How many cakes do we need?In typical Wonder Child fashion, Liam has been breezing through his childhood aspirations and maxing out skills. The final childhood aspiration he needs to complete is Social Butterfly.
Luckily, Liam’s got a newly aged-up brother to be his BFF so that task is easy.
Next, Liam visits his neighbors, the Friendlys. Conveniently, their household consists of 3 adults and 5 children. True to their name, the Friendlys welcome Liam into their home.
Soon, Liam is entertaining a crowd with an outrageous story.
Liam maxes out all of his childhood skills and completes all of his childhood aspirations with 5 days left until his teen birthday. Fortunately, there are some adult skills that he can now get a head start on.
In the social category, there’s charisma and mischief. And in the creative category, there’s piano and violin.
Finally, in the mental category, there’s logic, video gaming, and fishing.
Our little prodigy may be building adult-level skills now but he’s still a child. Jenna paints Liam’s portrait again to capture this stage of his life.
Before we continue Liam’s story, let’s take a moment to catch up with the other members of the Murray household.
Our Matriarch, Jenna, has maxed both her painting and cooking skills and she’s reached level 7 in her career. She still enjoys gardening and playing the violin, and she’s recently started writing children’s books.
Joe has turned out to be quite the family man. He is a great husband and father. Joe has high levels of programming, video gaming, cooking, and handiness skills.
He has reached level 6 of his career, but he’s thinking about retiring soon.
Leo, the younger brother, is a little ray of sunshine. He might not get a lot of attention in this story, but he’s a cheerful kid and a wonderful addition to the household.
Since Liam has earned his “A” in school, all he needs to do now is not let those grades slip. He doesn’t actually have to go to school as long as his performance bar doesn’t drop too much. In order to accomplish this, Liam alternates between taking vacation days and having his mom write excuse notes for him. One morning while he is home alone, his friend Kacie calls and asks if Liam wants to play hookie. Liam is pretty much already playing hookie so he accepts the invitation and is whisked off to the Blue Velvet Lounge. Hmm…not exactly the most child-friendly location, but Liam makes the best of it. While his friend Kacie takes a seat at the bar (!), Liam sits down at the piano and begins to wow the crowd. He gains a little bit of skill and earns $84 in tips before the Watcher decides that’s enough goofing off and sends him home early.
The very next day, another one of Liam’s friends asks him to play hookie. This time the kids meet at the Bluffs. Again…there’s not much for a child to do here. Liam does a nice cannonball into the natural pool, and the two friends swim and splash around a little while. He doesn’t stay long, though, because he’s got more important things to do at home.
Soon, it’s Jenna’s elder birthday! Joe bakes the cake, Leo throws confetti, and Liam sings his best rendition of the birthday song.
Jenna is not exactly thrilled about her gray hair, but Joe tells her that she looks great.
After enjoying some cake, the family heads to the park to continue Jenna’s birthday celebration. This time, they choose Myshuno Meadows in the city. Liam and Leo have never seen grass so green nor a park so big. Joe and Liam decide to go fishing first, while Jenna and Leo choose to order a late lunch from one of the food vendors.
Later, the brothers watch clouds together while their parents enjoy a quiet moment in the gazebo. Since they have grown up in Oasis Springs, Liam and Leo haven’t ever laid in the soft, cool grass before. It’s a novel experience for them. Somehow, they don’t seem to notice the huge pigeon walking around next to them.
The next day is Liam’s teen birthday. Since the Wonder Child’s birthdays are a Big Deal, the whole family takes the day off from work/school. Jenna bakes two cakes ahead of time and puts them in her inventory. The family then travels to a community lot that’s been modified for the sole purpose of hosting birthday parties. As luck would have it, Jenna takes a piece from
both cakes before the party starts so Joe gets put on emergency cake duty instead.
And then this happens:
Note: Somehow, I only took one picture during the entire birthday party. I was worried about earning the gold medal since Joe had to bake a third cake, and then Liam aged-up with this very unfortunate haircut and I completely forgot about taking screenshots. Sorry about that. The party did earn a gold medal (barely) and Liam received a makeover straight away.
