Chapter 6 - In Which The Person Playing The Game Is A Little Bit Of An Idiot
Our story goes into a bit of a lull at this point. This is because, as I hinted in the last chapter, I was a little bit of an idiot. Let me set the stage. I planned this dynasty for weeks beforehand. I made a pretty little spreadsheet with all the different requirements and all the different ways I intended to complete them. Obviously this was sort of moot because all traits are random, but I had a lot of fun creating a tentative outline anyway. I even played a short test file, just to acquire some confidence that I would be able to get through generation one. Then I started the real thing. I plunged ahead, carefully tracking Cornelius’s progress, making good use of his time, blah blah blah. He was doing great!
Except, as I said, I was an idiot. I thought I knew what the rewards for the medical career were. And like…I kind of did. But also I hadn’t really looked at the list in detail. And therefore I didn’t know that I should have been accepting every single career-related event that popped up (things like vaccination clinics and medical outreach programs). Nope! I had canceled several of them, thinking they were totally optional and Cornelius just needed to reach level 10 to get his awards. Nope! Nope nope nope nope nope!
Around the time Cornelius maxed his career, I looked at the career reward list and realized my mistake. Some of the rewards were fully out of reach by this point (40 house calls? 10 rabbithole events? Not happening!), but a couple of them seemed possible. He definitely should be getting the Key to the City as a level 10 doctor, at some point. I wasn’t sure if he’d already done one vaccination clinic, but he only needed 3 to get a reward. Also, if he completed 10 local emergencies (which is when a Sim on a community lot suddenly needs medical attention), he’d get an award for that too. I knew that he’d already done a few of those local emergencies. So as long as I made sure to do every single event that popped up, and as long as the Key to the City thing registered, we’d be fine!
So I spent the next few in-game weeks driving Cornelius through his remaining requirements with the ruthlessness of a very mean Sims player. He hardly slept, hardly ate, and hardly saw Belinda at all. They occasionally ran into each other for meals, but mostly Cornelius drank Invigorating Elixirs and ate mushrooms from his inventory and drove around in his Motive Mobile once he got it. I waited, every muscle tensed, for that Key to the City event to fire. I knew it would. It had to. Right?
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This is a good example of what those weeks looked like. When not at work, Cornelius would play his bass (for one of his skill challenges) on community lots, waiting for a nearby Sim to suddenly double over in agony. It did happen fairly often. Especially if Cornelius went to multiple lots in one day. He was curing tummy aches all over the place. He was doing great!
Then his elder birthday came.
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“Uh-oh. Is it that time already?”
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Suddenly playing the bass for ten hours at a time was less fun, and more anxiety-inducing.
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The rest of Cornelius’s requirements were falling into place. He eventually maxed the bass skill, completing his skill challenges, and he got his fifth 5,000 point wish. His BlackOps had been done ages ago. His Lifetime Rewards were purchased. He had a good friend at work who would easily become a best friend. And his museum pieces were done and ready. All that remained were those goshdarn career rewards. He’d been a World Renowned Surgeon for weeks, and still no Key to the City. He had one vaccination clinic under his belt and an unknown-but-probably-very-close-to-ten number of local emergencies. He was so close. So close it hurt.
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Cornelius was 79 days old when he completed his tenth local emergency. He immediately got a notification about a service award (I had begun to suspect the game was just bugged, but evidently I just can’t count). He went straight to City Hall to accept it.
At that point, we were technically safe. I had planned on keeping logic as an open skill for the dynasty. But unless Cornelius either (a) suddenly received the Key to the City after weeks of silence, or (b) got two vaccination clinics to spawn in the next few days, he would have to use his logic skill certificate as his second career reward. I really didn’t want that to happen, but at least we had the option. We weren’t going to fail! Hooray!
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Upon receiving his first career reward after many decades of hard work, Cornelius went home to his little family. He’d started to wonder if he was going to lose them - end the challenge, end the story - after all this time. Now he knew that they were safe.
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“We’re so close, Belinda. I’m going to work a couple more shifts to see if I can get a second award, but whether or not that happens…it’s almost time.”
Those few weeks of gameplay (played mostly on speed 3 over just a couple of real-life days) were immensely frustrating, and by the end of them, I’d worn myself out by stressing.
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So after a break, I refreshed myself by demolishing the cottage and building a proper house for the Buslingthorpes, complete with weird lighting and plenty of counters for The Duke of Buslingthorpe to dive off of.
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Here’s the house from the outside. It’s pink. I don’t really know how that happened. I’m not really a pink person. Neither is Cornelius or Belinda, to my knowledge. But here we are. In a pink house.
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We also adopted another cat. The Duke had great relationships with both humans and was very well loved, but he still seemed to get a little lonely when his humans were busy. So this gorgeous feline joined the family. Her name was The Jewel of Buslingthorpe, and she was Non-Destructive and Playful.
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With such good traits between them, I was hopeful that the two kitties would get along all right.
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And sure enough, they were friends before the day was out, and soon after became inseparable.
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Cornelius was in his eighties now. He sealed his best friend requirement by chatting with his boss, Mike Nix, who was a witch. And he went back to the hospital for two final shifts, hoping against hope that he would somehow, magically, get the two clinics he needed to win the last award. Or that somehow, magically, the Key to the City would finally register.
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Neither of those things happened. At the age of 85, Cornelius came home, changed out of his scrubs and lab coat, and went to find Belinda.
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“Well, baby, it’s time. I’m going to have to invalidate the logic skill for the rest of the dynasty, but it’s fine! You get to see me young and handsome again!”
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He pulled a Young Again potion from his inventory and drank it down in one excited gulp.
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Oh, God! The beard - what happened to the beard?! It’s horrible, it’s horrifying, cover it up, everyone
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While Cornelius ran off to find a mirror and fix that abomination, Belinda pulled a special item of her own out of her inventory.
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“Yay, a blue man who will make my wish come true!”
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“You
will make my wish come true, won’t you, sir? Specifically my wish for multiple children?”
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The genie was very solemn. He was not amused by Belinda’s golden retriever energy. He clapped his hands seriously (apparently that’s possible) and said, “I will do my best, beige lady.”
“Beige lady?”
“You called me blue man. Therefore you are beige lady.”
“Oh. That makes sense.”
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He went rapidly from solemn to scary.
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Then Belinda was uplifted in a whole new kind of sparkles.
With her shiny new moodlet in place, Belinda ran to find Cornelius, who was thankfully back to his normal bearded self.
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“Are you ready, Cornelius? Can we--”
“Right now?”
“Right now.”
And so they did.
Generation 1 - Cornelius BuslingthorpeLife State: Human
Traits: Bookworm, Good Sense of Humor, Hopeless Romantic, Loves the Outdoors, Workaholic
Favorites: Electronica, Sushi, Red
LTW: World-Renowned Surgeon (complete)
Spouse: Belinda Crumplebottom (witch)
Toddler Requirements: N/A
Child Requirements: N/A
Teen Requirements: N/A
1 Best Friend: Mike Nix (witch)
2 Career Rewards: Epic Hero Medal (10 local emergencies), Logic skill certificate
3 BlackOps: Becoming More Logical, From Two To One, Safely Burning Bridges
4 Lifetime Rewards: No Bills Ever, Bookshop Bargainer, Jetsetter, The Next Big Thing
5 Regular Wishes: Reach Level 10 of Medical Career, Marry Belinda, Master Logic Skill, Discover All Potions, Master Bass Skill
6 Skill Challenges: Master Chemist, Teacher Extraordinaire, Skill Professor, Mushroom Collector, Plumber, Master Bassist
7 Items for Museum: Potions (chemistry table)
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