Author Topic: A Bunch of Flowers (A ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ Project)  (Read 61212 times)

Offline hazelnut

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Re: A Bunch of Flowers (A ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ Project)
« Reply #15 on: July 27, 2015, 03:26:37 PM »
Barnacle Babies

Moving to a new town meant that Ally had lost all of her charisma challenges.  She hurried around town putting that right, mostly by talking to Sims of a masculine persuasion.

77.Socialising.jpg

The day after the move, Gromwell had his young adult birthday and had to move out.

78.GromwellYA.jpg

Billy aged up to adult for the second time and had a midlife crisis…

79.Midlife_crisis.jpg

…and Ally went into labour with her French baby.  For a while, it seemed as though she was the only member of the household who hadn’t noticed.

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With no teenagers in the house to look after the little ones, Ally had to have this one at home – in the garden, for no apparent reason.

81.Labour.jpg

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The day after Mignonette’s birth, Alison had her second adult birthday – and her first midlife crisis.

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It interrupted an important flirting session.  Ally had joined the fortune-telling career shortly before moving towns and was eyeing up her boss, Shorty-John Inkbeard, as a possible father.  She’d have preferred his son Morgan, a four-star-celebrity fairy politician, but Morgan seemed to be spending most (all?) of his time underground and she wasn’t having much success in interacting with his wing tips.



Orchid became a child – and it became clear that she had inherited something from Cheng after all: the ability to sing annoying songs constantly.  And very badly.  I don’t think she has a future as a singer.

84.Orchid_child.jpg

Billy had changed his lifetime wish from Master of the Arts to Renaissance Sim some time before.  He’d already maxed sculpting and alchemy and now he reached level 10 of painting and achieved his wish (with the added benefit of one of his bottles of wish-enhancing serum).

85.Billy_LTW.jpg



Mignonette had a birthday…

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…and so did Heath.

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From his mother’s point of view, it was possibly the most important birthday of all.

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(Annoyingly, she had also taken wish-enhancing serum but I’d stopped and saved the game because I needed to sleep and didn’t notice when I started playing again the following day that the moodlet had cancelled.)

Heath became a decidedly surly teen.

89.Teen_Heath.jpg



Alison heard at work that Shorty-John’s wife, Victoria, had died – so she invited him over afterwards to try to console him.

90.Consoling_the_boss.jpg]

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I think she succeeded.  It probably didn’t much matter either way – the chimes for a successful conception coincided with a pop-up saying that Shorty-John was about to follow his wife.

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And at last I’ve found a use for the irritating walking-stick gaits – they override the ‘stride of pride’ and stop everyone else from realising what’s just been going on  ;).



Things went quiet for a while.  Alison upgraded the new plumbing and established another garden, pausing only to vomit at regular intervals.

Mignonette aged up to child…

93.Child_Minnie.jpg

…and Alison gave birth to Daisy, the first of the Barnacle Bay babies.

94.Daisy_birth.jpg

As soon as she’d caught up with her sleep, she fulfilled a midlife-crisis wish to flirt with someone other than Billy (such a novelty!) by chatting up Alec Trebo.  Within hours, she was pregnant again – and I failed totally to get even a single screenshot.



Heath aged up to young adult and moved out…

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…leaving his graduation awards behind.

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Daisy became a toddler…

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..and acquired a little half-brother, Jonquil.

98.Jon_birth.jpg



Some notes about names
  • Jonquil was, of course, named in honour of Jon Lessen, the First Father, and will henceforward be known as Jon.
  • Mignonette was going to be Minnie but she’s a snob (and became proper as a teenager), so she insists on her full name at all times.
  • With a requirement for 26 pregnancies, it’s traditional to name the kids in this challenge alphabetically.  Since I’m using flower names for all of them, I was never going to go through the alphabet in order: certain fathers required certain names – like Lupin for the werewolf’s kid.  While I do have names for every letter of the alphabet, some of them are pretty odd (Queen Anne’s Lace, anyone?  She’d have to be a snob.  And Upright Hedge Bedstraw would certainly be proper – and, almost as certainly, badly mixed up.)  On the other hand, I have two or three spare names for some letters, which wouldn’t get used unless Ally went in for twins and triplets in a big way.  So I’ll probably end up using most letters but having some duplicates – the priority will be suiting the name to the child (or father, anyway).

Offline Trip

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Yeah, and most naming themes don't have much for letters like X. Not even weird names most of the time.
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Offline KRae

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I've had some luck getting sims back to the surface by inviting them over and asking them to play chess. They've come up and sat down at the table.

Offline hazelnut

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Yeah, and most naming themes don't have much for letters like X. Not even weird names most of the time.

True :).  Although I might still use one of my X names - Q and U were definitely worse for this particular theme.

I've had some luck getting sims back to the surface by inviting them over and asking them to play chess. They've come up and sat down at the table.

I hadn't thought of that - I always seem to forget about the 'Ask to Join' interactions.  I suspect it's more likely to be the hot tub than the chess table, in Ally's case ;)  Given that Morgan's a fairy, he's going to be around for a while, so maybe he'll sort himself out anyway - although I tried resetting him twice, without success.  Since he's Daisy's half-brother it'd seem a bit weird for him to be fathering a sibling while she's still a kid.  I think I'm going to wait until she's grown up and moved out to try again with Morgan - there are several human Sims in town that I'd like to get into the family tree while they're still around, anyway.

Offline Malley

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I can definitely see your point about running into issues with the name themes. I use regular names for my domination dynasty and I go in alphabetical order. Q? U? X? Umm, not much there that I like, thank you very much.

Offline hazelnut

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Re: A Bunch of Flowers (A ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ Project)
« Reply #20 on: July 30, 2015, 01:44:34 PM »
I can definitely see your point about running into issues with the name themes. I use regular names for my domination dynasty and I go in alphabetical order. Q? U? X? Umm, not much there that I like, thank you very much.

K's not brilliant either.  Deciding not to stick with the whole alphabetical thing is quite a relief :).



A Family Reunion

Billy had joined the education career after the family moved to Barnacle Bay, in the hope that some of the unemployed inhabitants would join him.  Some did – but they were all female.  His only male colleague was his boss, Mack Vasquez.  Mack was an EA clone but at least he was a witch (I was still hoping for occult babies).

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Not exactly by accident, Ally bumped into him one evening and asked what his sign was.  When it turned out not to be a swap, his fate was sealed.

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Some time before this, I’d discovered that the celebrity gates appear to block alien abductions.

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On that occasion everyone was asleep, so I just noted it down for future reference.  Then, just after Ally had waved goodbye to Mack, more frustrated alien noises came from the gate.  Ally invited him (?) in and they became friends.

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Then, still wide awake from her earlier trip in the motive mobile, she rubbed the dusty old lamp that Billy had given her.  Since my game almost always produces female genies, I was expecting that particular occult father to be one of the more difficult ones to collect.  This time, though, I got lucky.

105.Al.jpg

I even thought he had a proper genie-ish name for a moment but on closer inspection it turned out that Ali was actually called Al  :(.



The next morning, Alison threw a party to show off the new additions to the house, celebrate Jon’s first birthday and get reacquainted with her grown-up children.  Some of them were now considerably older than she was.  The twins had grown old and replaced their custom outfits with a weird collection of mismatched garments, although at least Primrose had retained her fondness for pale yellow.

106.Reunion.jpg

(And, with an eye to future members of the family, I was delighted to see that Morgan Inkbeard had finally decided to come up for air.)

Lupin and Gromwell were both adults – and both appeared to have had midlife crises.  Lupin had grown his hair, which rather suited him, and Gromwell had done just the opposite, possibly in acknowledgement of his military connections.

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Heath, who had acquired 'brooding' as his final trait, settled for showing off his smouldering looks.

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Then it was time for the birthday boy to blow out his candles.

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The guests cheered, while Billy pointed and laughed (as usual) and Alison beat a hasty retreat to the bathroom to throw up (also pretty much as usual).  The sparkles at floor level spun to a stop and…

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…it’s a merboo!  I’d never even noticed that Alec was any different from usual.  (Mind, he and Alison weren’t exactly hanging around to debate the social niceties.)

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A nose-picking merboo.  No wonder Billy was laughing.

Once he’d extracted his finger from his nasal passages, Jon crawled off to the dresser to pick out his new clothes.  (I decided I liked his hair and scales as they were.)

112.Toddler_Jon.jpg

Rather unfairly, it was also Mignonette’s birthday but she missed the party by being at school.  She did get a suitably flouncy new dress, though.

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With the house starting to fill up with children, it was usually someone’s birthday.  The following day, it was Daisy’s turn.

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The teenagers went to Prom – and Orchid had her young adult birthday outside the school immediately afterwards.

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Alison, who’d been waiting for them to come home and babysit the little ones, produced Rose outside the gates just as they arrived.

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Orchid selected her young adult look…

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…and moved out.  As the first member of the family to make it on to the honour roll at both primary and secondary school, she’d have been a good bet for valedictorian – if only the following day hadn’t been Leisure Day, which apparently meant that graduation was postponed.  She left behind a Prom photo but nothing else (her more popular younger sister was Queen).

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Taking advantage of the seasonal celebration, Ally sent everyone else, apart from the babies, off to the Summer Festival…

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…invited her best friend Mixxuchoo Yoth to visit…

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..and you can guess the rest  :D.

121.Mixxucho.jpg

(Yay! ‘Try for baby’ is an option.  It appears that Mixxuchoo is male.)




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Offline Trip

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I find it pretty easy to tell the aliens apart by sex due to how wildly different the male and female bodyshapes are, but all of my aliens tend to be elderly women so congrats on getting something different!
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Offline hazelnut

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A dude alien and a dude genie? Lucky roll of the dice there!

It really was.  I was assuming that it'd take several dusty old lamps to get a male genie, which is why Billy bought one as soon as he had enough LTHPs.  Now he can start spending his points on himself :).

I find it pretty easy to tell the aliens apart by sex due to how wildly different the male and female bodyshapes are, but all of my aliens tend to be elderly women so congrats on getting something different!

I find it quite difficult.  I thought Mixxuchoo was probably male but wasn't completely convinced until the 'Try for Baby' option appeared.  The body shapes don't seem that distinct to me - although, since aliens don't turn up often in my games, I don't have much experience to go on.  The females usually seem to be flat-chested and the bald heads and odd faces don't help - and their tendency to turn up when it's dark doesn't make it easier.  I think the alien who appeared in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep was probably also male but I'm not entirely sure.

Offline hazelnut

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Re: A Bunch of Flowers (A ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ Project)
« Reply #24 on: August 03, 2015, 01:48:33 PM »
Production Line

Billy had joined the criminal career once Mack had been selected as Education Dad.  His co-workers were all women, so it didn’t seem likely to be useful to Ally in the short term.  He seemed to be enjoying it, though, and had become quite addicted to working out.  He was keen to improve Alison's fitness as well as his own and training her was a way for them to spend time together without either trying anything romantic and creeping the other out…

122.Athletic_stuff.jpg

…at least, until their game of hopscotch was interrupted by Alison’s latest pregnancy being confirmed.

There was another round of birthdays.  Rose grew up to toddler, revealing that she’d inherited Mack’s violet eyes and probably his hair colour – although, since he was already grey-haired when Billy first met him, it’s impossible to be sure.

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Jon became a child and Mignonette, a young adult.

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Her classmates voted her Most Likely to be a Millionaire, which she probably would have been if she’d not had to move out.

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That left Daisy, still at primary school, as the eldest child in the family.  She didn’t seem to think much of being the Responsible Big Sister.

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The alienboo arrived (my first  :D) and was named Sage.

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His birth was immediately followed by the news that Primrose had died of old age  :'(.  RIP, Prim.

Not giving herself time to mourn, or even to recover properly from the birth, Alison called the next man on her list.

128.Kris.jpg

She’d met Kris Single on her very first day in Barnacle Bay but he hadn’t been the obvious choice for Service Dad, because of his age and his dislike of children.  (How can a Sim with that appearance and name, not to mention being a social worker, hate kids?)  Besides, I was holding out for Spot Dalmatia, as usual.  It seemed, though, that Spot wasn’t around any more – Orchid managed to set fire to the kitchen just before she moved out and a random fireman turned up.  Kris, on the other hand, was still very much alive…

129.Kris.jpg

…and, it turned out, very, very susceptible to Ally’s charms.



Life went on quietly for a day or two.  Daisy and Rose grew up some more…

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…and Santa Baby made its presence felt.

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The obvious name for this one would have been either Holly or Ivy but Alison decided she wanted another boy and I’ve been going along with her wishes.  So Kris’ baby was named Wintergreen.

132.Wintergreen_birth.jpg

In keeping with the recent rapid pace of baby production, Ally summoned her genie friend from his lamp as soon as Wintergreen was tucked up in his cot.  I think he suspected an ulterior motive for offering him his freedom.

133.Al.jpg

As instructed, Ally froze and cooked the lamp…

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…and then took it to the catacombs under the graveyard, where she was, of course, attacked by the zombie bears  ::).

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After a quick wash and brush up, she summoned Al again.  The process of breaking his chains didn’t look comfortable.  For either of them.

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Then, without even stopping to say ‘thank you’, he rushed off to play Gnubb.

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As you’ve probably noticed, it’s now autumn in Barnacle Bay.  That surprised me, in fact  :-[ – because I’d left summer as the longest season, I’d forgotten that I’d changed the setting when they moved. (I’ll probably change it again, to equal-length seasons, the next time they move towns.)  That means that Wintergreen will, appropriately, grow up in winter.  He already loves the cold  :).

Offline Alex

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…and Santa Baby made its presence felt.

And now I have that song stuck in my head :) Probably not the right time of year to be humming it at work tomorrow...  ;D

Wow, that genie really does look suspicious. Out of interest, what's Ally's reputation like at the moment?

Offline Malley

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The genie could at least have the courtesy to say thanks as he headed toward the gnubb set...how rude! Genies these days... :o

Offline hazelnut

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…and Santa Baby made its presence felt.

And now I have that song stuck in my head :) Probably not the right time of year to be humming it at work tomorrow...  ;D

Sorry  :P


Wow, that genie really does look suspicious. Out of interest, what's Ally's reputation like at the moment?

He does.  He seems to be one of those Sims who's always pulling great faces.

Her reputation's varying between 'naughty' and 'exploring her options'.  I've been getting her to break up with her partner after the pregnancy is confirmed each time (posthumously, in the case of Shorty-John  ???).  Actually, I think her reputation temporarily went off a bit more at that point, because she didn't wait to break up with S-J's ghost before putting the moves on Alec Trebo.  As a womaniser himself, he wasn't bothered.

The genie could at least have the courtesy to say thanks as he headed toward the gnubb set...how rude! Genies these days... :o

Well, quite :D.


Offline hazelnut

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Re: A Bunch of Flowers (A ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ Project)
« Reply #29 on: August 05, 2015, 03:26:14 PM »
The look Daisy gave toddler Rose in the walker was priceless. I hope I got the names right.

Wasn't it? ;)  And yes, you got the names right.



An Educational Interlude

I was about to send Alison in pursuit of her games-loving genie when I noticed something.  The house was now full.  I’d got so used to there only being three or four kids around that I hadn’t registered that the recent pace of baby production had had such an effect.  She’d have to wait until Daisy grew up to try for a blueboo.

Daisy was still three days away from her birthday but, as usual, there were celebrations that evening.  Jon grew up to teen and, thanks to an unexpected late drop-off in his grades, became unstable.

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It was also Sage’s birthday.  He grew up into a surprisingly cute toddler.

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In fact, have some Sage spam.

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That’s the worst falling-into-the-potty incident I’ve seen.  Sage seemed inclined to blame Billy’s gem-cutting machine for his misadventure.



Before releasing Al from his lamp, Alison had made two other wishes: for prosperity and for long life.  Of course, that meant that all of her children from that point on (Sage, Wintergreen and all of her future kids) would also have extended lives.  From the point of view of keeping the adult offspring around for longer, that could only be a good thing.  Poppy had died a few days after her twin.  I’d found losing both of them surprisingly upsetting, given that they hadn’t been in the active household for ages.  On the other hand, from now on the kids were going to grow up half as fast.  The nursery might well need an extension, given that the baby stage can’t be shortened under the challenge rules and I’d be reluctant for the cute toddlers to grow up quickly – all of them so far would have qualified for an early age-up to child but none of them had had cakes more than a few hours early.  The child and teen stages were another matter, though.  Orchid could have had early cakes both times but she was an exception.  As Jon had just proved, my control over study and homework was distinctly variable.  Lupin, Heath and Daisy had also been given a random trait each.  Billy had made a start on logic but was still some way short of being able to tutor kids.  Anyway, I didn’t really feel it ought to be his job.  Ally, on the other hand…

There was a growing collection of university freebie buckets in the family inventory, so I got one out and asked her to take the test.

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“Wow!  My first full scholarship.  Congrats, Ally!”

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A technology degree seemed like a good idea.  Her maxed handiness qualified her for a distinguished award and she could boost her performance by learning logic.  She made the call to reserve her place right away.

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“Erm, Ally.  Do you want to wait?  Jon’s having an episode.”
“No, he’ll be fine.  Get Daisy to drive him to hospital.”

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Nice to see she’s such a caring mother.  I suppose it could have been worse.  ‘Loves to swim’ could have been replaced with ‘hydrophobic’.  (Note to self: try playing a hydrophobic mermaid sometime  ;).)  She didn’t even wait for the rest of the family to wave goodbye.

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Ally arrived in Uni Town and moved into my favourite house, upgrading most of the furnishings so that she could live in the style to which she was happy to have become accustomed.

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The paparazzi who followed her to university must have been deeply disappointed: she led an unusually blameless existence.  She kept an eye out for possible fathers, of course…

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…but mostly she just got on with her coursework.  By the middle of her first week, she was on the dean’s list.  When she wasn’t at lectures, she ate rather better than most students…

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…visited the gym, read comic books…

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…and even attended a tea dance.  I didn’t realise they still existed, least of all at uni.

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“Ally?  You do know he’s supposed to be leading?”
“Why?  I’m a better dancer.”
“Yes, but…  Oh, I give up.”

The most outrageous thing she did was to play video games in the library at midnight in her swimsuit.

154.Gaming.jpg

Hardly the notorious Alison Flower of Barnacle Bay.



“Er, Ally?  What’s wrong??”

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“It’s these results.”
“Why the frown?  You passed all the exams with flying colours.”
“No. it’s this tiny print.”
“Oh.  Maybe that last batch of Fountain of Youth wasn’t quite right.  Do you want to pop into CAS and get glasses?”
“Can’t I have contact lenses?  Or, you know, just manage.  And anyway…”

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“Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I assume ‘First’ was in large letters.

The whole family, apart from the babies, turned up to see her graduate.  Since I had the sound off, I’m not quite sure what all the grimacing was about but first Rose and then several other guests freaked out, while Daisy looked as though she’d just encountered a particularly nasty smell.

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Ally somehow failed to put on her gown.  Not that that was going to stop her enjoying the occasion.

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When she got home, Billy had a surprise graduation gift for her – a Jar of Potent Friendship.  Just before she’d left for uni, their already rocky relationship had taken a nosedive when he’d been arrested in the course of his professional duties and had suffered his first celebrity disgrace.   But I he had finally realised that the solution to their problems lay in his own hands.  All he needed was root of red valerian and some beeswax.

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They made the most of their repaired relationship.

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