Hi readers! Gosh, I am just the worst at this updating thing, aren't I? In my defense, I've been dealing with injuries and health issues, the loss of my beloved 7-year-old dog, and other depressing things, but that's not why you're here. You're here for the sims. So let's get to that, shall we? Last chapter ended with the expected yet still sad death of Kori, the generation 4 spouse. She is survived by her wife, gen. 4 heiress Laurel, daughter and gen. 5 heiress Faye and her husband Andres, and Faye and Andres's three children (Ava, gen. 6 heiress Celeste, and Isaac), as well as her three other children and three other grandchildren who live outside the house. Whew, that's a lot of Gregorys. So we pretty much ended right there, with the death of Kori, but with the promise of the legacy possibly continuing with Celeste and her boyfriend Rafael. So what's going on now?
Laurel is having a hard time adjusting to the loss of her soulmate, the woman she had been joined at the hip with since they were childhood friends. Celeste does her best to watch over her grandmother by doing her homework while Laurel sleeps.
She's interrupted by a sudden bout of illness. These things always come in waves, so it'll be no time before the rest of the family is coming down with the plague. It's kind of realistic if you think about it - one person gets sick and soon everyone is catching it. The only unrealistic part is that they're all different diseases. Oh, that and the spirals. The spirals are a little unrealistic.
While trying to get more skulls for the Day of the Dead celebration (yes, that's how old these pics are!) Celeste is nearly drowned by an elderly bartender. The bartender was fishing across from the home lot, and when I told Celeste to go talk to her to kill time until a celebrant came along, she waded down through the cattails. This set off the bartender, who quit fishing to wade a little deeper as they conversed. Not to be outdone, Celeste waded a little deeper. This continued until they wound up in this position, which is apparently an excellent way to carry on a conversation.
After drying off, Celeste has some miserable breakfast with her miserable grandmother. The mourning moodlets are pretty strong for everybody still.
In a less depressed area of the house, Ava is conversing with Judah, a member of The Gregory Helpers and one of her best friends, when she comes down with the plague. She's looking pretty chipper, at least.
Ava: "Only a few more days until I'm a young adult!"
Before long, Isaac is also suffering. That's all three of this generation. Way to be an overachiever, plague!
I took these so long ago that I don't fully remember why I took all of them, but if I had to guess, this indicates that Andres is working his way up the chef career, which is helping his Master Chef aspiration. He must be going in to a new level of the job or something.
Laurel: "Kori! Is that really you?"
Kori: "In the flesh! Well, okay, maybe not."
Laurel: "When I got the text to meet at the restaurant, I thought it was a cruel joke, but I was so desperate to see you, I came anyway. How in the world are you here?"
Kori: "Really? We get two or three ghosts every night. How are ghosts a foreign concept to you? Anyway, I just had to see you again, my dear. It's so hard seeing you suffer. I wanted to let you know I'm waiting for you and I love you. I'll always love you. Plus I was really craving some pie."
Kori: "It's going to be okay, Laurel. Don't fret. We'll be together soon enough."
Laurel: "I miss you so much, Kori. I don't know how long I can wait. I just love you so much."
Kori: "I know, but you have people that still need you. Hang in there and I'll wait for you. Also, could you pick up the check? I only have ghost money."
This romantic date would have been a lot more romantic if Laurel's overpowering sadness moodlet hadn't prevented her from doing any flirtatious actions, but she did at least get a hug. When Kori offered the invitation, I just had to accept! It's very hard on me to see these two parted.
When Laurel returned home, she was immediately abducted. She's one of only two Gregorys that have ever been abducted, and they've gotten her at least two or three times.
When she gets home, she moped around Celeste (who was painting in anticipation of her future career as an art critic) until her mother dropped by to comfort her.
Dayna: "Kori was right, you know. We're having a great time, and just wait until you too can break bathroom fixtures with no responsibility to fix them!"
Laurel: "Well, when you put it that way, it does sound pretty good."
Of course, she's soon back by the mausoleum staring inconsolably at Kori's urn. Depressing.
Celeste: "Hey, guys, I wanted to gain a charisma skill point."
Andres: "That is acceptable, dear. Please do not interrupt us, for we are conversing."
Celeste: "Yeah, but you could talk literally anywhere else that isn't here."
Isaac: "Celeste, shh! Go on, Dad. Please finish giving me the woohoo talk."
Celeste: "Fine, but I'm just going to gesture wildly while I practice my speech and . . ."
Andres: "Ouch! Your finger has impacted my forehead!"
Celeste: "Yeah, gosh, that's really too bad. If only you were talking anywhere else in the house."
Not even her handsome son-in-law, flirty, in his swim trunks, serving breakfast, could cheer Laurel up. It was time to break out the big guns - the things she most enjoys - to lift this mood.
Unsurprisingly for such a family-oriented sim, that means spending time with the grandchildren and other sundry relatives. Laurel gets a smile on her face while cloudgazing with Ava.
It gets even wider when Celeste offers her a hug.
Concerned, the grandchildren mobbed their remaining grandmother, armed with fun activities to do together like play with clay, but their overwhelming desire to cheer her up was getting a little smothering so Laurel went off in search of other loved ones.
She found Faye in the garden and they took a picture for old times' sake. There's that smile again.
Faye: "Hello, celebrants. Nice to see you all shop at the same shoe store. After I collect your skulls - and yes, for the record and any nearby law enforcement, I do mean the sugar kind - who's up for a little experiment?"
Left and Right Celebrants: "Not it."
Middle Celebrant: "Drat."
Celebrant: *glug glug* "Are you sure this is safe?"
Faye: "That's one possibility."
Celebrant: "Do you want my name for the records of your experiment?"
Faye: "Oh, you think I'm keeping records. That's cute. I just carve little skull-and-crossbones on my bracelets, actually."
Celebrant: "Well this is fun! How long does it last?"
Faye: "Yeah . . . about that. You're a ghost forever. The other ghost goo in my inventory still says untested."
Celebrant: "Wait, I'm . . . a ghost? Forever? I'm . . . am I . . . That is to say, I'm no longer . . . On no! Am I . . .?"
Faye: "You're gonna get there eventually right? Cause I really gotta pee."
Celebrant: "Am I dead?"
Faye: "Bingo. 'Kay. See you later."
Celebrant: "But . . . I wasn't even given a name . . ."
Faye is still working on what I've decided is her real life-long goal: producing an untainted ghost goo. We're 0 for 2 so far, and that's not counting the many, many other tainted serums of other recipes that she's produced.
Laurel: "Wait up, Kori! I'm coming for you."
Laurel follows Kori just a few days later, in the middle of the night.
Her family is all asleep two floors up, and I kind of expected she would go while they were sleeping, so I had the club over. I hoped they might at least mourn Laurel so she wouldn't die all alone, or, worse: alone except for a very flirty Grim Reaper.
The club and our ghosts had other ideas, though. They were too busy cleaning fish tanks, eating cake, and doing . . . whatever it is Kellen's doing . . . to go downstairs.
So, Laurel passed alone, but she would not remain alone, for she was finally rejoining Kori and the three generations of ancestors that had gone before her. Laurel was one of my favorite sims from a young age. She inherited a family-adoring streak from her father, and she was a great mother to four and grandmother to six. She's also leaving behind three brothers living in perpetual spare immortality. She had many traits, including ones for completing all four child aspirations (I think), and she completed a few aspirations too. She also tended an amazing garden from her teen years, bringing it to a level where it produces most of the income for the family. Most of all, although her loving and kind demeanor seems to have not passed down directly to Faye and only partially to Celeste, she leaves behind a great family who will probably not ruin the legacy.
Jaron, my most entertaining and active ghost, jumps out of his urn to mourn his great-granddaughter, but he (and we) needn't be sad. Laurel lived a truly full life. Now, if he's crying because Jasmine is stalking us from behind the mausoleum, still and forever in her growfruit jacket, that's legitimate.
Because they slept through Laurel's death and the moodlets from Kori's death had worn off, the three kids have a cheerful breakfast the next morning. This will be Ava's last morning getting ready for high school.
Immediately after school, while their parents were still at work, the kids threw a spooky party for Ava to grow up during. Luckily, Andres had left behind one of his finely-crafted cakes.
Faye returned home during the party with the final promotion to the top of the Science career, making her the second of the Gregory sims to top a career as an adult. She was pretty exhausted, so I don't think she even noticed that she had changed into one of Celeste's spare costumes, depriving me of the ability to see the top Science outfit right away. This promotion and the previous one she got without me following her to work. It's amazing that she could control herself enough to actually get promoted. Actually, in the Science career, and especially the way Faye's been playing it, misbehaving seems to help.
Ava: "Well, Judah, looks like we finally got a moment alone to talk."
Judah: "Yes, it does appear that way."
Ava: "I have to say, that ninja costume is really great on you. The way the mask obscures your face - so hot!"
Judah: "Tee hee!"
*smooch*
That . . . has got to be a weird kiss, with fabric in between. Anyway, Ava finally got to make a move on Judah, and because they were great friends already, it was smooth sailing.
Ava: "Okay, Daddy, now that I've been an adult for five minutes, I'm going to get married to someone technically but not actually much older than me and move out to live in bliss forever and ever."
Andres: "Ava, have you again been reading that Twilight series that your mother keeps under her side of the mattress? I am not sure it is something to emulate."
Ava: "It's ok, Daddy. I'm not going to have a baby and also we probably won't fight vampires because this actually happened many months before that pack. Also no werewolves. We're good."
Andres: "Then I suppose everything is in order. Please accept my praises for your well-thought-out plans. Fare thee well, my dear oldest daughter."
In a little house in Willow Creek, Ava and Judah continue their courtship, and in almost no time at all . . .
They eloped. That's one spare's loose ends tied off. Have a nice life, you two! Come to our parties, you hear? And Judah, this does not release you from your duties as a club member. There will still be fish tanks to be needlessly cleaned.
Back in the main household, Celeste is still Day of the Dead skull-hunting. There's five in this picture, but getting them to stop and talk to her long enough can be a challenge in itself.
Celeste: "Well, technically when this was played it's mid- to late-October, and we just figured out that the celebrants appear at dawn and dusk by reading about it on the internet finally after many fruitless hours searching in the middle of the day. This will mean much less wasted time. What a revelation!"
Alexander Goth: "Ma'am, are they stupid?"
Jasmine: "It's a definite possibility, young man."
Back at the house, Isaac knows how to start the morning off right.
Isaac: "What? It's totally juice. Juice is a breakfast food. This is super nutritious and not at all anything other than juice. That you make from a bar. That I am drinking three of. While hiding alone in the basement. Totally on the up and up."
As dusk approached, I sent Andres out on the town to do some skull searching because I am, as Alexander Goth had supposed, stupid. He ran into Frank here, who, despite being a member of The Gregory Helpers since before Andres had moved into the house, apparently still did not know he was an alien, and so gave Andres a lovely embarrassed moodlet. Yeah, sending the undisguised alien out to greet strangers was a great idea. Pat on the back, self.
I got to see Andres' disguise for the first time. He's never left the house except for his wedding and work, and he doesn't interact with the Gregory Helpers that much (apparently - thanks for nothing, Frank), so I never felt the need to disguise him before. It's not what I would expect, but it's fine. He heads to Windenburg to scare up some more skulls, trying to fake a cheerful introduction.
Andres: "This is unpleasant. I dislike masquerading as a human. May I return to my house now?"
Poor miserable Andres. Yeah, buddy, pack it in. We're taking you home.
Andres: "That was exhausting and mortifying. Please don't make me do it again."
Don't worry, Andres. You didn't even get a skull to show for your efforts, so I am definitely returning you to homebody status.
Instead, the next day, Faye (finally in her top science gear) and Celeste head to the park at dusk to try to work more on our collection. Faye is here mostly to fish, as she is still working on that accursed aspiration and somehow hasn't caught a koi yet. Celeste gets momentarily distracted by another teen.
She then heads out of her way to hug one of her triplet cousins whom she's never met. I believe this is Mia. That's actually kind of sweet.
Actually, family hugs abound at the park as simJ and simRoxy share a sisterly hug.
They then kept Celeste so occupied, in addition to the burger she picked up, that she failed to get any skulls before it got too late.
Faye: "Psst! Celeste! I just found out a way we can influence celebrants to come by our home lot."
Celeste: "What, really? How did you find that out?"
Faye: "The fish told me."
Celeste: "Did a koi tell you?"
Faye: "Sadly, no."
Andres is certain to welcome Faye home after that interesting night out, while Celeste pretends, deep in her mind, to be anywhere but where her parents are making out.
Moving on . . . at the same time that I (finally!) figured out the timing for the celebrants, I also discovered you can effectively spawn them by doing a little ceremony at an urn or gravestone. Luckily, we have eight of those, so this should speed things up. I just had to move one of the tables out of the closed-off mausoleum.
Unfortunately, failing to put the table back activated the siren call of mourning that sims cannot ignore. To be fair, her parents did just die fairly recently, but that still doesn't mean I want to deal with her sad moodlet.
The October Plague was not done with us, and managed to hit Andres while he was working out.
After more than half a chapter of random stuff, Celeste finally gets to see Rafael again. Absence would have made the heart grow fonder, if their pink bar was not already full, I'm sure.
After a session of definitely-just-stargazing that left them making these faces, these two are more committed to each other than ever before.
Why not make it official, though? In a beautiful back corner of the Oakenstead area, Celeste offers Rafael a promise ring, and he is only too happy to accept. It's only a few days before Celeste's birthday, so it won't be long until she can make it even more official, but it's all about the symbolic value.
Celeste got an invitation to join the Paragons, and though that didn't really seem her style, I went ahead and accepted and sent her on the outing. Although Aimee (in the middle there) joined as a young sim, I had never actually gone before, so I now learned that they meet at a pool.
A pool with a closet, which was apparently the foremost attraction. As far as I could tell, the main event was people changing into various pink outfits, but as Sofia is showing, no pink outfit is off-limits.
Celeste: "Siobhan, you run a nice club, but I think there's room for improvement. Not that standing around in mismatched pink swimsuits while people change into clown suits in the middle of the night at a pool house isn't a great idea, but I just wonder if something else might suit the Paragons better. Like anything other than pink, for starters."
Siobhan: "Wow, Celeste, that's really insightful."
Celeste: "Thanks. I know I just joined an hour ago, but I have some ideas. Do you mind if I take over the club leadership and change all your rules?"
Siobhan: "Please, be my guest! Nothing would make more sense."
Celeste: "Great! We're going to start by stopping being mean to the Renegades because my mother is already mean enough for every other sim in this town and mean isn't really my style, but what to do about the club colors?"
Of course Celeste would change the color to green! Not only that, I designed the maximum number of green outfits for guys and girls so that they could wear different things while still looking semi-coordinated, unlike those hideous bathing ensembles they were rocking. I also sent them to a coffee shop, because that seems more the speed of fashionable snobs than a pool house and drinking coffee was already one of their allowed activities, but I left the pool as their club hangout because of tradition, I suppose. I didn't want to totally remake the club, but they clearly needed an intervention and Celeste was just the one to give it to them.
Siobhan is serious about her caffeine, you guys. This lady does not mess around.
The Avant Gardes showed up and nerded up our coffee shop, and there was entirely too many club doodads above their heads for me to make sense of any of it, so I thought it was time to take a break from the club scene for a bit.
Unfortunately, back home, everyone had been raiding the fridge for cake, and, even worse, someone had made pistachio ice cream. Great. That's all they're going to be eating autonomously for a while now. Sims are both really terrible at choosing their own foods and oddly realistic in that.
Andres: "Dear, your brother just dashed out of here saying he had to 'do a thing.' What thing do you suppose he might be doing? Is this a human expression with which you are familiar?"
Celeste: "Don't worry, Dad. He's just meeting this girl he likes."
Andres: "Well, that does not seem a very respectful way to describe that."
I am absolutely in love with this first kiss shot. Isaac and Yuki headed down to the club for a date and had a wonderful time, becoming boyfriend and girlfriend in the process.
Andres: "Son, I am so proud of you for doing the thing. I hope the thing enjoyed the doing."
Isaac: "Wow, I am so uncomfortable with this conversation right now, but thanks for the support, Dad."
I forgot the urns again and simRoxy found them, of course.
Celeste tried to cheer her up a little because we still needed a skull from her. And because it's the right thing to do. But mostly the skull.
Meanwhile, I noticed that Isaac left his bowl out here, very disrespectfully. The ghosts always decline his offerings, and I wondered about that, but now I have a theory.
Once cheered up, simRoxy gave Celeste the final skull we needed to complete our collection, and they celebrated with this blurry selfie. Celeste has no photography skill, so this is better than it could have been.
Nowhere close to the quality achieved by this household's master of selfies, though. Surprised that it's Andres? He studied photography in preparation for taking Celeste's couple's photo when she's an adult, and he puts it to good use taking selfies in his bathing suit. A worthy pursuit, to be sure.
Dayna drops in on Andres and Faye unannounced and finds them otherwise occupied. She's not even embarrassed, though.
Behold my ghosts of many colors! We've got quite the haunting tonight: sad Aaron, uncomfortable Dayna, and happy Marjorie.
Aaron: "Ahhh, ice cream headache!"
Marjorie: ". . . really?"
Leave the pistachio alone! On second thought, eat it all so my living sims won't.
While Celeste and Isaac are at school, it's time for Faye and Andres to become elders. Andres is up first.
I apparently forgot to take a pic of Faye blowing out the candles, but she did and here they are as faaaabulous elders. No one rocks pink like these two.
That day, I followed Faye to work to pick up a few things from the lab and invent her last inventions and upgrade them. She'll eventually retire when Celeste has kids, I think, but once that happens, I definitely won't be following her to work anymore, so it was time to tie up loose ends.
And torment her coworkers one more time.
Bianca: "You made my hair red."
Faye: "Yup. It doesn't suit you."
Bianca: "What? Don't you mean it does suit me?"
Faye: "No, it looks terrible on you. Perfect."
Bianca: "I hate you so much, Faye Gregory."
That evening brought about the time for a different party, and this one was teens and young adults only at the club. It's time for Celeste, and by extension Rafael, to get a start on adult life. Unfortunately most of the guests were about to pee themselves, so the party didn't get off to the best start. The guests are aunt Aimee, Yuki, Ava, Isaac, Rafael, simJ, and a few sims Celeste met and befriended while searching for skulls. SimRoxy blew off the party for unknown reasons.
Because of the massive traffic jam at the bathrooms, few made it to celebrate with Celeste, but at least her little brother and his girlfriend were there. She successfully blew out the candles and became a young adult, looking quite sleek in her Luxury Party dress.
By the time it was Rafael's turn, more of the party made it to the cake (which miraculously did not get cut before I could get the candles back on, even though we had brought a backup just in case) and we welcomed Rafael into young adulthood as well.
Celeste: "Raf, I'm so excited to start a life with you. What do you say we move in together?"
Rafael: "I was going to ask if you didn't. I can't wait!"
Here's a CAS pic of Rafael. He's . . . still pretty young-looking. His face didn't mature that much. We might have to slap some facial hair on that later to make me feel less creepy when I see him with Celeste. On the plus side, at least he won't look prematurely aged and can possibly get into museums at the reduced children's rate. Rafael is a creative (like Celeste!), outdoor-loving bro. I do not even know what to do with that personality, so we'll just see how things shake out. He has the aspiration of Outdoor Enthusiast, which made me groan because it takes a while and several trips to Granite Falls to get that done, in my experience. Oh well.
And here's a picture of that finalized skull collection I mentioned. Man, that took me forever. It doesn't help my perception that it took me . . . (*counting on fingers*) . . . seven months to get around to writing it up.
Not knowing what it would do, I had Celeste do the interaction you can do with the full skull collection, and it gave her a fun costume, a spooky cloud effect around her feet, and the inability to turn it off and change out of the costume while she had the special moodlet for the next eight hours.
Therefore her proposal shot did not look quite like I had intended, but I can't progress in her Soulmate aspiration until she gets married, so I didn't want to wait even eight hours. Sigh. Otherwise, it's nice, right?
Rafael: "Hi! I know we've never met, but I'm going to be your son-in-law soon, and I just wanted to say I'm thrilled to meet you, Mrs. Gregory. Celeste has told me so much about you."
Faye: "Well, that's a lie."
Rafael: "Excuse me?"
Faye: "If she had actually told you about me, you wouldn't be thrilled to meet me."
Rafael: "What have I gotten myself into?"
What, indeed, Rafael? He really has no idea, he's so lovestruck. I almost - almost - feel sorry for him. The wedding will have to wait for next time, though, because this chapter has reached its end. Thanks for reading, and again, my apologies for the long time between updates. I'm hopeful this won't be a thing going forward, but you never know with me. I do have pictures organized for about three more chapters because I've still been playing occasionally, so it's just a matter of formatting and writing it. In the mean time, please check in with me at SiMania and Boolprop. Have a lovely end of May!
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