End of the Line Dynasty (4x4)

[hazelnut]

Growing New Life

Excited by her pregnancy, Sue forgot all about the strange seed she’d planted.  Instead, she spent her days getting free spa treatments, thanks to her celebrity status.  In her absence, Jane cared for the seedling, weeding and watering it.



Once the weeds were cleared, she saw that a shoot had sprouted from the mound of earth.



It was a funny-looking little thing, far feebler than any other plant she’d seen.  Jane made a habit of talking to it, encouraging it to grow and put out leaves.

Rob was still busy with his career, although he seemed to be spending very little time at the hospital these days.  He kept being called out to lead health education seminars at the various businesses around town or carry out a vaccination campaign against simpox.  He wished people would turn up for the sessions in sensible clothing: sleeves that rolled up would be a good idea.  Injecting through normal clothing was bad enough but really, a llama suit?



Even when he went to the library to brush up on obstetrics and neonatal medicine (you couldn’t be too careful), one of his fellow readers started feeling ill and insisted on treatment right now.



With so many bystanders sticking their noses in, he couldn’t really tell the man to go and see his own GP.  Still, Rob got his revenge, prescribing him a tablet large enough to write commandments on.  That’d teach him.



Life – and death – went on.  Grim suddenly remembered that Richard was still alive, well into his sixties, and came for him.



Sue, afflicted by restlessness as her bump grew larger, tried to soothe her nerves by fishing.



No, she couldn’t settle.

Oh!  I wonder how that funny seed’s getting on?

It had grown, a little, and sprouted a clump of leaves.  It looked pretty sickly, though.  In fact… she inspected it more closely… yes, ‘quality: horrifying’.  How could she have neglected it so badly?  She burst into tears.



Maybe a good sprinkling with salt water was what it needed.  The next time she checked it, the quality was perfect, although it still looked like the runt of the crop.

The following morning, Jane went out to tend the garden and found that the mystery plant was ready for harvesting.  It seemed reluctant to leave the ground.  She pulled harder and…



… became the adoptive mother of a bright green baby girl.



There was only one possible name for someone who’d started life in such a way, Jane thought.  As she cuddled this surprising new child, she whispered, “Welcome, Chloe.”

Indoors, her other daughter had discovered the karaoke machine.



“Thank you!  Thank you very much!”



Oh.  Was that…?



Yes, it was.



She didn’t have time to go to the hospital, or even to call for Rob.

The eighth heir made her appearance right there, by the karaoke machine.



It was certainly a dramatic end to the performance.



Rob and Sue named their firstborn India – and her unexpected twin, Laura.




Next chapter


You’ve probably noticed the difference in background between those two new-baby pictures.  Blame Susanna.  Having been the first expectant mother not to be irresistibly drawn to the motorbike, she compensated by very strange behaviour in childbirth.  Rather than staying put to have the second twin, she took it into her head to carry her new baby out on to the terrace, down the steps…



…and along the path by the swimming pool.

By this time, both twins’ portraits had appeared in the panel – but where was Laura?  The game thought she was in the games room, about where her sister had been born.  I couldn’t see anything, so I sent Rob in to check.



No, he couldn’t find a baby to interact with either.

Sue, meanwhile, was walking around the pool, round the side of the house and into the front garden, past an oddly undisturbed postman…



… out on to the pavement and back up the other side of the garden, outside the hedge.  She finally came to a halt at the corner, as far as she could possibly get from India’s birthplace while still being on the home lot.



She put the now distressed baby down on the grass and started panting again.  Poor India.  She’d been in the world for something like three hours now and all her mother had done was give her a tour of the grounds.  All very nice in its way but she’d have far preferred cuddles and a bottle.  Sue’s and the unborn baby’s portraits also now had an orange background, unsurprisingly.  That long a gap between twins isn’t exactly recommended, even without all the walking.



And, at long last, Laura entered the world.

So, as in Hidden Springs, the last generation in the town sees three children being brought up together.  Chloe was planned, although I didn’t expect her to arrive on the same day as the heir.  This is the first time I’ve played with a PlantSim and I’ve not read much about them either.  I’m enjoying finding out in-game.  Laura was a complete surprise.  There was no kids’ music or TV involved and neither parent is family oriented.  Just one of those random things, I suppose.

[Rhoxi]

Tablet large enough to inscribe commandments on it, haha! Yay, India's a greenboo! I wonder if Chloe will get her mother's skin tone if she's cured of plant-sim-ness for reproductive purposes? I haven't played with plant-sims yet myself. (Note to self: get on that.) That was some birth! I've seen sims put the first baby in a crib before delivering the second, but a tour of the whole lot? That's a bit much.

[saltpastillen]

How weird about that birthing break. Maybe she took a walk to relieve some pain? So happy you got a greenboo

[butterfly]

Yeeey, a greenboo! Welcome Chloe, India and Laura(my sister's name ). That was probably the silliest birth I have ever seen.

[LenaLJ]

I simply love susanna, i really hope the nooboo is just as cute as her.

[hazelnut]

Tablet large enough to inscribe commandments on it, haha!

Thank you  .  it was originally just a comment about large tablets.  The Commandments reference only came to me while posting.

Yay, India's a greenboo!

Yeeey, a greenboo!

I know!  I really didn't expect that.  If you'd told me in advance that it would be twins and one would be a rainboo, I'd have predicted that it would be the non-heir.  Of course, being awkward, at the moment I prefer Laura .  (They've just aged up to teen.)

I wonder if Chloe will get her mother's skin tone if she's cured of plant-sim-ness for reproductive purposes? I haven't played with plant-sims yet myself. (Note to self: get on that.)

I wonder that too.  I'm planning to play with PlantSim possibilities some more, so Chloe will probably get cured at some point.  Also, Rob made another Forbidden Fruit seed just before he supermaxed science and it has now been planted.  Who knows what will happen?

That was some birth! I've seen sims put the first baby in a crib before delivering the second, but a tour of the whole lot? That's a bit much.

That was probably the silliest birth I have ever seen.

Yeah, probably the silliest I've seen, too.  I've had second twins spontaneously appearing on the floor (or, in one case, appearing at home after the first one was born in hospital) but that was the first Grand Tour of the grounds  .

I simply love susanna, i really hope the nooboo is just as cute as her.

She's actually a blend of both parents.  I can't really be sure until she ages up to YA.

[hazelnut]

How weird about that birthing break. Maybe she took a walk to relieve some pain? So happy you got a greenboo

Maybe   So am I.
(Sorry, I somehow managed to miss replying to your comment.)

[hazelnut]

Three Little Maids from School

Once Susanna and the twins’ needs had been attended to, it was time for India’s first birthday…



...and some intensive teaching.



By evening, she was making good progress on her skills and had been settled down in her cot.  Now it was Laura’s turn.



Poor Chloe was left to age up on her own.

India and Laura were cute toddlers, with a mix of features from both parents.



Bald, yellow-eyed Chloe couldn’t really compete in the appearance stakes – but she did have her own charms.



Family-oriented Jane enjoyed having a little one of her own to care for again…



…although Rob was finding parenthood quite stressful.



Soon it was time for more cake.  It proved difficult to round up all three toddlers at once, so India blew out her candles while the other two were being retrieved from toyboxes.




Somehow, in all the chaos, no-one (Watcher included) noticed what was happening to Alex.  The first I knew was a pop-up saying that all of his possessions had been passed on to Jane.



Considering how much he was left to himself during his lifetime, this was quite appropriate, if guilt-inducing.  RIP, Alex, and I’m sorry.


The children hurried to the mirrors to sort out their new looks (and, in Chloe’s case, to admire her newly leafy skin).





They had an uneventful childhood.



India became the first member of the family to make it on to the honour roll as a child, thanks to intensive tutoring from both parents and, especially, Jane.

They were still followed everywhere by paparazzi but the family was beginning to get used to this.  All three kids became friends with one of the photographers, who often joined in their games.



And then it was birthday time again…







…and they had three teenagers in the house.  Time for Rob to get really worried (and not without reason).


India looked quite concerned as she started to sparkle.  Either she was dreading losing another relative mid-celebration or she knew that she was going to age up to look worryingly like Queenie Bee.



With a change of eyebrows, clothes and hair, she became rather less regal and more teenaged.  Laura continued to look increasingly like her father, apart from those random violet eyes, and Chloe blossomed into an almost-mature PlantSim.

 

None of the three had an IF doll, by the way.  Maybe Riley's given up now that the heir is an imaginary friend.  (Laura is a normal human Sim.)

[butterfly]

The girls are so pretty! India has some beautiful eyes. R.I.P. Alex

[hazelnut]

The girls are so pretty! India has some beautiful eyes. R.I.P. Alex

India, strangely, is a little on the chubby side (more so in adulthood).  I’m not sure who she inherited that from.  Random variation maybe.  It’s not quite appropriate for a professional sportswoman .

I’m glad that Goopy’s eye colour will be carried forward into the next town, like the Hidden Springs genes crossing over into Monte Vista.

Poor Alex .  I really don’t like the writing skill.  The investigator profession’s quite fun but he zipped through that so quickly that it didn’t make a big impression.  He has to be a strong contender for the title of Most Neglected Heir.


Teenage Troubles – in Triplicate

To start with, it looked as though the girls’ teens were going to pass as quietly as their childhood.  There was the odd plumbing sabotage but mostly they got on with school, clubs, homework and having fun.



Since all three were athletic, someone could usually be found working out somewhere.



Chloe had come into her full powers as a PlantSim.





Since photosynthesis needed daylight and took a long time, school tended to get in the way, so on weekdays she slept and bathed like a normal Sim (and she liked eating Jane’s Baked Angel Food Cake, even if she didn’t, strictly speaking, need it).  Since her needs were filled more easily than the others’, she was often the only one awake at night.  Still, the plants were happy to keep her company.




On the day of their prom, the teenage hormones hit hard for the first time.  Chloe started snubbing India and refused to let her get in the limo with her and Laura.



India stormed off and drove herself in the Motive Mobile instead, even though it had developed a disconcerting glitch.  Her dad said it needed its visibility circuits tuning.



Once she arrived, she saw her crush dancing with someone else, just as she was about to pluck up the courage to make a move.  After that, she just danced by herself and admired the decorations.  Laura had a much more eventful time, getting into several fights but somehow being crowned Prom Queen anyway.  Chloe had the biggest surprise – two other people were wearing exactly the same dress.  It seemed she’d started a fashion and the school was full of PlantSim wannabes.  She was so busy explaining that there was rather more to it than the clothing that she wasn’t going to let a little thing like the teenage curfew get in the way.  India and Laura dutifully left at the end of the dance (as noted by the local press)…



…but Chloe stayed on.  And on.  It was well after midnight when she left.  Fortunately for her, the paparazzi had given up and gone home and the police seemed to have better things to do that night.  Jane didn’t, though.



“And what time of night do you call this?  I’ve been so worried.  The other two were home hours ago…!” 

Chloe stood there until Jane ran down, apologised sulkily and went off to moan to the money trees about the unfairness of life.

The next day, India had a mood swing but confined herself to whoopee cushions on every seat and industrial quantities of shower dye.  Then it was Laura’s turn to have One of Those Days.  She woke up early, feeling restless.  It was still hours until school started.  Chloe was fast asleep in the next bed and she could hear snoring from Auntie Jane’s room.  Maybe she could go and play in the sprinkler while there were no gardening types in the way.

Out in the garden, there was a cold breeze and getting wet suddenly seemed less appealing.  Maybe she could…

Then she noticed it, right by her feet.  A funny little plant, just ripe for harvesting.  She’d never seen one like that before.  Must be one of her parents’ experiments.  The fruit was half-buried in the ground.  It was oddly appealing, though.  Irresistible, really.  She looked around.



The coast was clear.  She tugged on the stem and…

g

Oh!  She hadn’t meant to hurt it.  Poor plant.  She was going to be in so much trouble…  But that fruit!  It smelled amazing.



And she was hungry.  She could go in and have breakfast, of course, but cereal was so boring.  She raised the fruit to her mouth…



…and bit into it.



It tasted unlike anything she’d eaten before.  It was wonderful.

But then she started to feel odd.  All through school and then sports club, she felt light-headed.  Her stomach roiled.  Her limbs tingled.  Even her hair felt funny.  And the world kept turning sort of greenish.  What was happening to her?  Had that fruit been poisonous?

Then, as they were walking out of the school entrance, it happened.




“Sue, I’m home!  Did you get that promotion?  Oh hi, Chloe.  Have you seen Sue?  She was expecting to get her lifetime wish today and I stopped off and bought some fizz on the way home…”
“Dad, it’s me.  Laura.”



“Laura?  You silly girl!  What have you done?”
“Well, there was this little plant, you see, in the garden by the money trees, and…”
“The Forbidden Fruit?  Don’t you remember us telling you where PlantSim babies came from?  You little idiot!”



“Calm down, Dad. You can cure me, can’t you?  Everyone’s always saying what a great doctor and scientist you are.”
“Well, yes.  Probably.  I know the cure, at least in theory – but I’m not sure I want to try it out on my own daughter.  Anyway, I think you deserve to stay like that for a while.  You girls are driving me to distraction.”



“Fine!  Everyone wants to be like Chloe anyway.  I’ll be the most popular girl in the school.”




It was their recital that night.  Laura marched defiantly up to the school, ahead of the rest of the family.



Then she reached the doors and hesitated.  Would the other girls really envy her or would they think she looked ridiculous?  If only she’d had time to buy another formal dress.  This one clashed horribly with her new colouring.  And, well, it was rather a drastic change of image.  Maybe she should just go home; miss out on her awards ceremony.  Not that Dad would let her do that.



“Come on, Lau.  We’ve got to go in now.  You’ll be fine.”


It could have been worse, she supposed.  No-one actually said anything, although she got some funny looks and heard plenty of sniggering.  At last it was over and they could go home.



“Dad, I’m sorry.  It was a stupid thing to do.  Please, please, will you try that treatment?  Like, right now?”





And she was back to her old self.

Next chapter

[butterfly]

Now I see how little I know about PlantSims, I never realised they can bury themselves in the gorund :O
Silly Laura, hopefully she learned a lot from her little green adventure

[hazelnut]

Now I see how little I know about PlantSims, I never realised they can bury themselves in the gorund :O

Yes, if they're outside during the day, you can click on them and select 'Photosynthesize' and they bury themselves.  It fills all of their needs bars at once.  Pretty neat (although hard to combine with school or a daytime job).  It seems that they don't even have to be directly on the ground.  I'm not sure about paving but she's certainly done it at the end of the water slide.  (The others just kept on using the slide, apparently oblivious to the leaves sticking up through it .)

Silly Laura, hopefully she learned a lot from her little green adventure

I hope so, too - although it doesn't really matter whether she did or not.  That was the last Forbidden Fruit seed  .

[hazelnut]

A Shortage of Adventures

The day after Laura’s misadventure, the family decided it would be safest if the girls had another birthday right away.  Maybe young adulthood would bring responsibility.  India was the first to blow out her candles.





Then it was Chloe’s turn.





Uh, wasn’t this supposed not to happen any more?  It must have been Richard, not Jane, who’d taken out that lifelong fire insurance.

Jane leapt into action again and saved the kitchen from burning down – although she did also manage to get the birthday girl right in the face with a badly aimed jet of water.



Oh well, thought Chloe.  At least I’m well hydrated now – and it’ll be something to tell the plants about tonight.



By the time the fire brigade turned up, Laura was already making her wish.



The fireman’s arrival had the usual effect on the Ladies of a Certain Age.  Then he told them off for making prank calls and fined them.  They rather went off him at that point.

With the mess cleared up and calm restored, everyone sat down to eat their cake…



…and then Chloe tried again.  This time, she managed to age up without incident.



The three girls raced off to join the ranks of the employed: Chloe drove up the hill to register as a self-employed angler, Laura joined the police and India went to the Coliseum to sign up for the Monte Vista Llamas.



Or, in fact, she didn’t.  Clearly unaware of her huge potential as an athlete, the team was only willing to take her on as a fan.  Wasn’t she one already?  At least they were paying her (a pittance, but it was a start) and they promised promotion to much greater things if she really turned out to be as good as she claimed.

For the second generation in a row, graduation was cancelled.  Everyone had a day off work but there was no ceremony.  India, a shoo-in for valedictorian if ever there was one, was understandably miffed.  Life might be against her at the moment but she’d show them.  She spent her working hours befriending the manager, coaches and players, and her off-duty time honing her athletic skills…



…and training the gym’s other clients.



Sometimes she worked out at home for a change.  It was good to be outdoors and to be able to chat to the family between reps.



She found time to enjoy herself, too.  The shrinking garden had left a sprinkler free and they moved it over to the lawn.  India liked it even better than the games room.



There were always new people to meet, too – some of them quite surprising.



It seemed that Grim, who’d called when a reporter expired on the front steps, was as fond of the water toys as she was.

She was beginning to progress through the sports career but the Head Coach thought she was lacking in some essential skills.  The Zen of Winning was all-important, it seemed.  That was OK.  Her parents had brought some stuff back from their honeymoon.  She settled herself down in an armchair and started to read.



Oh!  So that was how it worked!  She dug the board breaker out of the old chest on the landing and tried to put her new skill into practice.



Yes!  That wasn’t so hard.

Unfortunately the coach wasn’t convinced by book-learning.  He felt that Martial Arts could only be learned properly in China.  India could be picking up all sorts of bad habits by trying to teach herself.  Well, in that case…

Sue and Rob were keen to revisit their old haunts and Jane was long overdue for a holiday, so it was a party of four that set out for Shang Simla.



Ever since she was a small girl, India had known that she would have to move to a new town someday.  The other two used to tease her about being The Halfway Heir.  That was fine.  They could live out their lives in peace and obscurity; she’d get to see places and have adventures.  China seemed like a good place to start.  Her parents had warned her that the adventures might be rather thin on the ground: they’d ended up returning early from their honeymoon because there wasn’t enough to do in Shang Simla “and it’s a lot comfier back home”.

Maybe so – but things might have changed since then.

At first, it really did seem to be different.  The local martial artists invited her to spar…



…and to meditate in the Scholar’s Garden.  She quickly reached a Level 1 visa, just as her parents had.



But then, like Rob and Sue before her, she found that the opportunities dried up.  No matter how many times she brought in turquoise, or supplies to maintain the miniature tomb, the locals always wanted more, while tomb exploration was just so last year.

She made the best of things.  If she couldn’t raid tombs, at least she could use her holiday to improve her skills.  She broke boards…



…and meditated...



…and put in hours of work on the weights machine at the Academy.  Before the end of her break, she’d reached level ten of athletics…



…and martial arts…





and had completed two unique challenges.

Let’s see what Mr Snooty Head Coach has to say to that!


Next chapter


I love that the game selected a sari as India's base-level work outfit.  She also aged up with Indian items of clothing for sleep and formal, although I changed them.  I'd been planning to dress her in the Indian Inspirations stuff, although it turns out to suit Laura much better  .

Chloe taking over the garden stopped any further money tree glitches, by the way – although, by that stage, their orchard of fifty or sixty trees had been reduced to just ten.  She kept rolling wishes to learn the science skill but they somehow all got cancelled .

[saltpastillen]

Oh, I'm just green with envy for your traveling. When I get my upgraded computer the first thing I will do is try traveling to see it the increased RAM will improve my chances to travel without any problems.

Also, good work on maxing both athletics and martial arts

And those firemen never show up in time and always fine you, I think they do it to stop you complaining of their shoddy work ethics.

[hazelnut]

I wouldn't exactly say I've been travelling without problems.  I really wanted to do serious tomb-raiding with India but unless China miraculously resets at the next town move (or because of the latest patch?) that's going to be a problem.  No Chinese adventures and no Pangu's Axe = severe game limitation  .  I haven't travelled seriously since the DecaDynasty and my graphics then were set so low that it's like a whole new game.  (Those holes have bugs in them?!  So that's why they all went "Ew!")

My Sims don't usually get fined, although the firemen always turn up way too late.  It's usually"good job putting out the fire" and "you guys should be more careful next time".  I'm beginning to think fire alarms are a complete waste of money  .