The Branch Immortal Dynasty (Complete)

[peach]

Congratulations!! I'm so excited to see how you wrap the story up. I read these chapters right after finishing up a difficult exam, and the picture of Sparrow with a huge green cloud emanating from her armpits was just what I needed. So funny. I laughed for a solid minute--I'm not sure why that got me so good, but it did.

How old is Christy? Is she stuck in her Young Adult stage or her Adult stage? Just curious. It's crazy that she's been around so long.

[Beks]

Congratulations!! I'm so excited to see how you wrap the story up. I read these chapters right after finishing up a difficult exam, and the picture of Sparrow with a huge green cloud emanating from her armpits was just what I needed. So funny. I laughed for a solid minute--I'm not sure why that got me so good, but it did.

How old is Christy? Is she stuck in her Young Adult stage or her Adult stage? Just curious. It's crazy that she's been around so long.

Thank you! And hooray for laughing at armpit stank! I just loved that it was Sparrow, the self-conscious snob, who was spewing green clouds everywhere.

Christy is an Adult at this point. Tiny spoiler: she ages up to elder shortly after this. I don't know exactly how old she is, but I'm planning to go in with NRaas Master Controller now that the challenge is over, and maybe I can find out.

[peach]

Interesting! Well, I'm excited to see what happens. If you go in with Overwatch now that you're finished, please share how many cars get cleared out after eight generations of gameplay.

[Beks]

Interesting! Well, I'm excited to see what happens. If you go in with Overwatch now that you're finished, please share how many cars get cleared out after eight generations of gameplay.

Oh no, I didn't even think of Overwatch! I would go back in, but I already did everything I needed to with Master Controller and it would take a loooong time to load that file again. *sigh* Let's just assume there were 9,047 cars. Or else something really disappointing like 40.

I did remember to check Christy's age, though, and she's...86! Which is obviously not correct, so I'm not sure what happened there. Perhaps her age really was glitched after all.

[Beks]

70 ~ Time Was Passing Everywhere

by Bluebird Branch

My dad died a few days after my adult birthday. Mom had to go to the town mausoleum to collect his tombstone - she hadn’t gotten to see him one last time. Rest in peace, Jess Jacques, the best pudding-face to ever be a Branch.



Of course, even though she was heartbroken, she still took the time to critique the statue of the Grim Reaper in the cemetery. Avant-gardes must be avant-gardes, and Grim, as we know, is a poor excuse for art.



Time was passing everywhere. Papaya became an elder cat whilst inspecting the music box in Gran Sparrow’s bedroom.



Twig was now a permanent fixture in the household. Granny Starling had always insisted that his gravestone stay out so he could visit whenever he wanted, but after a while we realized that Twig was haunting 24/7. He came out one day and just never went back in. It’s not like anyone minded. He even became best friends with Papaya!



Funnily enough, Twig did not get along with Lilac. A few days went by and suddenly they were enemies. I can’t explain it and therefore we must leave it up to our imaginations. Perhaps there was some sort of cross-dimensional catfight!



I went on a date with Christy to Hidden Gardens. Well, it didn’t start out as a date…but it ended like one. We discovered that we got along really well. I loved hearing Christy talk about her childhood all those years ago. Something strange had happened to her as a baby - she’d disappeared for many years, then reappeared when her older brother was a full-grown man instead of a child like her. Her brother had died a long time ago, but she was still here.



And to me, she seemed as young as I was - and as good at kissing.



We spent as much time together as we could. I was so glad to have company outside of my own family, to have someone to talk to who had lived outside of the Nest. Christy became my closest friend and my lover all in one.



She also introduced me to the wonders of underwater woohoo. As a writer, I need to be experienced in all avenues of life, you know.

The years rippled by and in some ways I hardly noticed them. I was buried up to my nostrils in writing, and everywhere I looked, there were more stories to be told. It felt like I couldn’t write them fast enough.



From Great-Grandfather Wesley’s books, I had learned snippets of the stories of my grandmothers. But there was more to discover, and a lot of it was in the physical spaces around me. Maybe it was because of the treasure trove I’d found in the aviary (I found Granny Starling up there one night, and she shooed me away before I could ask what she was doing). Whatever the reason, I found myself fascinated with the Nest itself, and with all of the magical details it held. Objects and furniture that had been around for centuries, photographs and paintings from long ago, chests of random objects that had been left behind and forgotten…



I loved to stare at the collection of sculptures that had accumulated on the lawn outside the studios. They were mostly just random works that Meadowlark didn’t want to sell just yet. I thought they were beautiful, and full of life, and strange.

I also dug into the chests strewn about the house. In one, I found dozens and dozens of gems - remnants of the furious search for Sandpiper’s pink diamond. (That’s how rich we were. We had probably millions of simoleons worth of gems in there, and they were just sitting in a box!) In another, I found ten identical pink-tinged potions. (Chickadee saw me looking in there and waved her hands at me, telling me to shoo.) In a third, I found a spare collection of things: two chunks of palladium, three pink diamonds, and a cookie shaped like a spaceship. I had to resist the urge to eat that hundred-year-old cookie. (It looked perfectly preserved!)



I even looked in the mysterious chest that sat outside Starling’s garden. When Starling saw me looking, she started shouting at me. I was hardly listening - I’d caught a glimpse of some gross black fish in there, and some glowy pear-like fruits, and also some creepy dead flowers that sort of had faces on them. Obviously I wasn’t supposed to see those things.

I tried to ask Starling about them, but she just screamed and screamed.



“Why is this chest outside the fence if you don’t want anyone to look in it?” I asked, smiling in spite of her fury.
“Because most people don’t even notice it’s there!”
“Well, I’m very good at noticing.”
“So I’ve noticed. Now go away!”

I sighed. I would have to make up my own story about the glowy pears and the happy dead flowers and the stringy black fish.



I also went away from the Nest at times, if I wanted something different to write about. And wherever I went in Hidden Springs, I found more stories about my ancestors. I went to the lodge on top of the mountain and found Sandpiper’s flashy pink arcade. I sat on the glowing, pulsing floor tiles and wrote about what she must have looked like dancing with Wesley back in the day.



I went to Sparrow’s very purple gym and wrote some poetry at the counter in the lobby, letting the smells of sweat and snobbery wash over me and engulf my senses.



I also took a moment to try out the dance studio. I felt it was my responsibility, as a bird, to practice the chicken dance there.



I went to the Black & White Cafe, which was Chickadee’s property. It was a popular hangout, probably because of the espresso machine that was really hard to get to. I fought through the routing issues to pour myself a cup of coffee. I had to experience every detail!



Then I sat at a table, sipped my drink, and felt the oppressiveness of strangers closing in on me. I didn’t like it here as much as I’d expected, but I stayed long enough to feel a story building around me. Then I hightailed it out of there to spend some time alone.

I went to Goldfinch’s cabin, which she hardly ever visited because she was ashamed of how she’d decorated it. I sat in the cozy mishmash of furniture and listened to classical music and wondered what it was like to be at the start of a dynasty instead of the end.



When I set up my laptop and started writing, Goldfinch showed up. She sat beside me, munching rather inelegantly on some country bread I’d baked in the brick oven against the wall. There was a bowl stuck to her hand. Both of us pretended not to see this. You don’t want to bring Goldfinch’s attention to anything improper.



“You know, I always resented this little hovel,” she said. “I was in such a hurry to complete my requirements, I failed to truly bestow upon it my artistic expertise.”
“Uh huh,” I said. “Well, I think it’s cute.”
“It's rather dank in here, isn’t it?” she went on, as if she hadn’t heard me. “It reeketh of werewolf saliva.”
“Ooh, reeketh?” I quickly added this word to my manuscript.
“And look at the furniture - the very chairs we sit on. Scratched and scarred - as if they’ve been ravaged by beasts!”

I thought all of this was pretty fascinating, actually. Clearly it pained Goldfinch to be here, but I found writing about the place even more fun after this rather one-sided conversation.



And of course, I had to visit Starlight Picnic Park For Activities Other Than Picnicking, which was perhaps the most well-known property belonging to us, and the one that we still visited pretty often. I knew that FLOCK, Starling’s family band, had played here many times, and that dates and breakups and fights had happened here, and that there was always a local pudding-face hanging around playing Gnubb or ping pong or piano. I practiced piano a bit, and then I wrote some stories about the townspeople I met. I knew that I wasn’t very different from them, even though I was a Branch.



The stories that I wrote seemed to flow in the air around me, filling my mind, infiltrating my blood. Sleeping and waking felt similar to me, because all of it was a strange blend of dreams and reality. And I never stopped reading, either. I was still working my way through Betsy the bookshelf and all the books she held that my great-grandfather had left for me. I didn’t want to think about the fact that my own story - our story, the Branch story - would be coming to an end very soon. I still had time. As much time as I needed. At least, I hoped so.

[Beks]

71 ~ Conversations With Old Ladies

by Bluebird Branch

As my elder birthday approached, I grew afraid. Not of growing old - no, I was rather excited to experience that, actually - but of the end of the dynasty. Mostly because I didn’t know what was going to happen at the end. Aside from me eating ambrosia, that is.

I found myself wondering about the start of the dynasty. What it was like to be at the very beginning. Starling knew, of course, but I would never be able to feel that for myself. For some reason that made me sad.

And for some reason, I found myself talking to Sandpiper about this.



“I just…I wish I could really go back, you know? Go back to the beginning. See it all for myself.”
“But you can.”
“What?”



“You can! Just use one of my time machines. I’ve built hundreds of them. That’s the project I’ve been working on, silly. Time machines!”
“But...can those actually go back to the past? Our past?”



“Well, to be honest, I haven’t played around with them much. I may be a Daredevil, but I’m not stupid enough to risk the whole dynasty on a few time traveling adventures. Even though just saying that out loud makes me ache to do exactly that...”
“So you don’t know where they go? The time machines, that is?”



“They are programmed to go back to a past, or forward to a future. What those pasts and futures are, there’s no way to know until you go.”
“So…there’s no way to pinpoint Hidden Springs 400 years ago as the destination.”
“I didn’t say that. The time machines on their own certainly can’t do that, but with your help, I think maybe they could.”
“How?”



Sandpiper leaned in close. “Do you remember what Wesley wrote in his letter to you?”
“You know about that?!”
“Wesley was my husband, remember? Of course I know about it. Now tell me, what exactly did that letter say?”



“Um…he said that…that as writers, we have a special ability to…bend the rules of time.”
“Yes! Exactly.”
“But I thought he meant through, you know, writing stories.”
“He did. But there’s more to it than that. He may have been slightly influenced by a certain inventor in the family when he was writing that letter.”
“You mean you?”



“Obviously. Think about it, Blue. Our family has already been bending the rules of time, since the beginning of time. We immortals have been evading death for centuries, living far beyond our prescribed lifespans. This comes down to basic mechanics - the ingredients of ambrosia. Now, I am not a gardener, angler, or cook, and neither are you, so I doubt either of us finds those mechanics very interesting. Besides, there’s not much to them: ambrosia restores one to the beginning of their lifestage, or restores ghosts to life. That’s it. That’s the story.”
“Okay…”
“So, I think Wesley was talking about something else, Blue. And I think you have an idea for what that might be.”
“I do?”



“What was that thing you said to me a few minutes ago? About what you wanted to do most?”
“Uh…go back to the beginning?”
“Yes.”



“So are you saying…that I can really do that? Just because I’m a writer?”
“And because your great-grandmother is a smashing good inventor. We both have a part to play here, birdie.”
“But what can I possibly do to make your time machine go back to the beginning of time in Hidden Springs?”



“Well, every invention needs a little imagination to work properly. And you’ve got plenty of that.”

I wasn’t sure I understood. Sandpiper seemed very confident, though. In fact, she looked positively proud of herself, and, since apparently there was nothing more to say, off she went, back into her workshop.

I decided that, at some point, I was going to have to talk to Starling. Sandpiper did seem to know a lot about the end of the dynasty, but I felt that I needed some sort of foundational reassurance that there was a plan. So I went to find Granny Starling. I found her up on the top floor of the Nest, trying to sneak into Gran Sparrow’s private gym.



“Granny Starling? I need to talk to you.”
“Ah, Bluebird! Yes. I was wondering when you were planning to remember that I exist.”



“Um…right. So…so the dynasty is ending soon.”
“You bet your butt it is.”



“And…” I wasn’t quite sure what I was asking, now that I was standing here. “I was wondering…do you know, like…what happens next?”



Granny Starling stared at me for a second, and then she said, “Um, yeah. Everybody knows what happens next.”
“They do?”



“Chyeah. We all live happily ever after! As in, we get to resurrect our spouses, turn back into hot young things, and run off to live the lives we’ve been dreaming of for hundreds of years.”
“Oh. That’s…part of the dynasty rules?”



“Of course not! It’s more that Watchers are suckers for sentimentality and the tying up of loose shoelaces, or whatever the phrase is. They like to make things all neat and pretty. It’s purely for their own pleasure.”



“But you said we all live happily ever after, so surely it’s for our pleasure too?”



“I suppose so. All I know is that I’m not going anywhere I don’t want to go. You all can run off and have your flashy adventures. I might be content to stay right here.”

Okay, so that cleared some things up. Now I knew that we would all get to fulfill our wildest dreams after the end, and that we could resurrect our loved ones that had died, and that time travel might even be possible. I suspected that Granny Starling knew more than she felt like telling me. That was fine - there would be plenty of time to figure out the details once we made it to the end. But I still felt like there was a piece missing.

So I went to the other family member I felt a close kinship with. Someone who understood me better than anyone else (aside from Papaya, Chantel the Sea Sludge, and Betsy the bookshelf).

I found Great-Great Grandmother Meadowlark at the meadow, of course. We sometimes went there for our spellcasting duels. I told her everything I’d learned from Great-Grandma Sandpiper and from Granny Starling, and I expressed my confusion and overwhelmedness.



“I just can’t figure out how it’s all going to work together!” I said. “And apparently I’m the center of it, and I don’t fully understand what I’m meant to do.”



“Well, you’re supposed to be able to ‘bend the rules of time’, huh?” said Meadowlark. “I might be able to help you with that part.”
“Really? How?”
“You and I are witches, Blue. Do you know what the highest-level magical ability is?”
“No…? I guess I don’t.”



“The Reanimation Ritual. We can raise the dead, Blue. At least, we can turn them into zombies. And then, with our Sunlight Charm, we can return them to human form.”

My mouth fell open. And suddenly I understood why this Neurotic old woman had been pestering me to study magic more.



“But I…I’m not a master witch yet,” I said quietly. “I don’t think I’m even a good witch. I'm not sure I’ll be able to help you raise the dead, when it’s time.”
“Sure you will. How are you coming along on your requirements?”
“Pretty well, I guess. I’m almost at level 10 of my career, and I just have one opportunity left, and then there’s all those friends I’ve got to make…”
“Sounds like you’ll have plenty of time to learn magic. Come on, let’s start right now!”



*SHRINGGG*
“Hey! I wasn’t ready!”



And so we dueled. I had dueled with my great-grandmother numerous times before, but I had never managed to win once. Aaaand nothing changed this time, either. Meadowlark shot spells at me with her bare hands, pulling magic from the very air around her. I fumbled with my wand and coughed in the smoke and shimmer of her spells as they broke against me. I struggled. I fought. I pulled myself together and tried again and again.



And as the hours went by, as the sun fell behind the mountains and cast a purpley glow over everything, as the disco music pulsing behind me wormed its way into my brain until I knew I'd be able to sing the lyrics in my sleep…I began to get better. Great-Grandmother Meadowlark taught me new spells to counteract hers, and I learned to cast rings of fire before me, and cut through her sharpest blasts with tricks of my own. She never let me win, not really, but I got better at defending myself, and before long the streaks of light shooting across the meadow were coming from two witches, not just one.

I wasn’t a master witch yet. But I was something.

[Beks]

72 ~ Star to Blue

by Bluebird Branch

Christy became an elder a few days before I did. She called me and asked me to meet her at Starlight Picnic Park. “I don’t know how long I’ve got,” she said. “Some of us townies live for ages after becoming elders, and some of us die within a fortnight. Or less.”



“Well, in that case, I guess we’d better make this official,” I said.
“Really?!”
“Duh! You think I'm giving you the boot just because you're old? You have no idea what's comin', baby."

With my birthday only a few days away, I reviewed my requirements. I had reached the top of my writer career upon publishing my second masterpiece, entitled Star to Blue: The Story of the Branch Immortal Dynasty. I’d supermaxed writing long ago. I’d been picking away at all the odds and ends, and now I just had two things left: six best friends, and one more opportunity.

I had Christy in place as one best friend, and also my mother, Tanager. I went around town looking for a few more. One of them lived in a log cabin near the Nest, and when I went inside, I noticed how beautifully decorated the sitting room was.



“But that’s because it was decorated by a real architect!” exclaimed Lana Burroughs. “The famous Goldfinch Branch did this sitting room, many generations ago!”

And she was right. I was standing in one of the only renovations my great-great-great-great grandmother ever did.

Two days to go. I had six best friends, and I’d just received a phone call for one last opportunity: to write a fantasy novel. As I sat down to write, I realized that something in my bedroom was different. It took me a moment to figure out what.

It was Chantel. I could see Chantel the sea sludge. Chantel the sea sludge could not see me. Because she was dead.



I spent an hour or so writing, watching Chantel’s sludgy body float pathetically on the surface of the water. I let the sadness wash over me like waves. I felt very sorry for Chantel and for myself.



Then I remembered that I was a witch, and Chantel the sea sludge had come from my own magical abilities, and I could convert her all over again, into something new! So I tried it. I performed the conversion ritual. In the place of the smelly fishbowl sat a netted cage containing a green swallowtail butterfly, named Christal.



It wasn’t the same. I missed Chantel the sea sludge.



On my last day as an adult, I allowed myself to take a long nap while my family members went on doing their things and the cats went on cuddling innocently.



Late that night, just before midnight, I finished my fantasy novel. The Buslingthorpes was sent off to the publishers. My final opportunity was complete. Twig the Ghost Cat dozed in the cat bed behind me. And my requirements were done.

Well, at least until I got my elder museum pieces done. Suddenly I had the urge to get it all done as fast as possible!



I arrived at my cake first thing in the morning and summoned my grandmothers from the far reaches of the house. I stood waiting for them in my bathing suit, which just...felt like the right outfit for a time like this.



Granny Starling was the last to arrive in the kitchen as everyone else was cheering. The smile on her face was bright enough to light all of Hidden Springs.



Then the sparkles hit me, making me green and glittery, filling my body with warmth. And then with aches. Getting old hurts!



I went to the mirror and fixed up my hair and donned a new dress. I could have dyed my hair back to its original color, like all my grandmas had, but it didn’t feel right. After all, I was only going to be old for a day or two. And I wanted to really feel what it was like, grey hair and all.



After the sun rose, I went into the studios to get my museum pieces done. Great-Great Grandmother Meadowlark created the last ice sculpture she would ever have to make.



I sort of sensed her anxiety over this concept. I tried to inspire her with my stance of strength, but she still looked a little bug-eyed. Thank goodness she was very experienced with the chainsaw by this point.



Great-Great-Great-Great Grandmother Goldfinch took a photograph of me out in front of the lake, and then she painted one last portrait of me.



By the time she finished, darkness had fallen, and we were all hungry. Goldfinch got cocky and attempted to grill some hot dogs. Honestly, she should have known that this was a bad idea, but sometimes I think Goldfinch is less sane than she lets on.



“Oh, dear. Whatever have I done? How terrible.”

She didn’t even pass out. That's how you know she's not all right.



After the fire was put out by the two witches and the daredevil of the family, we all stood around the grill in the dark, like, What do we do now?



I pulled Starling aside. “I’m ready,” I said. “Everything is done. It’s all complete.”



“Oh, Blue!” she said. “I knew you could do it. Are you ready to escort us to the end of the story?”
“I suppose I am, Granny Starling.”



She pulled me into a hug. “Go get some sleep,” she whispered. “We can wait till tomorrow. Everything will look more *aesthetic* by daylight anyway.”

[Beks]

73 ~ Dawn

by Starling Branch

I know it’s Bluebird’s job to tell the end of the story. But we can’t really do this part without me. I started it all, after all. I’m the original Branch, and as such, I have certain responsibilities. Like setting everything up for the last ambrosia meal of the dynasty. It had to be super special, and everyone knows I am super special.



All my daughters and granddaughters were still asleep when I crept out of bed a couple of hours before dawn. I tiptoed out to the lawn. In the magic of night, a lamppost had appeared near the stone wall closing off the Super Secret Cellar of Secrets. Beside it was a stretch of countertop and the trusty old replicator that had never broken not even once even though it totally should have. And nearby, where the wedding arch had once stood, was the table where the first seven immortals had partaken of the ingredients of immortality. There were eight whole chairs around it now. Eight! Chairs!



Quietly, sneakily, I started replicating. One after the other, I produced eight plates of ambrosia and set them around the table.



I stood back after I was done, admiring the effect of the overall scene: the formal table and neatly-spaced chairs, the flower-strewn earth beneath, the little rainbows of smoke wafting delicately up from the eight white plates. And over it all, the purpley-pinky glow of pre-dawn rising over the waters in the distance.

Gosh, I’m starting to sound all poetic and Bluebirdy. Anyway!



Once the table was set, I called for my descendants to join me. They came out of the house and approached the table, all of them fully dressed and ready for the new day. I waited as they gathered around and started sitting in their assigned places. There was a hush that felt almost holy. We’d all eaten ambrosia a dozen times before, except for Bluebird, but this time it was different. It was super extra special.



“You mean I don’t get to venture down into Bob?” said Bluebird suddenly.
“Uh…who’s Bob?” I said.
“Bob the basement. You know, where you all ate ambrosia before.”
“Oh, that Bob. You’re not missing much, dear. It’s much better up here, trust me.”
“And dirtier,” sniffed Goldie.



We were almost all settled, which was quite a feat for eight crazy old ladies. Then Tanager got spooked and started yelling about not being able to sit down, which spooked Blue, and I had to tell everybody to shut up and get their butts into their chairs before I threw rubber ducks at them all individually.



And so we ate.



And I gotta admit, it was pretty crazy, sitting there with my seven descendants, eating our last plate of ambrosia. In just moments, my great-great-great-great-great granddaughter would be immortal. We would ALL be immortal. And it would be over. The challenge complete. I’d known this was coming for upwards of 400 years, but that didn’t make it any less weird. Surreal. Even spooky. (It was also spooky partly because it wasn’t totally light out yet. I’d overestimated how long it would take to get eight old ladies to sit down at the same time. My descendants were better behaved than I’d expected!)



As I felt the familiar tastes of rich earth and new life filling my body with light, I watched Bluebird. With her first bite of ambrosia, she sealed the end of the dynasty. I wondered what it tasted like to her. And after a moment, I asked. Specifically, I asked, “So what kinda weird nonsensical flavors are YOU gettin’, Blue?”



Rainbow sparkles were exploding everywhere as we all got hit with that wildly peaceful feeling of youngerness. Bluebird didn’t answer me right away - she stood up as her own personal rainbow surrounded her.



She looked solemn as her rainbow went POOF. Then she looked over at me and smiled. “It tastes like stories,” she said. “And memory. And time. And new beginnings.”
“Well that’s the most philosophical nonsense I’ve ever heard in my life,” I said. “But congrats! You’re immortal now.”



And that was that. The sparkles faded as the sky lightened. Dawn was here, and so was the end. We all started to wander away from the table, some collecting plates to take in to the sink. It was over. We were immortal. We were free!



Or we would be free, after a group shot. Obviously we had to do the group shot. Papaya and Lilac joined us, and so did the first stray dog to appear on our lot in generations. That stray dog would not leave us alone long enough to snap a picture - so she became a permanent fixture in our official end-of-dynasty photograph. I think she fits right in, don’t you?


Eighth Immortal: Bluebird Branch

“Guess what color this dumb bluebird is! Now that we’ve covered identification, let’s talk about the real story here, which is that this bird is a loser.” -The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America

Traits: Couch Potato, Insane, Bookworm, Over-Emotional, Loner
Supermax Skill: Writing
Other maxed skills:
Career: Writer
LTW: Professional Author
BlackOps: Outside Reading, To Boldly Go, Add a Little Drama, Extreme Digits, Correcting Past Mistakes, Hopefully You Like Orks
LTRs: Bookshop Bargainer, Acclaimed Author, Meditative Trance Sleep
Best Friends: Tanager Branch, Christy Carlisle, Evan Armstrong, Preston Lane, Lana Burroughs, Sylvester Vincent
Building: The Blue Book (bookstore)
Property: Eloise C. Vanderburg’s Home For Books
Immortal at: 74 days (week 52, day 3)

[peach]

“Well that’s the most philosophical nonsense I’ve ever heard in my life,” I said. “But congrats! You’re immortal now.”

LOL! You deserve another congratulations for successfully rounding up eight Sims and getting them all to sit down for one meal, at one table, at the same time. That's almost as hard as the ID challenge itself.

I've just caught up with the new chapters. It's so bittersweet when the end of a dynasty arrives. But I guess it's not over quite yet, thankfully! I really don't have any good ideas about what Bluebird, Sandpiper, and Meadowlark are cooking up. I wasn't sure if we were allowed to post our guesses, but...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

...in my head, some sort of time travel will happen? Back to the version of Hidden Springs that Starling first arrived in? Maybe?

That's as far as I can guess, though, as I have no idea what business the family would have there. I really don't know what to expect, but that makes it all the more exciting!

[Auranaris]

Congratulations on finishing! I know I didn’t always comment but I’ve been a mostly silent reader from the start.

*throws confetti*

[Beks]

LOL! You deserve another congratulations for successfully rounding up eight Sims and getting them all to sit down for one meal, at one table, at the same time. That's almost as hard as the ID challenge itself.

I've just caught up with the new chapters. It's so bittersweet when the end of a dynasty arrives. But I guess it's not over quite yet, thankfully! I really don't have any good ideas about what Bluebird, Sandpiper, and Meadowlark are cooking up. I wasn't sure if we were allowed to post our guesses, but...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That's as far as I can guess, though, as I have no idea what business the family would have there. I really don't know what to expect, but that makes it all the more exciting!

Thank you!! I was AMAZED at how easily everyone sat down and ate ambrosia. I was almost annoyed at how quickly it happened - it wasn't even fully sunrise yet, and I wanted epic sunrise screenshots! Oh well. I've had a lot of good luck in this dynasty (with a significant lack of bugs that tend to plague dynasties), and I guess it carried through right to the end.

As for your guess... *wiggles eyebrows* (It really won't be that exciting or surprising, I don't think, but I love hearing your thoughts and theories!)

Congratulations on finishing! I know I didn’t always comment but I’ve been a mostly silent reader from the start.

*throws confetti*

Thank you so much! I'm a silent reader most of the time too.

[Beks]

Immortal Museum

(a.k.a. The Super Secret Cellar of Secrets, a.k.a. The Vault of the Great Undying, a.k.a. The Longevity Laboratory, a.k.a. The Old Lady Cave, a.k.a. The Workshop of Wonders, a.k.a. The Underground Palace, a.k.a. The Anti-Establishment Speakeasy, a.k.a. Bob)

First, here’s the museum in its entirety. I was not aiming for a high score at all; I pretty much chose the portraits and photographs I liked best, and usually the first ice sculpture that was completed. I also didn’t entirely realize that there was a large portrait photo size available until a couple generations in. I started with the smallish landscape size photo and I ended up just sticking with it throughout the dynasty for consistency’s sake.

Total museum value: $1,035,427
Most valuable painting: Chickadee’s elder portrait, painted by Goldfinch (I think), worth $5,990
Most valuable photograph: Chickadee’s teen photo, taken by Heron, worth $13,760
Most valuable sculpture: Goldfinch’s young adult sculpture, made by Charles Winterly, worth $47,189
Most valuable immortal (all museum pieces combined): Meadowlark, at a total of $209,643

Goldfinch’s young adult sculpture was by far the most valuable item in the museum, and it was worth something like $15,000 more than the next most valuable items. It must have been a masterpiece, but beyond that I have no idea why it was worth so much. Goldfinch, as a perfectionist, was of course very pleased to learn that the sculpture created of her at the prime of her life was worth so much money.

Now for the rooms themselves!


Starling’s room, complete with photo of Twig and insect on table whose identity I never wrote down and whose significance I have forgotten


Starling’s portraits


Goldfinch’s room


Goldfinch’s portraits


Chickadee’s room, minus her toddler ice sculpture, which melted because I’m an idiot


Chickadee’s portraits


Meadowlark’s room, featuring the ghost of Twig <3


Meadowlark’s portraits

[Beks]

Sandpiper’s room


Sandpiper’s portraits


Sparrow’s room


Sparrow’s portraits


Tanager’s room, including my first Blingaboo and some street art stolen from the upstairs lounge


Tanager’s portraits


Bluebird’s room, including the toy dinosaur she first made disappear as a toddler, and her masterpiece (her elder ice sculpture is technically lit up blue; I’m not sure why it doesn’t look as blue as the rest)


Bluebird’s portraits


And a closeup of my favorite photograph in the whole museum (which also happens to be the least valuable, at a measly 67 simoleons)

[Beks]

The Nest & The Birds

(including a bunch of stats nobody asked for)

Here’s a final shot of the Nest as it was around the end of the dynasty (before the final eating of ambrosia). There’s a lot of random stuff I kind of forgot about over the in-game years, but it’s all just part of the story, I suppose. The lot value at the end of the dynasty was $8,492,068. The Branches had over $8.5 million in family funds. (Wait, are those two numbers connected? Did I just mindlessly round up on the family funds and not realize they’re the same? Or is that a total coincidence? I don’t know, and I'm too unmathy to find out.)



Front view, featuring some of Tanager’s murals. (Bonus points if you can spot the creepy shadow guy spray painted in the grass.)



The ground floor. This didn’t change much since the halfway-point Nest tour, except that I made the party room turquoise (Arthur’s color) instead of red.



The middle floor. Mostly bedrooms, a suite for obnoxious elders, and the lounge.



The top floor, with Bluebird’s and Tanager’s bedrooms, a bathroom, and Sparrow’s gym. Bluebird’s bedroom became my favorite room in the whole house, probably because I had a blue room growing up (though it wasn't quite as pretty as this one).

And now for a few fun facts and stats that nobody asked for but I felt like writing down!



Starling was by far the most skilled immortal by the end of the dynasty, to no one’s surprise. She achieved level 10 in the gardening, cooking, charisma, science, and bass skills. I was hoping she’d have some impressive hidden skills tucked away, but I was not impressed by her dancing, darts, or trampolining abilities. For shame, Starling! She also collected a total of 560,675 Lifetime Happiness points, more than any of her descendants. She earned over $814k through gardening and harvested a total of (approximately) 13k plants, including 11k perfect ones. A horrifying fun fact: Starling’s longest romance was apparently with Ariel Carlisle. That’s right, her nephew-in-law (son of Ryan Anderson and Ella Carlisle). I was vaguely aware when they became romantic interests at the time, but my solution was to pretend it wasn’t happening. Clearly that worked out well.



Goldfinch achieved level 10 in painting, photography, charisma, and piano. She earned over $1.2 million through painting; her most valuable painting was worth $6,004. She also took 525 photographs, including 167 masterpieces and 288 brilliants.



Chickadee was very focused in her life - she only maxed level 10 logic, but she probably achieved it several times over. She was also one of the only immortals to have any hidden skills worth mentioning: she achieved level 10 in both the arcade machine (which she LOVED and probably used hundreds and hundreds of times) and chess. She kept her job at Heron Hospital throughout the dynasty, and by the end, she was making $3,084 per hour. That came out to over $15,000 per shift.



Meadowlark reached level 10 of sculpting and spellcasting. Her total of 194 sculptures earned her over $675k. Meadowlark somehow acquired the Immune to Fire hidden trait - maybe through her father, Conrad?



Sandpiper reached level 10 of the inventing and handiness skills. She was also an accomplished, level 10 trampoliner. She created 777 inventions in her life and earned over $173k. She also picked up the Can Apprehend Burglar hidden trait somehow, which ended up being passed down all the way to Bluebird.



Sparrow was a level 10 athlete and trampoliner. She remained on the sports team at Sparrow Stadium her whole life and was earning $1,175 per hour by the end.



Tanager achieved level 10 of street art, and she was so close to level 10 of charisma as well. As a politician, she was earning $703 per hour by the end of the dynasty. She made a total of 71 murals, though for how many times I clicked on the ground in Subalpine Square, I swear it should be a lot more.



Bluebird was focused on writing forever and always, and it was her only level 10 skill. She earned a total of $331,014 through her writing; her weekly royalties reached $71,811. She wrote 35 books, including 18 bestsellers and absolutely zero flops (hooray!). Her specialty genre was supposed to be vaudeville, but I accidentally made it sports because sports books are both short and high-earning. Ah, well. It made her supermax easier.

That’s it for stats, people. I’m not really a numbers-focused person, but after working on this dynasty for over a year, I wanted to take the time to pull these things together at the end. It’s fun to look back and see how the many hours of play shake out in terms of in-game stats. (Maybe I’m more numbers-y than I thought.)

Stay tuned for the epilogue, and then we are OUTTA HERE!

[Beks]

Epilogue ~ Part 1

by Bluebird Branch

Time goes fast sometimes, and it goes slow sometimes. And sometimes it just kind of stops. Suddenly, after I became immortal, time stopped.



“Granny Starling!” I said. The sun was high in the sky and we were all just kind of standing around looking confused. “It’s here. The end. Are we ready to…shall I…can we, um…”
“You’re driving this train, Bluebird. Or at least, you’re holding the joystick under my supervision. So yeah, get crackalackin’!”



The first thing to do was invite Christy over. I invited her to join the household, and Granny Starling went totally bananas. She was all like, “Yesss, lovebirdies, yesss!” and I was like, “Granny, you’re embarrassing me.”

We were about to proceed when time suddenly, uh, got going again. Papaya was dying. He wasn’t supposed to, because his lifespan got magically extended after the challenge was complete. I guess he wanted to go anyway.



“All right, everybody, let’s make this quick,” said the Grim Reaper. “Lord knows nobody wants me here right now.”



Apparently Papaya did. We wanted him to live forever with us, but he made his choice clear, and so we had to listen. Cats are very autonomous, you know. And so, we had our last death. Rest in peace, sweet Papaya.

We all mourned for a second and then felt our despair float away, as if someone had scooped our sad moodlets up and made them disappear. Chickadee had gone into the house to fetch something out of one of the secret chests. She gave it to Granny Starling.



“You first, Granny,” she said.
“Me?!?”



So Granny drank the first Young Again potion, one that Chickadee had made hundreds of years ago in preparation for this day.



And then the oldest lady ever was younger than the rest of us! Also her hair color was wrong, but that would be fixed eventually.



Chickadee passed around a whole stack of young again potions, and in rather silly-looking unison, we all drank them.



It was such a weird feeling - like the opposite of a birthday. But also it wasn’t scary or painful. We could feel our wrinkles smoothing out, our bones strengthening, our hair softening, our brains sharpening. And we could feel our outfits and hairstyles going rogue. That was the only scary part.

After we fixed our appearances with mysterious speed, it was time for the next thing.



“Are you ready to tap into your greatest powers, Bluebird?”
“I think I’ll watch you do it first.”



I watched excitedly, and scaredly, as Great-Great Grandmother Meadowlark spoke an incantation and sent a spiral of glittery light towards the grave of someone I had never met.



Then a hand burst up from beneath the grass, surrounded in a globe of bluish lightning that sizzled and crackled and smoked. Great-Great Grandmother Meadowlark went a little loopy when this happened - I think she got overexcited by the power she felt.



In any case, a few seconds later, a zombie wearing a ponytail and a cat sweater lurched herself upright and stared around at us all.



It was my time to shine. I ran forward and spun out an incantation of my own. I heard the lady’s deep zombie voice say, “Whoa whoa whoa, what sort of sparkles are those…??”



They were good sparkles. Happy sparkles. The zombie became unzombiefied, and Great-Great-Great-Great Grandmother Goldfinch practically jumped into the lady’s arms. “Heron!” she cried. “Oh, how I have missed you.”



It was Goldfinch’s twin! I’d heard stories of Heron, but she’d died a long, long time before I was born. I got to watch as she drank a Young Again potion and transformed into a younger version of herself. I don’t think Goldfinch liked that part. I heard her say, “Good heavens, that hairstyle is AWFUL!”



Heron got her appearance fixed too, and by that time it was too dark to see very well. And so we stopped for the night and passed the hours around the campfire, talking excitedly about what the next day would bring.



As soon as dawn began to creep up over the horizon, Great-Great Grandmother Meadowlark and I went to the next grave that had been placed near the edge of the lot. Goldfinch came to watch as we resurrected her husband, Phil. (Understandably, Goldfinch was a bit freaked out by this. She is a Coward.)

Then a handsome young man stood before her, and Goldfinch found her courage again.



“Good morning, handsome,” she murmured. They were wearing sorta-matching checkered outfits and I thought they were beautiful together.

Goldfinch and Phil talked for a while. They were the first to have a chance to go away and start a new story somewhere, and they needed to decide where to go.



“Well,” said Goldfinch, “I have always dreamed of…of returning to France. It was so beautiful there - there was so much to paint and photograph. I don’t want anything to do with the tombs, of course, but…I’d love to go and paint. And such a sophisticated culture, too!” She paused. “What do you think about that, Phil?”
“Are you kidding? I could work as a chef in France, learn their cuisine from the best of the best. It sounds perfect.”



“Ooh, pick me, pick me!” shouted Heron, suddenly bouncing over to join the conversation.
“Pick you for what?” said Goldfinch.
“For the tombs!” Heron was beaming. “I can do the tombs!”



So it was decided. Goldfinch, Phil, and Heron would travel to France. Goldfinch would paint and take photographs; Phil would cook; and Heron would raid tombs to her heart’s content. The three of them said their goodbyes, then took off running. No doubt they’d be dusting off Goldfinch’s old vintage car and driving into the mountains, toward the airport.

The rest of us couldn’t miss them for long, though. There was so much more to do!



It was Chickadee’s turn next. Meadowlark cast the Reanimation Ritual, and I cast the Sunlight Charm. Chickadee was so overcome with happiness at seeing her husband again that she ran right in and smooched him without even saying hello.



“Well, Conrad?” she said. “It’s our turn to start a new life. Any ideas?”
“You’re the idea person, Dee. You always have been.”
“I think…well, I guess I’d like to go somewhere I can do good work. I’ve been a surgeon for over 400 years now - I have a lot of expertise to share. I’d work anywhere, as long as I can pass on what I know and help as many people as I can.”
“I’d happily return to the military, now that I’m young again - which means I can go pretty much anywhere as well. Although it would be nice to meet some more military folks. I assume there’s still not much happening at the base here in Hidden Springs.”
“You know,” said Chickadee, “Tanager once told me about a place that has a larger population of poor Sims than most towns in Sim Nation. That might be a good place to start. I believe they also have an active military base there.”
“Sounds like our kind of world,” said Conrad with a smile.



And so they took off after saying a quick farewell.