Poor girl. Life is just not going easy on her is it?
The look on Simon's face as the sparkles come is just kind of adorable, though. He looks so pleasantly clueless.
I love that expression. Glad someone else did, too. There he was, about to sit down and play video games in his pyjamas as usual and
Huh? Sparkles? Excitable Sims just pull the best faces.
The Final MoveAbi arrived home in the early hours of the morning. She’d been exhausted when she left the Plaza, with the beginnings of a sore throat and a headache from all the speechifying, but now she felt ready to face a demanding day.
Thank goodness for motive mobiles.While she waited for her parents to wake up, she tidied the house, put the finishing touches to the museum and, most important, checked the contents of that Chinese chest. Yes, she’d remembered correctly.
Saying goodbye to her mum and dad was hard.
Quite apart from the whole never-seeing-them-again thing, they kept giving her good advice (by their standards) on how to get established in her new home.
Most of it conflicted with what India had told her. Since her great-great-grandmother had actually experienced a town move, Abi was inclined think India’s views were worth more. Not that she told her parents that. She just listened, agreed with everything, then hugged them both hard and ran out to the waiting carpool. She’d thought of taking the day off but she wanted to say goodbye to everyone at work, too.
Leo and Victoria gazed after the car until it was out of sight, then fetched two of the flasks from the chest in the basement.
Next up, a visit to the mirrors and dressers, now that they could look like real pirates again.
Having met Leo when he was already in late adulthood, Victoria hadn’t realised quite how attractive he’d been as a young man.
Wow!
A quick phone call later, they were running up the road, enjoying their newly resilient muscles. The house next door was small but it had plenty of room for a young couple on their second honeymoon.
A few hours later, Abi came home to an empty house. A note was taped to the fridge door:
One serving left! Enjoy Odessa’s cooking while you can 
Then she took the final two flasks from the chest. One was a mood enhancer. Quite frankly, she needed it: the tears weren’t far off. The other was the last Young Again potion. She downed it in one.
Maybe it was time for a makeover. The face on that ‘Wanted’ poster had looked a lot like hers.
Yes, that would do. The serious-artist-not-a-forger-at-all look.
Then, like her parents, she called the estate agent. Except that she was going a lot further than just next door.
She walked out of the house, taking a last look at the garden with its flowers and sundial. It’d be a while before she lived anywhere as nice.
Too late for regrets now – and she was still sure that acting in haste had been best in this particular case.
The taxi pulled away.
They drove through the centre of town, past her old school…
…and the criminal headquarters, with the flickering sign that no-one ever seemed to get around to fixing…
…and out of town.
Summary – Generation 12Heir: Abigail
Traits: artistic, insane, ambitious, avant garde, perfectionist (rebel influence), workaholic
Lifetime wish: Swimming in Cash
Unique maxed career: Art Appraiser (Acquisition)
Two unique best friends: Valarie Adcock, Brie Marin
Three unique skill challenges: Proficient Painter, Master Painter, Brushmaster
Four unique opportunities: Interior Décor, Advanced Art Training, Skilled Painting, Brilliance
Buildings bought this generation: Sharma Day Spa, Sacred Spleen Memorial Hospital
Newly-upgraded properties: Almost everything! (Ophelia's Fishing Hole, Olde Pillager's Pond, Founder's Beach, Goldbeard Galleon Gallery, Smuggler's Beach, Jollyboat Plaza, Dead Men Tell No Tales Cemetery, Landlubber Bank, Barnacle Boneyard, Barnacle Beach, Barnacle Community Pool, Founder's Park, Goldbeard's Gym, Landgraab Sell'n'Swap and Phoenix Martial Arts Academy.)
Vacations used: 3 out of 4
I extended Leo’s life because I wanted to get Abi to level 10 rebel influence by her young adult birthday and a father at level 9 seemed like a useful thing to have around. (Victoria, despite a late start, reached level 10 at about the same time as her daughter.) Abi had full-length child and teen life stages, working on her painting skill and then her rebel credentials, so I’d been assuming that Leo, and probably also Victoria, would have died before she moved towns. The change of plan came right at the last minute, after that final protest. I suddenly realised that all of her requirements were now completed but, since Brie and Valarie were both old, I wasn’t sure how long they’d be around and all of her remaining co-workers, who would have been the most likely stand-ins as best friends, were also elders. Barnacle Bay really was a town with an ageing population by this point. Moving as soon as possible seemed like a good idea.
Leo and Victoria were both 56 at this point, so I was half-convinced they’d also drop dead while Abi and I were sorting out the house. Then I remembered that Ken and Odessa had made rather more Young Again potions than were strictly necessary for the dynasty
.
I don’t think Abigail Stone would approve of her namesake, despite their shared love of painting. She was the eldest of generation four of my legacy family and the resident portrait painter from late childhood until she died, well past a hundred. She was on the opposite side of the law from Abi, in the forensic career. Come to think of it, she was also quite unfortunate. She never seemed romantically interested in anyone until late adulthood, when she re-met an old friend who’d recently been widowed and suddenly fell head-over-heels in love. Romantic wishes all over the place. She invited him to the house and then asked him to stay over. It was their only night together. In the morning, he said he’d have to go and take care of a few things, which turned out to mean a meeting with Grim. Maybe naming Sims Abigail is a bad idea…
OuttakesIt's been a while since I posted any outtakes, so here are a few recent ones.
It may not have come out in the story but Victoria is flirty. After Simon’s death, she tried it on with Grim.
Oddly, Leo didn’t seem to mind.
A random shot of some of the family gnomes, just because:
And this was a failed attempt to get a touching farewell shot of Abi and Leo:
"Was that you?"
He was actually objecting to the smell of the floor hygienator under the doormat
. Evil Sims are strange sometimes.
