Author Topic: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 8 - Jan 3, 2015  (Read 24352 times)

Offline Whirligig

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The Childer Legacy - Chapter 8 - Jan 3, 2015
« on: December 15, 2014, 07:38:07 AM »
The Legacy was once associated with greatness - start a Legacy so that your family name could go down in history. That was, of course, before everyone and their kid brother was doing it. Starting it. Now the greatness went to those who finished. She would never live long enough for that.

So why was she there? Why did she choose to start her life this way? With nothing but pennies to her name and no hope of ever living to see the end of it?

The short answer: she lost a bet with her sisters.

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Chapter List
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Family Information

The Childer Legacy follows the following succession laws:
  • Equality
  • Modern
  • Last Born

Generation One
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Generation Two
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The Childer Family Tree
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The Childer Legacy Scoresheet
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Offline Whirligig

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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 1 Dec. 15, 2014
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2014, 07:39:59 AM »
Chapter 1: Beginnings



Soft, murky sunlight streamed through a small window and into a small and dingy unfinished room.



Inside, a young mother stood near the cradle of her infant son, cooing softly at the baby. She gazed into his big, new eyes, and examined the teeny-tiny fingernails on his hands. Suddenly, all at once, the child reached up, aiming for the woman's bright red glasses. She laughed, pulling away from the small grabbing hands.



"He's beautiful, Astrid."

"Mmm," she replied,  returning the child to his little bassinet. "He's perfect."



Her fiancé, Mitchell, reaches out to stroke her cheek. The young family shares a brief moment of closeness, of timelessness, before the infant starts to cry.



"Feeding time!" Astrid declares, pulling a breast from her top to suckle the child. Mitchell smiles, unable to believe his good fortune.



No, not like that! He means his family, his life. The house is small, yes, and sparsely furnished. They don't have much money and are both working as much as possible just to make ends meet. He left his friends in a rather stylish house in another part of town to be with Astrid, the love of his life and his soulmate. Being penniless was part of being a legacy founder, but for her, it was worth it.



Once, people set out to start legacies in order to be great, to be admired. But legacies were overdone and done to death and most of them failed on account of watchers growing bored of watching them. Astrid hadn't started it for the glory - the glory would belong to her children. Nor had Astrid started it for the money, as clearly they had none. Astrid had started her legacy for a vastly different reason.

She had lost a bet with her sisters.



Mitchell shook his head, smiling at the thought. Of all the reasons to leave everything behind and start over in a new town with tuppence to your name...a bet?



But Astrid came from a rather large family, born somewhere in the middle of eight children. She hadn't told Mitchell all the details, but he was sure he would find out in time. She did tell him that a rather secluded existence away from the chaos of all her siblings was a welcome change. Furthermore, being forced to start this thing she would never finish hadn't left her bitter - it wasn't like she had dreamed of fame and fortune. No, all she had ever wanted was to be an artist, and to maybe have a small family of her own. It was hardly like she couldn't do that as a legacy founder in Oasis Springs.



In fact, the little room constantly smelled of oils and watercolours, acrylics and temperas. And Mitchell had to admit, he was impressed with just how much Astrid's work was bringing in. More than his career in comedy, at any rate. She had managed, with her art, to go from a small assortment of things on a lawn, to the small hut they now lived in in only a few weeks based on her income from her artwork.



They had met, funnily enough, in a museum on Astrid's first day in town. Too poor yet to have the funds even for an easel of her own, she had used the one at the museum to build up enough skill to earn a promotion at work. While there, she had also spent some time socializing with the other visitors to the museum, getting to know some of them. Mitchell had simply been among that number.



But then he dropped by her "house" some time later, and the two became friends. That was when he really got to know her. And, well, he'd found her attractive before, but now there was...something more between them. Mitchell had never been one to rush into things, really, but something about Astrid Childer just felt...right to him.



And the rest, as they say, is history.



When Astrid finished feeding Bjoern, the babe was nearly asleep. Sighing, she returned him to the cradle and turned to join her fiancé on the bed.



"We should talk," she said, sitting down on the bed next to him.

Mitchell smiled smoothly - if this had panicked him in any way, he was sure not to show it. "Sure, Sweetheart, what do you want to talk about?"



She took a deep breath, as if mulling over what she wanted to say. Finally, she just came out with it.

"I want us to get married, Mitchell. Tomorrow."



He nodded, rather pathetically. "Um, tomorrow?"



"Sure, we can do it! Have a big wedding with an arch in the backyard and invite all our friends. I can wear a dress, and if we're careful about it, we can probably return the arch and most of our things for a full refund. You know, 'cause we're on a tight budget.

I know we're in a tight spot, right now, and probably will be for a while, but I really think we can do it, and I want to get married before Bjoern gets much older."



Mitchell smiled nervously. Not because he didn't want to marry this woman - in fact, he wanted nothing more. No, it was more because of the cost. He sighed - he reminded himself of his father the way he was suddenly worried about the cost of every little thing. He didn't want to elope - hell, he knew Astrid didn't want to elope. A grand event would be exactly what both of them wanted. But could they afford it?

"Don't get me wrong," he said, treading lightly, "I really want all that, too. I just don't know if we can justify it right now, Astrid."



"I mean, there's not just the arch and a few chairs, there's the bar and the bartender and the catering and the cake, and we'd need to take time off work, and, well, not to mention the steep cost of hosting a party to begin with."

"You doubt too much," Astrid interrupted. "I have the day off tomorrow, and if we're smart about it, we can finish with enough time for you to go to work at 5 pm."



"Can't we just elope? It's so much cheaper."

"Mitchell, I am no typical legacy founder - and a shotgun private wedding? That is incredibly typical legacy founder. Carpe Diem - neither of us are going to live forever, let's enjoy life while while it lasts. If you don't figure something out, I will."

Mitchell shook his head - lost for words. All this time, he had been lead to believe that she was the reasonable one.

"And Mitchell," Astrid ventured,

"What?"



"I love you," she said, leaning in to kiss him. He wasn't about to stop her.

"I love you, too," he said.

And then he knew that he needed to make this happen.
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Offline Shewolf13

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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 1 Dec. 15, 2014
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2014, 02:11:04 PM »
Wonderful start!  Definitely bookmarked!

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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 1 Dec. 15, 2014
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2014, 07:05:03 AM »
Wonderful start!  Definitely bookmarked!

Thanks Wolf, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. When I started this legacy, I hadn't initially planned on sharing/documenting it. I took a few screenshots out of habit, but not nearly enough. Then I went back several days later and realized I had about 10 screenshots for as many sim days. I had a bit of a "how do I make a story out of this?" moment, but I feel like it worked out okay. :)
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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 1 Dec. 15, 2014
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2014, 07:23:13 AM »
Chapter 2 - Shut Up and Kiss Me!



Mitchell Kalani wasn't exactly the hardest worker in the world.  In fact, the word 'lazy' might be a more appropriate fit for him. He liked to think that becoming a father had changed him for the better: He wanted to be a good example for his son, and be a provider for his family. A strange determination filled him: he would give Astrid the wedding she deserved!



She left for work soon after their conversation, and for a soon-to-be-married couple, the two didn't spend much time together - Astrid typically worked 12-5, and presently, he was working 5-11. (It worked well for childcare, if nothing else).

So after she left for work that morning, he set his mind to trying to figure out what he could do to come up with the funds. Everything was already in place for him to get a promotion that evening, so the next best thing he could think of was, well, digging in the dirt. It wouldn't be much, but a handful of fossils and collectables could pay for an arch and maybe a few chairs.



He couldn't stray too far from home, as he didn't want to leave Bjoern unsupervised, but he did his best and did manage to come up with three MySims dolls, two fossils and a diamond to sell.



Confident he had done what he could around the house, he spent the rest of the day ensuring he would be in the perfect mood to guarantee himself a promotion.



Astrid, meanwhile, had the whole paying for a wedding thing in the bag.



She loved Mitchell, absolutely, and his loyalty to her was cute and all, but she was also used to taking care of herself. She had gotten this far on her own, after all. If she had learned one thing from her sisters, it was that a woman could get whatever she wanted or needed on her own - she didn't need the help of any man.

Of course, having them around didn't hurt any now, did it?



And she could, of course, try to pull this thing off as cheaply as possible. She would probably have to hire a musician and a mixologist - that much she had resigned herself to, but she'd picked up a few cooking skill points over the last little while, so the catering she could certainly do herself. A quick swig of a sleep replacement potion and Astrid was ready to spend all night preparing food and painting pictures.



By the time Mitchell got home from work with his promotion to Opening Act, they had a cake and a party-sized serving of Pan Fried Tilapia stored away in the inventory for the wedding, and a serving of French Toast in the fridge so that the guests could help themselves. They also had about 5 grand in reserve - sure, the house needed work - Bjoern would be aging up later that afternoon and would need a bedroom and Astrid still wanted a kitchen table sooner rather than later - but today, she was getting married.



And so an arch, a bar and some seating were delivered by a rental company - they would all be returned before sundown - the house sorely needed some work and while these were nice things, they certainly weren't necessities.



And so Astrid ordered up a wedding.



"Astrid," Mitchell fumbled. "Y-you look stunning!"



Astrid laughed.

"You're not so bad yourself, handsome. I can't believe we managed to pull this off."

Mitchell smiled.



"Who would I be trying to kid if I pretended you hadn't done all the work? You're amazing, Astrid."



"Can I tell you a secret?" she asked, her voice barely audible.

"Anything," he replied.

"I would have been happy to elope, quite honestly," she whispered. "I don't really care about the big, fancy shindig. I only wanted it for the points."



"You're terrible."

"I love you too," she said.



"I, Astrid Runa Childer, do promise to take you, Mitchell Christopher Kalani, to be my lawfully wedded husband. From this day forward bound by this sacrament to put up with all of my crazy antics, for better or for worse, until death do us part."

"Wait, what?" Mitchell stammered.



"Now we're married. So shut up and kiss me."



Unlike in some challenges, the legacy challenge allows you to count bronze and silver medaled parties towards your score. Having said that, Astrid figured a wedding party was easy enough to earn gold on, and anyways, what was the point if you weren't in it to win it?



She supposed that was her motivation: making the most of her current situation. Sure, starting a legacy hadn't always been her dream - rather the opposite. But whether she wanted to be here or not, she would see it through for as long as she could.



Even if it meant staying up all night the night before only to fall asleep during her own wedding party. That she fell asleep during the party didn't quite matter, only that she got a gold medal for the social event she had planned.



Mitchell and his 'bros' were able to see to that quite easily.

In fact the party was such a success and everyone had such a good time that Mitchell called it a day three hours early and was still able to claim full points for the event - and go to work on time.



"I knew we could do it, Bjoern," Astrid told her son that evening, once she had recovered from the day. "In fact, I'm very proud of your Daddy right now. Sure, he didn't do much, but he did try to help and that's what's important. And now you're nearly ready to take on the world, and you can do that knowing that though you may not have much, you're a Childer and you can do anything you put your mind to."



"Awesome," said Bjoern as the sparkles faded. "I think I'm going to start by making friends with everyone in town! Also, I don't suppose you could fix that computer, could you Mom? That beeping is getting incredibly annoying, and I wanna play a video game!"
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Offline dethdukk

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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 2 Dec 16, 2014
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2014, 01:08:48 PM »
You definitely did a fantastic job of making the story match up with what screenshots you had.  Congratulations on gen 2 and a gold wedding!  Especially so early into the Legacy.
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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 2 Dec 16, 2014
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2014, 02:44:21 AM »
What a fantastic story telling style. I'm glad I found your story before too many chapters as it's lovely to follow right from the start! I really like your choice of spouse, Mitchell makes such a nice change.  :)
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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 2 Dec 16, 2014
« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2014, 04:00:27 AM »
You definitely did a fantastic job of making the story match up with what screenshots you had.  Congratulations on gen 2 and a gold wedding!  Especially so early into the Legacy.

Thanks so much, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Admittedly, I had to stage a few shots, and resorted to making a dummy game file to do so in Chapter 1, but I think all of the shots in Chapter 2 were from actual game play.

I find the wedding party one of the easier events to get gold in. A lot of the requirements happen anyways (Have a guest watch the ceremony, cut cake, eat cake, etc). It's just the cost of it - the chairs and bar and arch are nothing compared to the $1500 I ended up sinking into the social event. I also forgot that Mitchell had 2 Mixology skill points which, while not great, would have sufficed, but I didn't think of that until after I hired the mixologist.

What a fantastic story telling style. I'm glad I found your story before too many chapters as it's lovely to follow right from the start! I really like your choice of spouse, Mitchell makes such a nice change.  :)

Thanks Play! I decided to try for more of a narrative than the last time, and I think it's working so far. :) My only criteria for a spouse was to have someone who I knew to be a YA so that they could be around longer to help around the house - most of the townies that spawn are adults, I've noticed.

I am so glad the two of you have enjoyed this, as I so enjoy reading about the Knethans and the Hollingsworths. :D
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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 2 Dec 16, 2014
« Reply #8 on: December 17, 2014, 08:00:46 AM »
Chapter 3 - The Social Butterfly



The room occupied by the Childer family was, though not ideal, sufficient for a young couple and a baby, but it most certainly wouldn't do now that Bjoern was a fully grown child. Before they could even sleep, still on the night of the wedding, something needed to be done, stat.



Draining the family funds down to a meagre $49, they managed to pull together a small, cozy house - a proper house with painted walls and wooden floors...



At least in the common area. The bedrooms still lacked décor, and Astrid intended to decorate them as soon as the family funds allowed. For now, there was a $700 gas bill she had completely forgotten about before building a house that would have to take priority.



After a good night's sleep, Bjoern was ready to face childhood head-on. Starting with eating the last piece of his parents' wedding cake. His parents' lives were relatively boring right now, but he was determined to have fun!



He didn't go to school that first day, but he did promise to do his homework and go to school the next day.



With the hard work done, he headed outside to start introducing himself to anyone and everyone who happened to stop by. Unfortunately, there weren't many people out and about - and this Rylie O'Dell person didn't seem to like him very much. In fact, she made him quite angry.



"Daa-ad, there's nothing to do and no one to meet here. Can you take me into town please? I don't like that Rylie girl."

Mitchell smiled - though he hadn't inherited his outgoing trait per se, his son did aspire to meet new people.

"Sure thing, Squirt."



Bjoern had actually had the park in mind, not the town centre, as there were usually more kids there. But he decided to make the most of it.



Mitchell needed to level a musical skill for his next promotion, anyways, and they couldn't exactly afford to splurge on a guitar just yet.

But when the first few - not quite notes - came forth from the instrument, everyone in the lounge cringed, and Mitchell went rather red in the face. He wasn't quite ready to practice in public, either.



Bjoern, bored with the playground, decided to focus his attention on friend-making.

"Hi, I'm Bjoern," he said to the redhead, "and I'm a legacy sim. What’s your name?"

"Shouldn't you be in school?" asked Ana.



"Dad said I didn't have to go. Something about a patch making me stay home? Maybe he needed to patch up my school uniform? That's silly, though, 'cause we don't have uniforms at my school."

"I see," Ana replied, but she didn't get time to say much else before Mitchell emerged from the lounge looking rather embarrassed, and telling Bjoern it was time to go home.

"Bye Ana!" he called out.



This just won't do, Bjoern thought to himself. He wanted, nay, needed to make a friend. And he wanted that friend to be close to his age. The only sims he had met thus far were grown ups. How boring.



So as soon as Astrid got home from work, he didn't even bother asking her about her latest promotion, or if she'd earned enough to pay that $700 gas bill (she had) or buy a sink for the kitchen (she had) and a guitar for his dad (not quite, but another painting should suffice). He demanded to be taken to the park, promising that completing his aspiration would earn the legacy points.



Astrid obliged.



"Hi, I'm Bjoern and I'm a legacy sim! Also, I need to make friends because I'm a social butterfly. I'm also a geek. Want to play on the spaceship with me?"



"Um, sure," Elijah mumbled, curious about the strange tendencies of this young boy.

"Great! I'll even let you be the captain if I can man the gun in the lookout deck."



"See anything, Captain Elijah?"

"Negatory, First Lieutenant Bjoern! Smooth skies ahead, unless - what's that over there?"



"Do you recognize this strange specimen, first Lieutenant Bjoern?"

"I do," he replied, "It's a Mom-Monster!"

"Oh no, the worst kind! Fire at will, First-Lieutenant Bjoern!"

"Pow!" shouted Bjoern, grabbing the ship's laser gun and aiming it at his mother. "Pow! Pow! Pow!"



Astrid laughed. "Okay, okay, you got me. But it's getting dark now, Bjoern. Time to head home to bed."

"But Mo-om!" Bjoern whinged.

"Told you they were the worst kind," Elijah said, matter-of-factly.



But truth be told, Bjoern really was tired. He followed Astrid home feeling much better now that he had met Elijah and made a friend his own age, then immediately slumped off to bed.



After seeing to it that her son was asleep so that he could be up bright and early for school tomorrow, Astrid put herself to work at her easel - Mitchell did need a guitar, and maybe violin lessons for Bjoern would be worthwhile, too. Painting helped her think.

It wasn't that she didn't want Bjoern to be heir. She loved her son. But, well, when she had decided on the succession laws, it had been all about strategy. If the youngest was heir, then some of the older siblings could stick around long enough to complete an aspiration or two and maybe max a few skills for the sake of points before moving out. It would allow for more time between the generations to earn points.

If you're going to put time and effort into doing something, you'd darn well better make sure you're going to do it well.



It wasn't a matter of if, but of when she had another child. She'd been holding for a while, wanting to ensure that they had some sort of financial security, but wealth certainly wasn't close on the horizon.

She herself was a shining example of sibling rivalry gone south - could she avoid that with her own children? How would Bjoern, who took such pride in being a legacy sim, take the news that he wouldn't ever be heir?
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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 3 Dec 17, 2014
« Reply #9 on: December 17, 2014, 12:56:10 PM »
I love your writing style.  Bjoren's a cutie!  Loved the Mom-monster scene.

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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 3 Dec 17, 2014
« Reply #10 on: December 18, 2014, 05:08:24 PM »
Nice work, Whirligig; I look forward to hearing more from the Childers.  I can *so* relate to "I'm not going to write a story about this one" becoming a story about ten days in! :)

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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 3 Dec 17, 2014
« Reply #11 on: December 18, 2014, 10:41:36 PM »
I love your approach to this legacy. Both in your writing style, and how focused you are on the requirements themselves. I haven't seen many legacy stories talk so openly about the points and requirements; it's a refreshing change of pace.  :)

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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 3 Dec 17, 2014
« Reply #12 on: December 19, 2014, 12:43:06 PM »
Oh poor Bjoren, I think the news might hit him rather hard.
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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 3 Dec 17, 2014
« Reply #13 on: December 20, 2014, 03:00:02 AM »
Thanks everyone! :) I'll reply to comments shortly, but I really wanted to get the next chapter posted before heading off to a Christmas party tonight (and imgur took for-e-ver to upload my pictures).

Edit: Okie dokie, comment time! Thanks so much for all your lovely feedback, everyone. :)

I love your writing style.  Bjoren's a cutie!  Loved the Mom-monster scene.
Thanks Wolfie. :) I'm quite fond of him myself. I was at the park for Bjoern to meet kids - not many spawned, so we just focused on Elijah. Astrid did that on free will. :)

Nice work, Whirligig; I look forward to hearing more from the Childers.  I can *so* relate to "I'm not going to write a story about this one" becoming a story about ten days in! :)

Oh, yay! I'm not the only one that happens to, lol.

I love your approach to this legacy. Both in your writing style, and how focused you are on the requirements themselves. I haven't seen many legacy stories talk so openly about the points and requirements; it's a refreshing change of pace.  :)
Thanks. :) I'm actually making a pretty serious attempt at this one, something I don't often do with legacies. I figured, why not feature that aspect of it as well?

Oh poor Bjoren, I think the news might hit him rather hard.

He's a hardy little thing, so I'll think he'll pull through. :)
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Re: The Childer Legacy - Chapter 3 Dec 17, 2014
« Reply #14 on: December 20, 2014, 03:01:20 AM »
Chapter 4 - Telling Bjoern



Astrid sat up in bed, wearily. The sun streaming through the bedroom window was taunting her as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. What a horrible night's sleep, she thought. She dreamed of the woman - Astrid could never decide if she was an old woman who seemed young, or a young woman who seemed old. Either way, the strange woman invaded her dreams fairly often, especially as of late. She had a pretty good idea as to why.

She sat back, going over the last few days in her mind. It was only 6, but she was as awake as she'd ever be. Nothing earth shattering had happened, but Astrid still had a sense that something was amiss. She trusted her senses - they had gotten her into trouble on occasion, but they had never been wrong, either.





She had painted a few more paintings. One impressionistic painting had turned out especially well; so well, in fact, that she had deemed it a "Masterpiece" and decided not to sell it. Instead, she named it field of dreams and hung it up in her room. It had a hidden meaning to her.





After selling a second painting, however, she had managed to purchase a violin for Bjoern and a guitar for Mitchell. Neither of whom were particularly gifted in making music.





They would both require a great deal of practice before they could claim to be prodigies of any sort.





And with all that - let's be honest - racket her boys were making around the house, Astrid was happy to go to work and leave them alone to practice.





Oh, and Elijah Ragsdale, the boy Bjoern had met in the park that day came over after school a couple of times. He and Bjoern were very quickly becoming best friends.

"I heard that in Willow Creek, you can catch fish that are thiiiiiis big!" Bjoern said, stretching his arms wide. "Maybe I'll catch one of them one day."

"Haha, no way! Only sharks at that big," Elijah laughed.

"They're bigger. I'll show you."





"Ooops, I forgot shark week was last week. I think this show is about meerkats."

"I think it's more likely that the fish in Willow Creek are this big," Elijah refuted, demonstrating with his hands.





After practicing on the guitar for a couple of days, Mitchell decided to give music a break for a while. His true calling as an entertainer, after all, was in comedy. He had spent a bit of time working on some routines, and even more time practicing them. Alone. In an empty house.





"Thank you, thank you, you've been a wonderful audience," he said to no one in particular. Astrid did worry about him at times.

But now she had other things to worry about.





"Why are you upset, Mom? Dad said you were upset." Bjoern had asked that at breakfast just yesterday morning.

The question had surprised her. Her son was old enough to be aware of the feelings of other sims? My, he was growing up so quickly!

"I'm not upset, Bjoern, just a bit worried."

"What are you worried about?"





"Oh, I worry about a lot of things. I worry about Daddy's job, and I worry about how much money we have. I worry that none of us are working as hard as we should be. But mostly, I worry about you."

Bjoern looked surprised. "Me?"

"Yep. Being a Mommy, and being a grown-up, comes with lots of things to worry about."

"Being a grown-up must stink!"

Astrid couldn't help but laugh.





"I'm going to have to tell him," Astrid had told her husband later that evening.

"Do you really think he'll take it that badly?" asked Mitchell.

"You see how proud he is of being a part of this! It's like his entire identity revolves around being a legacy sim. I don't know if I can bear to tell him that he's only a spare."

"Only a spare?"

"Oh, you know what I mean. Sure he can be part of the family and help us earn points and stuff, but he's eventually going to have to move out and leave the estate to a younger sibling. I don't think he'll take it very well." Astrid shook her head. "That, and, he's going to have to share his room with his brother or sister. I had to share with my sisters, it was awful."





Suddenly Mitchell had a sense of what this was all about.

"You're afraid."

"I am not!" she countered, defensively.

"You're worried that Bjoern's childhood is going to play out like yours did."

"It won't, I'll be sure of that," Astrid replied. "For starters, I don't plan on having 8 kids."

"Oh plumbob, I hope not!" Mitchell laughed. "But seriously, Astrid, he's going to have to decide for himself how he's going to react to the news. You can't change his mind or make that decision for him. As his parents, we can only offer guidance and support."

Astrid sighed. "You're right. I think I'll have to talk to him tomorrow."





After crawling out of bed, Astrid made her way into the lounge room. She hesitated in the doorway when she saw Bjoern sitting at the kitchen table, working diligently on his homework, muttering the mathematical equations out loud as he did them.

"8 times 2 is 16, 8 times 7 is, um, well if 7 times 7 is 49, then 8 times 7 is 56. 56 plus one is 7. 8 times 1 is 8, 8 plus 5 is…13! Okay, now a zero under the 6. 1 times 2 is 2, 1 times 7 is 7, 1 times 1 is 1. Now,  6 plus 0 is 6, 7 plus 2 is 9, 3 plus 7 is 10, and 1 plus 1 plus 1 is 3!

172 times 18 is 3096!"





"I thought you finished your homework last night before bed?" asked Astrid, sitting down across the table from him.

"I got sleepy, so I went to bed early. How come I can't just use a calculator? My teacher says I gotta do it all on the paper. See? I even wrote in all the little numbers."

"What if you don't have a calculator? You should know how to do it without one."

"When am I going to need to know what 172 times 18 is where I don't have a calculator?" Bjoern asked, almost incredulously.

It really took Astrid by surprise - he almost sounded like a teenager, but last time she'd checked, that birthday was still a week away. But as she knew well, he sort of had a point.

"Bjoern, just finish your homework."





"I'm all done. That was the last question," Bjoern said, closing the orange book and looking up at Astrid for the first time that morning. "Mommy," he began to ask, tentatively. Astrid braced herself. "How come your tummy looks bigger today than it was yesterday?"

She sighed.

"Come over here and sit down on the couch with me," Astrid said, "I want to have a chat with you."





The boy seemed to hesitate, but eventually jumped down from the Kitchen chair and followed his Mom.

"Bjoern, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about who you consider yourself to be."

Bjoern looked at his mother curiously. "Whaddaya mean, Mom?"

"I mean, who do you say you are?"

"That's easy! I'm Bjoern Childer, and I'm a Legacy Sim. I'm a-"





"Hold it right there for me," said Astrid. "That's the part I want to talk to you about. Now you are a legacy sim, sure. I'm a legacy founder and you're my son. But that's not all you are, is it? And that's not the most important aspect of who you are, either, right?"

Bjoern crinkled his nose, confused. "I don't know what you mean," he said.

"I mean, being a legacy sim shouldn't define you. There are hundreds of legacy sims out there, or thousands. Or maybe even millions. You're unique not because you're a legacy sim, but for other reasons. Can you think of what they might be?"





"Um," Bjoern scratched his head. "I'm best friends with Elijah. No one else is best friends with Elijah."

"That's good. What else?"

"I love getting out and meeting new people and being social. But I also like video games, and collecting stuff."

"That's really good, Bjoern. Those are aspects of your personality - things about you that can never change, that can't ever be taken away from you. You're a thoughtful and friendly sim. You invite other kids to join in your games. You put a lot of thought into things - you don't make rash decisions or jump to conclusions. You are also very good at anything and everything you put your mind to."

The youngster looked up at his mother with wide eyes. "Do you really think so, Mom?" he asked.

"Of course I do. I'm your Mom."

"Doesn't that mean you have to tell me all those good things?"





"No, Bjoern, it doesn't mean that. There are plenty of moms who don't tell their kids how valuable they are nearly often enough. Also, I'm Astrid Childer, and I'm an honest, driven and educated sim. I believe everyone is unique and everyone is important - but no one sim is more important than all the others."

"Are you sure about that? I always thought Bella was the most important sim."

"Bella Goth? No, she's not most important, just the most famous. Fame and Importance aren't the same. But that's not the point I was trying to make."

"Oh, okay."





"The point I was trying to make was that sometimes things don't turn out the way we hope. Sometimes those things can effect parts of who we are. But nothing can change who you are deep inside your heart, Bjoern, so make sure that you know who that person is. Do you understand me?"

Bjoern had no idea what his mother was on about, actually. But he nodded, because he was getting bored.





"That's good. Now to answer your question, my tummy is bigger because there's a baby growing inside me. Just like you, this baby started out really, really small, but it grows inside me where it's nice and safe until it's big and strong enough to come out and be in the world."

"Woah, that's cool!"

"Yeah, so in a little while, you're going to be a big brother. Do you think you can handle that?"





Bjoern puffed out his chest. "Sure, I can do that!"

Astrid smiled. "I'm glad. There's another thing you need to know about the baby, though."

"What's that?"

Astrid sighed. Best prepare him for it early, right. "Once the baby is born, the baby is the one eligible to be heir by birthright. You're not going to be the heir anymore."









Oh no, thought Astrid, pulling her son close, What have I done?
The Morven Dynasty
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