Some Sims of Ice and Fire (Move to Graveyard)

[Tilia]

I think Aggie's pretty happy with her new family.  Aside from thinking it was hilarious to cause snow on leisure day with Rhaella's magic laser cannon, she often seems just overall caught up in the romance of ... you know, me.  As a husband.



She's quit her job at the paper to write full time at home.  I've managed to snag some chapters from the novel she's working on, and I've got to say it's pretty great.  All the stuff about alien abductions has a real flair to it.



Rhaella has been experiencing some pet envy.  She's spent a lot of time with Summer while I'm off canoodling my wife or saving citizens from certain fiery death.  She even painted her portrait and carved her in ice.



When I think about it, I'm not really sure how other families survive without a resident Rhaella.  She really keeps everything around here in tip top shape.  The only complaints are those occasions where she makes stu surprise or cobbler and uses her special fruits instead of people food.



I made a joke about it recently, and she shot me a withering look and said, "Do you really think that's why she's vomiting, Brandon?" 

Well, that's cryptic.  I'll never understand women.  Not really.

[Tilia]

You know, I've always thought my daredevil trait was best suited to this type of thing:



But I could be wrong.  It could be preparing for FATHERHOOD that will require me to be the daringest of devils.  Somehow, however, my attempts to prepare for the Lump growing in Aggie's tummy backfire horribly.  Like, "oh!  let's baby proof the dishwasher."



Right in front of the wife, too.  She, to her merit, managed to not react at all.  But I could see judgement in her eyes.



My inner angst is a deep, complex river of emotion.



Rhaella is doing well enough working as a cook.  She had been working at the Beyond the Wall Bistro back in Riverview with this new career take, and to level the playing field, she quickly bought out Hogan's and renamed it Deepwood Motte Diner.  She came home pretty excited a few days ago with a whole lot of ideas.

Firstly, she's satisfied her pet envy by adopting a stray kitten.  We found her outside, in the sunlight, cooing at the thing by the mailbox.



"This is mine now," she announced, towing it inside.  "Her name is Lady."



So ... okay!  New cat! 

Don't argue with the ancient vampire woman whose maternal instincts are kicking in.  Summer seems to think the kitten is a small, deformed dog.  They like to goof around well into the night.




The other thing was a "friend" Rhaella had who would be staying with us.  "She won't be ANY trouble," Rhaella insisted.  "In fact, she's a professional housekeeper and loves nooboos to death.  She won't even need a bed.  She has ... um, special living quarters.  She's just ... a little odd looking.  But you mustn't hold it against her."

Rhaella and her supernatural softness.  This is the woman we ended up with.  "Woman."  I'm being diplomatic.  Meet Hilda.



Right.  Mom didn't seem concerned at all, and immediately launched into conversation about the move from Riverview and where to get a good pair of chopsticks around here.



Aggie and I were discussing how weird the whole thing was when she went and did this.



I was the model of decorum.





For some reason, she wouldn't let me drive when it came time to go to the hospital. 



This is Rhaegar.  He's an athletic genius.  And he's my son.

[Tilia]

Am I lucky or what?  This kid is a fluffy little Buddah of happiness.  He never seems to cry and he's cuddly as all get out.



In fact, I'm often having to fight that bony wench Hilda off if I want to be the one to feed him.



She always stands to the side sighing loudly (HOW?  WHERE ARE YOUR VOCAL CORDS?) and judging my paternal style.



Mom is taking being a grandma very, very seriously.  She didn't get to snuggle Doreah as an infant, so she spends lots of time in the rocking chair with Baby Rhaegar.



When it finally came time for him to age up, Aggie insisted on being the one to do it, and gave him one last snuggle as a teeny tiny nooboo.



He aged up invisible.  No sparkles.  Magic child.  Anyway, yep.  That is definitely my kid.



Rhaella, the mother of all things, swooped in immediately to teach the kid to talk.  I mean, just seconds after he aged up too.  He was immediately smitten with her.



Rhaella and her pets.  I'm pretty sure my dog is now confused about which one of us is master too.  She taught her to sit up recently.



Anyway, I'm pretty darn proud of making such a good son.  I strutted my way up to my wife to give her good tidings of approval for her procreation skills.



She slapped me a little and told me to stop being fake macho.  Fake!  I ask you ... 

"I had a weird day," she said.  "I might need you to upgrade that not-so-routine machine.  I went for groceries and got sucked into a vortex with angry gnomes ..."



"Is this like the time you were abducted by ali--"

"Bran!  I'm serious!  They beat the everloving snot out of me with sticks and then spat me out in public in my underwear!"



"I see.  I'll look into that.  Any other news?"

"Yes.  The paparazzi have started making out when they're not peering in the windows."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"Maybe they'll have the wedding on our lawn too," she said.



"Okay.  I've appreciated your update, but back to the task at hand, woman.  I've decided we need to produce more clones of me for posterity."

"Oh, Bran," she grinned.  "I was thinking the same thing."

"Well, then, let's get to business."

[Tiamet]

Just read the whole story so far this evening, and really really enjoyed it.

[Tilia]

Just read the whole story so far this evening, and really really enjoyed it.

Thanks Tiamet!  It's always nice to know someone's reading

[Tilia]

It wasn't long before Aggie was expecting again.  Call me crazy, but I immediately rolled more wishes for more nooboos.  I imagine she'll make me wait until at lest one of them is in school if she concedes at all, but man, kids are kind of awesome.



I've been teaching my little man how to walk.



And how to pee sitting down, because that's a skill he'll need later (?).  Whatever.  Ma says it's necessary.



Mostly we're doing the walking thing.  He's a pretty snappy learner.  Maybe it's to do with his athletic trait.



In the meantime, it's hard to make sure the whole household is cared for.  Two pets and 7 Sims make for a very busy place to live.  Rhaella, as always, is a lifesaver, but with her current workload at the diner, she isn't always around.

Summer likes to wake her up and demand attention at the crack of dawn.



She usually ends up moodlet managing herself awake and cooking us a few things before she leaves for work.  I'm not sure how I feel about her new hot and sour soup recipe.  Spicy isn't even the right word.



I think it literally set my insides on fire.



I hate being away while Rhaegar is still so little and fun.  I make sure to toss him in the air a few times every morning before I leave for the fire station, and warn him that he's about to be completely swooped in on by his mom and grandma.



I know because they are directly outside of the nursery.  Waiting.



Mom usually takes the morning shift.  They like to play together quite a lot, rather than focusing on all that strenuous skills building.



Nap time goes in the swing, usually, after a bit of hide and seek with Gran.



Aggie puts him to sleep at night, usually with a skill book for logic.  He is a little genius after all.



By the time I get home, the kid is always dead to the world.  Adorably.



Though sometimes I walk in on this ... which really isn't what you want to see when checking on your baby.



She does the same thing to the cat.  It's weird.  Rhaegar doesn't seem to mind her much though.  Not sure how snuggly her bizarrely large barrel chest bones are.



There's hardly time to worry about that though.  Before you know it, the baby's coming.  This time I'm with it enough to drive.



Aggie complains that the hospital staff is rude and is fairly annoyed by the time we leave.  I can't complain though.  I have another little boy.  There he is in his irritated mother's arms.  We named him Robb.  He's a hydrophobic genius.  We're saving up for the SWAP right away.

[Tilia]

So, I think my mom might be a superhero.  Here she is, at 90, brushing a dog after caring for an infant and a toddler.



Somehow this is more impressive to me than watching her throw fire sticks in the air when I was a teenager.  She has confirmed to me that Hilda also does the hover/judge when she's with the baby.



Aggie has just finished her second novel and is doing very well.  She chose the name Robert (Robb for short) after an encounter with a stag during her pregnancy.  Not quite the engagement unicorn, but still a pretty cool story.  She got a whole book out of the experience.



Lady, Rhaella's kitty, aged up.



Summer, in a moment of extreme confusion, kept waiting for the sparkles to come back and turn her into a big dog.  Obviously that never happened.



They got over it pretty quickly though.  It appears the topics of sprinkler playing and what jerks gerbils are overcome species barriers.



Both Robb and Rhaegar had birthdays on the full moon.  Robb, like his big brother, aged up invisible, with no sparkles.  He's a pretty devastatingly handsome kid.  He's got Ma's hair and Aggie's eyes.



Rhaegar got a cake, because hey, we're not HORRIBLE parents.  I wasn't there, but I was saving a flirtatious hispanic woman from a kitchen fire.  These things happen.  Besides, I wouldn't be allowed to take him to the cake anyway.  You know how that goes.



Woo!  Full moon underwear party!



All I got were the sparkles.  The Watcher had the foresight to save immediately before attempting to fix up Rhaegar in CAS, and then we crashed, so you'll get to see him in all his kiddy glory at a later date.  He's a pretty good looking boy though.  He's developed the animal lover trait.

[Tilia]

Rhaegar aged up into a good looking kid, if you ask me.  I mean, he looks just like me, so what more needs to be said?  Anyway, he'll break some hearts.  I'm sure of it.



We got a note from Dr. Wyles shortly after Robb aged up.  I'm never really sure whether or not it's surprising to hear from the dude, but it's never unpleasant.  No new pet this time, but Robb got one of those dolls, like dad used to be.  It's really weird looking at it, all lifeless and plush and thinking that my father used to be exactly the same. 



When I mention it to him, he always chuckles and says that the doll isn't anything yet.  Not unless Robb wants it to be.  You might think that a gift to Robb deems him the heir, but don't be too quick to judge, we got something else in the mail too, just for Rhaegar.  I have no idea what it is.  Shard of crystal with a handle.  The Doc says to just keep it safe and make sure Rheagar gets it. 



I have suspicions on what it might be, but I can't mention it to the wife.  I did mention it to Rhaella.  She seemed skeptical, but then she and I were headed down to the diner for breakfast one morning before work, and we saw this:



He's a special boy.  That's for sure.  We haven't mentioned it to him, but I personally can't stop thinking about it.  Just when you thought this family couldn't get any more bizarre.  Rhaella even jokes that the boy already has a ready-made familiar in the form of Lady.  They do seem to get on very well.



I've got no complaints though.  The kid is way more sedate and well behaved than I ever was.  And he doesn't seem to want to torture his brother, which is another virtue I can't claim.

Speaking of which, I talk to Sansa and Petyr often, though usually on the phone.  Sansa and Kenny are still trying for a baby, but haven't had any luck just yet.  Danica, however, is pregnant and recently hitched.  Petyr recently told me too that Doreah eloped with Miraj Alvi shortly after graduation, and are now living with his dad and his stepmother, Jamie Jolina. 

We've added Sansa and Petyr to the siblings gallery, and my portrait is in progress.



Doreah.  Married.  It's crazy how fast life moves when you get older.  Your kids learn to walk...



They fall in love with you just like you fell in love with them...



Then they get bigger, and go off to school, and boy that's bittersweet.



The people you love make choices.  In the case of Rhaella, she made a choice long ago that hurt her sisters, but benefited our family for generations.  Even now, she slaves over a chemistry table to create the potion Robb will need if he decides to make his doll real.



Lately, she made another choice.  A selfless one, if you ask me.  She has become immortal.  She sparkles in the sun now like a diamond. 



And with immortality and life, there's always the end of it.  As much as we wish there wasn't.



None of us could believe it.  My mother had a supermaxed athletic skill, and was always so happy and relaxed.  How could it be?  She was only 92.  Dad took it the hardest, but who could blame him.  She even tried to comfort him in her very last moments.



But in the end, she understood that it was simply her time.  And she went with Grim with the same sweet, congenial smile that she went through life.

There's an old saying from Lady Nym's time that we've engraved on her tombstone.  Valar Morghulis - All Men Must Die.

[Tilia]

The last thing Mom did before she passed was work with Rhaella to decorate a kid room for Rhaegar.  He had been sleeping in the frou frou room Sansa used to have and deserved something befitting a little warlock boy.



Robb will get his own room when he's a bit older too.  For now, he seems to love the nursery.  He and Aggie playing together is maybe the only thing that got me through losing Ma.



The way he giggles, you know? 



Dad has been coping in his own way.  He holds on to little mementos of her.



Anyway, no more introspective depressing stuff.  Gotta shake it off. 

Oh!  Let's talk about surprises.  First of all, my dear wifey got herself "abducted" again.  This time in her underwear.



She came back freezing cold and decided to choose some new sleepwear.



Summer went with us to the fall festival and was traumatized by a mime.  She has nightmares about it now.



And keeping Mom's tombstone in the yard hasn't caused anyone any trouble.  She is as considerate in death as she was in life.



Aggie has taught Robb all of his skills.  She says he was pretty quick, even without the genius trait.  She said he even stayed good natured through the potty training.



I still try to monopolize as much of her time as possible, of course.  I am a needy man.  We tried for baby that night, but didn't get any chimes.  Ah well, still fun.



My eldest son, mercifully, seems to not have inherited my childhood female phobia.  This little angel is Nadia Ursine, and my kid is infatuated with her.



I'd heard some boys tease him about "Nadia," but I didn't get to meet her until the big slumber party the night that Robb aged up.  She really is a doll.  Very well mannered and friendly.



Robb's birthday was held upstairs as to not bother Rhaegar and his friends.  Rhaella, as always, did the honors.



He spun and sparkled and aged up a little virtuoso.



His favorite color is spiceberry, but that didn't stop him from picking out show stopping pajamas.

[Tilia]

I was up late the other night, upgrading my fire extinguisher.



Aggie woke up and started going about her morning routine when I happened to glance up at her and notice she seemed ... a bit different than usual. 

"Um, Ags," I said.  "You're looking a little ... fertile."



Well, I guess chimes or no, we were successful the other night. 

"Oh, notice did you?" she said with an eye roll.  "Yeah, I'd say we're due any second now."

I grinned.  "You sure are good at babymaking."

"Oh hush," she said.  "You need to go fix the dryer."

So, I went downstairs to do that.  Aaand, in my distraction over another nooboo showing up soon, I set it on fire.



Yeah, yeah, oops.  You know, it concerns me that Robb has the interaction "talk about fire" when he's making friends.  He didn't seem to like this one very much.



And neither did Aggie.  She took off to visit the new town spa and got a nice deep tissue rubdown from local politician Vita Alto (weird.)



I spent the next half hour trying to get the cat to come out from under the sofa.  She wouldn't budge.



If (and when) we can't find Rhaegar, it usually means he's at the Ursine house.  Even if Nadia isn't home.  He just waits there, much to the chagrin of her mother.



They seem to be great friends, though.



In fact, it's possible he confides more in her than he does in us.



That's all right, though.  I know how crushes can be.

[Tilia]

I set myself on fire again, this time fixing the dishwasher.  I should probably mop up before I do that in the future.  Anyway, my wife went into labor while I was still charred crispy.



Dad ended up taking her to the hospital, and got a nice moodlet from the birth by doing so.  Nice to know.  Anyway, we finally had a little girl!  This is Meera.



We are all completely enamored with her.  Aggie in particular, I know has been wanting a girl.



She was born on my birthday and on the full moon, which proved to be a really strange night.  It started normally enough.  Rhaegar suddenly really wanted to play in the nursery to be near his new sister.



He even sang her to sleep.



But after that, Rhaella called in a bit of a panic and told us to make sure the doors were locked.  "Walkers," she said, "you know, zombies."

Aaand she wasn't kidding.



My wife was the only person who ended up going outside that night.  Can you guess why?  Try to count the weird things going on in this photo.



Alien lights, horses in the yard, passed out butler, zombies, and the ghost of my mother.  Check.  What could go wrong.  Aggie even thought this time that she should bring the aliens a sandwich.



It apparently still wasn't a good abduction.  Guess they didn't like the sandwich.



I stayed in the nursery with Meera, snuggling her.  Then it was time to age up.



The last thing I saw as a young adult was the sweet, smiling face of my infant daughter.  And then the midlife crisis started.

[lepapillonrouge]

Not the midlife crisis! It's okay, just stay with Agnes and you'll be fine. Hopefully.

[SimBlip]

Hi, Tilia!
It's been a two-day journey for me to read up on your story from Nym to generation 6!  And what a delightful trip it was: plenty laughter, a few tears and many pleasant surprises.
I must admit that I'm too dizzy to understand/recognize the theme itself - ice and fire. That's a personal shortcoming and doesn't take anything away from the legacy itself. Your story is outright excellent

[Tilia]

Hi, Tilia!
It's been a two-day journey for me to read up on your story from Nym to generation 6!  And what a delightful trip it was: plenty laughter, a few tears and many pleasant surprises.
I must admit that I'm too dizzy to understand/recognize the theme itself - ice and fire. That's a personal shortcoming and doesn't take anything away from the legacy itself. Your story is outright excellent

Thank you so much!  I'm sincerely honored that you've read it! 

The theme is just a nod to George RR Martin's book series "A Song of Ice and Fire" (the basis for the television series Game of Thrones).  Since all traits are randomized by the legacy rules, the only real theme has been the names and some tongue-in-cheek nods to the plot of the series.

[Tilia]

Not the midlife crisis! It's okay, just stay with Agnes and you'll be fine. Hopefully.

She is always good to smack some sense into him if needs be.