Five Elven Families: A Restoring Similization Project (October 9)

[MarianT]

The McCarleve-Pinkertons, Chapter the Fifth

Dear Fiona,

   First of all, don’t let Mom read this letter. Tell her a zombie stole it from you after you read it or something.

   Anyway, when I joined the Pinkerton household, Elrond was still a teen. He’s not bad-looking, but he has his mother’s features, so he looks very boyish. I got a job right away, first as a coffee courier and then as a file clerk. Well, what happened was that Elrond’s dad was hanging around all the time, not being able to work and all, and he started flirting with me. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, and besides it was nice to get some positive attention rather than people yelling at you to get out of the bathroom all the time. So anyway, I flirted back, and then I thought I’d give him a thrill and kiss him.



   Well! You’d think I’d put rat poison in the peanut butter sandwiches or something. Marigold (that’s Elrond’s sister) was furious with me, even though I tried to explain.



   Elrond was cross too, especially after I made fun of the clothes he got when he became a young adult.



   So I went and found Gavin and slapped him, and told him that he should be ashamed of himself.



He went back to his wife, so there’s no real harm done.



   I tried patching up my relationship with Elrond, and made some good progress. His compliments are kind of obvious, but I guess I can put up with that. He got a little fresh – so I had to tell him he was moving too quickly for me.



But the next day, everything went smoothly. Elrond and I became friends, and then he proposed.



Despite the cheesy grin, I agreed to marry him. Afterwards, I took him into the shower to try for a baby (I learned that trick from Mom and Dad.) I heard chimes, so I’m pretty sure there’s a baby on the way.



   Other news is that Sanchera had her birthday, so she’s an elder now.



Unfortunately, she doesn’t have enough sense to come inside when there are zombies about. We all hope she doesn’t turn into one – that would destroy everything.



   Marigold had a birthday, too. She wants to become a culinary librarian, and plans to get a job as a cook so she can study cooking at work.



   I’m worried that neither she nor I will fulfill our lifetime wish. (Elrond chose Visionary, so if he just keeps painting and taking pictures, he should be okay.) I’m getting time off work because of the wedding, and also I’ll get time off because of the baby. Marigold hasn’t even been able to find a job yet. I think when Elrond completes his lifetime wish, we’ll ask him to choose the option that enables elders to keep working.

   Anyway, love to all, and tell Mom to wait until Arwen grows up before she has her bridegroom move in. Your loving twin, Moira

P.S. Tell Elwing I'm sorry I took the cookbook. I didn't realize I still had it with me when I left.

P.P.S. They don't seem to believe in graduation in Moonlight Falls. Neither Elrond nor Marigold has had to go.

[Magz from Oz]

I just love this story and you tell it so well.  Poor Elrond.  Those clothes are... um...interesting.  Good old EA mismatched clothing genres continues to make me cringe.

[MarianT]

The Cortneys, Chapter the Fifth

   Kimberley read over the note from Colin. Aubria had become an elder.



Colin was able to use the library now and really enjoyed it.



He had had a birthday too, and was going through a mid-life crisis.



But what really caught her interest was this:

P.S. Thistle says to tell Elanor you can really lose weight if you work out with the radio.



   Kimberley resolved to tell Elanor as soon as possible. Her daughter had gained weight when becoming a young adult, if that was possible.



   The exercise did seem to help both of them. Sometime later, she decided that she had enough news to write back to Colin.

Dear Colin,

   I’ll begin with the sad news first and finish with the happy. I don’t know if you remember Jason Keaton from school, but he died in our yard. He came over from school with Elanor one day and never went home again. Apparently he died of starvation, which makes me feel bad, because we would have put some food out for him if we'd known.



We also had a zombie die one full moon night.



   Your father has become an elder and consequently isn’t able to work anymore.



   I realized that I would become an elder, too, before I could complete my lifetime wish of becoming an International Super Spy. Luckily, I was offered the chance to become a professional athlete – a Superstar, in fact, on my last day at work. I leapt at the offer, and changed my lifetime wish accordingly. Thus, Elanor and Finglas are able to go about town a little more, to accept opportunities and go to the library, even if they still can’t shop or go to the movies, etc. They still have to be home by 7 pm.

   Speaking of Finglas, he has settled in well, and is working on logic, painting, and gardening. He also became romantically involved with Elanor.



She proposed in order to carry on the Cortney name.



Not long after that she found out she was pregnant.



   They named the little boy Gareth – he has his father’s green skin color.



Also his mother’s ears, and his grandfather’s hair color. Gareth is friendly and a heavy sleeper, two excellent qualities. (I wish I could sleep through his cries!)



I hope you and Thistle and your children will be as happy as they are. Much love, Mom

[LivvieLove]

I just wanted to say that I've followed this story for a while - and while it can be a bit hard to keep up, I absolutely love it!

By any chance... do you suppose you could make some kind of Family-Tree picture/something? It may help others to keep the family's straight (as I have to go back and re-read a few chapters to make sure I put the family's together correctly with who is marrying who). This story is awesome! It's been bookmarked!

[MarianT]

I'm planning to do a summary from time to time. Maybe now is the time.

[MarianT]

FIRST SUMMARY

Here is what is going on in each family:

The Jungbloddins – Riverview --

Ignac and Lorraine are both elders and have completed their lifetime wishes (Ignac – Living in the Lap of Luxury and Lorraine – Swimming in Cash).

The family is able to go to work and use electrical appliances costing less than 500 Simoleons. They are able to purchase the lifetime rewards of Change Lifetime Wish, Change Favorites, Fast Learner, and Midlife Crisis (spouses only). (1 and 3 of Restoring Similization).

Gilgad, their son, has married Clover, the daughter of Hamish, and they have a daughter, Gwyneth. She will eventually marry Beren Poolaki.

The Cortneys – Sunset Valley --

Brendon is an elder, and Kimberley will become one soon. They have both completed lifetime wishes (Brendon – Physical Perfection and Kimberley – Become a Superstar Athlete).

The family is able to go to work and to go other places besides work, like the library, where they can read skill books only. The adults are able to complete other opportunities besides work-related ones. They still have to be in by 7 p.m. . They are able to purchase the lifetime rewards of Change Lifetime Wish, Change Favorites, Fast Learner, and Midlife Crisis (spouses only). (1 and 2 of Restoring Similization).

Their son, Colin, has moved in with the Dorainars and will marry Thistle. Their daughter Elanor is the heir and has married Finglas Dorainar. They have a son, Gareth, who is now the heir.

The McCarleve-Pinkertons – Moonlight Falls –

Gavin and Sanchera are both elders. Sanchera has completed her lifetime wish of Renaissance Sim.

The family is able to go to work. . They are able to purchase the lifetime rewards of Change Lifetime Wish, Change Favorites, Fast Learner, and Midlife Crisis (spouses only). (1 of Restoring Similization)

Elrond, the heir, has married Moira Poolaki. She is pregnant.

There is also a sister, Marigold.

The Poolakis – Twinbrook

Ciro is an elder, and Deannin will become one soon. They have completed their lifetime wishes (Ciro – Surrounded by Family and Deannin – Renaissance Sim).

The family is able to go to work and to go other places besides work, like the library, where they can read skill books only. The adults are able to complete other opportunities besides work-related ones. They still have to be in by 7 p.m. . They are able to purchase the lifetime rewards of Change Lifetime Wish, Change Favorites, Fast Learner, and Midlife Crisis (spouses only). (1 and 2 of Restoring Similization).

Their daughter Moira has moved in with the McCarleve-Pinkertons, and their son Beren will move in with the Jungbloddins. Their daughter Arwen is the heir, and she will marry Twig Dorainar.

There are two more sisters, Fiona and Elwing.

The Dorainars – Starlight Shores

Aubria and Branch are both elders. They have completed their lifetime wishes (Aubria – Renaissance Sim and Branch – The Perfect Garden).

The family is able to go to work and to go other places besides work, like the library, where they can read skill books only. The adults are able to complete other opportunities besides work-related ones. They still have to be in by 7 p.m. . They are able to purchase the lifetime rewards of Change Lifetime Wish, Change Favorites, Fast Learner, and Midlife Crisis (spouses only). (1 and 2 of Restoring Similization).

Their son Twig will move in with the Poolakis, and their son Finglas has moved in with the Cortneys.

Their daughter Thistle will marry Colin Cortney.

[LivvieLove]

Yay! Ok, now things are starting to click together in my head! 

[Tiamet]

Thank you, Marian!  I was about to try and figure it out with paper and pencil.   

[MarianT]

The Poolakis, Chapter the Sixth

Dear Thistle-sis,

   I arrived in Twinbrook right after Beren aged up. He left for Riverview, to move in with the Jungbloddins. He really wants to get a dog, but I don't think that will happen.



Deannin, Arwen’s mom, had a birthday, too and became an elder. I think Mom might remember her; they went to school together.



   Apparently I brought some gray mold with me. At least, that’s what the Poolakis think. I think it’s something endemic to Twinbrook, which was ground zero for the toxic event, after all. Anyway, we had to rebuild the house entirely, just so people could move around.  This is what’s left of the old house.



   The new house looks pretty much like the old one did, and pretty much like your house. Thank the Watcher, we didn’t have to wait for new materials, but could reconstruct it out of the old house and furniture.

   I don’t know whether the gray mold was to blame, but Ciro, Arwen’s father, died shortly after we moved. He was only 52, but apparently that’s the norm now.



   I became friends with Arwen by tutoring her.



She also let me comfort her one day when she was grieving over Ciro.



    Not long after that, Arwen and Elwing had their birthdays (they’re twins).





   Once we started getting romantic, it wasn’t long before Arwen proposed to me.



The baby’s due soon. I think Arwen looks really cute in her maternity outfit, but she complains that gray just isn't a good color for her. We’re both hoping it’s a girl, but of course we don’t have any control over it. She’ll be related to all the other families, so will have to marry someone in Twinbrook.



   Because Fiona’s trying to become a chess legend, we get to meet some of the Twinbrook inhabitants. I can’t say that I’ve encountered anyone that I would want my daughter to marry. One night Parker Prudence decided to entertain us all with the old college cheer – again and again and again.



And Buck Green was trying to start a romance with Deannin less than a week after her husband died.



   Maybe we’ll have a boy.

   As for my lifetime wish, I’ve maxed the street art skill and produced my first masterpiece.



Only six more to go. Hope everyone’s okay. Love, Twig-bro

[maisie]

I really like that project of you, it's so ambitious and we get to know so many interesting sims.
The street art in the last picture is gorgeous, I've never seen it before.

[MarianT]

The Jungbloddins, Chapter the Sixth

   The first thing Gilgad did when he came home from work was to pick up Gwyneth and give her a snuggle.



He also worked on teaching her how to talk, explaining what a promotion was and why it was a good thing.



   Gwyneth spent a lot of time playing with her imaginary friend, so she was the only one around when her grandmother Lorraine started to die.



   That soon changed. Within seconds, the rest of the family gathered around, and of course, Grim arrived.



   Shortly after that, Gwyneth had her birthday.



She became excitable as well as hydrophobic and a light sleeper. The first thing she said was "Eww, what's that smell?"

   Her mother Clover pointed out that it was the contents of the potty chair.



   Gwyneth loves to pretend that she is queen of her small kingdom.



Unfortunately, there is a subject that she wishes she could banish. It's not that she dislikes Thorin. It's just that he and his grandfather make so much noise when she's trying to sleep.



Maybe Thorin will be quieter now that he's a toddler.



Then again, with Grandfather Ignac around, maybe not.

[MarianT]

The Cortneys, Chapter the Sixth

Dear Colin,

Lovely to hear from you and glad that all is going well. Your nephew Gareth is quite the cutie. He enjoys playing with Dad.



I've been teaching him how to walk.



Finglas took over the job of talking, although I wish he'd chosen something other than missiles to pique Gareth's interest.



One day, Gareth did something really cute. He looked up from his bottle and said "Gween milk make me gween!"



   Mom's an elder now, but honestly, it hasn't slowed her down a bit.



Now that she's not working anymore, she spends a lot of time practicing her spells. Finglas has had to unclog the toilet several times after she tried to upgrade it (at least, I hope that's what she was doing). And we think she tried the Fire Blast on Dad. There's no other way he could have gotten singed.



   Later...I started this letter and then got interrupted. Gareth is a child now, and has already decided that he wants to become a doctor.



He has already begun developing his skill in logic. (That's Mom having an unusually cordial conversation with Finglas in back. Her emotions tend to be pretty erratic these days.)



But it will be a while before Gareth is ready for the hospital. He really freaked out when I went into labor.



   I shooed him and Mom away so that I could settle down to the business of giving birth.



Say hello to your new niece Chloe!



Love, Elanor

P.S. Finglas sends his love to Thistle and his Mom and Dad.

[Magz from Oz]

Welcome Chloe.  No old age hasn't slowed mom at all.  She's having a blast! 

[MarianT]

The Dorainars, Chapter the Sixth

   Hello. My name is Thistle Dorainar, and this is my blog, Thistle Down the Wind. You might wonder how it is that we can have blogs, with so much other technological stuff not working any more, but I guess they were set up to last forever. I can record as much as I want; whether anyone will read it, I don't know.

Blog 1.   So, the first thing I want to blog about is playing pranks. If you're shy and a loner and eccentric and clumsy, why wouldn't you put hair dye in the shower? Oh, and I forgot to mention fat and ugly. Even the Watcher says I look like a grumpy hippopotamus. Well, let me tell you something, Watcher -- the hippopotamus kills more people than lions do.



Blog 2.   Of course, my mother gave me a time-out when she saw me doing that. My mother doesn't understand because she's always been beautiful. Even though she's an elder now, she's still pretty enough that she doesn't mind looking at herself in the mirror.



Blog 3.  The other person who keeps hogging the mirror is Colin, my husband-to-be. He's older than I am and is going through a mid-life crisis. Honestly, Colin, even with wrinkles you're still much better-looking than I'll ever be. Get over it!



Blog 4.  I inherited my skin and hair color from my mother, but my features and weight from my Dad. He's not too swift these days, but he still remembers to water the plants occasionally.
 


Blog 5.  This is me right after I had my birthday. Mom always said that I might "grow into" my features, and that I would probably be quite attractive when I got older. Well, I'm older now, and I don't think attractiveness is going to happen.
 


Especially not when I don't have any choice about what to wear. I mean, really. This is my nightwear.



Colin is nearly finished with his lifetime wish. He's completed the logic part and just has to get a 10 in handiness. Then he'll be able to add another feature to our extremely limited lives. I'm trying to persuade him to pick the option that allows us to have dressers and use the mirror to change our hairstyles.



Blog 5.  Graduation was today, and everyone came to see me get my diploma. I didn't make valedictorian, probably because I spent most of my time at school locked in the girls' room rather than going to class. My loving classmates voted me "Most likely to never leave the house." Why would I want to?



   Anyway, when I became a young adult, I added another trait, that of supernatural skeptic. And I want to say right now that elves are not supernatural beings. We're 100 percent natural. I have nothing in common with witches, vampires, mummies, werewolves, Simbots, mermaids, genies, or fairies. I hope never to see a unicorn or be abducted by an alien, and if we ever get plumbots, I'm not having one in the house. End of rant. Oh, and my lifetime wish is to become a Blog Artist.

Blog 6.  Time for romance! As soon as we got home, Colin started wooing me. First he gave me flowers. (Really, purple? You've lived with me all this time, and you don't know my favorite color is white?)



Well, I just had to attack him with a pillow.



Colin fought back, and pretty soon we were ready to move on to stuff like holding hands and kissing. I was the one who had to propose, to keep the Dorainar name, but I was still afraid he might say no. Dad was there as a witness, but I'm not sure he really understood what was going on.



As soon as we got married, we settled down to the task of trying for baby.



Blog 7.  Yeah, I know. The last thing anyone wants to look at is me vomiting, but I bet this blog is going to go viral.



Colin went into panic mode as soon as I went into labor, but I told him to calm down. He couldn't take me to the hospital -- it's still overflowing with people suffering from the Blight. I suggested he go and upgrade the shower or something.



But it would have been nice if someone could have given me some pain pills.



Mom wasn't around -- she was too busy sliding down the spiral stairs. I was never allowed to do that, not even when I was a kid. They said it was because I was so clumsy that they were afraid I might hurt myself, but I'm pretty sure they were also afraid that I'd break the railing.



Finally, my daughter Elspeth made her appearance. She's evil and artistic.



Blog 8. We didn't know whether Elspeth would inherit my ears or Colin's, so we tried for baby again. Neither of us wanted to wait in case the romance went out of our marriage. After a little while, Deirdre joined the family.



Elspeth did get pointy ears, but the Blight seems to have made her bald. Colin has promised to fix things so that we can get her some hair. It's too soon to tell whether she inherited my features or his, but I fear the worst. At least she is cute now.



She is also intelligent and didn't take long to learn how to walk.



Meanwhile, Mom has been having fun with the toybox, and Dad is still going strong even though he's 95!

[Magz from Oz]

Welcome Elspeth and Deirdre.  As George Bernard Shaw once said, "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing."  Go Mom!