The Dynasty of Original Townies Dynasty.

[oshizu]

Im surprised by how much time and effort you and your founding couple have expended on preserving your desired original townies.
The number seems much higher than you'd actually need, considering you mentioned playing pyramid style.
Will you be playing two dynasties (Aidan and Scarlet) for 10 generations each?  20 spouses?
Very very ambitious, indeed!

To stop Aidan and Scarlet's clocks at uni, will they also imbibe Potions of Immortality after their YA birthday?

[oshizu]

About your alien spellcaster, I was just reading about the Magical Bloodline trait on Carl's Guide and saw this:

This is relevant to look at first, because if your Spellcaster has offspring with a non-caster occult it's possible for the other occult to pass. It's almost always 50/50, although a witch with an alien would appear to always produce a witch or full-blooded alien and a witch with half-alien could result in witch (50% of the time), no occult (25%) or half-alien (25%).

I bolded the important part. Here's the webpage link. Look under the "Spellcaster, Alien, and Vampire" heading.
https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/gamepacks/realmofmagic/magical-bloodline.php

Carl doesn't mention that Senior Pollination Technician #3 needs to be involved.
Does that imply that a male or even a female spellcaster has a 50/50 chance for a full alienboo by procreating with a full-alien townie?
This would do away with the need for those elusive male pregnancies by alien abduction--even your glorious Kari could have an alienboo.

No room for more toddler/child beds? Do Kari and Loario use their bedoom?
Just kidding. I'm sure Nookstone isn't the place for you to start experimenting with fertility tricks.

[Heart Foam]

I do have more spouses than I need, but it means there'll be choice. I suspect I've got fewer male options, but Scrubs de Reve is a real Maxis sim used in the GTW trailer, and I'm happy to use him if other man options are dull.

Kari is the founder, and Aidan and Scarlet are the next line of bowling pins. I hadn't considered them as separate dynasties. Between them, 3 kids. And everyone gets a house of their own. And those 3 sims have 4 kids between them, completing 10. Which is plenty building. That said, in principle, this pyramid need never end. And there are a lot of Original Townies who should survive.

Thank you muchly for that info! So it really was Wayne's spellcaster life state that clashed with his abduction. Hmm. So Norma is really not alien in any way. I guess the coding treats that like any other pregnancy, but really now, Senior Pollination Technician #3 wasn't trying to give Wayne a human child!

On the other hand, that suggests there's another way to get a full-blooded Sulani Mana alien. Easier than abduction pregnancy, but only 50%...

Thinking out loud, Scarlet and her side of the family aren't Sulani Mana. So I can't use her. But if Aidan has a girl (and she'd be a Landgraab!), she'll be a prime candidate to experiment with.

Yes, Aidan and Scarlet will drink immortality before going to uni. Otherwise it can be quite a grind for each of them to unlock that potion themselves.

[oshizu]

I'm trying to work out how you are planning your 10 households.
House 1: Kari
Houses 2 and 3: Aidan and Scarlet
Houses 4, 5, and 6: The offspring of Gen2
Houses 7,8, 9, and 10: The offspring of Gen3

Aha, I see. So, I guess that means that, once Aidan and Scarlet graduate, you'll be playing your households in rotation?
Aidan is such a looker, btw!

[Heart Foam]

Yes, spot on. That is the tree. I'll follow Aidan to his new home (Scarlet can temporarily reside at Nookstone), and reintroduce Nancy to normal, unenhanced sim life (a daughter really can't be born with implants) (and Nancy actually got CAS surgery when she visited after the Starlight Awards). I'll stick with them until child or children reach YA, make sure everyone is immortal, and then switch to Scarlet.

More thinking aloud...

So Aidan, who is Sulani Mana + spellcaster, could get to know some lovely alien girls during alien night at the bar, and should they (somehow) become with child, there's a 50% chance of a pure alien... who should have Sulani Mana...

[oshizu]

The forum's Rival Dynasties Challenge is the one one where we play households in rotation.
And we're allowed to set Auto Ageing to "Active Household Only," which does exactly as it says.
Since your emphasis is original townies and since you've already displayed your skills at anti-ageing via vampirism and Potion of Immortality, wouldn't your life be considerably easier if you just changed your Auto-Ageing settings (including disabling auto-ageing of NPCs)? 
Just a thought, since your dynasty proceeds in a pyramid fashion rather than linearly. Oh well, the kiddos would still need to stop ageing at uni...

As for Adian's willing experimental subjects for the advancement of sims science, the satellite dish's Invite aliens (forgot the exact name) also usually attracts 2 female aliens. haha
Now, I'm tempted to experiment myself! Well, not me, per se, but one of my sims, of course.

[Heart Foam]

I prefer aging on. Otherwise when you move Bjorn in... you're leaving behind a doting Clara who must wonder what happened. In Aidan's case, I rather hope Geoffrey Landgraab is a ghost in the garden by now. If not, I'm sure he will by graduation.

-----

Sneak peak at the next house. I started out just trying to put my ideas for a Vacuous Green 2.0 down, but then I realized I'm not going to rebuild it tile-for-tile again, it just takes too long. So I'll save this one, plonk it down into my Dynasty save, and Aidan will move in... once he has harvested money trees at dad's house three days in a row. It's unfurnished, and unfinished, and 210k. 

















There are many colour and design choices I'm unsure of, some things are just placeholders, so I'm happily open to "eww, why did you do that?". Truly. I don't have the smallest clue how to deal with the landscaping. None!

I've had so many ideas for Aidan's house, and the story post-university. I've downloaded tons of houses but none were quite "me", and typically overstuffed and over-reliant on MOO. So I'm going back to a floor plan I know, but I've long wanted to open up the pool-level to the sun. --Here, the pool is not the basement. Technically it's the ground floor.

Yes, all the stairs leading to the front door are stupid because they'll slow down a sim who is leaving the lot. The original Vacuous Green was built before the configurable stair update, but now I'm using them. And that has caused me to rethink the 2nd floor, and the layout is completely different. I also don't need tons of bedrooms because this is will be a single-generation house. Slightly more commodious than Nookstone. Just a bit.

Aidan and his Beloved (actually I need to send Aidan through university first, small detail) will move in as soon as they have the simoleons, but that's not quite the same things as being able to buy a fridge or pay the bills.

[Heart Foam]

In this moderately exciting episode: Aidan makes a call, and goodbye Nookstone.

-----

So, back with the teens, and they don't have long. Monday, Tuesday. Then Wednesday is Winterfest. By that evening, or Thursday, I wanted them aged up and applying to university. Teens can apply for scholarships, but not uni entrance itself. Scarlet is athletic, and a dance machine. Those work well together because dance machine is another way to become energized. And given her traits, I wanted her to try for an athletic scholarship.





--Love that "dream big" picture, Scarlet hanging off the rim.

Thinking ahead to uni, what the dorms are missing are closed showers that take advantage of the shower woohoo. I could obviously pretend that's not what I had in mind, but... this is a management game. And I'm going to do it efficiently. That's all that there is to say. I had never ever used this portable shower, so I had to buy one to make sure it was drag-able, and that either Aidan or Scarlet had it in their inventory. And Loario did his handiness instant upgrade too.



One objective ticked off during the teen years was fame. Two new global superstars:





Kari took her kids to the Magic Realm (probably on Winterfest) where they have at least learned the basics of magic. Scarlet has scrubaroo, useful at uni, which is seldom the acme of cleanliness and hygiene.



They also found time to catch a tan, but not throw a kava party. That -- appropriately -- can wait for the partying Enthusiasm of university.



Only two days of school, one public holiday, and time to age up. Loario had baked a cheese cake (I'm definitely not looking for exotic recipes of such things in real life, what mad suggestions) even before they had both raised their positive character traits. I could have aged them to young adult even sooner, obviously, but it would pain me to have 3 or 4 traits. For both of them, emotional control was the last one. And using a violin is preferable because she got to level 8 and that means, with good handiness, she'll be able to make violins. One of those gameplay bits I like. Because the colours of the Stringvarious aren't great. It is really, literally because I don't want a blue violin that I'd rather have a sim make one.







Aidan picked up bookworm, which is okay. Scarlet got childish, which in the sims at least is a good trait (and we just don't ask about psychological development and transactional analysis).



Scarlet only applied for the athletic one. Aidan also only applied for a single scholarship, the Oasis Springs one.

No sooner had the kids applied to university, but mum whisked them off to the jungle. She had wanted to go for so long, but hadn't had the time. Loario stayed at home because he was on the cusp of reaching level 7 of the science career (yeah, that's all) which unlocks the decontamination shower to cure disease. And future generations can always visit Nookstone to do that. So Thursday and Friday were spent in the jungle.





One of my favourite jungle pictures. The lighting. The spider. Her eyes.





Scarlet pulled the wrong lever, which caused a bladder failure, but she's overjoyed at being accepted into university. Aidan's acceptance letter, for reasons unknown, was so much longer in coming. (We had even returned home hoping that would trigger it, and he was anxiously checking the mailbox.) But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Edit to add: Scarlet didn't get the athletic scholarship. Horrible! But she'll have to join the sports team to show 'em.

In case you wondered, and it might be useful, you can "copypasto" dig piles.





Tomb raid done! With Kari's frankly extraordinary amount of skill for a starter sim, she passed all the skill checks and got a good haul of treasure. Including a gold relic.

The last moment with Nookstone as the played house.



Yes, you have to move the sims one at a time. It's a bit clumsy. Neither of them took any money, and their courses are not paid out of household funds either.



So on Saturday, end of week 9 and New Years Eve, Aidan and Scarlet arrive at university to start term on a Monday. I don't like a weekend breaking up a term in the middle. I had never used this house before and din't know what facilities it would have. It turns out there is a normal closed shower, but the blue portable one is already fully upgraded and that makes it worthwhile. Aidan, the more arty of the two, also brought a digital sketchpad with, planning to draw and paint instead of ever doing homework.

Scarlet of course does homework, and writes essays, and thinks Big Thoughts at the library. Aidan... not so much. He calls Nancy.







The following evening, with no homework to do (well, yes, okay there is... but also Aidan wouldn't agree with that) they made a last-minute appearance at the Starlight Awards. Hey, maybe one of them would win just for being famous?





I gave Kari a posher, more formal green dress as you've seen in previous chapters, but I didn't overwrite this original outfit and obviously the non-played sims just use outfit #1. I think it's such fun to get an autograph from one's own sims. It makes no sense for Scarlet to react that way to her own mother. And that autograph is the most valuable thing Scarlet has, at 3200 simoleons. Incidentally, no prizes for the family. Scarlet wears that dress to remind people that she is a Father Winter's baby, and they're not.

Aidan is sad. He presumably thinks "I'm a global superstar so this essay writing is beneath me, and I plagiarized my other essay so I don't know what I'm doing". Maybe he thinks "I want a solid gold SUV". We can't really ask him.



To sum up his entire academic effort: he did a poor presentation, a poor essay, a plagiarized essay, and never once finished homework! Tune in next time to see how well his term went. Sometimes he did autonomously start homework, but whatever -- it didn't happen often, and he didn't do much. Something has taken his fancy though...*

I don't think there'll be a huge amount of story during uni, and hopefully the next update will complete it and see him move into his new house.

-----

*if you guessed "juice", that's a low-effort guess and shame on you! When are sims ever into juice? At university?

But you were right. It's definitely juice.

[Heart Foam]

On the Initial Thrill of Juice.

-----



Hey there Aidan, how's class going? Studying hard? Hardly studying?

To which Aidan thinks, "no ways dad, like, why would I? you calling me nerd? I'm like famous now or something? From painting and stuff like that? Here's an autograph or something. You know like a picture and whatnot... you know with like a name on it, but not typed? But like made with a pen or something? Cool. Yeah. I'm taking this fame thing seriously, I had it printed earlier. So now you know I'm famous or whatever."

Quite. But can he count to ten? We're not sure.

With most homework done (or ignored), Scarlet threw a kava party at the local pub, starting at 1am on Wednesday morning.



It's not mine, it's by hey_harrie on the gallery. It contains much CC, that I won't and didn't install, but it's easy enough to fix windows and a few wall coverings.

At the gathering was Dulce, Loario's love child with L. Faba and consequently Aidan's half-sister. He has all the looks. I didn't add him as a host to the party, to refresh my memory as to whether or not it would still count towards his aspiration as he is part of the same household. Scarlet got gold, and no, Aidan didn't get any aspiration milestone. Totally fine, as there is plenty of time for Aidan to Party Party.



*Plot Significance*:



I realised rather late that Tuesday is alien night. As mentioned in an earlier post, perhaps Aidan -- with his Sulani Mana and spellcaster -- can try for baby with an alien, knowing there's a 50% chance of a pure alien nooboo with Sulani Mana. Maybe alien night was still active at 1am, maybe not. Regardless, Kim Comer, tough-walking into the quaint public house in the green dress, is a lovely alien gal.

Kim was added to the family club, and she and Aidan tried for baby. 



Yes, she fell pregnant. More on that later...

And tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow crept in this petty pace from day to day, until it was the final day of term. Witness the stomach gurgles of a man who never did homework, made minimal effort on a presentation, minimal effort on an essay, and plagiarized another!



He is Uncomfortable! A most dire Foreshadowing.

So, how good will his grades be? Can you cheat and win?



Scarlet has a full set of A+ grades. Somehow Aidan managed to do okay. So... yes. Definitally got away with the cheating.

The Saturday after term 1, end of week 10, and Scarlet reached debate level 5 by beating Lucas Munch.





Even Loario is impressed by his not-his-daughter.

Feeling famous, Aidan and Scarlet -- just as vain in her own lovely way -- both hope for peer recognition and validation of their Fame.



Okay, sims don't get juiced, but if they did... would that be the face?

Scarlet won an award for her screenplay based on her father's life "All About Steve". (Steve was Father Winter. She's a Father Winter's Baby. Yes, Scarlet, we know. We all understood you last time.) Her mum Kari also turned up and won just for being great!





She's holding an invisible trophy, but no matter. If she enjoyed it, that's what matters.

-----

Term 2 of university, week 11, descended into a blurry endless stupor, especially for Aidan. He was buoyed by his success of cheating, and this term he wouldn't even have to make that effort! 3 exams, 1 presentation to do poorly... and that's it.

Scarlet spent much time at the library, but remembered to bring the portable shower... for fun. Or something.



Moving swiftly along, Aidan who had discovered Juice in term 1, really set about learning as much as he could. He therefore hosted a closed and controlled experiment -- called a keg party -- to observe the effects of different types of juice.







Even when the party was over, the keg remained. So, more juice:





I really feel like Loario is not being very responsible here.



Kim Comer, alien in disguise, is the lucky lady getting help with a keg stand. There's Dignity! There's breeding!

Thinking of breeding... she's no longer pregnant... and here's Aidan's family tree:



Meet pure alien Hobart Comer. The 50% chance was in our favour! Gasp! And he'll have Sulani Mana! Who needs abdication? With this development, Kim and Hobart will move into the new house as well as Nancy Landgraab. Space isn't likely to be a problem, so no matter. Kim is an adult, perhaps close to elder, so we don't want little Hobart to be left as a toddler or child without a parent and be culled. And he can be a bona fide part of the dynasty tree, and at least be properly raised once Aidan is finished at university.

In the middle of the night, Scarlet prepares impeccable food on the grill behind the commons.



She was also doing the "grill 5 times" milestone as part of her Beach Life aspiration, all food was at least excellent. There really needn't be any shortage of good food. These grills are portable after all.

Here's the face of a man who has a Mixology Certificate. He really wanted to learn as much about juice as he could. Once he maxed the skill, he kept taking other skill classes and sure enough he got the certificate. I was curious to do this, to see how it compares to a degree -- what level in the career will he start?





Besides, his Beloved is a vampire who needs to be cured with a mixology drink. It is just a level 1 drink, but Nancy needs to trust his skill. She has to be cured before another Mini Landgraab makes her way into the world. And it will be a 'her', because we have a boy -- Hobart -- already.

Scarlet gets more A+ results to add to the collection. Term 2 results not as good for Aidan. We are all in uproar.



There's an Aperture for That: F
Framing the Shot: D
Andante / Allegro: Finding you Musical Speed: C-
Parenting: Don't Do That: D-

He's on probation.

Next time: Aidan's university Ends with a Moral Lesson about Juice.

[oshizu]

Scarlet has an A+ GPA but Aidan is definitely having more fun at uni!
Still, his grades really dropped during Term 2.
Please tell him for me to expend a wee more effort in his Parenting class since he's a father now.

Aaaannnnd speaking of which, superb job, Watcher, on the alienboo with the Sulani Mana trait. And on the very first try!
Definitely a simpler process than all the wishing, hoping, and waiting that the satellite dish requires.
I'm so happy for you!

I look forward to learn what plans you have, if any, for the lovely Dulce.

[Heart Foam]

Ah. Well. Yes. It's great he took a parenting elective.... it's less great he didn't learn what not to do.



Here's a man who was suspended from university midway through the final semester. His party, low-effort lifestyle might even affect Scarlet's grades because he got booted out the next morning. For Scarlet's final two days of uni I'm not going to be in control of her, though she had finished her homework in that library session. While she studies, he queues up painting on the digital pad. Note the family funds of 184k.

I'll post a half-chapter this evening to fill in the blanks. Get him to the new house. State of the Family Report and all that.

[Heart Foam]

In this exciting shorter episode: Aidan throws a party, then Aidan has another party, and also... Aidan finds a juice keg.

-----

End of term and it's time to drown out all those bad memories of failing a class... with a kava party! He needed to do this to catch up to where Scarlet is in the Beach Life aspiration. You'd never have guessed that she's doing better than him. I am genuinely contrite for the shock I have unwittingly caused.



To celebrate such a good kava party, Aidan hauled out the Golden Keg that he unlocked.



And he had to finish the keg and replace it. He had to. For science. (I hear those groans from the gallery. Hey, I'm a good sim parent. I look after them well.) It was to see if the golden keg would be swapped out and be replaced by a regular non-gold version. No. When that keg of pineapple-lime was finished and replaced with passion fruit (because of course he as a flirty drink on tap at all times), the golden lid remained. It didn't just become pink - though, yes, the juice was obviously pink.

Nancy reminded everyone that she is in fact a vampire, and requires a different sort of drink.



Scarlet is in the football team as well. Because of course she is. And she's the star player too. That's by way of explanation of the noticeable muscle tone in her arms.

Loario actually helps people with keg stands autonomously. What a father. (This is possibly why Aidan failed at learning what not to do at Parenting Class.)



And now:

[insert picture, stored in your memory from the post above, of confident Aidan having just been suspended from university.]

We need to talk about that. 

The scene is Wednesday evening. Scarlet and Aidan are at the library, and Scarlet finishes up on her last bit of homework for Friday (she had already done Thursday's, she's great) while Aidan queues up batches of 5 large abstract paintings. At 6 pm Scarlet leaves for soccer practice, and the hitherto ignored sim Aidan (he spent all his time on juice and women, and the rest he wasted), is un-ignorable because his better half-sister is away. So, what homework does he have due this term? I had never bothered to check, so, of a beautiful autumn evening, Aidan realizes he has 3 term papers due. Due for Friday. This is unacceptable. Even attempting a poor quality essay is time consuming for man who must learn the Secrets of Juice. So he plagiarizes. Sure, we know there's going to be some repercussions at some point, but we don't know what they'll be. Maybe they just won't accept the essay!

No! Alack! As you know! Cheating is frowned upon. And of a autumnal evening Aidan was suspended. No problem I thought, he'll stay and paint while Scarlet finishes her degree. 



Apparently the university had a dim view of that, and a 5:30am (just ignore the kegs in the background... it's not like Aidan was there... checking on them, to see if they're okay) he got the above message, and a timer counting down. On a related note, this university housing is inconveniently far from classes and sims are often late. So to prevent Scarlet from being lat to her 8:00am class, because she hadn't left early like she sometimes does, at 7:52am, Thursday, week 12...



University ended for Aidan. But he left 5,000 for his sister. What a guy.

Since his suspension the night before, he sold another stack of large abstract paintings and had accumulated enough to buy his house to impress (and placate) Ms Landgraab with about 10k left over to fill the massive shell with the barest of necessities.





Kim Comer is an elder, and the mother of a cute alienboo that even Aidan can't refuse. He invited them to live at Chateau Peak. Kim also brought 20k, which helps. And most of the 20k went to fitting out a nursery for Hobart. We shall obviously know him as "the hurricane", or Hobart Hurricane -- the one Aussie cricket fan out there might be a Rebel, and not appreciate that.







Q: Aidan's mixology certificate... did he start the career?
A: Yes! Good question. He starts at level 6. Not bad. On the degree side, because he failed a class, he only has 7 credits. So it would be two terms at least if he wanted to complete the degree from home.

Q: Where's Nancy?
A: Not here yet. It's too hectic, and the house isn't ready. Hobart is 1 day away from being a child. There's no chance of him getting even Happy Toddler. Such is life. He is still a 100% alien with Sulani Mana, and that's plenty special. And Aidan isn't in a position to cure Nancy yet either.

Q: In what way is the house not ready?
A: this



I used configurable stairs, and I really like the L-shape. To place the arches under the stairs -- and there's clearly enough room for them -- I used MOO. Until I had a sim on the lot, I wasn't sure how that would work. It turns out the sims cannot path through them. I'm sighing in frustration as I write this. There's also no money without having Aidan stop parenting the Hurricane and sketch. So I'm hamstrung. I can't just go into build mode and fix it. Right now there is no direct way to the kitchen, for example. Enthusiasm drains away. Building these houses takes an awful lot of thought... and when it doesn't quite go right, finding the motivation to go back in and plan again, problem-solve again...

I'm also not sure what to do with Kim. If Aidan commits to magic in a big way he can learn copypasto and copy a potion of immortality for her at Nookstone. And then, if she's immortal does she have to stay as an elder?, or can she be an immortal young adult? Those are questions floating around in my head. I think if I'm keeping everyone in the dynasty alive, she deserves it as much as anyone. We might be able to make a good looking alien out of her.

The Sulani Mana toddler, for the one day he's a toddler, which is Harvestfest:



On the plus side, if Aidan hadn't been suspended and kicked out of university housing, we'd never have seen Hobart as a toddler at all. Pointy ears!

I loaded up the save to take the CAS picture above, and while I was there, this is my stair solution. It works, but for this house I'd prefer more solid stairs.



For the sake of having some colour on the walls and floor, and not having to think about everything, some rooms take inspiration from other houses. The formal lounge of the beachfront mansion thing, for example, has the same floor and paneling as the (empty) lounge and dining room here.

-----

edited to add:

[Heart Foam]

In this exciting* episode: a Caliente girl cries, Hobart has the TV remote, and Nancy throws confetti.

*for once, I'm not even kidding. It's that exciting.

-----



Fist bump. Yeah. Nancy was invited over, and eventually Kim was the one to invite her to the household. Aidan has max friendship and romance with Nancy, but he's too busy painting.





I had used quite a lot of terrain smoothing at the back. However, instead of hiding the fact it's a sunken courtyard I think it works better with the stairs, and, basically, a focal point. So that's new. There's a statue of a sim in an exciting state of undress too. She is temporarily swapped out later on in the chapter.

Aidan prepares Nancy's vampire cure.



He added two plant pots, and just purchased enough seed packs to get the vampire cure ingredients. The plant pots will be used to grow strawberries and carrots.

To that end, we took an uneventful visit to Nookstone to harvest the strawberry and carrot bushes that Kari and Loario carefully grew. The complication to come from that visit is finding that Kari's complete set of excellent magic potions is gone. Those shelves are empty. The game has lost every magic potion in all the household swaps. Aidan was making an effort to learn copypasto, and didn't think he'd need more than that, but now he pretty much has to know everything. He needs to learn the potion of immortality, it's the only way Hobart (or yet unmet Miss Landgraab) will be an immortal.





And with that, Nancy is no longer a liability. She's gonna soak up the sun. She's gonna tell everyone to lighten up.

Hobart Hurricane aged up to child day after arriving in Del Sol Valley. He was never going to get to level 3 on all skills. Alack.





The main floor of the house. Just so you know what things look like. (I'm not sold on the black marble either. That's okay.)

A better look at the lounge, because this has walls. And houses have walls. It's a trend that caught on and we can all relate to. I like that the colours are warmer, but those chairs at the fireplace (oh, yeah, the Hurricane is being read to, and needs a makeover) fade into the background now. They need a more decisive colour. 





That's youthful Hobart in his party outfit. I rather feel he needs to be an actor. He has his stage name already.



You'll see the house evolve a lot as I live with it, and get used to it, and see things I don't like. Aidan has a familiar now. He's been to the Magic Realm in an effort to learn as many spells as possible, maybe keep Kim alive. Aidan is sitting there, somewhat blocked from view by Kim.

"But why not use as potion of youth on Kim? How many satisfaction points does Aidan have?"

Oh, he has about 11k.

But I didn't think of that at the time.

For real.

More house  things:





Then it was back to the magic realm. Aidan nagged the sages for wisdom, dueled for spells and artifacts, and generally tried to level up efficiently.

I know that slightly neglects Hobart's indoctrination, but I can get through all 4 child aspirations and gold scouting in about a week. And if one solely focuses on magic, it's possible to level up quickly.



Yes, the redhead is Scarlet. Wearing a cupcake, or something. She also beat Aidan in a duel, which was mightily uncharitable.

Aidan was not, however, magicking fast enough. While he was pursuing his aspiration, Hobart and Kim were stranded at the entrance portal. He played somber tunes, and she died.





It may well be that Aidan learns the spells to bring her back and make her immortal, but I'm undecided on whether or not to do that, or whether or not Nancy would appreciate sharing the house.



Oh that one is gratuitous. I like the indoor pool. I like the arches and pillars. One thinks of Phantom, only more cheerful.

With Kim out the way, and Nancy a normal human, not a vampire, so she can soak up the sun... she can tell everyone... (My amusement at my own pun hasn't subsided yet. This is Festive Cheer, you see.) ... a wedding between Aidan Gibbs (college drop out), and Nancy Landgraab (a criminal boss -- did Geoffrey know that about her?) was held at dawn.



Yes, that's Don Lothario and Another Man here to provide the accompaniment. I don't think Don is a vampire. I think he's a magic immortal. I did wonder. Because... this might have ended badly. At the edge of the lot, the concrete sim lady in exciting state of undress is replaced by a wedding arch.





What a setting. That is Picturesque.





And the sun rose, on cue. Did I even invite Joaquin? Hmm. But he's there, regardless. He is or was, perhaps, maybe in the picture to be Scarlet's spouse -- it all depends. Not Don. Not unless it's an uptown girl looking for a downtown man type of relationship.

Gorgeous family photo on the wedding day. Aidan with a glass of red. Hobart with the TV remote. The morning sun. (And Hobart's deceased mum, Kim, on the bookshelf. I've never had an alien grave stone or urn before.)



Through the open door is the unmistakable silhouette, and perky walk, of one Mila Munch who had slaved away in the kitchen. It's just as well because I'm sure she really is a vampire. Oh, come on. You want Munch kids too. Mila's jawline? Lovely. That's an hour before school on Monday, winter, week 13.

And Nancy is eating for two!



And finally, a flash of lightning during a winter storm.



I was so pleased with catching the strike that it was a desktop background for a while. Staring at it long enough caused me to notice the missing wall fountain. And I think the roof really has to be taller. So, much rebuilding of the roof to look forward to.

[oshizu]

I love the shot of youthful Hobart in his white-gold-and-black party jacket that matches his hair so well!
My primary incentive for buying DU is that hair!!!
The house, of course, looks ravishing. Especially the last night shot amidst the lightning storm.

How long does it typically take you to max magic?
I'm finding the process quite boring, haha. I must be too impatient or not leveling efficiently.
By the way, I'm curious why you choose Joaquin for Scarlet? Which genetic feature of his do you seek?
Or is it the location of his house on the island?

[Heart Foam]

Such good hair! Yes! (But the build stuff and degree stuff is fun too.) Maybe I'm subconsciously still feeling guilty about Kari causing the death-by-vampire-sunburn of Cameron, who had that hair. It's just hit me now. Scarlet should have Cameron. I was drawn to Joaquin's green eyes, but Scarlet already has green eyes, so I'm not fully committed to Joaquin. I reckon there's more story to be found in de-deathifying someone else.

There are magic perks that increase xp gain, and it's important to take them early. With a one-sim household and nothing else to do, I think it can be quite fast. Aidan has got time. He needs to know the potions (and maybe dedeathify?) by the time I want to send the kids to university. He's level 2 now, it has been slow going. You've inspired me to fit out a room for his cauldron so he can practice, and rank up faster? Literally doing that right now! With his Easy Street perk from 5-star fame, he's getting a promotion every day. Started at level 6. I'm currently at Winterfest, week 13. He's already level 9 as a mixologist, he'll have one shot at Snaggle Fluster, and then he can quit and focus on magic. Maybe finish his degree from home with Nancy's prompting.