The Gregory Legacy, Chapter 32

Hi again! We've followed Faye to work for today's title picture, and for once, she is just calmly eating a sandwich, rather than being the bane of the science lab. That's unusual enough to warrant a picture! Last chapter, we welcomed Ava and Celeste into the family, and Faye was just about to have her third child. Andres was still working on Bodybuilder, Kori was still working on Party Animal, Laurel became an elder, and the club gathered occasionally. I promised a house tour last time, and I have fulfilled that promise, but it got kind of long and also might contain some slight spoilers for this chapter, so I put it after this one. You can click here to go to the house tour. If you're sticking around for the chapter, though, read on . . .

We start off with Laurel finally being abducted by aliens! They tried to get her when she was a young adult, but they got bored waiting for her to walk all the way downstairs and out of the house, so that time they left. This time she was already downstairs, so I guess they didn't mind waiting around for that. This was actually my first abduction in this family, believe it or not.

Meanwhile, Andres takes a break from working out to tutor his current youngest. All is not well in the focus room, however . . .

Jaron: "Hey. Hey, Andres."
Andres: "Not now. I am occupied."
Jaron: "You wanna flirt some more?"
Andres: "Please refrain from talking, Jaron."
Jaron: "I know you're like, my descendant's husband or whatever, but we could probably mess around a little if . . ."
Andres: "Jaron, I believe the expression I'm looking for is 'hell no,' so please desist."
Jaron: "I'll never give up on you, babe!"
Celeste: "Daddy, this is really cutting into my homework time and also probably my psyche."
Andres: "I know, sweetie."

While that mess is transpiring, Laurel returned from her abduction, and she is none too happy about it! I'd think she'd be a little bit more amused or surprised by an abduction, but it just made her really angry for a while. Bit of a let down, really.

Andres can not get a moment's peace on his treadmill. If it's not deceased relatives aggravating and/or flirting with him, it's club members looking for constant socialization. It's kind of amazing he's able to focus at all.

Okay, so the ghosts sometimes mourn each other, usually their spouse, and that's pretty sad but common. Jaron mourning his daughter really got to me, though. Jaron, please! You are a very distracting ghost.

Early the next day, Faye is home before work starts and is working on the rocket despite being heavily pregnant. She really doesn't have much common sense about these kinds of things, huh?

Before school, Ava and Celeste both had whims to cloudgaze with the other, so they took turns asking, and in doing so, became good friends (for now - Ava is evil, after all, so who knows what she might say).

Celeste didn't have to go to school yet since she had just grown up the day before, so I wondered what I could do with her. Curious, I sent Celeste around to look for toys, hoping to come across some rare Voidcritters. She got an action figure out of this log and reminded me of a long-ago cover page of her mother in a similar pose.

After hopping in to check the trash can, Celeste got this lovely bug. A quick shower fixed her little invisibility problem. I'm so glad they patched that! She still didn't find any Voidcritters, though.

While I was watching Celeste at the log, Andres got a text. I switched over to him, and this is what I read. Remember, Marjorie and Andres seemed not to get along very well, but apparently Marjorie has been taking lessons from her dad and decided that's actually the sign of a good match. I don't even know anymore. I turned it down. Andres sure is a hot commodity in this game.

Laurel: "I'm so glad everything is going so well."
Kori: "I know, right? We've definitely established a very normal, healthy family."

On that note, it was soon time to follow Faye to work. She gave Kody some kind of flirty serum, but it just made him fall asleep because Faye stinks at making serums.

Celeste: "Whee! Great idea, sis! I just had to join when I saw you playing on the water slide."
Ava: "Eh. I just decided water slides aren't cool for the big kids any more. You have fun though."

Although Ava may not want to share the water slide with Celeste, they do share lots of other things, but mostly time. As the only two children currently, and with matching aspirations, they actually have a lot in common.

Because these two are becoming such good friends, I broke down and bought Celeste her own Voidcritter packs so they could battle. They had a pretty good time. I still like this thing quite a bit.

Andres has finished Bodybuilder! His new aspiration is Master Chef, which I have not done in this legacy before. He also signed up for a job in the culinary career, since he'll need that for the aspiration. I wanted some of the perks of both the job and the aspiration, so it seemed like a good fit for that reason.

Andres is exhausted from working out all evening, but Faye realized it was time for the baby, so Andres had to wake up to go to the father's chair.

In a cloud of sparkles and light, Faye brings another blue baby into this world, this time a little boy named Isaac.

I was getting really tired of changing the nursery back and forth depending on the gender of the baby, so I finally just did it in greens and yellows. Like with the other two births, having a baby immediately sends Faye and Andres into each other's arms, but Isaac will be the last. On that note, it's time to roll for the heir/ess. Drumroll, please. The one to continue the Gregory line is . . .

Celeste! The tyranny of dark-colored hair continues, but otherwise I'm very pleased. So far, Celeste has the better personality, and she's very cute. I'm sure she'll make a great heiress, and judging by her pose, she's sure she'll make a great heiress too. Semi-interestingly, Faye has been the only heiress so far not to be a middle child. Even Laurel, who had two older brothers and one younger, was technically the middle child because the older two were twins. I'm randomizing a list of names each time, so it's a complete coincidence, but middle children tend to rule in the Gregory legacy!

Andres: "Wait, Celeste, I wish to walk you to your teleportation spot for your first day of school."
Celeste: "Nah, it's cool, Daddy. I got it!"

This time Andres was trying to give Celeste a hug but she just couldn't wait to get to school.

Laurel and Kori are still kicking around. If I ever lose track of these two, they're usually together.

This picture perfectly encapsulates Faye's work style. She's frozen a visiting tourist (alien) after making her change into formal, put Kody the undisguised alien to sleep with another terribly-made serum, and is in the process of taunting Marianne. I follow her to work every day because the novelty of watching her get promoted for harassing her coworkers has not worn off yet.

At home, I discovered something cool. Laurel is still writing songs on various instruments to license them, and the ghost of Aaron came to watch. Aaron earned the Patriarch trait for finishing Big, Happy Family, and it confers a skilling advantage to his children when he is around. Well, apparently it still works after death, because while he watched, Laurel got a nice moodlet from it and would have gotten a skilling boost, I presume, if she hadn't already maxed violin. Thanks, Aaron!

Another day of work, and today Faye is hanging out with the only two people in the lab that like her. Kody is still, I think, secretly in love with her because no matter how many accidentally-tainted serums she feeds him, he still follows her like a puppy dog. simRoxy is still Faye's closest friend outside her family, which is not something I would have predicted when she was a child.

All those deep conversations and requests for metals have earned Faye a promotion! I don't remember to what, but she's getting up there in levels, and she finally got a cool new outfit. Digging the arm. Now it's the weekend, and as Faye has max handiness and no one is scheduled to grow up until the end of Sunday, I have a plan for her.

Yes, I am sending her to Forgotten Grotto to see if we can't knock out the last bit of her aspiration. She needs to find several more types of fish, and apparently some of the ones she's missing can only be found here, or at least are more common here. Onward!

. . . and then I repeatedly chose the wrong answers. I am so bad at getting to these hidden locations! Eventually Faye made it through.

It was totally worth it. The Forgotten Grotto is ridiculously gorgeous and eerie. Faye had a store of moodlet solvers so the plan was to stay here until either she finished her aspiration or the weekend was almost over and it was time for birthdays, whichever came first.

After trying out a few different baits, she finally started catching some new fish. Faye wore her science outfit the whole weekend since she was using moodlet solvers for needs and had come straight from work. Also, if your work uniform was this awesome, would you take it off?

Faye: "I'll just stick this giant anglerfish and its giant teeth in my back pocket, as you do."

Eventually Faye wasn't catching anything else new and the weekend was winding down, so I sent her home. She only has two more types of fish to catch, so I'm hopeful that I can get that done soon.

In Faye's absence, Kori had gotten a promotion to [redacted], which I thought was a glitch at first, but is actually just a joke. It's a funny description. She just needs one more level to top Secret Agent - Villain. Do you think she'll make it?

Ava: "Hey Mom, thanks for abandoning us for about two days."
Faye: "No problem, Ava. You treat your siblings horribly?"
Ava: "Duh. Who do you think raised me?"
Faye: "Well, your father is good so I worry sometimes."
Ava: "Nope, things are going along quite evilly. Here, let me insult you out of the blue to show you."

And she did. This family.

Faye also went to check in on Isaac, who has spent almost his entire infancy offstage while Faye fished. I got a message that we had better feed him, so I was a little worried that the other three adults in the house didn't take good care of him while Faye was gone. She rushed up to feed him, and not a moment too soon, since these jokers from the club were trying to get there to block her with stupid interactions that probably would have gotten Isaac taken away. Anyway, time to grow up the baby of the generation.

Oh my goodness, that kid is so cute! I'm so glad he didn't get taken away, but I'm a little disappointed he's not the heir, though I'm still quite happy with Celeste. Those curls are definitely staying!  Isaac is an outgoing Whiz Kid in training.

He didn't get a chance to change, because it was immediately time for Andres, and thus Faye, to grow up into adults. Andres went first with a pink cake that he baked himself.

Faye: "What happened to my husband?"

Good question. Andres is squinting a little here, but his face got noticeably more alien when he grew up. It's very strange, and I kind of miss the old Andres, but I don't want to mess around with trying to change it and risk screwing him up worse. I know there are slight changes as they age, but it's like all of his features got more exaggerated when he aged.

Anyway, Faye's turn was up next, and she got to grow up in a storm of confetti. She looked pretty much the same.

Everyone had done a terrible job of taking care of themselves in Faye's absence (which is why the older kids weren't even at the party - they were in bed), so Laurel and Isaac had to break off from the celebrations to eat. Isaac didn't let that stop him, though! I'm not sure why he was so hungry when he just got fed right before he grew up, but he was. Laurel finds her youngest grandchild adorable, as do I.

Dayna isn't impressed, however.

Here's Isaac's makeover. I just redressed him. I think that hair is too cute on him. Here's a very interesting thing that I forgot to mention earlier, but is relevant now. Laurel has brown eyes, and Kori has kind of bluish-grey eyes. Faye somehow inherited green eyes, the exact same ones that Isaac is sporting. I figured maybe it was a glitch since I don't think the Sims 4 system has mutations, but then both Ava and Celeste got Kori's bluish-grey eyes, so they were passed down through Faye. Isaac got the green eyes. So was Faye carrying both genes? And where did the green even come from? I'm even more confused than before about how genetics work in this game.

Regardless, Isaac is undeniably adorable. He's even cherubic, I would venture to say. I dressed him in mostly red with some blue accents. His style is sweet and a little professorial for such a young guy, but he makes it work. I see him as a perhaps overly-friendly, certainly overly-curious little nerd, both gregarious and hyper-interested in the world around him. It'll be interesting to see how he grows!

Once I was out of CAS, Andres got a chance to visit with some of his friends from Sixam. Faye had built the satellite dish and occasionally had been using it at work, so that's what I'm going to chalk the sudden uptick in abductions up to.

Meanwhile, Grandma Kori, who needs to majorly skill logic for her next promotion, and Isaac, who needs to play three games of chess, get some quality bonding time in.

Andres didn't get home until it was nearly morning, so he missed pretty much a whole night's sleep and arrived home dazed. It's a good thing he can recharge while Faye's at work.

Starting before Faye's workday and continuing in the evening, I had Kori finish her aspiration. I don't know if this is technically cheating or not, but it's within the mechanics of the game, so I'm calling it an exploit but not a cheat. She still had a lot of parties to throw and I was exhausted with them, so she just threw a party, waited for people to start showing up, and then canceled it before throwing another one. She had already gotten the gold parties she needed, and the requirements say nothing about playing through a whole party, so this seemed acceptable. In this way, while still rocking a red dress in her senior years, Kori finally finished Party Animal. Her next aspiration is Leader of the Pack, since she's already a club leader.

Isaac: ". . . so 2 + 2 is 4? Hmm. Hey, Mom, why are you in a fancy dress at this time in the morning?"
Faye: "Well, technically I'm a party guest for a party your grandma Kori is throwing . . . wait, now I'm not . . . oh wait, yes I am again . . . okay, now not . . ."
Celeste: "Our lives are so weird."

The constant parties were a bit of a rollercoaster, but it worked.

Isaac: "Celeste! Celeste! I wanna tell you this thing I just learned about beetles."
Celeste: "Little busy here, bro."
Isaac: "Gasp! What are you doing?!"

Ah, little brothers.

After that invasion of privacy, Isaac got his other grandmother to read to him, and they even did it in his room, which pleased me. He's moving nicely through his aspiration, while Ava and Celeste are both still toiling at the top tier of Rambunctious Scamp.

Thanks to already having completed a lot of the requirements, Kori was able to get through Leader of the Pack in one concentrated afternoon full of lots of conversations about the club. I've heard that this is one of the easiest aspirations, and I have to agree, especially if you already have a legacy club. Her next aspiration is Nerd Brain since she already has high logic.

Speaking of aspirations, Andres is making good progress in his! He already had a bit of cooking skill because while he wasn't working during his Bodybuilder days, I wanted him to be contributing to the household somehow. Now it's just a question of improving those skills, rising in the career, and cooking a buttload of dishes. Andres seems to think he's good enough that he can cook with just his elbow now, but I think he'd be safer using his hands.

The girls have accepted Isaac for the most part, but they're still very close to each other. Everyone in this house is so busy that it's hard to find time to socialize a lot.

They were about to get even busier, though, because then Triple Boost Week came around, along with the official ruling that each sim in a legacy could use one boost once. This sounded good to me! Andres wants a career boost since he's actually doing pretty well with his skill already.

Jasmine: "Happy to help!"

Jasmine: "Oh hell no. I do not help kids. No way."

She took off after one or two people asked her for boosts, but it was just as all the kids wanted to get their boosts. I wondered if there was a per-household limit or if kids couldn't get boosts, since they seemingly couldn't call Jasmine.

Jasmine: "Your mother has helped me see the error of my ways. Boost for you, young lady!"
Ava: "Wow, Mom. How'd you make her change?"
Faye: "Oh, I have my ways."

All the kids got skill boosts since they're doing fine in school. Kori got a skill boost since she needed to skill both mischief and logic for her final promotion. I had Faye get a job boost, but it turns out it only works for base game careers, which is super unfair, in my opinion, so it didn't do anything besides give her an extra moodlet. Laurel did not get a boost at all because she's at the top of her career, her aspiration just depends on Faye topping her career, and there's really nothing I'm skilling her in. She's led a successful enough life that, at this point, she doesn't really need any boosts.

The next day at work, Faye tries one of her serums for the first time. It was whatever the need-boosting one is called, and it worked. Very lucky. This might be the second or third serum that Faye has made that isn't tainted. She's really quite terrible at it.

Confident Celeste with her high motor skill was doing trick slides when Faye got home from work. She looks adorable, but I wish her braid didn't poke out from her face. Oh well. She's definitely embodying self-assured. It's also funny that this is not the first or the second time I've found her on the slide on lot load up. She seems to like it quite a bit.

At the same time, sensitive Isaac has had a bad day at school and could be found crying it out.

Not-so-sensitive Ava was shooting at enemies, of course. Ah, these kids.

Once I got her off the slide, Celeste maxed her motor skill, earning her the Physically Gifted trait.

A few hours later, with the help of that boost, firstborn Ava finished Rambunctious Scamp too. She had a good head start on Celeste and I wasn't playing favorites in terms of getting them to skill. Ava just seems to be much slower than Celeste. Since she'll be growing up in a few days and I've got my hands full, I'm not going to try for a second aspiration since Ava is a spare.

On the other hand, I would like Celeste to get two reward traits, so she is going for Artistic Prodigy now, surrounded by the drawings of her ancestors.

It was just about the end of the road for Kori at this time, so she had her once-in-a-lifetime youth potion to reset the clock.

Laurel: "Ah, Kori and I have accomplished so much. I do it often, but I never get tired of reminiscing on my family and being proud of them while they're in the background being degenerates. Good times."
Faye: "This is the most evil chowder OF ALL TIME! Mwa ha ha!"
Laurel: "Yeah, like that."

Good times, indeed. She certainly has plenty of opportunities. Anyway, we've reached the end of the chapter. Continue on to the next post for the house tour if you're interested. Thanks for reading, and check in with me at SiMania and Boolprop! Bye!