well have a go.




Louisa's summary and the end of the challenge
Next chapter of the story

[RainBeau]

I like Louisa. Is her LTW Descendant of da Vinci? Only she's doing all the sculpting and inventing.

[hazelnut]

I like Louisa. Is her LTW Descendant of da Vinci?

I wish.  No, I think only savvy sculptors have that option.  I was trying to provoke her into it (she did a couple of levels of painting, too) but she didn't oblige.  She's a Renaissance Sim (cooking, sculpting and inventing).

Only she's doing all the sculpting and inventing.

It was simply a question of the skills I had left: sculpting, inventing and riding.  Plus cooking - Ana and Chris are at about level 7 or 8 but the wishes to learn all recipes (which she didn't roll, infuriatingly) and to reach level 10 were still unused.  As it turned out, Menu Maven stayed a unique challenge for Lou but I didn't dare rely on it, so she did Scrap Collector as well (and I discovered that rebellious Sims LOVE blowing things up).

[hazelnut]

...And so the seventh generation of the Goole family completed her tasks.

Summary – generation 7

Heir: Louisa Goole
Life state: fire ghost
Traits: absent-minded, virtuoso, rebellious, natural cook, commitment issues
Lifetime wish: Renaissance Sim


Toddler requirements: best friends with both parents, reached  level 3 in two skills (xylophone, writing books)
Child requirements: on honor roll, one opportunity completed (ballet recital)
Teenager requirements: on honor roll, reached  level 3 in mausoleum clerk part-time job, had a romantic interest (Tavares Spain)



Unique best friend: Christa Jamison (genie)
Two career rewards: Successful Sculptor's Medal, Medal of Genius
Three unique opportunities: Try the Traps, Amateur Olympics, An Old Ruse
Four unique Lifetime Happiness Rewards: Fast Learner, Artisan Crafter, Efficient Inventor, Natural Born Cook
Five unique 5000+point wishes: master cooking skill, master sculpting skill, make a masterpiece sculpture, master inventing skill, build a time machine
Six unique skill challenges: Gem Collector, Plumber, Chiselmeister, Ice Personality, Prolific Sculptor, Scrap Collector
Seven items for mausoleum: ice sculptures


The challenge was completed on week 57, day 4.



Standing, from left: Louisa (generation 7 - fire ghost), Joseph (generation 6 - drowning ghost) and William (generation 3 - meteor ghost)
Sitting, from left: Anastasia (founder - human), Christabel (generation 2 - electrocution ghost), Isabella (generation 5 - starvation ghost) and Emily (generation 4 - mummy's curse ghost)


Next chapter

[Gogowars329]

Congratulations on completing the challenge! I have enjoyed reading all about the Goole's and can't wait to see the story end. I love the ice sculptures by the way.

[RainBeau]

That looks so cool with the ice sculptures and the lights! Congratulations on completing the challenge. I think you're the first one! I look forward to seeing how you finish this.