The Gregory Legacy, Chapter 34

After a long break, I have returned! Life, y'know? That's my excuse. Anyway, let's get back into the Gregory family. When we left off, our newest heiress, Celeste, had just grown into a teen and gotten a boyfriend to work on her soulmate aspiration. Let's see, what else happened? Oh yeah, Faye killed a coworker, Ava also grew up, and there was a party. Speaking of which, why is the cover image a spooky party costume picture? Well, it may be January, but my picture backlog stretches back to October, so you're going to be seeing a lot of costumes and Day of the Dead celebrants until I can get a bit more caught up. Sorry! Anyway, let's check in with Celeste and see what's going on . . .

Rafael asked Celeste to play hooky, and despite her being a stereotypical good girl, she accepted because she wanted to spend time with her boyfriend, who nearly fainted just being in her presence. That's a good sign. Celeste appreciates the admiration.

She doesn't appreciate when Rafael takes a break from that to admire himself, however!

These two young lovers engaged in some bush "messing around," but that was about all there is to do at the ruins, so they moved on to a club.

There Celeste started in on one of her famous dramatic stories. Rafael apparently still appreciates this quirk. That's Jamal at the bar. Nice to see he gets out besides just the restaurant.

Celeste and Rafael started a date and spent quite a bit of time socializing by the closet where Celeste's grandmothers first made out - which is not weird at all! - and were really enjoying their time together.

They had a gold medal date and made best friends, which will eventually be necessary for Celeste's aspiration, so Celeste considered the day a good use of her time.

Other family members saw things a little differently, however . . .

Kori: "I can't believe you'd skip school, Celeste! That's just not like you. What got into you?"
Andres: "It does seem to be an action that runs counter-purpose to the objective of you getting an A grade."

Laurel: "Really, Celeste, what were you thinking?"
Celeste: "Is this ever going to blow over?"
Kori: *cackles* "Never!"
Ava: "Um, can we do a little less scolding of Celeste and a little more helping me with my homework here?"

Once pretty much everyone had had a shot at Celeste and she had finished her homework, she went off to work on painting. This was before City Living came out, and I knew I wanted her to be an art critic once she became an adult, but I wasn't sure what skills it would require, so I had her start by being artistic. Surely you have to know something about art to be a critic, right? Celeste's new creative trait helped a lot with this.

Faye has received her penultimate promotion, without intervention from me today! Just one more and she'll top the science career. She quickly got all the breakthroughs she needs while working on the massive garden, so it's just a question of getting enough work performance, which she can do on her own some of the time.

Ava started chatting up Judah again. Both Ava and Isaac are friends with Judah, who is quite the oddball. As a member of the Gregory Helpers club, he's here frequently, but I didn't really expect it to evolve into anything more than that. Right now I'm considering whether either of the spares will end up with him since they both inexplicably like him so much.

Then, later, I caught Ava and Kori doing . . . this. Whatever this is. I've never seen it before or since, but they just posed like that for a moment then went on with their lives. Weird.

Speaking of weird, Laurel is chilling out by the closed-off (thank God!) mausoleum with her older brother Luke. We haven't seen Luke for a while so I was glad when he came by. I always liked his bizarre ways.

Celeste attempted to pass out. She was doing yoga and I canceled the interaction, and she kinda sorta stopped just long enough to change back into her shoes (which she would not normally wear during yoga) but she just kept on doing poses and there was nothing I could do while I watched her energy get lower and lower. Luckily she eventually stopped and went to bed.

Poor Isaac. He's been kind of ignored, and he gets a nasty surprise from the candy bowl that leaves him tense.

A hug from his big sis helps, though.

Ava: "So, are you actually going to stay at school today?"
Celeste: "I'm pretending I can't hear you, while simultaneously daydreaming about my boyfriend, a thing that you do not have. La la la!"
Ava: "Real mature, Celeste."
Celeste: "You gotta do what works."

I spent another day with Faye at work because I probably won't do so many of these once Celeste is an adult, and there are a few inventions I still want Faye to finish before then. She spent the day tormenting her coworkers, as has become usual for her.

She froze Octavia and Kody up in the breakroom.

Then, the funniest thing happened. She used the freeze ray on Bianca while she was holding a can of soda. Apparently the game can't allow that, so in her frozen pose, she waddled down the hallway until she could set her soda down. Then, the game glitched and her ice disappeared but she remained frozen solid nonetheless. I laughed and laughed. I wonder if they pay Faye's coworkers hazard pay on the days she works?

Celeste tried to do a trick slide like she always used to do as a kid, but she forgot that full motor skill as a kid allows you to do a lot more than zero fitness skill as an adult. Ouch.

This shot is to show a really annoying thing . . . glitch, I guess? Sometimes a sim just really, really needs to go mourn, apparently, so it will queue up seemingly-infinite instances of the action since there's no door and none of them can be satisfied. I can direct them to do other things and it'll cancel these out, but occasionally when they're running around on free will, I'll take a peek at one of them and see this and it is really annoying. I haven't seen this in a while, though, so maybe it got fixed in one of the several patches that have come out since I took this picture.

Aww! Homework party out on the patio at dusk.

Then the Day of the Dead challenge arrived, and I kept calling Jasmine over but she never arrived at the house. Finally I had a look around after calling her for the fourth time, and found her up here by the Spencer-Kim-Lewis house. Those brick buildings in the far distance are the Gregory house. She spawned as far away as possible while still remaining in the zone.

Faye tracked her down and got things started.
Faye: "What gives, Jasmine? We've been calling and calling."
Jasmine: "Didn't you threaten me the last time we came face to face?"
Faye: "Yes, yes I did."
Jasmine: "And you wonder why I would be reluctant to come to your house again? At least this is neutral ground."
Faye: *sigh* "Just give us the display case and the sim ray stays holstered. I promise."

I sent Faye and Celeste to the park for Faye to fish and Celeste to date, but she ran into our first celebrant, who is Yuki Behr. Faye chatted to her for a while and they made friends and Celeste got our first sugar skull!

Celeste also had another gold medal date with Rafael, satisfying the first tier of her aspiration. Now she has to age up, but that's still a ways away. She went home afterwards.

Faye kept fishing all night. She's so close, you guys. This is a really hard aspiration and I really regret giving it to her, but I'm determined to finish it.

Isaac is having kind of a rough childhood. Being younger than the heiress, he kind of just . . . exists. Then the candy bowl scared him, and now Ava has smashed the dollhouse again, making him sad. Chin up, Isaac!

Celebrant: "NO! No, you cannot have my skull!"
Faye: "Whoa! I don't know what you've heard about me . . ."
Celebrant: "None of it is good."
Faye: ". . . but I just want a sugar skull. You can keep your stupid cranium. For now."

Another work day. So close to getting everything I need out of this career. Faye enjoys making her coworkers (simRoxy in this picture) change clothes maybe just a tad too much.

Faye: "Ha! I made you sit with my mind control. I'm practically a god!"
Octavia: "I was already sitting when you used it on me."
Faye: "Shush, peon!"

Replacement coworker whose name I still don't know: "Yup, these are my everyday clothes. Good one. You got me."
Faye: "MWA HA HA! A god, I tell you!"

Faye also maxed her rocket science skill while at work. She's been a pretty successful scientist.

Faye: ". . . and then, I ordered her to sit down! And she did!"
Kori: "That's amazing! I wish we had had science in my day. I just got to be a supreme villain, but I miss the everyday torturing, you know?"

Speaking of Kori's days, they are numbered. We just got the first pop-up that her life is drawing to a close. She's had her one youth potion, so there's nothing we can do but say our goodbyes.

Oh, and collect sugar skulls. Not that that has anything to do with Kori. I'm just frantically trying to collect them, so someone is on "sugar skull duty" every morning and evening when the celebrants walk by. These are two of the also-rans that almost got to date Celeste, and they look displeased to have copied each other's outfits.

Back to Kori. She enjoys spending time with Faye. They like trading evil stories. I feel like Faye, probably due to also being mean, is a more extreme version of Kori, who has usually been pretty calm about her evilness. Although both of them routinely yell at and insult others, they rarely are rude to each other. I think they just have an understanding.

Kori: "Where's my wife? I'm looking for some end-of-life woohoo."
*Laurel materializes in the kitchen*
Laurel: "Did someone say woohoo?"

It's going to be really tough when these two part because they just adore each other.

I don't remember if this knocked Kody out or not, but I'm guessing not since I don't have a picture of him passed out. Amazing! Faye must have finally made an untainted serum.

Faye: "Bianca . . ."
Bianca: "Oh no."
Faye: "Did you break the computer?"
Bianca: "Well, it wasn't really . . . "
Faye: "Because you know the rule about breaking things in the lab. Now hold still."
Bianca: "Sigh. Worst job ever."

Faye finally invents and upgrades the wormhole generator, the final invention I needed for her to create. We don't really need it since we have a fully functional rocket that I intend on keeping, but I am definitely a collector of things in this game, so it's good to have them all.

Back at home, Andres is posing for the "Studs of Sixam" 2017 wall calendar.

Over a healthy dinner of cake and juice, Andres and Faye trade stories about their days. For a good and evil sim pair, they really get along remarkably well.

As do these two. They are certainly making good use of that autonomous woohoo option.

So, a little story about the sugar skulls: for the longest time, I couldn't figure out a pattern to when these people appeared. I knew they often showed up before school, so I would send a kid out after breakfast to greet some, but it took me an embarrassingly long time to learn they appear at sunrise and dusk. I wasted a lot of time looking for them before I learned that. Nonetheless, we were making steady progress on our collection at this point.

Laurel regales Kori with one of her insane conspiracy theories, and Andres is caught in the crossfire. He looks . . . stunned.

Today will probably be Kori's last day, and we intend to get one more party in later, but while the kids were at school, I tried to indulge as many of her last whims as possible. Apparently, she mostly wanted to flirt with Laurel and play darts, so that's what they did.

Oh look! Some nice sim (probably a Gregory Helper) has left us a trash plant, likely by leaving dishes out here. That floor covering is actually terrain paint, so I guess it was able to just grow through those bricks. Sure. Anyway, what to do with a trash plant?

Put it in a bedazzled gold pot and keep it, of course! Although it is merely a normal-quality trash plant now, I have no doubt it will make a fine addition to our garden.

Celeste is super stressed after school. She's been working hard to make up for the lost time when she played hooky, and she had some kind of bad moodlet from something that happened at school. Hopefully the party will cheer her up.

Meanwhile, Kori and Laurel are still working on those whims.

Once the kids are home, Kori throws what will probably be her final party while Laurel blisses out after that closet woohoo.

Celeste: "How come I got stuck carving a pumpkin while you get to just chill out and eat?"
Ava: "I'll have you know that eating food is a party objective. I'm contributing!"

Laurel: "Kori, my love, you've thrown another splendid party. I can't even begin to think . . ."
Kori: "Then don't. Let's just enjoy the moment."
Laurel: "You're right, dear. And may I say, you look mighty fine in that reaper costume?"

They're back at it.

This is a birthday party for Isaac (although technically it's a spooky party), so Andres whips up a nice theme-appropriate cake for us.

Unfortunately, Andres had to go to work immediately after (he's close to a promotion) and Faye was still at work for a few more hours, so it seemed like Celeste was the only one celebrating. But that's not right. What happened to Ava and the grandmothers?

Kori: "Now how does this work again?"
Ava: "Did you see that over there?"
Laurel: "What? Where?"
Kori: "Hey, come on - focus, ladies! It's a birthday."

"Wooooo!"

Took you guys long enough.

Isaac the cheerleader: "Are they still celebrating? I've been a teen for a few minutes now."
Celeste: "Yeah. Let them have it. What happened to your pumpkin?"
Isaac: "Apparently a pumpkin you carve as a child can not be the same pumpkin you carve as a teen, so it must be restarted. It's like that philosopher Heraclitus said: 'No man carves the same pumpkin twice.'"
Celeste: "I'm almost positive that's not the right quote"

Ava: "Oh, that masseur costume is really working for me.  I'm going to make my move."

Judah: *senses danger*
Ava: "So, Judah, I'm aging up in a few days."
Judah: "Yeah, hold that thought. I am not having this conversation with a teenager that I've literally watched grow up because the controller has aging off."

Well, he has a bit more sense to him than I would have guessed.

Aunt Aimee stole Celeste's fairy shtick, but Celeste is still too busy carving to notice.

In fact, apparently we had a lot of curvy fairies running around. Hannah and Aimee at least had the good sense to choose different colors, but simRoxy, that's a major faux pas to show up in the same costume as one of the hosts, and you're not even wearing it as well.

simRoxy: "Eh."

Faye got her final promotion and is now an Extraterrestrial Explorer. Which, considering she has three teenaged kids by an alien who she met on a different planet, she's really been for a while, but sure. I didn't get to see her new work outfit because she changed into a llamapegacorn mascot outfit as soon as she got to the still-running party. Dignified.

Kori spends some time with Ava, her favorite of the three grandkids (no surprise considering they're both evil). Her bar is full and shining. It won't be long now, but we still have a gold-medal party to wrap up.

I was going to let Isaac pursue Judah because they developed the higher relationship, but his aspiration is Soulmate (just like Celeste's - I guess he admires her) so he really needs a teen love interest if he's going to get any aspiration points while he's still under our roof. So Ava can have Judah after all - when she's a young adult, of course.

Now that the party is finally over, here's Isaac's makeover. He's not quite as cute as I thought he'd be when I saw him as a child. He adds hot-headed to outgoing for his traits.

Celeste: "Heeeey, Yuki! You should totally come over and we can hang out!"

Yuki: "This is one of those legacy dating bait and switches, isn't it?"
Isaac: "Yeah. I don't know any teen girls I'm not related to. So, you wanna stargaze?"
Yuki: "Yeah, ok."

Yuki: "Wow, you're right! The stars really do look even more amazing through this bush."

Why do they always stargaze there?

Three guesses what these two are headed off to do, and the first two don't count.

Kori: "Psst, I'm going to die now, so seeing as I don't have to face the repercussions of being inappropriate, I just wanted to let you know I had really amazing woohoo with your mother. Pass it on."
Faye: "Wait, what?"

Laurel: "Hey, Kori, don't you want to finish watching the movie? It's getting to the good bit."
Kori: "No . . . I'm just . . . going to . . . lie down now."

Kori, no! I mean, I'm as ready as I can be since I've drawn this out for a good half of the chapter, but I'm still not ready!

And there goes Kori with everyone but Andres in attendance, including Yuki. Kori, you were one of my favorite legacy spouses. You were an evil genius, and yet a great mother. You passed on some really great genetics. You and Laurel were childhood best friends and grew old together. You topped a career and completed a seriously difficult aspiration, as well as one or two others. In short, you were awesome.

Natalie is so depressed she broke every item in the elders' bathroom to express her grief. Me too, Natalie. Me too. Except I can't get away with breaking a sink just for the heck of it. On that sad note, this chapter has gotten long enough, and this seems a natural point to take a pause. When we return, Celeste grows up and gets serious about her soulmate, the spares will move out eventually, and life will move on. Like I said, I have a serious backlog (I am currently playing Celeste's toddlers in game!) so more chapters are definitely coming. Check back - hopefully relatively soon - for more of The Gregory Legacy!

Thanks for reading and be sure to stop by SiMania and Boolprop!