I'm back from the school limbo, yay! Thanks for your kind words Brooke, it's good to hear I'm not completely boring people...
Chapter 9I realize I’d completely forgotten to tell you that Angelus ate ambrosia. I haven’t recorded the time but it was about 6 days into his elder stage, when he got a lot of sculptures sold and we could finally afford to buy and upgrade the art gallery. The museum moved there, and I’m remodeling it slowly to house all the Mastermind collections and their museum pieces. I really wish I’d saved all their ribbons and paintings of mortal members of the household now, but oh well -_- So, here goes:
Angelus Mastermind, Generation Two
Traits: Eccentric, Neurotic, Perfectionist, Proper, Savvy Sculptor + Artistic and Avant Garde
Lifetime Wish: Descendant of DaVinci
Supermax: Sculpting
Investments: High Products Business Building, Arboretum Art Gallery
LTRs: Efficient Inventor, Artisan Crafter, Extra Creative
Best Friends: William Mastermind, Lyndsay Corcoran, Millicent Mastermind, Anoki Moon, Hubert Jordon, Faith Mastermind
Black Ops: Stinky Bugs, Rare elements, Fishy Science Project, Research Science Project, An Old Ruse, Bathroom Gallery
Other Skills Maxed: Painting, Photography, Inventing
But who cares about Gen 2, when Gen 4 is already on the way? As I’d already shown you, Faith Heat-of-the-moment-kissed her way through all the lands in Simlandia, and I wasn’t exaggerating. That was usually the third interaction she did with a new person, after an introduction and a bit of chatting. But in the end it all came down to four guys:
Wei Pei was one of her Martial Arts opponents – Family-Oriented Daredevil; he seemed cute in a hamstery sort of way, and she got him a lot while doing the tournament.
Hei Liu was Brave and a Hopeless Romantic, plus had a facial structure that promised interesting-looking children.
Micky Menard was Adventurous, Flirty and a Great Kisser… I could just taste the drama when I thought about it.
And of course Titus, an Equestrian Slob who Loved the Outdoors and provided me with much teenage cuteness while being Faith’s boyfriend.
So, meet the Generation 3 spouse – Farid Kamel, a Hydrophobic Unlucky Mooch from Egypt.
I know, I know. But he is just so cute! And with all those guys (and gals) in her relationship panel Faith has only rolled wishes for him. I did a Clean Slate on her and her first wish was to make Titus kiss someone else, and then she wanted to “Invite Someone Over”. So I relented.
I had a big romantic photoshoot planned, but in the grand tradition of out-of-town sims Farid took two tries to actually get there, so at that point it was one hasty conversation and a tour of the film studio to the Move-In request.
And then they went to France, ostensibly to have a romantic proposal moment but really so that Farid gets used to fishing and collecting while his future wife adventures up and down the French countryside.
We did have a romantic proposal in the secret island in the middle of the river. Notice the puddle of water they’re standing in. Remember three screenshots ago I told you Farid was Hydrophobic? What a benevolent and considerate Watcher I am, making him trek all the way through the catacombs and swim through the well for a photo-op (a photo-op on a tiny island in the middle of a wide river, I have to stress) when he’s terrified of water…
And then both Farid and Faith (I just noticed their names start with the same letter; the cute, it burns in my soul) were terrified by the paparazzi that followed them there.
The rest of the trip was filled with Farid fishing and learning to cook frog legs, and Faith finishing up her LTW. She celebrated by buying a house in France and starting on Generation 4…
When they got back, Faith got a bachelorette party. Because if anyone had to have a bachelorette party in this dynasty, it’s Faith…
Then naturally I had no idea what to do with Faith at a party if I wasn’t allowed to kiss everyone (and I wasn’t!), so this was basically how it went.
Master had a good time, though. I’m sure everyone in the bar needs to know all about Faith’s Steel Bladder LTR, Master. That’s an achievement that needs to be celebrated!
And yes, all that in-between-adventure-cooldowns French woohoo caught up with Faith there and then.
Meanwhile at Castle Mastermind Farid was getting a brain makeover. He was dubious at first, but his objections withered under Darla’s suspicious squint.
“With traits like Mooch and Hydrophobic you’re going to embarrass the family whenever we let you out to socialize. You wouldn’t want to embarrass the family, would you?”
Farid gulped and followed Darla into her laboratory.
“Well, it’s not like I need the Mooch trait anyway,” he said nervously. “Since we already have more money than I can spend…”
Darla hummed distractedly as she fixed the electrode cap on his head. Farid took a deep breath and steeled himself before the next thing he wanted to say.
“Only… could you leave the Hydrophobic trait?” he asked.
“Why?” Darla frowned at him.
“Well, it makes the memories of Faith proposing to me more… vivid,” Farid answered, shuddering and smiling at the thought.
Well, who thought romance is dead. Farid is now Hydrophobic, Unlucky, Nurturing Egyptian eye-candy guy. His other traits (unchanged) are Natural Cook and Virtuoso. How does it feel to have your traits changed, Farid?
“Not good… I think I’m hearing voices…”
And if anyone expected Faith to act any different while being in third trimester of her pregnancy, I’m sure they know better now.
On the plus side, I did catch them to do the gender-appropriate dip kiss this time. Baby steps
Yes, Faith, you did forget something before bringing in the fourth generation, did you?
She gave birth on her way to the nooboo room, and I think Angelus’ painting influenced the poor guy. Meet Walsh Mastermind, a Neurotic Loner. He is named after a ruthless, amoral and not a little crazy scientist who is one of the villains Buffy’s fourth season. Can you guess what fourth gen supermax is going to be?
We shall fast-forward through the baby years straight to Walsh’s birthday…
Or more accurately, to the death on the morning of Walsh’s birthday…
No one had the will to smile as Faith brought little Walsh to the cake, and no one begrudged Darla when she slipped out of the kitchen before the sparkles did their work.
“You don’t have to pretend it’s me doing this, you know,” she muttered under her breath as she went up the stairs into her laboratory, “no one’s actually fooled.” There was a pointed silence for a few moments, then Darla snorted. “Fine. You want an in-character justification for this? Here it is: the kid is a Neurotic Loner Science supermax, and you have a bad habit of getting bored with male heirs. There.
She left her little cloned bundle of joy in Walsh’s room, where the little guy was already living up to his traits by hiding in the toybox. Then she went back upstairs to give the two-in-one bathrooms outside the art studio an upgrade…
She didn’t get to finish those.
…
Okay, so that was depressing, so here’s a bonus shot of Master and Liz having some couple-time in the family mausoleum.
