Okay! So life again beat me over the head and told me to focus. And so I did. But now I am here to give you all a little update in the Morae Legacy. I really need to pick up the pace here because I can't play the file until the heir is chosen, but I am on break from now until next monday so hopefully I'll be able to pick up the pace of the story a bit.
14: Slander and Child-RearingThis is Edwin Anthony Morae. Father of one child with another on the way, married to the drop dead gorgeous Cipriana Costa, and the heir to the Morae family.
He stole Cipriana from a pudgy kid name Orlando within seconds of his teen birthday, and made her his wife within days of his Young Adult birthday. And he is, by all rights, the pseudo-leader of the family, destined to bring in the next generation and burdened with accomplishing some great deed before he dies. Paolo's toddler skills? Edwin's doing. Cipriana's pregnancy, obviously Edwin's doing. Most of the family funds coming into the household? Edwin's doing! Getting Marrick, Alessandra, and Cianna moved out? Rufus getting his own bedroom? Edwin, Edwin, Edwin. He's the quiet heir, working secretly behind the scenes of his mother's slightly vengeful agenda. So while he hasn't made any executive decisions about the family yet, he shouldn't be brushed off as a non-important member of the family.
Cipriana is the size of a small barge now, and her wardrobe consists of more maternity friendly clothing because she's not exactly stupid. She expects she'll be baking more Morae buns in her oven in the near future. Edwin got very close to maxing out his Inventing skill on the third day of Cipriana's pregnancy and managed to make a pretty big discovery.
What he'll do with it, I don't even know, but it's been placed in the basement and he's often traveling to the future or the past when I'm not paying attention.
Also on the third day of Cipriana's pregnancy, she obviously went into labor. After a very long Monte Vista Summer season, winter had come around and Cipriana was outside and headed to the nursery to play with Paolo when she went into labor, and her outerwear made her look like an even bigger barge. Though this time she had enough sense to at least be in an archway when it happened.
No help from her husband at all. And Paolo clearly wanted nothing to do with the commotion either. He waddled a whole lap around the house before plopping down on the door step and crying.
Welcome to the world,
Regina Morae!
Edwin wanted to lay claim to taking care of the nooboo, just as he had with Paolo, but someone else got in the way of that.
Rufus loves nooboos. Paolo and Regina were both well taken care of when their parents and grandparents were at work or otherwise out of the house. Despite how it may appear, Rufus has settled back into his quiet and content way of living. He never had the desire to be a genie, but that didn't take away from his apparent love of cleaning. If the house is messy in any way shape or form, he's shuffling to take care of it. Not because Isabelle beams down from the master bedroom and demands it, but because he wants to.
Neat sims are like that. After Regina was born, Isabelle and her genie assistant continued about their happy little lives. They're very good friends, despite popular belief.
"Aunt Izzy?"
Isabelle looked at him from the Treadmill briefly, "Huh? What is it, Rufus."
Rufus watched his 'aunt' running at top speed on the device for a minute before he spoke again, "Is there anything else I need to do? The kitchen's clean."
"No, you're fine. Here, come with me. I've got a surprise for you." She hopped off the treadmill and Rufus automatically cleaned her magically. She then led him to his bedroom where she'd moved something to while he was cleaning.
"What is this?"
"Damien's old science machine. It used to sit in the courtyard, but he didn't take it with him. This thing is very powerful and I trust you'll make good use of---"
Clearly he was already interested in the thing and Isabelle just smiled as she returned to her room. Three days went by, Rufus leveled up in the Science skill by 3 (pausing every now and then to satisfy his needs and Magically Clean the house). And then Paolo and Regina both aged up!
Both of them are looking more and more like their mother as they get older. Cipriana has some very strong genetics. And a strong will, as she went right back to work after Regina was born and bumped herself up to level 7. If the husband and wife were't working, inventing, child-rearing, or skill building, they were on dates.
Video game dates. They play A LOT of video games together. Autonomously and non-stop.
"No, no...No! AHHH!"
"Beat you again, Rina!"
"Rematch. You cheated. Hacks. I CALL HACKS!"
"Are the kids okay?"
"Uhh..." Cipriana shrugged, "They're in bed. I think."
The following day, Edwin spent every second he wasn't stuck with the 'Recently time traveled' moodlet in the time machine while Cipriana took care of Regina and her toddler skills. You should know by now, Isabelle can't be ignored for but
so long. Especially not if she ends up in the paper being called out for 'cheating'
Because of it, Isabelle lost friends and the court case to have her name cleared. She wasn't pleased, and she tracked down the one responsible for the tip---according to her research it was Giacomo. She was somehow not surprised by this, as it couldn't have been Walter. Walter had a flirty trait as well, so how bothered would he have been if Isabelle happened to kiss someone else? Not very. Not enough to make a visit to the paper about it.
"Giacomo...I need to see you. Come over please?" Isabelle nearly gagged while she said it.
A few moments later, Giacomo came by. And completely by random...
Walter came too with a little thought bubble over his head with Izzy in it. Convenient.
"Walter. What a pleasent surprise..."
"I saw the paper." He answered, though his face didn't seem to read any kind of hurt, "Made me want to see you. Who do you really have eyes for if I may ask?"
She glanced over at Giacomo who had taken several steps backwards. standing there waiting to be invited in. Instead of doing that, she leaned forward and stole a kiss from Walter's lips, “Just you. He was out of convenience and just never moved on. Be patient for a second?”
“Sure.”
Of course Giacomo was upset at the sigh of Isabelle kissing another guy, and he stamped his feet like a little kid. Walter pointed and laughed. Isabelle smirked. Made for each other? I'm beginning to think so.
"You're a cheater! Just like the paper said. Just like I TOLD THEM."
"You're no saint yourself! Married with 4 children and you kiss ME out of nowhere and then proceed to slander MY reputation? I don’t want anything to do with you Giacomo and I never did. Whether you’re my boss or not, you aren’t going to get away with pulling something like this."
"Now get off of my property. And don't let me catch you leaking anything to the paper again. Or you’ll pay a worse price."
In effect, this was all my fault. I'm a bad Watcher. I meant to nudge Isabelle into cutting things off with Giacomo sooner, but other things got in the way and...well, you see the results. Dumped and turned into a frog, Giacomo left and Isabelle turned all her attention and affections on Walter.
"Have I told you lately how perfect you are? You don't even care about my kissing around."
Walter shrugged, "I'm also aware of how slightly twisted you are."
"How?"
"It takes an Evil sim to know an Evil sim."
Isabelle’s heart was thudding in her chest, a sensation she hadn’t felt in a very long time.
"Took you long enough."
Isabelle rolled her eyes, "Shut
up."
Isabelle had wanted to marry Walter for a while now. There was something about him that she felt she could trust. Loyal to the end, as he visited her almost daily, attentive (he called her for dates very often), and crazy about her? What was there not to love about the man? She could see him in her future. Standing by her side forever. In a moment of insanity and weakness---she shared something with him that she vowed she'd never give to anyone else.
"I want you by my side for everything for as long as I live, and that is going to be a very long time. Think you can handle that?"
"I'll manage somehow."
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Before anyone freaks out, the science machine Isabelle gave Rufus is NOT the one that killed Marc. That one was sold. I'm not THAT cruel. Also, I apologize for not having to many shots of Paolo's toddler days. I'll post a few for you in the next chapter or maybe as a bonus chapter.
