Hello, hello, hello! Believe it or not, as I write this, the legacy is over: I have played all the way to the end. But we have quite a few chapters before we get there because we still have all of Simon's adult life to go plus the rather eventful time of the gen. 9 heir. We ended at Simon's college graduation after four years of "Juiced Community"-influenced dormies, Simon's pursuits both musical and nerdy, wooing of and proposal to Chloe (formerly Chloe Hayden), and some misunderstandings between the couple involving the generally rowdy social life of being a Gregory spouse that culminated in them eloping while Simon was still in college. Now we are all ready to return home with Simon to Gregory Manor, so let's jump in . . .It's New Year's Eve and Simon is so fresh off the ride home that he's still in his grad gown when he invites Chloe over. Hard to tell if the theatrics are for New Year's or just because she's finally moving in.
Chloe: "Thanks for asking me to join your household."
Simon: "Our household, Chlo. Welcome home."
I promised I would intro Chloe. Just as a reminder, she was a spare in my friend Haleigh's completed The Hayden Legacy who I requested a long time ago and finally used. She is a vegetarian, a geek, and a perfectionist, and she wants a Big, Happy Family. Besides the aspiration (which requires four grandchildren, but she'll only have one--the 10th gen heir), this is a pretty perfect personality to be a partner to Simon. That's lucky, because I just intended to use her with the next male heir, and as luck would have it, I had to wait a while for that since Gregory heirs tend to be female for some reason (ask the randomizer; I wouldn't know). But it works out really nicely, actually. I did give her a makeover since she was from several years ago and I have both more content and more CC now, but I've always found her to be an exceptionally beautiful sim and I'm glad she's going to join the family.
This ushers in the first pregnancy of gen. 9 because I am so close to the end, and I got eager. Plus, I've played through most of Simon's YA years since I had aging on for him at college as my compromise for the unusual arrangement of having him live in the dorms.
Simon accepts the news coolly, but I'm sure he's happy on the inside. Maybe he's just tired from his last round of finals, which was like a day ago.
So I have a major problem. For reasons unclear to me, my sims like putting dishes and other items on wall decor. If you look, there's more dirty dishes on some piece of decor underneath the cabinets. They had a fair amount in the kitchen and the room through that door (the focus room), so they were always stowing their dirty dishes ten feet up and then complaining that they couldn't pick them up again. Well, no shit, Sherlock. This means the kitchen is always basically a biohazard and the environment moodlets are NOT GREAT.
Chloe is going to be a freelance Paranormal Investigator, and both Paranormal and Bust the Dust had very recently come out when I took this pic, so give me a break. It was topical and interesting at the time. It's just months and months late. :/
Chloe began practicing her medium skill so she could eventually get a license, and I temporarily switched the house over to a Haunted House lot to help her out with it.
She's not half bad and soon she's conjuring some spooky-looking fires.
Meanwhile, Simon had done everything in his Musical Genius aspiration in college except mentor a sim in an instrument. With Eleanor's cooperation (thanks, Mom!), he completes this aspiration and picks up Lord of the Knits next since he's been into knitting since taking an elective in it.
After that long day, Simon, Chloe, Simon's mom Eleanor, and Simon's grandmother Celeste finally celebrate New Year's. Here's to a productive new year.
The ghosts of Gregory's past (and someone's dirty laundry) are also there celebrating our slow march to the end of the legacy.
Somehow, being out of the house while he was in college let the NAPs reset and a bunch of stupid stuff be voted in, so Simon takes advantage of the ghosts (who apparently count as neighborhood residents) to start collecting signatures to repeal all the stupid stuff. We had Free Love and Juiced Community plus other dumb ones, which is wonderful. Just wonderful. (I thought we left that atmosphere behind at college!) Also wonderful are the random ingredients for white cakes put on our wall decor, which I have just recently learned is from the cooking NAP. Apparently it's semi-broken so it makes guests and ghosts want to cook, but the broken part is they only ever make white cakes. Hmm. Meanwhile, in the background, Chloe starts getting to know her mother-in-law, and they decide a girls' bonding outing is in order to cement the new relationship.
They start with getting their nails done (another woefully-out-of-date "topical" thing).
They're both very pleased with the results.
They then have a nice long chat in the sauna, which pregnant Chloe appreciates.
Then it's a quiet meditation session to center. I plan on wellness being a hobby of Chloe's, so it's nice to involve her mother-in-law in her interests.
Then the flea market was on, so they stopped by the big city. While there . . .
Chloe: "I've really enjoyed this day out, Eleanor. I wanted to let you know you're going to be a grandmother. I'm pregnant!"
Eleanor: "Uh, yeah, obviously. We've been in towels and spandex workout outfits already today. But thanks for letting me know. I'm really excited for this!"
Chloe is the descendent of aliens too, and apparently they can do the secret handshake, which shows off their nails nicely.
Then they played basketball because why not? Without Rowan doing buggy bat animations all over the court, it sure flows a bit better.
Back home, Simon and Chloe take their couple picture that I use on the Chapter List tab.
They also had their official portrait taken and hung in the foyer, which gives me cause to fume again that Laurel and Kori's portrait was stolen, probably by Astra.
Then I finally decorated the master suite for the new couple. This is the first Gregory room to contain mostly CC, and I'm really happy with it besides the fact that matching wood tones in this game is pretty much impossible. The seance table moved up here too.
Here's another view of the room.
And my favorite part is this little table with a bunch of knick-knacks.
Chloe broke in her seance table in this room while Simon sets about upgrading the fireplace so hopefully this room won't erupt in flames someday.
This lasts all of about two hours.
Owen: "Ew, why did the floor just get gross all of the sudden?"
Why indeed, since the fire is apparently up here. Gotta love CC.
Of course, Owen was too busy pondering this great mystery to, y'know, MOVE, so the pregnant lady and soon-to-be great-grandma had to put him and the fire out.
Eleanor pitched in at the end too, and then all three women judged Owen HARD for being smelly, which I admit did make me feel better.
I think this is Simon heading off to an early morning shift in his new job in Law. He looks like he could have used sleeping in a bit longer.
Meanwhile, Chloe is now capable of summoning Bonehilda.
Thankfully she is also apparently a resident of the neighborhood and we've almost got enough signatures to lift Free Love.
Simon had gotten a promotion and, thanks to his honors degree in History, he was high enough to go down the Judge branch, which has been his goal since he was a teenager. So now he wears these dumb robes and it's kinda perfect for him.
The haunted house setting finally remembers that it's been activated, and we start getting some specters. Eleanor gifts...something? I don't remember what...to a friendly one.
Meanwhile a visiting Rowan gets spooked by an angry one. For the duration of this being on, our porch was kind of a risky place to be.
Thanks to Free Love and his hardcoded dirtbag-ness, Guidry makes passes at Chloe when she summons him, so she stuck to Bonehilda at the house after this. She did have her medium skill high enough to ask for a license, which Guidry granted, thanks to a bunch of off-screen medium-ing she's been doing. We also lifted Free Love shortly after this and changed the lot type back not long after that, so things became a bit more peaceful thanks to Chloe's studious work at this skill.
This is good timing because she's about to burst. It won't be long now before we welcome generation nine. Simon, despite his underwhelming reaction to finding out he'll be a father, is actually quite excited.
Chloe, for her part, is just tired. She fits into this family fine as it has been tradition for generations and generations to nap on this supremely uncomfortable bench. But, then, we already knew from her antics at Simon's student housing that she has some weird ideas about appropriate places to sleep.
I had been playing my unpublished 100 Baby a lot at the same time as this, so I got confused and sent them to the hospital for some reason. Oh well.
Simon was very nervous about the machine.
And he had good reason to be if this is how it apparently works.
Thankfully after that excitement, we welcome a baby girl named Juniper.
I did some upgrades to the nursery for Juniper and my absolute favorite part is this plumbob pillow.
The new parents quickly see to their daughter despite both being quite tired.
Simon dresses Juniper in a onesie he knitted himself. Aww.
Then not much happens. Chloe was raising her medium skill before I send her on a job and I was hoping to get brave for her, but she still doesn't have even close to enough points, and because of her aspiration being kid-centric, it's hard to get large amounts of points at this time in her life. Simon has been moving up the ladder quickly in the judge career. Celeste and Eleanor are doing God knows what because they're mostly on free will. So it's not surprising that Juniper's birthday comes around very quickly and Chloe is soon teaching her to walk.
Juniper is absolutely precious. She has Chloe's hair and nobody's eyes, which I actually like on her quite a bit. It's hard to tell yet who she'll take after more, but I absolutely love her. Her toddler trait is Independent, which is always appreciated.
Then Chloe heads off to her first actual gig as a Paranormal Investigator, which is at Johnny Zest's former trailer, which is amusingly inhabited by a gaggle of brunette legacy loves. Where do they all sleep?
Guidry was summoned and started working his questionable "magic" in the most broken way possible.
Chloe: "I am so uncomfortable right now."
Guidry: "Not as uncomfortable as my arm."
Inside the apparently empty trailer (no, really, WHERE do they all sleep???), she keeps company with several haunted dolls in the dark, which is...upsetting. But she succeeds at this easy gig and gets paid.
Back home, I've built a greenhouse for our large garden because I was tired of things being out of season. Our bills are in the high $20k range and mama needs those dragonfruits and orchids, thank you.
The ladies of the house gather around the trash plant, which is, in its own way, a kind of matriarch too.
Juniper is basically raising herself thanks to that independent trait, so it seems like an attempt for child #2 is in order.
Chloe soothes the instant morning sickness with some meditation, and Simon accompanies his wife this time.
Eleanor: "Simon, is the door open? There's a puppy in the kitchen."
But no, this is no stray. Simon was meeting puppies to adopt one because now that the house isn't massively overfilled, I'm missing Nova a lot, and I thought it was time for our heir to have a dog. This min pin had the best personality, which I unfortunately apparently never wrote down.
Simon welcomes to the family his little pupper, who he names Melody after the obsession with music that was his first aspiration.
Uh, I guess this is where I would have told you Melody's personality. Well, this is just awkward now. . .
Anyway! Quick jump cut to another house, and whose house could this possibly be?
Yes, our lovely vampire (and vampire/ghost) couple, Simon's brother Rowan and his husband Caleb, who was killed with a tainted serum by gen. 5's Faye. They also have two doggies named Clover (left) and Ziggy.
We're here because their colorful confection of a house is haunted, apparently. As a pregnant Chloe begins her rituals, Caleb is feeling a little . . . amorous. Must have a sentiment about his husband.
But then Bonehilda is feeling a little flirty herself, while Chloe merely feels nauseous.
The exorcism is a bit difficult since the guys are in the way constantly, including Caleb taking a citrus soak right in front of an ectoplasm puddle. Hopefully Clover wasn't drinking from it or the fee for this gig is about to skyrocket. Possessed dogs aren't part of the basic package.
The haunting doesn't seem to really bother either of the homeowners, who are still obsessed like they're newlyweds.
Then Rowan, fresh from woohooing his husband, gives an unprompted romantic massage to Chloe, with whom he is ONLY friends.
Yeah, that's about my face right now, too, Clover. I've surmised at this point that they also have Free Love in their neighborhood, which would be fine if they weren't turning it on my sims. My very married sims.
Chloe: "Hey, so, Rowan, thanks for that massage. My back has been killing me because--I don't know if you noticed--I'm very pregnant. It's great to have such a great FRIEND to help me out when the baby I am having with my HUSBAND is causing me soreness. I'm so glad I have a completely PLATONIC brother-in-law who's not being WEIRD at all right now!"
Although, to be fair, Chloe did show pretty high familiarity and nap on one of their beds because she got frightened and not even sacred candles melting max on their antique trunk was not enough to get rid of the moodlet so she could complete this job. I had taken a hard gig because the easy one was so easy, and her medium skill is maxed so I figured it'd be a piece of cake. Boy, was I wrong. She failed the job, but it kind of serves Rowan right, which really pains me to say, so thanks for nothing, game mechanics.
Anyway, back in more wholesome houses (but only because of paranormal signatures), Juniper has mastered pottying. She eventually gets all of her skills maxed, which is just so wonderfully simple to do with an independent toddler. I remember when toddlers came out (which was when Eleanor was the first one in this legacy, if you want an indication of how slow I play), I thought they were so difficult to skill. It turns out you just need the right strategies. It also helps that I can leave the unspoiling food of our former Master Chef, Andres, out for her so I really don't need to do anything but give her social and a bath occasionally. I've got kind of a bet with myself that Andres' food will last to the end of the legacy because he stockpiled SO MUCH of it at the end of his long life.
Simon comes home with another promotion, while his aunt Taylor is visiting. He's very close to maxing the career.
It's also Love Day, so he and Chloe take the evening off for a date at the Chateau in Windenburg, which I thought would at least be an interesting date.
Oh, it was interesting alright. See the black speck behind the hedges by that light green topiary? That's Chloe, with whom he is making out.
Long-distance close contact. Hmm.
They had a lovely date and ended it getting hyped for their second child.
Meanwhile, Owen visited and Eleanor has her own ways of celebrating.
Then she gave Juniper one of those promised baths.
Melody also needed a bath because the ghosts break several plumbing objects every night and I don't always get to the puddles before Melody does.
Chloe keeps up her wellness while waiting for her baby. I'm giving her a little break from paranormal investigations while she's pregnant since the last one was so rough.
Meanwhile, Eleanor is doing the World-Famous Celebrity aspiration, and all she needs are autographs for this step. This is a really annoying one, I know, so I had her do an outing with a bunch of her family (including ghost family) at the lounge to up the chances (I hoped) that someone would ask her for an autograph. Now that I think about it, crowding out a venue with people that already know Eleanor was probably not the best move, but I was hoping their positive relationships might have helped. I think now it'd be better for them to be strangers. Oh well, fun family outing.
At home, Simon is practicing his Research and Debate skill for more job success, but I just want to look at the cute portraits that these frames generated. What a photogenic family! It's also kind of nice because we never saw Chloe's formal wear since she didn't get married in it, but she looks very nice in that fancy, fancy dress.
Upstairs, I redid the hall area to be a playroom since Juniper mostly lives out here. It's super cute!1) the ghosts would cook something besides white cakes OR
2) they would at least finish them OR
3) they would clean them up instead of somehow balancing them on our wall decor when they gave up.
None of this is happening anytime soon. Although I was working to lift the annoying NAPs, I didn't learn about the cooking one until after I was all done playing this family, so I promise you this is going to continue to be A Thing. And the wall decor one I still haven't figured out.
Speaking of NAPs, a few photos with even the more distant ancestors is enough to guarantee they're on good enough terms to sign. Aaron from gen. 3 is here being pursued for his signature by his distant descendent, Celeste.
She also got Laurel. I think they might have been trying to lift one of the utility ones that were increasing our bills.
Kori does not want to sign even though Celeste took three pictures with her (which everyone knows is the basis of a solid friendship), but after noticing that both she and Laurel are out tonight, I had an idea . . .
Is it quite like the original, taken when they were both alive and young?
No, but at last I feel whole again with the portrait wall restored. Thank goodness for our plumbing-destroying ghosts! I also noticed, just by chance, that the even-numbered gens on the right are doing the same pose, and all the odd-numbered gens on the left are doing the same pose except for rebels Chloe and Simon. Eleanor, of course, is doing her own thing, like always.
And that's the chapter. Next time we'll meet the next child and move forward with the legacy. I don't really remember what all happened but I'll figure it out before I write it . . . probably. Perhaps playing so far ahead without notes is not the ideal way to write chapters? Nahhhhhh. Anyway, check back next time for a real mystery of a chapter, to you and to me. We're hurtling towards the end with the Gregorys, but there's still so much to come. Thanks for joining me for it! See you next chapter!
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