End of the Line Dynasty (4x4)

[hazelnut]

I understand how annoyed you are with the replicators - I think them loosing their memories have something to do with clearing caches, because when I don't clear caches they seem to work fine, and when I do they all loose their memories.

I clear my caches every time before I open the game, and my replicators stay intact. I think they just like to be annoying.

I also clear caches every time I start playing but have never had this particular bug before.  It's annoying but I can live with it.  It would be far more of a nuisance in an Immortal Dynasty.

Tabitha is so gorgeous! I'm glad she came to her senses and chose Goopy.

She turned out well.  I like the combination of the pale-gold skin and blue-and-white hair - and her favourite colour is seafoam, which suits her perfectly.

Of course, she hasn't chosen him yet (she thinks).

[Rhoxi]

Twitchit and Carbonara will make an excellent pairing! Tabitha's coloring is really gorgeous. All those pale colors together works really well. And wow, you really brought the town with you! All those graves; should be interesting.

[hazelnut]

Assuming my game doesn't die from the strain of trying to remember so many Sims  .  I may have to start deleting the older graves.

[hazelnut]

Love Is All Around

The fridge was stocked with enough food to keep them going for weeks, so Carlotta took a break to spend more time with Eduardo.  There were the plants to tend, of course – Tabitha was using fruits as fast as Carlotta could grow them – but she and Eduardo had always enjoyed gardening together and a lot of the weeding and harvesting could be fitted into the times when he was at work.  He refused to retire: although it seemed unlikely that he’d have time to make it all the way to Hit Movie Composer, he was determined to have a good try.  This still left them with plenty of free time – and they spent a large proportion of it in the hot tub together.



Tansy and Mike were also taking a break from their dynasty tasks.



Like Sam and Sophia, they decided they wanted to try for another baby before it was too late…





…and it soon became clear that they’d succeeded.





Their parents’ second honeymoons left Tabitha and Goopy alone together for much of the time.  Continual presence was definitely making the heart grow fonder.



One evening, they were both in the library, studying skills for their careers, when Tansy realised she hadn’t taken in a single word of her charisma book.  She really ought to concentrate: she could get her next promotion tomorrow with only a little more work.



No, there she went again, gazing at Goopy instead of reading.  Maybe she should just do something about it.



“Carb-, I mean Goopy, wouldyouliketogosteady?”
“Er, what?”
“Would you like to, you know, go out together.”



“Tabitha Twitchit, I’d love to go out with you.  What about the bistro, right now?  If we hurry, we’ll just get in before they stop serving.”

Meanwhile, back home…



But, as so often seemed to happen, birth was quickly followed by a death.  Gino had retired from the culinary career after achieving his wish to become a Five-Star Chef and had spent most of the time since swimming, watching TV and thrashing the rest of the household at table tennis.  However, he was out in the garden helping Carlotta with yet another harvest when Grim appeared.  He begged for more time but Grim was unforgiving.



“On this lifespan?  Sorry mate, you’re already nearly a week past your two score and twelve.  Time’s up.”

Tabitha’s new brother, Richard, shared her colouring, except that he had inherited grandma Emmaline’s green eyes.





He was still a toddler when Tansy had another birthday.  She and Mike had been the same age but somehow she’d lost a day during the move.



Happiness soon turned to disappointment as the aches and pains set in.



The next day brought more birthdays.  First, Richard:





He picked out a straw hat like Uncle Eduardo’s – or at least, the nearest he could find in his size – and clothes in his favourite colour, violet.



Then Carlotta had her final birthday.  Just like Tansy, she started off by celebrating but then changed her mind.





Just as she stopped sparkling, Mike started.



Tabitha, still a young adult, had been quietly getting on with her tasks, in between dates with Dr GilsCarbo.   She rarely had a chance to dress up and give her snobbish side free rein these days, so when her boss asked her to wine and dine an important contact for him, she leapt at the chance.



She did a good job, even if she said so herself.  Costanzo agreed – and gave her another promotion on the strength of it.  It turned out to be the summit of her political career.  The following day, she was offered another charisma opportunity, which meant that all of her tasks were finished apart from maxing a career.  So she handed in her notice and registered as a self-employed nectar maker.  Then she went home and started selling off the cellar.



Before the night was over, she’d earned a trophy.  She drove back up the hill to collect it and then went back to selling nectar.  Two-thirds of the way through the final rack, she reached level ten.   Then she heard the front door opening: Goopy was back from a night on call.  On the spur of the moment, she took an important decision.

“Goopy?  Don’t go to bed yet!  I want to ask you something.”




Next chapter


Tabitha, amazingly, completed her requirements three days before her adult birthday.  I wouldn’t be surprised if this record stands until the end of the dynasty.

I wasn’t planning to have a pollinator in this town but Mike and Tansy had other ideas.  They rolled simultaneous wishes to have another child and then to have a boy.  Whether Richard’s descendants marry back into the family depends on how the file behaves.

[butterfly]

Wow, that was fast! Congrats, only 11 more to go! (is that even comforting?) I'm excited for the nooboo, hopefully (s)he'll be as cute as his uncle and mommy!

[hazelnut]

Because there aren't any opportunities for nectar-making, she had a full teenage stage to work on her skill.  I think all of the others have been aged up early.  It helped that she was really lucky with the opps: they're definitely the sticking point for this dynasty.

Eleven still seems like quite a large number from here...

[Snufflesxx]

Hurray for Tabitha and Goopy!

I'm so pleased you did nectar making in your dynasty as I didn't realise there were no opps. I'll have to reorganise my plan so that my nectar maker has a opportunity rich career, followed by self-employed nectar maker. That's the bit I like best about this dynasty, it's forcing me to do careers and skills I never would have considered before such as nectar making, alchemy and horse riding.

[hazelnut]

Hurray for Tabitha and Goopy!

I'm so pleased you did nectar making in your dynasty as I didn't realise there were no opps. I'll have to reorganise my plan so that my nectar maker has a opportunity rich career, followed by self-employed nectar maker. That's the bit I like best about this dynasty, it's forcing me to do careers and skills I never would have considered before such as nectar making, alchemy and horse riding.

It's not quite true: I know of two career opportunities for nectar-makers in rabbithole careers (police and military) and there might be one or two more - but I'm pretty certain there aren't any pure skill opps.  Alchemy and riding are also pretty much opportunity-free zones, so good luck with those .

[Rhoxi]

I love the picture on the right! How did you get your sim to do this? Is the game paused mid-action?

[saltpastillen]

The shot to the right looks like one where she's looking at her ring (newly married sims do it a lot).

[hazelnut]

I love the picture on the right! How did you get your sim to do this? Is the game paused mid-action?

The game is paused in the middle of a spontaneous action.  I'm not sure what it was, although it looked to me as though she was very pleased with herself.

The shot to the right looks like one where she's looking at her ring (newly married sims do it a lot).

Nope.  She wasn't married, or even engaged, at the time.  Maybe she was admiring her nails through the gloves?  I suspect that whatever it was comes from her snob trait.

[hazelnut]

Mood Swings – and a Party to Die For

Tabitha woke up the following morning feeling a bit the worse for wear.  In fact…



Still, she wasn’t going to let throwing up every few hours stop her from inviting half the town over to celebrate both her engagement and completing her tasks.  Tansy dug out a previously unseen little black dress in honour of the occasion and made a speech about how proud she and Michael were of their lovely daughter.



Then she sprayed the lovely daughter with fizzy nectar.  Just as well Tabitha hadn’t got around to putting on her party dress.



Revenge is sweet.  Tansy hurried off to change her clothes and Tabitha briefly wondered what she’d be wearing when she reappeared.  Her father and Uncle Eduardo had both gone overboard with the dressing up.



Then the party dancers arrived and Eduardo evidently decided that he was overdressed by comparison.



Those weren’t his normal swimming trunks!  Where had they come from?

Of course, no Sim party would be complete without the unexpected death of a guest.  This time, it was Paola Romano.



When everyone rushed in to mourn, Tabitha couldn’t help but notice that Aunt Carlotta was now wearing a swimming costume that matched her husband’s, while her mother was in jodhpurs.  When had she learned to ride?  Little Princess Tabitha would have loved to have a pony.

With so many people crowded around Paola, Grim was forced to do the scythe-wielding bit out in the hall.  Oblivious, the entertainers carried on dancing in the kitchen.



Eventually they also wandered in.  One of them seemed to fancy Grim – or was it Antonio he was eyeing up?  Either way, his friend wasn’t happy about it.



Tabitha suddenly realised that she was shivering.  A soaking probably hadn’t been the best treatment for her tummy bug and she'd been too busy socialising with her guests to change out of her wet dress.  Since the party spirit had faded more than a little following Grim’s visit, she asked everyone to leave early and put herself to bed, while Goopy, still in his smart clothes, started on another round of nectar machine upgrades.



A few hours later, Tabitha woke up from her nap and realised what her ‘illness’ really was.



She hurried downstairs to give Goopy the good news.



During his big sister’s pregnancy, Richard had his teen birthday.





Teenage hormones can turn the sweetest child into a complete pain.  Richard took to pranking in a big way and grew a rather ill-advised moustache, just because he could.  Plus, it annoyed the rest of the family.



Not to be outdone, Goopy also had a birthday and launched into a full-scale midlife crisis.



Tabitha was the one who worried her parents most, though.  She didn’t see why an ever-increasing bump should stop her paddling around in tubs of squishy fruit.



She just laughed when Tansy fretted about the possible risks to her grandchild if Tabitha slipped and fell over.

“Mother, the baby’s fine.  Goopy says it’s well protected.  As long as I just make the stuff and don’t drink it, we’ll both be OK.”

Of course, even Goopy would have freaked out if he’d seen what she did next.  Pregnancy hormones can be worse than teenage ones.  Tabitha decided she wanted a massage, right now.  Goopy was on duty at the hospital.  The backache was getting worse.  What could she do?  Oh, of course!  She took herself off to the spa – on her fiancé’s brand-new motorbike.  Well, Uncle Eduardo was using the motive mobile and she wasn’t going to wait around for a taxi.



She didn’t even make it into the building.



Now what?  Home?  The hospital?  They were both equally far away.  Wearily, she climbed back on to the bike.

Carlotta was out in the garden and heard her arrive.

“Aunt ‘Lotta!  Will you take me to hospital?  Now!  Please?”

She couldn’t have made herself clear.  She wanted to be driven to the hospital.  Car, taxi, she didn’t care.  She just wanted someone else to look after her and make the decisions.  Carlotta made a decision all right.  An unexpected one.  She ran to the hospital, leaving Tabitha to follow on foot.



Alexander Gold entered the world a few hours later.



While Carlotta stood outside the hospital texting everyone she knew to boast about her new grandson, poor exhausted Tabitha walked home to bed.



Goopy was there already.  After a busy shift immediately following a day on call, he’d staggered home to sleep – and completely missed his son’s birth.


Summary – Generation 5

Parents tried for baby within 4 days of start? Yes

Heir: Tabitha
Traits: Friendly, Good, Snob, Charismatic, Hopeless Romantic*   
Lifetime wish: Bottomless Nectar Cellar

Unique maxed career: Self-Employed Nectar Maker
Two unique best friends: David Haynes & Costanzo Rossi
Three unique skill challenges: Mix Master, Flavourful Feet, Nectar Master
Four unique opportunities: Just Business, Tough Negotiating, Let’s Dine, Looking for a Friend
Buildings owned: Civic Centre, Tasty Treats and Tomes, Coliseum, Good Guys Inc., Graciella's Groceries and Delfina's Diner
Properties owned: (none)
Vacations used: 1 out of 4

*I was going to give her either party animal, dramatic or diva for her final trait but none of them seemed to suit her.  I found her hanging out on the playground after school on several occasions: it was almost as though she was trying to be a loner.  Since that would have been a problem in her political career, I went with hopeless romantic instead.


Next chapter


More outtakes

Tabitha’s party almost qualified as an outtakes chapter in its own right but here are a few more.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Richard fell into his potty as a toddler and his hygiene bar promptly plummeted.  Well, it would.



Eduardo has developed a new mopping technique.  It doesn’t look very efficient…



…or comfortable, especially when his head goes through the wall.



And remember I was wondering what Mike would look like as an elder?  Here he is with short hair:



Yep, those are pretty epic ears.

[Rikki8528]

Oh no! The rainbow has ended!

[hazelnut]

I know!    I have to admit to yelling at the screen when Tabitha walked out of the hospital.  I didn't really expect to have colourful Sims all the way through the dynasty but was hoping to keep the rainboo gene longer than this.

Of course, there's always Richard...

[Hallucination]

I suppose it's possible that it was a glitch, but I have seen sliders skip a generation.