The Blackburn Dynasty

[Chubling]

The second semester of university was much the same at the first.

I go to my classes.

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Play pool.

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Sculpt.

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And study.

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A lot. I really enjoy my classes, but they are tough. I love the challenge though.

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I’ve also been spending a lot of time at the coffee shop. It makes me feel very cool drinking my herbal teas and studying. Sometimes I hang out at the Grotto so I can play pool as well, though that place is a little...rebellious for me. It’s become a pleasant routine that Basil occasionally joins me for.

He’s usually flirting his way through the student body when not hanging out with me. He seems to be working through his grief and has been more of himself lately. I think we are both learning to live in a world without Mom and Carmella around.

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I’ve been doing amazing in my classes, this semester has been a little easier, now that I’ve figured things out a bit. Which means Basil has been much more intense about me joining him for parties and socializing.

He thinks all I do is sculpt and study. And, well, he’s not exactly wrong. I do have a bit of a routine going, but it’s a really nice one! But, well, I am supposed to be working on my people skills as part of my classes.

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And I may have been finding myself a touch stressed out by my classes. A break might be nice.

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I let Basil talk me into it and I promised I wouldn’t read a book the entire time at this party. It started normally enough and I even tried some juice for the first time. It was sweet and had a weird aftertaste, but not bad.

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Basil was already juiced by that point and as usual, spent most of the night naked and running around.

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Which might, possibly have led to me trying more of the juice as I didn’t have anything else to do. And I blame the juice entirely for what happened next! I would never be so undignified otherwise!!

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Thank the Path for herbal tea! I spent the next morning nursing this hangover before class. I don’t know how Basil manages to do this so often!

Basil has been continuing to sleep his way around school, still following in Aunt Carmella’s footsteps. He doesn’t seem to take any of his romances very seriously, though he’s never cruel about it, which I think is important and a bit different than Aunt Carmella was. He’s just having a good time and working through his grief.

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There was a lot more going to class and in between I managed to supermax my sculpting! I’m getting quite amazing if I do say so myself. My sculptures have really come a long way! I can’t wait to get home and start selling them. I’m going to be the best sculptor Moonlight Falls has ever seen.

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Before long, it was time to graduate! Basil and I both got top marks, which, really, I’m fine with having studied my butt off and he did some paintings. It’s fine.

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Only Mother was able to fly up, but it was really wonderful having her there. I wish Mom could have been here for it, but Basil and I would go down to her grave when we got home and tell her and Aunt Carmella all about it.

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I was now a business major! Ready to start selling all the sculptures I had made while at school! Immortality here I come!

Now that I am officially graduated, I needed to change my sweater a bit, the old one felt rather collegiate.

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The next stop was the consignment shop to use all my new business knowledge on. I really did master my courses, because the next day I had reached the top of my career! Take that Mother!

Of course, my talent is pretty undeniable. Hardwood Clay has nothing on me!

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~~~~~~

Giovanni is red! Both twins are. I finally remembered to check. The red really has hung around. Go Chester! Carmella may have taken over the rest of your genes, but that red skin got passed on to a number of his grandkids!

[Trip]

I'm happiest about the red kid news! The only Chester gene worth keeping really. Also means an unintentional Christmas color scheme with Hetel and Giovanni.

Sounds like Vera used her time wisely. She probably IS better than Harwood because I don't think I had him do the full supermax, just the ice sculpture part.

[Chubling]

I really didn't get lucky this attempt with my rainbow skin tones, which is such a bummer because MFs had so many! Sam left me a few rainbow ones, but it's really just been the red. I'm still upset I didn't get Count this time. Hopefully I'll get Warren to leave a kid or two at some point in his long fairy life.

Giovanni and Charlotte aged into teens and I'm utterly in love with your Charlotte turned out and I'm looking forward to showing her magnificent face off. She's a stunner!

I went with Harwood mostly because he's the only officially famous sim for sculpting, though he really is Dynasty MVP as well. Amazing lips, actually starts with the sculpting skill and plenty of time to pollinate before dying off early. Truly the dream.

I couldn't make her an art major because I didn't want her to learn painting and she needed charisma for her LTW anyway, so business it was.

[Chubling]

Being home again was both wonderful and odd. It was nice to be home with everyone again and the chaos of the house, but I missed it being just me and Basil and the days of class and sculpting. There were so many more responsibilities and pressures at home.

Things had been busy while we were gone though! Mother decided to drink a potion of Midas Touch and turned Mom’s statue gold, as well as a few other things around the house, including the guardian dogs I had made. It was definitely a look and I think Mom would approve, she did have a fondness for the shiny things.

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There had been a few babies born around town and Mother was obsessed. She could never resist a toddler and had spent her time playing with chubby babies while Basil and I were at university. I don’t think Linda is very thrilled to see it all happening again with her daughter this time. Apparently Janae’s elderly boyfriend hadn’t lived very long after the babies were born, leaving Linda and Janae to raise the children. And after his death, it came out that Janae hadn’t been his only girlfriend.

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Apparently Daliah Goodfellow had been seeing the man as well. And he had left his own surprise at that household as well, a set of twin boys born just after their father died. Pip wasn’t exactly thrilled, though they stayed together to raise them, but I think it had made their relationship a bit rocky. In fact, I know it did because when I went to meet the toddlers, Pip flirted with me! Right in front of his wife! No thank you!

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I think all the babies being born got to Hetal. She was getting older and she wanted another kid with Zoe. They just needed to go down to the clinic and pick out a doner together. Considering how many of my broke university classmates donated there, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them was the material provider. She was already showing by the time Basil and I returned!

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Hetal and Zoe were excited to grow the family again. The twins were children by then and I think they were excited to have a new little one to spoil. Zac was over the moon to be an uncle again and they were busy getting the house baby proofed again and making sure the nursery was ready.

It wasn’t all good news though. One of the Singh girls, Dena, died of electrocution. Mother performed the ceremony for the girl, but it was pretty upsetting for the town. She was so young and it was such a tragic accident. Balthazar was depressed for days, sulking around the garden. It was apparently really awful. I’m both sorry and glad Basil and I weren’t here for it.

Barley at least waited until Basil and I had returned home to pass away. I think he wanted to wait for us, because he died only a few days after we got home. He had lived a long life and we all adored him so much. I’m going to miss waking up to him dropping a cat toy onto my head and screaming at me to play. He was a wonderful friend I’m going to miss dearly.

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Mother decided to keep his grave on the property. I like knowing they might still show up for an occasional visit. Cats have always taken their own Path through the gentle light and I hope he visits often.

Hetal gave birth shortly after the ceremony for Barley, welcoming Alaric Anjali to the world. He’s very popular with the household, though I still maintain that babies are accidents waiting to happen. Alaric has already peed on me as of the writing of this. He is pretty cute when he isn’t leaking disgusting fluids.

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He arrived just in time too. Hetal aged up to Elder at a party the next day. It’s a little funny seeing these two old ladies and their newborn baby. But they seem happy and it’s always fun to get to have a little cousin. And it did make me start thinking about the fact I was going to need to start thinking about my own family soon.

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We added to our family sooner than expected when Mother came home with a cat. She said Alfred’s cat had kittens a little while back and was still trying to find homes for a few. We welcomed home Honey, though he didn’t match his name much. He was aggressive and rude and Mother and he bonded instantly.

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The rest of us are still warming up to him, but I feel confident he’ll be friends with everyone soon. Or at least stop hissing at us all the time. He and Mother are inseparable, usually found rocking on the porch together. I’m sure they are up to no good, they just seem like they are plotting something!

I’m still sculpting all the time. I want to be legendary and you don’t manage that by settling. My sculptures were really taking off and I was becoming quite the big deal in the art world.

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I also have been encouraged by Mother to remember that I need to find a husband and have an heir as part of my Path. And I’m not going to find someone sculpting at home, as Mother is happy to remind me.

Which is how I ended up getting flirting with by Cyrus Fitzgerald. He was a bit older than I was, but even with his odd sense of fashion, he was rather handsome. And he was also a business major and like me he was also in a different field. He was a pro athlete, one of the starting players for the MoonLight Falls Mystics.

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I had never really thought about him like that before, but now that I wasn’t an awkward teenager anymore, I was starting to see him differently. And Mother had always really liked Cyrus. She was thrilled when I told her he had flirted with me at the art museum.

So thrilled she apparently took him down to the salon for a makeover.

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This honestly seemed like an answer to my problems. I didn’t exactly get the same flutters that swept me away with Jeanne, but that was fine. We shouldn’t make choices based on things like flutters. It required rationality and logic and care. And Cyrus is the logical choice.

And Cyrus was sweet and handsome and very good at sweeping me off my feet, so it wasn't all bad or anything. I wasn’t used to being treated like this. It was intoxicating. Before long, I was happily swept up in it. Enough so that I didn’t notice the problems.

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It was a whirlwind romance and it was everything I wanted, so I didn’t really want to look at it too close. And I wanted to get back to my sculpting. It was fun being with Cyrus, but my first love is always my art and, well, Cyrus just seemed like just what I needed. I could get back to my sculpting. And Mother was so happy with me for once!

So one night, while we were on a date in the graveyard, talking about life and us and romance, I decided to go for it and I asked him to marry me! Cyrus was thrilled, saying we should have the wedding right away so we could finally live together.

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Everything was so perfect.

~~~~~~~

I discovered this dog and I feel instantly in love. To later discover that he belonged to Cyrus’s household and I could have moved him in! But it was after I had already adopted Honey, so there wasn’t any room in the house. I played myself!

Also go Jenae! She gave me two rainbow babies! I'm hoping to keep a few around and she pulled through!

The bio doner for Hetal is Mahmoud Yavari. It took me forever to try and decide and honestly, no one was good enough for my perfect Hetal. And she's only got the one shot to pass on her nose, so fingers crossed.

I also managed to lose a random hunk of screenshots between transferring them between the computer I play on and the laptop I post this from. It was me being very dumb but I don't think anything super important was lost, but it does mean there are a few chucks of this that I didn't have pictures for or only had a few screenshots of. I think there is a later hunk affected too, but I don't know how much yet. Not enough that it should be a huge deal, but it has been a bit annoying. Mostly because I did it to myself. I am a Fool. A foolish fool.

And while it says differently in story, Cyrus was officially in the household when he got the makeover. And I am so happy he finally gets to show off how hot he is. He's old enough he fits his face and his hair isn't in those awful braids (for real EA, why is there so much scalp showing???). He looks so good! I hope his kids take after him!

[Trip]

No idea which donor I was hoping for in the end but Mahmoud has a cool hair color. I'll let you keep your secret on that for now. Christmas-colored siblings would have been cooler than what we got from Alaric (booo!) but he has a great job ahead of him.

[Chubling]

Honestly, I didn't even hold out hope for a green Alaric. I put all of my hope into the nose. I need the nose and I've been really lucky so far with boards and WHEN WILL THE OTHER SHOE DROP! I feel better about the outside the house babies cause I can take extra cracks at those.

[Chubling]

Alaric is growing like a weed. Before long, he was a toddler and I have to admit, he wasn't so bad. Though it was a bit alarming every time he disappeared a toy. Mother said Balthazar did the same thing when he was a baby. It’s cute even though I jump every time he does it. I still try to avoid the messier parts of his care though.

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That wasn’t hard as he is very popular around the house. No one could get enough of him when Hetal brought him by to visit. Basil was obsessed and was often the first one to grab him and run off and play with him. He doesn’t even mind the more messier chores, though Mother says I need to start practicing so I can be ready when I have my own.

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I hate it, but I try to not let Alaric know that, it’s not his fault he’s a disgusting but cute gremlin. But I do tend to shove him off to Mother or Basil or Balthazar before long. I like my doses small, thank you. Hopefully he’ll get bigger soon, that’s a much better age.

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I have been doing a lot of thinking about things while I work on my sculpting. It’s strange you know, having this list of things I have to do, regardless of if I want them or not. I had to find someone to have a child with, an heir, the next in line. It was a lot of pressure, but I know I am up for it. It is far too late to be getting cold feet anyway. And Cyrus was charming and good looking and that was what I needed. I just needed to stop being so wishy washy about it.

And things were moving along very fast, so there really wasn’t much time to worry about it. Mother of course wanted to plan it all, not that I think anyone really minded. It gave me more time in the studio. Mother did insist I have a bachelorette party, which I wasn’t really that sure about until Basil came and talked me into it.

Basil reminded me it would be attended by my friends and he would be there and it would mean a lot to everyone to celebrate with me. I hate when he is right. I promised I would try to have a good time and he promised he would help me sneak home early. He really is the best little brother.

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The party was rather good, I will admit. And it didn’t hurt that everyone started spraying nectar everywhere and I don’t have the highest tolerance for it. A bunch of my friends were able to come and celebrate with me and it was nice to see them again. I admit I can spend a lot of my time in the studio and some of my friends I hadn’t seen in person since I left for school.

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Basil gave the speech to everyone and it was wonderfully sweet and funny and I might have cried a little.

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I don’t think it hurt that I was a little juiced by that point. Or maybe a lot juiced. It’s a little fuzzy.

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And then the dancers arrived! Mother was tickled by them, she kept going on about how much Aunt Carmella would have loved them. This was around then is when I snuck out to go back home and sculpt. The dancers were too much for me! The guests can carry on without me just fine! Basil was hitting things off with Rosie and wanted to stay behind and offered to keep the party going.

The next day it was time for the wedding. I woke up a little nervous about it. Was I making the right choice? I had felt so sure when I asked Cyrus, but part of me had just wanted to get things settled and make Mother proud of me. I have never really spent much time thinking about what I want.

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Mother, as usual, sensed something was wrong and came to talk to me. Mother reminded me that we have our duty and that requires a child. And it’s not like I have someone else I wanted to marry and there isn’t anything wrong with Cyrus. And I always do this. I overthink and I get scared and avoid everything. I need to grow up. And I had already made my choice, it was far too late to be worried about it now.

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The ceremony was beautiful and romantic and everything I could have hoped for. This was going to be fine! We loved each other and it was only going to get better! Even one of my friends from University was able to fly down for the ceremony! And everyone was crying all through the ceremony. You would think I had died the way Mother carried on.

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It was after the ceremony that things started to get a little awkward. As soon as we shared our first married kiss, Cyrus lectured me for not having the cake ready to cut! It just hadn’t been brought out of the cooler yet! I did have one! I just forgot about it with everything that had been going on.

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Mother swooped in and got the cake set up and the party continued just fine. Cyrus had just been stressed and he wanted the wedding to be perfect, but I just felt so embarrassed and ashamed after that. It was supposed to be the perfect day and I still messed it up. Cyrus did cheer me up by insisting we dance together.

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Then, as Mother made sure to remind me, it was off to the cottage to start working on our heir. I admit I was looking forward to getting this out of the way. That isn’t the most romantic way of losing one's virginity, but, well, I liked Cyrus and all but I wasn’t that interested in the this part of it all. It was fine, but, well, nothing like the books made it seem like it was supposed to be.

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I think Janae was avoiding her responsibilities at home because she stayed throwing rice and clapping all night. Probably more fun than a house full of hyper children full of wedding cake. Or maybe she's sad she never got her own wedding before her much older boyfriend died.

Once the honeymoon was over, it was back home to enjoy our new life together. Though, I’ll admit, I wasn’t really seeing much of Cyrus. I had my sculpting to get back too and I will admit, I was so happy to be back in the studio full time, I didn’t notice right away that Cyrus wasn’t around much. It was probably training for work. Athletes have to work constantly to stay at the top of their game.

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It was while I was in the studio working on my latest project that I discovered I was pregnant! I was so thrilled and I rushed to tell Basil first thing. We both went to tell Mom's statue the good news, then Mother. I would have told Cyrus first, but he was working late again. But he was the 4th person to know! As soon as we walked in. He can't wait to be a father.

In other kid news, the kids around town have been growing like weeds. Carmella’s girls were all grown up. Two of them look just like their mother, while the other one looks more like Carmella. All three are lovely. [editor's note: I forget which girl is which. Whoops. Lauren is the one that looks different. I mix Brandy and Yvette up all the time]

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Lauren

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The Durwood kids are teenagers now as well. Giovanni got his mother’s blond hair, which isn’t the most flattering with his bio grandfather’s pink skin. But he’s got that Durwood face.

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His sister, Charlotte, is absolutely beautiful. She’s got two looks for her hair, one long and one short. She looks lovely in both. She’ll end up breaking some hearts I’m sure. I wonder if she’ll be willing to come pose for me.

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~~~~~

I got better pictures of Rosie and Melvin. I hadn’t realized I had such bad shots of them until I went looking for pictures of them to show off. So I went and got some better ones. Melvin continues to be totally fine. There is nothing wrong with him, he’s decently good looking. I actually like that he has a bit of chunk to him, though, its really not much, but this town is so skinny!

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Rosie is cute and I rather enjoy her features when she's not making weird faces. Which she makes in a lot of the screen shots I tried to get of her face. She's an expressive sim.

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[Chubling]

Things are NOT fine. At all. It’s all wrong!

I got married to the right man, and I got pregnant with the next heir and everything is supposed to be fine now! I’m doing what I’m supposed to do and it is all wrong. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this!

Cyrus has been having an affair!

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With Janet Pok. I feel disgusted even writing this. She had his babies. Two of them. Twin boys.

I was so angry when I found out from one of my friends. They had seen them kissing at the stadium, right in front of everyone. I’m so embarrassed and furious and hurt. How could he do this to me?

I admit I didn’t handle it very elegantly. I screamed at Cyrus the second he came home. I was so angry I was sure I was going to divorce him right then and there. But, well, we talked things out and he explained things and that it was all a mistake and that it hadn’t meant anything to him and, well, I mean, as Mother reminded me, he is the father of my child and we all make mistakes.

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I don’t even know what to think. It’s all too much. I’m supposed to be building our family with him right now. I’m growing our baby inside me! This is not supposed to be a nightmare! I did everything right!

Basil thinks I should divorce Cyrus but it isn’t that easy! He refuses to have anything to do with Cyrus now. Most of the household isn’t very fond of him. Mother is the only one still on his side. She thinks I need to grow up and stop making such a big deal about it. That it’s over and done with and Cyrus is my future.

I still don't know. I'm full of hormones and hurt and I just don't know what I want to do. This was never in the plan.

I hated fighting about it with Basil though. More than I hated fighting with Cyrus, honestly. Basil and I push each other all the time, but we don’t disagree like this. And he always knows how to help me figure things out. So we took a day together to spend up at the graveyard. I love it out there when it snows. It’s like a whole other world, cold and crisp and quiet.

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And we talked a lot. About the dynasty, about the baby and about Cyrus. About what I wanted. And I want to be the best Immortal. I want to make my Mother proud and I want to have a family. A good, happy family for my daughter.

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I don’t think Basil agrees with me, but he is going to support me. I don’t know what I would do without him; He’s my best friend.

David is furious about the whole thing, but he and Janet are willing to raise the kids together. They are staying together and so are Cyrus and I. It will be like nothing ever happened and we can move forward with our lives.

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On top of that, Nugget died. I think he missed Barley terribly. Those two were inseparable and while we gave him lots of attention, I don't think it could replace his best friend. I miss him terribly already and this is all too much and so unfair. I can't even cuddle my cat while crying about my cheating husband! Honey is still very unfriendly to anyone but Mother.

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Moving on from all that unpleasantness and onto relationships that are thriving drama free, Hetal and her family have been doing wonderfully. She and Zoe make sure to spend a lot of time with the kids, and Zac is never far behind.

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They are a close family and whenever Hetal isn’t at work, she’s with the kids. We hardly see her at home anymore, but she seems happy. She says she has so much to teach them before she goes. I am a little jealous, though I won't admit that anywhere but here.

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Alaric is growing so fast. I have been trying to be a bit more active with his care because I’m going to have my own soon and Mother is right about getting in some practice. It’s still messy, but, I admit, he is rather precious trying to learn how to talk. And we don’t get to see him too often, so I like to make the most it when we do.

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I have been spending more time than ever in the studio with Basil. I admit I am avoiding Cyrus a little. I have forgiven him, I have, but, well, it’s hard to not still be angry. To not think about him kissing her when we are together. We have spent some time together, to repair things, but it's been slow.

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It was one of the late night sculpting sessions with Basil that I went into labor. Basil was useless, freaking out and babbling about needing to get the car. I waddled out to the car and we managed to get there just as Cyrus was pulling up. Mother had called him and told him to meet us there.

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He was wonderful through the delivery. I had a very hard time during labor and I don't know if I could have gotten through without Cyrus there is support me and hold my hand and remind me to breathe.

Welcome to the world, my sweet Giulia Blackburn. I adore her so much, even if she had a difficult arrival.

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I think my having Giulia made Basil realize he was missing something. He had always loved playing with other people's children and he was ready for his own.

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He and Rosie had been flirting with each other for a while now and he decided to make it official. They were a cute couple and she has been one of my best friends since we were teenagers.

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Mother is still working on her Ambrosia recipe. She says it's better than ever. I can’t wait until I get to try it, taste the flavor of immortality.

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It was time for Alaric and Giulia’s joint birthday, but with everyone so busy, we decided to keep it simple and just family.

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Alaric looks just like his mom! He is a serious kid who can’t get enough of painting and photography. He started to follow Balthazar around like a puppy, eating up every word about his paintings. I wonder if he’ll be taking over the garden as well.

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Giulia is a brave little thing. She’s always exploring around and getting into everything. One of Aunt Carmella’s relatives sent her the funniest little doll that she loves to play with.

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Everyone adores her. She’s quite popular around the house, though whenever Cyrus is home, the two of them are inseparable. He loves to tell her all about his games and she tells him these nonsense stories about what she did. Cyrus has his flaws, but he is so wonderful with Giulia.

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I have to remind myself of that when we got the news Janet was pregnant again. The two of them swear it was from the last time they were together and that they haven’t seen each other since it all came to light. I want to believe him. I do. It is just so frustrating. Things were finally getting back to normal and we find out Janet had triplet girls. I won’t let this derail everything.

And Cyrus did get me a cat. He knew I was missing Nugget and one day he came home with a sweet, honey colored cat that he had named Pepper.

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Mother has been spending some time down at the graveyard lately, talking to Mom and Aunt Carmella. I think she’s getting a little lonely. Mom has been gone awhile now, though we all still miss her so much. Mother doesn’t do well without an audience and I think it irritates her that she doesn’t have anyone to pay attention to her all the time now. Her time teaching the Path just isn't enough for her.

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See. Things will be just fine.

~~~~

I have had so many sets of triplet girls! Thankfully only 2 of the 5 kids are vampires. And the vampire girl is my favorite of the bunch, which is very useful. I was not expecting triplets and had only planned on having Janet get pregnant once. But then she had two boys and I really wanted to have a girl to keep the line going if I needed/wanted to later on. And then I got three!

I could swear that I turned off werewolves when I started this game, but I checked, and yup, the box was checked. I just hadn’t noticed because not many of the townies I care about turned. It was only recently when I noticed Fawn had become one did I realize. I don’t really pay much attention to the poor, neglected Swain kids. I’m deeply shallow and I love based on garbage things like looks and these two disappoint! I’m hoping to mix someone better into the gene pool to hopefully spice things up when it’s time to find a baby daddy for Fawn. I was also going to show off Fawn and Lewis in this update and, uh, I don't have a shot of Lewis. WHOOPS. Talk about neglecting them.

I was also tickled by the fact that Honey and Pepper should have switched names. I didn't notice all my pictures of Pepper seemed to be in dark light, but they are the same honey tone as Nugget was. And I've been able to keep my pets with food names going without having to change any of their names.

Giulia was truly a difficult birth. My game crashed multiple times while Vera was in the hospital giving birth. My partner was able to fix things, but it was a touch frustrating to have to play through so many times. And I'll forever wonder what those kids would have turned out like. Probably amazing with their grandmother's rainbow skin. She's also named after my favorite historical poisoner, Giulia Tofana, creator of Auqa Tofana and savior to many, many woman. And, well, indirect killer of quite a few men.

[Trip]

DOES GIULIA HAVE THE FITZGERALD NOSE because hopefully we are setting off a good trend of the best nose in a pair surviving.

I never thought Alaric would be such a cute toddler and child (I mean they can be really awkward) but he really is. He might be serious but since he looks just like Hetal, he looks like he has some mischief up his sleeve.

I think Charlotte is my favorite of your current kids now? I've seen female sims accidentally age up into male hairstyles but not that one, but it suits her well. I'm still trying to figure out which parent Melvin looks more like (which I think is the only source of my fascination, byeeeee~) but Rosie is definitely the winning kid there. I want Basil's nose to go far though! With or without her. His relationship with Vera is cute. I'm still not sure whether to read it as sexual tension or just really close siblings but Violet's non-passing makes them stepsiblings for life so it's all in our heads anyways.

I do wonder if Adelaide is trying to justify her breaking up a marriage. Easiest character analysis ever but I'm lazy enough to miss commenting on one chapter, so what'd you expect from me? Anyways deliver Cyrus kid pics soon!

[Chubling]

I'm pretty sure she does! I like to be surprised by my berries and I don't check, but Adelaide's nose is really obvious and she doesn't have that! I will hurl my computer out my window and into the trash of its Pappy's nose skipped a generation!

Alaric was SUCH A CUTE TODDLER. I have so many screenshots of him and honestly forgot to get some of things I should have gotten them off because I was obsessing over him. I love how he turned out and he'll probably end up with a Brooding trait of some kind. I should make him evil, but he's a witch and Hetal was a lot of work to keep from killing people accidentally when I left her on her own. Carmella and her flirty obsession with love charms was much less stressful.

Charlotte is also my favorite of the kids. She's just great! I can't wait to agonize over who gets to pollinate her. I really love a number of my pollinated kids so far (you really get so much more attached to them when you do it yourself), but Charlotte is my first that I'm heart eyes obsessed over.

The biggest thing Melvin has going for him is he's not Lewis. Who I don't mean to pick on, but Fawn Swain become a werewolf is like...the only interesting about them. I blame Gladstone entirely for this. I haven't forgiven him yet for his atrocious run as a pollinators for me.

Adelaide is very good at expecting other people to do the hard things. And yes, she very much wants to justify what she did. I'm realizing the flaws of making this a single view point at a time thing. With unreliable narrators at that. But it's all a learning experience

I've kind of wondered if Basil is in love with Vera cause he really doesn't show an interest in anyone. I actually made him late to prom cause I was hoping Vera would get a RI before he showed up cause I didn't want the game to put them together. My original plan for everything is in shambles, but I was actually gonna have Cyrus and Basil end up together. Cyrus being a jerk to Vera all the time made that a non starter though.

I do know he doesn't love poor Rosie. Hasn't thrown a single wish for her the entire relationship. But as you said, they are step-siblings forever, so no way for them to ever act on it even if they wanted to. Maybe they'll be Vera's end game reward.

[Chubling]

Guilia has the entire house wrapped around her little finger, though her father most of all. While Cyrus is still busy with training and work, he always makes time for his daughter.

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We have been spending more time together as well too. He’s been much more like the sweet man I fell in love with. We spent some time together at the Spring Festival, spending some time together and watching Cyrus show off.

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I admit, I was glad we got a High Score when we tried the Love Inspector. I had made the right choice and this wasn’t a huge mistake.

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Basil and Rosie discovered they were pregnant and they had a sweet little girl named Lucy. She has her daddy’s hair and her mother’s sweet face. Basil adores her, though I do miss him being around all the time. It does give me a reason to stop in and visit Lucy, though I usually end up having some tag alongs. No one in this household seems to have the ability to resist a toddler.

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I even offered to babysit so Lucy and Giulia could hang out and Rosie and Basil could enjoy a date down at the Spring Festival. It can be hard for them to find time together and I was glad to help. Basil deserves his happiness.

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Our household wasn’t the only one that was baby obsessed. Fawn Goodfellow approached her old friend Balthazar to ask him if he was willing to give her some children, no strings attached. He made sure to talk it out with Warren and it looks like there will be some new arrivals at the Goodfellow home.

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Time seems to be flying by. I feel like it wasn’t that long ago that Basil and I had arrived back home, fresh out of University. But my Adult birthday has finally arrived. My life doesn’t exactly look like I wanted it too, but I just need to keep working harder. And I think I’ve kept the worst scandals private.

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Mother made my favorite cobbler and I decided to just have a small party as there was going to be a huge multi birthday the next day. Balthazar, Cyrus, Basil, Alaric and Giulia are all aging up on the same day.

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I still seem much the same as I did, though I am sure there are lines starting to form on my face. I’ve never had to care about things like that before and I don’t like it. I miss my youthful elastic skin.

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The museum continues to grow steadily, filled with the monuments to our lives. While I can’t enter the tower yet, the museum is open to wander through the echoing halls. It is humbling to walk through the halls and look in at the pieces there. Mine is getting so close to being finished and Giulia’s is just starting her life.

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The next day started with chaos. Alaric went first to make sure he beat the bus and the guests were arriving while he blew out his candles. He grew up to continue to be quite the looker, just like his mom.

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We invited a number of the teenagers around town for Alaric to hang out with.

Here we have the Rodger twins, Joelle and Debra.

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And the Crumplebottom twins, Corinne and Charity.

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And the Goodefellow twins, Gilbert and Kelvin.

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The Swain twins, Fawn and Lewis, were able to join us as well. (Author's note: They are both werewolves in game, but I wanted to show off what they look like, so I snagged some shots from my alt save so we can see what they look like)

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My little Giulia went next at the cake. She wasted no time in going right upstairs to get her new look sorted. I’m not sure I’m a fan, it seems a bit flashy, but she is happy. Maybe I can talk to her about appearances and making sure we are, well, presenting our best selves.

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Basil went next, and like mine the day before, his birthday didn’t change him much.

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Then Balthazar. He makes a sweet old man. And Warren is an elder now as well and they are still just as in love as they ever were. I admit I’m a little jealous. They make it seem so easy.

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Last but not least went Cyrus. He didn’t take well to his lost muscles and white hair, but he didn’t let that stop him from belting out a song when Giulia begged him too. He really is a good father to her.

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The party was a little chaotic, but everyone had a great time and we were all exhausted by the end of the day.

As usual, after a heir’s birthday, the studio was a flurry of activity. We had to get both Giulia and my pieces done and it kept everyone plenty busy.

Cyrus was busy as well, spending long nights practicing for the team. Now that he was older, he said he needed to put more work in to keep up.

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Everything was getting back to normal. I had made the right choice and everything really was going to be just fine.

~~~~

Haha! Now that my game doesn’t randomly decide to just crash a bunch, things have been moving along much faster. I didn’t really notice how annoying it was until it stopped.

I am crushed that Giulia has gotten the Fitzgerald nose (yay!) but also the Rainflower eyes (boo!). I'm not looking forward to finding her a hairstyle as a teenager. Ugh. I hope they don't stick around too much longer. Maybe I'm going to need to marry a Carmella spawn sooner than expected!

I was deeply amused by this, but Melvin was briefly a fairy (the household is way too full to keep him around as a long lived supernatural) before I cured him and despite Balthazar and him interacting multiple times in the past, it wasn’t until he got some wings that Balthazar decided to show some interest. He’s a fairy chaser!

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But let’s all here it for Balthazar, Pollinator of women. Both in that he pollinated a number of women and that the vast majority of his kids are girls. He had 11 kids total (including poor dead Dena) and only 2 of them were boys! Was there watermelon running through the tap water?

Also, Vera had a midlife crisis and proceeded to throw zero wishes for it. Not one. So she didn’t want to change anything, she just wanted to panic about it. Which is very Vera.

[Trip]

I was trying to figure out your twin aging situation until it hit me that Charity is a teen and far too late. Alaric is possibly the least-awkward teen of the bunch after all. And we can only judge Giulia once she ages up to teen, but the nose IS what matters in the end.

[Chubling]

I love those weird Sam genes and his legacy of ancient looking children. Though I have had some odd aging with my triplets. One always seems to lag behind the other a few days, just across the board.

Giulia does have the nose and I do comfort myself with that, but I will cry if I end up with those eyes forever. They aren't the worst on their own, but I'm going too run out of hair styles that work with them.

Larry had a couple of kids that look just like him or their mom. I'm hoping my next batch is a little better for me, but the teenagers from this batch, I didn't have great pollinator choices are the time. The one I had been hoping for died just a little too soon and the old men of the right age around town were limited. So fingers crossed.

[Chubling]

Cyrus and I have continued to try and get back to the way things were in the beginning, when we first started dating. I tried spending more time together as a family. This was the Cyrus I liked best. He doted on Giulia and she thought he hung the moon. I admit I’m a little jealous of their relationship. Giulia and I haven’t really managed to connect like that well. We always seem to clash.

Same with Cyrus and I, if I’m being honest.

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I admit that I spent much of that trip checking out the fireplaces while Cyrus helped Giulia with her school project.

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When I tried to offer to help, as I was the professional artist, she told me that she wanted her dad to do it. And that’s fine. It’s great they are bonding.

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Basil and Rosie were having their own problems bonding. They both adore Lucy, but Rosie wanted Basil to move in with her and get serious with her as a family. And that isn’t allowed, even if Basil wanted too, which he doesn’t. And Rosie doesn’t want to live in the house; It requires more commitment than she is willing to provide. And it would mean making that choice for Lucy as well and having her raised with all those rules. Basil has been avoiding going over there as often lately, insisting he had to work on the sculptures for the museum, but I don’t think that’s the full story.

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Warren and Balthazar are as sweet as ever. When Balthazar isn’t working or doing his chores, he and Warren like to go on dates and enjoy each other's company. Everything seems so easy for them.

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Cyrus has continued to be busy with work.

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Lots of long days and late nights.

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I don’t really mind, I have work to do in the studio anyways.

Mother and Basil are as tight as ever. They have always had an odd relationship, one I’m also a little jealous of. Basil never has to listen to Mother tell him that he’s not living up to his potential. She just gushes about how much he looks like Mom and how proud she is of him.

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Basil did need a little cheering up though. He and Rosie decided to end things. They are still friends and committed to being great parents to Lucy, but they hadn’t been happy together in awhile. I admit, I like having Basil around more often. He still visits Lucy regularly, but it’s no longer his second home. I think once he’s over his sadness, he’s going to be a lot happier.

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Alaric had his prom. He won Prom King, which didn’t surprise anyone. He’s got his mother’s charm and has been popular with the other teenagers. It was a little rough going from there, attempting to impress his crush and asking them to dance, rejected both times. After getting into a fight and showing off for Debra Rodgers, he managed to finally get her to dance with him. They make a sweet couple. I wonder if he’ll be like his parents and fall once and forever or like his aunt and date half the town.

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Alaric and Debra continue to spend time together after the dance. They are still very cute and he shows her his sketches and they talk for hours about whatever it is teenagers are talking about now.

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It wasn’t long before things got sad again. Zoe died peacefully in her sleep and Zac didn’t take much longer to follow and Hetal was devastated. She spent days in bed and once she was able to get back out into the world, there was a little something missing from her. She didn’t try to set random people on fire or sabotage anything around the house. Charlotte and Giovanni were over all the time, grieving with their mom.

Cyrus is spending more time than ever at the gym. I think he’s trying to get his old muscles back, but he doesn’t seem to have any success, he’s as skinny as ever.

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Basil ran into an old friend and this time sparks flew. He had recently gotten out of a relationship, but something casual seemed just what he needed. He and Marion quickly found themselves back at her place.

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I spend my time in the studio as usual. There is always work to be done and orders filled. I’ve finally gotten the last opportunity I needed for my requirements. All that’s left is my elder pieces.

I hadn’t realized just how much time I had been spending in that studio until Basil reminded me that it was time for Giulia to have her birthday. It felt like she had just become a child, but time does seem to slip away when I’m working on something good.

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Mother had the cake ready to go and we invited some friends over for her party. Giulia insisted on inviting the Pok children, against my wishes. She says they are still her siblings no matter how I feel, but she is a child and she doesn’t understand adult choices. It’s better for everyone if we pretend Cyrus isn’t the father of those Pok kids.

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I admit, I’m not very into her new look. It’s very...flashy. But she needs to express herself and I just don’t understand. Apparently. It just looks loud to me.

It was off to the studio for her to get her teen pieces done and I took the time to go visit Basil’s new kids. His brief fling with Marion Singh resulted in a set of surprise babies. Basil isn’t really sure he wants to get serious with Marion, but he is going to be a good father to all his kids.

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While busier than ever, Cyrus still made some time for Giulia, teaching her to drive after she begged him. Not even she gets to see him often anymore, he’s even been having to do overnights at the stadium. She hasn't been taking his time away as well as I have. She's used to being the center of his world.

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The worst has finally happened and Hetal passed. She was a spry old thing, just turned 100 when Grim finally came to walk the path with her. We were all devastated to see her go; She was a huge influence on my sculpting style and my life.

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Alaric locked himself in the studio. He’s lost both his parents now the poor thing and he's been channeling a lot of his grief into his art. I'm very familiar with that. I've been doing it myself.

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Giulia has been practicing her magic. I think she wants to impress her dad, he always talked about wanting more time to learn the magical arts. She bothered Alaric into training with her. I was worried she was pushing him too much, but it seems to have helped give him something to do besides wallow in his grief.

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I think Giulia needed it as well. For all her bluster, she was just as devastated as the rest of us. It will be awhile before the family recovers from this loss.

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~~~~


Once Charlotte and Giovanni aged up, Hetal had to stop hanging out with them unsupervised after Zoe died. Because she and Charlotte were attracted to each other AND NOT ALLOWED. BAD SIMS! From then on, when they hung out, Hetal was watched like a hawk. My favorite sim wasn’t getting gross last minute incest on my watch.

Basil seems determined to be single. When he first hit things of with Marion, he threw a bunch of wishes and I was excited that he finally found someone he was into. And he threw a few wishes for her after they tried for the babies. But after a few days, she called him and asked him on a date. Great! That’s always fun. Off you go. When he gets there, I discover they are no longer romantic interests and their flirting attempts were all awkward and he stopped throwing wishes. So it just seemed not meant to be. He gave me the babies I needed from him so I’m not gonna keep pushing him.

I was also hoping Adelaide might show some interest in people, get some drama going. But being still married to Violet and having the Eternally Faithful rep seems to be keeping her from flirting with anyone. I’ve sent her out on a few dates when they call her, but it never goes anywhere.

I'm very upset about Hetal dying and I'm not at all prepared for the fact that Balthazar is going to eventually die as well. He's my first dynasty baby! I'm not ready! I wasn't ready for Hetal to die! Most of the time I'm actually pretty "You served your purpose now hurry up and die" with my sims in the dynasty so far, but I have a few favorites that I hate having to lose.

[Trip]

I wonder if Alaric will be the kind of romantic his mother was. He definitely seems a little more caring than Hetal, not like I wanted to see that leave either! Fly free little one, may you and your stepchildren respect each other's boundaries. I was unsure which of the rainbow teens I liked better but Debra made the right choice so...it's her!

Basil's certainly been interesting. Hopefully some kids get the nose. And by that I mean the red one on the floor.

In a lot of dynasties I'm always excited for Generation 3 because it may be the last chance for unique genes without extensive meddling (if that's what we wanna call it!) but even with lots of pollinating it is the point where the townie genes start to hint at making sims like you've never seen before. I like Giulia AND her style though I miss the larger frame from Adelaide and Rainflower already. It gave a cuddly and approachable look to some slightly awful immortals I guess.

And the Balthazar x Zoe kid with the men's hair and body hair (!!!) is unlike any randomly genderbending townie I've seen but leg hair out at a party is the look I strive for too.