The Loveland Random Town Jump

[Beks]

Chapter 65 - Into the Dust



Welcome to Lucky Palms! Ahh, it's good to be back and breathing in that dry, dusty desert air. After the lush mountains of the last town, this place is, well, basically the total opposite.



The Lovelands move into this seriously freaking awesome house out in that little strip of town across the highway. You know, the part of town that's basically an extended rest stop in the middle of nowhere? This house is called Fo'c'sle, which I will never know how to pronounce (unless you just say the full word, "forecastle"?). Word on the street is this place used to be a yacht club. It also used to be smaller; the section on the left there used to be only one floor, but I added another on top to squeeze in more bedrooms.



Here's the ground floor. The former master bedroom (on the left, with reddish carpet) has been renovated into a sort of suite for future kids--beds and cribs, toys and oops I forgot a potty. The rest of this floor is pretty much as-is. Just look at that squiggly front wall in the living room!



And the upper floor, much of which I built myself. Two bedrooms and a completely empty bathroom are on the left (I just generally forgot about toilets); the flat part of the roof is an open-air skilling area, with Peter's alchemy station and workout equipment, Georgiana's easel, and a sculpting station and some gardening pots for Anastasia.



The Lovelands start exploring their new home. Georgiana, appropriately, bursts into tears over the new archways that lead into the nursery. Yes, I know they're beautiful, dear.



Peter zips through the desert in the old vintage car and applies for a job at the sports stadium. How they attract enough fans to sell tickets out here in the desert, I'll never know, but they evidently have enough in the budget to hire Peter as a Rabid Fan. Ohh, they just PAY people to come to their games?? Interesting business model.



With a new job in hand, Peter's newly motivated to start working out more consistently. I can't imagine that working out on the roof of a house in the desert is ideal...but here we are.

But before much else can happen here, we need to get Theo and Gilbert settled in their own homes. Yes, I'm moving them out, but don't worry! They won't go far!



Theo goes to see a man about a horse. That is, he checks in with the local animal adoption agency to see if they have any horses that need homes. It just so happens that there's a handsome foal with exactly the sort of coloring that makes him a perfect match for Theo. Or Theo's hair, anyway.



This little guy is named Ripley, and he starts bonding with his new owner right away.



He makes weird faces, too. See? He's perfect. Theo immediately calls the real estate agency to inquire about houses for sale.



Luckily (heh), there just so happens to be an empty house right across the road. It used to be a gas station and is just the right size for a new little family like this one. Theo, Christine, and Ripley move right in. They can even keep an eye on the rest of the family without leaving their house. Hooray! (This is the view from their side of the street.)



As for Gilbert and Lisette...well, they never really got to celebrate their wedding night, because technically, it's still the same day.



The break in one of the new beds. Gosh, I can't wait to see what kind of baby these two make.



After successfully trying for a baby, Gilbert and Lisette move out into--hey, there's ANOTHER empty house right across the street! This one used to be...I don't know, a pharmacy? I think that's what the bio says? Looks more like a club to me. Anyway, now the whole entire family lives within a few hundred foot radius and we can all be together all the time forever!



Now it's just Franky, Georgiana, Peter, and Anastasia in the main household. Georgiana tries out her new easel. The barren beauty of the desert inspires her to paint...a city? Maybe she was secretly hoping to move to Bridgeport.



Peter now has a bee box, because alchemy ingredients. He doesn't have a very good first experience with feeding the bees.



The family goes to bed pretty exhausted after moving day. Anastasia is the first to wake up--because she's still employed by the military. Oops! No no no, there's no time for that. She quickly calls her new employer and informs them that she has more important work to attend to now and won't be reporting for any of her shifts.



Anastasia's new job? Gathering all the ingredients for a certain magical elixir. Well, she's actually a self-employed angler now, but that's because one of the ingredients Peter needs is a fish. Whether we'll actually be able to acquire this fish in the middle of the desert is anyone's guess.



Well, there's still a largeish puddle remaining of the lake that was once here. Anastasia stands patiently in the boiling sun for hours and hours on end, slowly leveling up her fishing skill. At this point, I still have no idea how long it's going to take her to catch this elusive creature. (I'll give you a hint: it's a long time.)



Speaking of elusive creatures, while tidying up people's inventories, I come across the little red bird that Georgiana captured in her early days in Hidden Springs. She brings the little guy out and welcomes him to Lucky Palms. She then puts him back in her inventory and I forget about him again. Why am I the worst.



Anastasia also starts gardening a little, becaaaaause elixir ingredients!



I last about two days in Lucky Palms before I decide we need a cat again. Of course, I plan things so that the cat arrives when it's super dark and I can't get good screenshots. But anyway! We have a new kitten, everyone. This is Tink, and she's going to start a whole new line of Loveland cats.

[Beks]

Chapter 66 - A Chapter About Fish

So, Peter needs to become a Supernatural. His Supernatural of choice is meant to be a surprise, for no other reason than I like surprising y'all. But it's hard to keep it a secret whilst telling you the story of tracking down the ingredients for this supernatural elixir. Because finding these ingredients was SO. INCREDIBLY. HARD.

Now, this is my own fault. I failed to do full research beforehand. I was like, "Oh, we need a gem, a fish, and a mushroom? Psssh, easy peasy lemon squeezy! We can just do all that in the next town, probably!"



The gem was easy. We've had the Collection Helper for ages now; one quick trip around town, and Peter found the gem he needed. (This was way back around his young adult birthday.) The fish, I knew, would be harder; it's a high level fish with a certain mushroom for bait. I figured it would be easy enough to gather the mushrooms (both the bait mushroom and the elixir-ingredient mushroom) in the new town using the seed option on the Collection Helper, level up an angler over the course of a couple days, and go crazy with the mushroom bait for an afternoon. Wham, bang, finish! Elixir in the bag.

It was not that easy. I could have made it easy by just buying all the ingredients at the alchemy store, but I wanted to do this the real way. I wanted Peter to make his own elixir, with ingredients acquired by the family. But after multiple days in-game of scouring the landscape of Lucky Palms for the bait mushroom (okay, fine, it's Glow Orbs), with no luck at all...I had to resort to the alchemy store. (I seriously spent all my time hunting for Glow Orbs. I have no idea what most of the family was doing during those days. I had the Collection Helper activated and I was just checking every glowing seed across the entire map. Over and over and over again.)



So Anastasia spent the next few days hopping back and forth between the fishing hole behind the house and the alchemy store. Buying the entire inventory twice. Acquiring a single Glow Orb. Buying the whole inventory seven times. Acquiring a single Glow Orb. Over the course of three days, she acquired three Glow Orbs and spent tens of thousands of simoleons from the family budget (not that that matters at this point). She lost all of said Glow Orbs within minutes of fishing with them, and failed to catch the correct fish (she was a level 8 angler by this point). GAHH. I cannot tell you how frustrating this was. I was about ready to go into buydebug and spawn some Glow Orbs in our backyard. I mean, we didn't even need Glow Orbs for the elixir itself--just to catch the fish! ONE FISH! WE JUST NEEDED ONE FISH!



A brief glimmer of hope occurred one night. I had sent Anastasia home after a long day of fishing and catching only jellyfish. Then, in map view, I saw the famed rainbow glimmer. A unicorn! A unicorn at...the downtown indoor fishing location?!



Anastasia hopped back into the Motive Mobile (thank watcher for that thing) and drove downtown. I'm not that interested in befriending a unicorn at this point in the story (I'd love to do it sometime), but I thought maybe this unicorn was a sign. Why else would it appear at a lot in the middle of town? (I mean, they seem to spawn at fishing holes. So it makes sense. But still! A unicorn HAS to be a sign!)

Anastasia got out her fishing pole and went at it. For the rest of the night and well into the next day, she fished. And while she didn't catch the fish we needed this time, the fish DID finally appear in the "Inspect Water" popup. So now, I knew that if she fished here long enough, and ideally brought enough Glow Orbs, she WOULD catch the fish. Eventually.



Also the unicorn glitched itself into one of the fishing pools and peed there. So there's that. At least I had a brief respite from pulling my hair out and got to laugh at that.

A couple days passed. Anastasia acquired a couple more Glow Orbs at the alchemy store, which she used up rapidly without catching the right fish. So for the most part, she fished without bait.

And then.



Finally. After over a week in-game of fishing and gardening and collecting and Motive Mobile-ing and fishing and screaming and crying and fishing and fishing, FINALLY. Anastasia catches her very first Fairy Damsel.



She waits about five minutes to catch a second one, because she immediately pops a wish to put a Fairy Damsel in a fishbowl. (OKAY, HONEY. SURE. I'LL WAIT FOR YOU TO CATCH A SECOND ONE, BECAUSE ONE JUST ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU.) Then she turns around and races home to find Peter.



"Peter, Peter! Guess what! I FINALLY caught a Fairy Damsel! You can finally make your elixir and become a Supernatural!"



"Oh, Anastasia, my beautiful fisher princess. You're amazing. I could never have done this without you."
"Teehee! I know."



"YAH!"
*SMASH*



And so.



Peter becomes a fairy after years and years of dreaming of it. And Anastasia turns away with a...is that a tinge of sadness in her face?



Yep, Peter is now essentially immortal. How is this going to work in a Random Town Jump, you ask? I haven't the foggiest idea. I mean, I have a couple ideas, but mostly we're just going to make it up as we go along.



Peter starts testing out his new fairy powers by casting curses upon his wife. Wait, Peter, no!



This...is this what it's going to be like from now on?



Have I made a terrible mistake?!?



Oh, phew. Peter seems to get his initial excitement out pretty quickly, and he and Anastasia go right back to being in love. I think. I hope.



Oh hey, he also happened to make a Procreation elixir recently. Should we give that a try as well?



"What do you say, Peter? Multiple babies, some of whom might be fairies?"
"Sounds like a dream come true."



Something about that woohoo doesn't sit right with Anastasia's digestive system.



Now that that's finally accomplished, let's do a quick check-in with some of our other family members. Our new kitten, Tink, does indeed exist during daylight hours. I just forget to take screenshots of her sometimes. Her traits, by the way, are Shy, Non-Destructive, and Clueless. Isn't she a cutie?



She's only here for a couple of nights before Chewie comes out to greet her.



Georgiana is almost 90 days old now, and she hasn't, I realize with a jolt, completed her Lifetime Wish yet. She's still got half a level of painting to max out. Thankfully, Lucky Palms sunsets are about the most beautiful things to paint ever.



Gilbert and Lisette have had their first child. He is not green, but I'm sure he's going to be very cute anyway, and Lisette is already pregnant again. (This first baby's name is Rasheed.)



Speaking of babies, Anastasia discovers the next day that she's pregnant. A whole bunch of new Lovelands are (hopefully) on the way!

[Beks]

Chapter 67 - Procreation Station



The procreation elixir that Peter drank will hopefully guarantee twins or triplets, but just in case, Anastasia still spends much of her pregnancy plopped in front of the TV with kids' music playing in the background. (Tink frequently joins her.) She also eats about a bajillion watermelons. We're hoping for twin girls here (or triplets, but I've never had triplets in any of my games, so I try not to get my hopes up).



Peter earns his first two promotions in the athletic career fairly quickly. He also maxes the athletic skill, with some help from the Body and Mind Aura he now has the power to project.



He must be the most popular Toddler Sports Coach in the league. Can you imagine having a fairy as your coach?



"Hey Peter, I don't know if you've noticed my increasingly swollen belly over the last couple days...but you're going to be a father!"
"You know what, I DID notice, but I'm happy for the confirmation!"



He's pretty excited.



I send Franky across the street now and then to check on his other kids. Ripley (who essentially counts as a grandson) has grown up into a spiffin' adult horse.



Christine is pregnant with her and Theo's first child.



So pregnant, in fact, that she goes into labor the moment Franky walks in the door.



Franky is the one to take his daughter-in-law to the hospital, and a baby girl named Farrah is born. Congrats, Theo and Christine!



A couple days later, the extended family comes over to hang out for the afternoon. Good to see that Gilbert and Theo are still getting along...

Peter seems to be the only brother who gets along somewhat well with both his younger siblings.



"See, THIS is why my wife is superior to yours, Theo. She dances for me, even when she's carrying a baby!"
"Yeah but she's dancing right in front of the TV! I can't see the game!"
"Well, I can still see. Which means I win this race! Thanks, Anastasia!"
"How did you win? You're not even holding a controller."
"I'm a fairy. I can do anything I want. Also this might be a somewhat inaccurate caption for this screenshot."



Speaking of carrying babies, with enough spying, I finally catch a glimpse of Rasheed as a toddler. He's a copy of his dad.



I think Franky has some sort of secret magical ability wherein he induces labor in any woman he momentarily shares a room with.



Anastasia heads to the hospital, hoping to welcome twin girls into the world. Nope! It's one boy. *sigh* (I later realize that this is because, once again, my gender settings in Story Progression are set to Balanced instead of Random. This exact same thing happened the last time I played in Lucky Palms. It's almost like Lucky Palms is the opposite of Lucky. Or maybe I'm just an idiot.) Anyway, welcome to the family, Archie Loveland! I promise to love you even though you're not a girl and there's only one of you.



As it happens, Anastasia and Peter are ready to try again. This time, Anastasia is the one to throw back a Procreation Elixir. We're gonna have twins or die trying!



The next day, Georgiana finally maxes out her Lifetime Wish, having maxed both painting and writing.



Still, Georgiana is ambitious and hard-working. All her wishes are to keep writing novels. She's working on her second masterpiece now, accompanied by Leslie the Fairy Damsel.



Tink spends her last day as a kitten inside the mouth of a fish, because fish are a bit of a trend around here lately.



That night, she ages up.



What a pretty lady cat she makes!



Anastasia is indeed pregnant again. I decide to trust the Procreation Elixir this time and let her go fishing instead of sitting in front of the TV all day. She's now at level 10 of the fishing skill and doing great in her career.



Peter is just gaga over being a dad. It's really adorable. He doesn't have a lot of time between work shifts, but he spends as much time with Archie as possible.



He also spends a decent amount of time napping. Being a fairy must be exhausting.

[Beks]

Chapter 68 - Life & Death But Mostly Life

Gilbert and Lisette throw a party at their house one night. I say no to a lot of parties in the Sims, but I would NEVER say no to Gilbert, probably.

There are pregnant townies all over Lucky Palms these days. Anastasia bonds with Marisol Loera over their shared agonies and hilarities.



Anastasia and Marison: *crack a pregnancy joke*
Gilbert: *pretends to get it*



You might have noticed a small human hiding behind Anastasia in that picture. It's Gilbert and Lisette's son Rasheed, looking cute as heck. (When I originally wrote this I forgot that I'd already shown him in the previous chapter. Oh well, here he is again!)



It's a fun party, but when Lisette starts flirting with her father-in-law (who is indeed recognized as her father-in-law in her relationship panel), it's time to hit the road. Thanks but no thanks!



Besides, it's Archie's birthday!



Oooooh. He's so cute, guys. Archie is Neurotic and he Loves the Outdoors, and his favorite things are Chinese music, Fish and Chips I think but I never remember to write down favorite foods so I might be totally wrong, and Sea Foam.



I was hoping that one of Anastasia's kids would inherit some of her features. Archie seems to have gotten most of them.



As a stay-at-home fisherwoman who's due to pop at any moment, Anastasia has lots of time to teach Archie his skills. He takes his first step in the peaceful, desert-sun-washed nursery.



Franky is an especially doting grandfather. All he wants to do is cuddle and feed his grandson.



Remember how I said Franky can induce birth by his mere presence? Still applies. (I like how Archie is just playing contentedly in the foreground. This will change when he grows into his Neurotic trait.)



Anastasia gets herself to the hospital and gives birth to a girl! But still only one of them. I'm starting to think that Procreation elixir is a scam. Say hello to Heather, everyone!



Anastasia arrives home to find that Tink and Chewie have become, uh, rather special friends. For some reason this disgusts her. Why on earth would this be considered weird??



Things are calm and lovely in the Loveland household right now. Franky and Georgiana are happy grandparents. They both have full life bars and don't have a lot of time left, so they spend as much time with Archie and Heather as possible.



I promise Peter is a helpful and enthusiastic father, but he's also got his own things going on. For instance, since becoming a fairy, he's developed a passion for dance. This game is full of mysteries, I tell ya.



Archie and Anastasia learn logic together. I say they both learn it because, uh, clearly they both need to.

Anastasia has also been hanging out with Lisette quite a bit. They're now best friends and regularly share motherly advice and gripes.



"Oh my gosh, a toddler crying in a corner next to a puddle of unidentifiable liquid?! I can relate!"



If anything, Anastasia makes a very picturesque mother. Or maybe that's just Lucky Palms making everything look like a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.



Lucky Palms isn't all lucky, though. Death makes its presence known in the Loveland household first by touching Leslie the Fairy Damsel. Turns out fairy fish don't have long lifespans. Also, if you forget to feed them, they die. Who knew?



Death comes again...for Franky. He goes over to visit Theo and Christine and meet their new daughter, Alysia (she's the baby on the ground). As soon as he arrives, death arrives too.



Georgiana sprints across the street, faster than she's run in years, hoping to catch her husband in time to say farewell.



The family gathers around to say farewell to Franky. He's lived a good life (and made it to 93) and been a wonderful member of the family. Unlike the rest of us, he's ready to see the other side.



Before going home to mourn, Georgiana remains in denial for a moment, long enough to meet baby Alysia.

Grim: "What is this strangeness? A bereaved wife, bestowing unfounded happiness upon a tiny life? Is this...LOVE???"

As if you don't know what love is, Grim. I know you're a romantic underneath that creepy robe.

Georgiana heads home, but not before Tink crosses the street to say farewell to his--



OH COME ON.



Again?!?



Well. Um, welcome back, Franky. Does this, like, happen often for Sims players? I didn't think this was supposed to happen often. Tink and Franky were BFFs, but still!

You know what, I'm happy about it. We're not dealing with a packed household anymore. Franky is more than welcome to stick around. But first, Mr. Franky sir, I think there's someone you need to go see.



"I'm back, Georgie. Miss me?"
"Oh, Franky! Those were the worst five minutes of my LIFE!"

[Trip]

Love Lucky Palms...even got a Rasheed in my current LP save (Yolanda Shaw named her son that) I am in agreement about the Procreation Elixir scam but nothing's official until I or someone else tests it (read: look at someone's twins/triplets chance in MasterController. I don't know if you have an old save with Anastasia pregnant but much to think about...)

And pets will automatically try to save anyone who's their BFF but you can cancel the action if you catch it. At least Franky isn't Shantell yet?

[deedee_828]

Congrats on having a boy and a girl, even if they happened in separate pregnancies.

Procreation Elixir
$167
Wolfsbane Flower, Red Toadstools
Learned from Recipe Book. A Twinkle in The Eye - 8h moodlet that gives a great chance of conception and twin/triplet birth

From my understanding of this elixir, since it's only an 8 hour moodlet, to increase the chance of twins or triplets, it must be used within 8 hours of the birth.

Chances are better for multiple births using the fertility reward, and even better if you buy this for both parents.
Then if you have the mother listen to kids music while watching kid's tv, the % goes up dramatically.
As long as there's space in your house, of course, with pets that's a combination of 10 sims.
So with Georgie and Franky, Peter and Anastasia, plus Archie and Heather, that gives you 6 now.
And Tink the cat makes 7, so....you still have room for a set of twins or triplets!

But that's four or five children to choose heir from, even more hair-pulling than three!

And then you'd have to wait for space to have ghost kittens.

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

 

[Beks]

Love Lucky Palms...even got a Rasheed in my current LP save (Yolanda Shaw named her son that) I am in agreement about the Procreation Elixir scam but nothing's official until I or someone else tests it (read: look at someone's twins/triplets chance in MasterController. I don't know if you have an old save with Anastasia pregnant but much to think about...)

And pets will automatically try to save anyone who's their BFF but you can cancel the action if you catch it. At least Franky isn't Shantell yet?

Aaaactually, I did look in Master Controller while Anastasia was pregnant for the second time. There was like an 80% chance of twins. So I think I just landed in the other 20% or whatever it was. But the fact that the elixir failed two times in a row made me not excited to use it again (especially when other methods are easier). I wish I'd looked in MC when she was pregnant with Archie.

I'm happy to learn that you can cancel pets saving sims' lives! That sounds so heartless of me...

Congrats on having a boy and a girl, even if they happened in separate pregnancies.

Procreation Elixir
$167
Wolfsbane Flower, Red Toadstools
Learned from Recipe Book. A Twinkle in The Eye - 8h moodlet that gives a great chance of conception and twin/triplet birth

From my understanding of this elixir, since it's only an 8 hour moodlet, to increase the chance of twins or triplets, it must be used within 8 hours of the birth.

Chances are better for multiple births using the fertility reward, and even better if you buy this for both parents.
Then if you have the mother listen to kids music while watching kid's tv, the % goes up dramatically.
As long as there's space in your house, of course, with pets that's a combination of 10 sims.
So with Georgie and Franky, Peter and Anastasia, plus Archie and Heather, that gives you 6 now.
And Tink the cat makes 7, so....you still have room for a set of twins or triplets!

But that's four or five children to choose heir from, even more hair-pulling than three!

And then you'd have to wait for space to have ghost kittens.

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Thanks deedee! Both times Peter and Anastasia used the elixir, they tried for baby immediately after, so the moodlet was definitely there. I didn't think to have them both take an elixir...and I even had enough for both. Whoops.

I don't think I'm up for a house full of kids at the moment--maybe next generation. And yeah...I'm gonna need a little extra household space for a certain pet project.

[Beks]

Chapter 69 - Toddlers Are Cute, Captions Are Hard



Let's start off with Heather's first birthday.



Ooh, we have a blondie! Oh wait, we've had a million of those. Right.



If Archie takes after his mother, then Heather REALLY takes after her father. Heather is an Absent-Minded Loner, and she likes R&B, Frogs Legs, and Lime.



It's been a while since we've had two toddlers in the house at once. It's fun!



The purple dragon is the most popular member of the toddler crew. Somehow there are two of them, and we only have one toy chest.



Look, more toddler spam! Did I mention that Gilbert and Lisette finally had a green baby?



Well, they did. This is Alec.



Georgiana has been busy writing a lot lately. With a snap-shut of her laptop, she finishes her second masterpiece and officially maxes out the writing career at age 93. (Man, these self-employed careers take forever. Or maybe I'm just bad at them.)



Now that that's done, she throws herself into toddler care.



Look at those big blue eyes! *cries*



I'm glad Franky stuck around long enough for a nice side-by-side comparison shot. I see a lot of Franky in Heather's appearance.



Of course, I see pretty much ALL of Peter in her. Look, they're almost identical!



The roof of the house is frequently a busy, but quiet, place. Anastasia gardens and sculpts, Georgiana paints, and Peter stocks up on elixirs for the family (although we're kinda still working through Francisco's stash from back in the day).



Franky has the least to do out of anyone in the family, so he takes charge of teaching Archie to talk.



Okay, I'm running out of captions for these. These kiddos are just so cute!



This picture represents two significant updates. First of all, I've installed Showtime, because for some reason I thought I needed it. (Like, it's fun, but also why did I think I needed it?) The new performance park in town is a little bit buggy, as it renders its performers invisible. Or possibly just nonexistent. Second update: Peter finally got enough Lifetime Happiness points to buy the King of the Fae reward and get rid of those ridiculous swirly green wings. Now he has much more suitable white ones, since white is his favorite color.



He's also gotten his fairy "skill" up enough so that he can now Bloom Anastasia's dead plants back to life. I kind of forget to have Anastasia garden, like, all the time.



Archie and Heather only have a few days together as toddlers, but they use them well and become friends thanks to the dollhouse.



Oh, I also got a rocking chair. Wait, we've had that since Archie was born. I'm officially out of good captions for toddler photos.



So instead, here's Anastasia capturing a butterfly just outside the house. We seem to have multiple uncommon butterfly spawners on the lot, because they're always appearing at the most picturesque moments.



Okay, it's time for Archie to become a child! Sorry you have to age up in front of the potty, dude. I, uh...got distracted by butterflies.



Aging up in front of that potty was apparently somehow traumatizing, because Archie is now a Coward (in addition to Neurotic). Yikes!



Poor kid. What's he going to do if a flock of ghost kittens suddenly appears?

[hazelnut]

Yes!  I guessed the next town correctly.  Was

I just know that wherever it is...I'm lucky to go there with you."

a deliberate clue?

I've never had any luck with procreation elixir either.  It seems to do the opposite and guarantee a single birth.

Poor kid. What's he going to do if a flock of ghost kittens suddenly appears?

Good heavens, why would that happen?

[Beks]

Chapter 70 - It Was The Chili



Heather is not a fairy, but she has something of her father's magic in her. See? She can transverse the boundaries of...of rooms!



Archie is a sweet and caring older brother. He voluntarily brings Heather her bottle when Grandpa Franky gets stuck in some sort of routing issue and can't take half a step forward.



I can't believe it, but Anastasia is already aging up to adult. I guess Peter being Forever Young (TM) makes her lifespan fly by that much quicker.

Archie goes to his first day of school and starts meeting the townie offspring. He's particularly excited that the redheaded Lancaster girl actually turned out gorgeous this time.



Archie: "Yay, a beautiful potential spouse whose genes would blend well with mine!"
Angela: "Gross. Why do I have to be the only girl in this town?"

(Of the five unborn babies at the start of the game, four are boys. Doesn't this happen every time? Or is it just me?)



As I mentioned last chapter, I recently installed Showtime and placed a Performance Park here in Lucky Palms. It takes a few days to start working properly, but a real, actual SimFest happens at last. Franky and Georgiana go out to watch the show.



That's where Georgiana starts feeling a bit funny.



Franky is still distracted by the show. He's the last person at the scene to realize what's happening.



"Wait, NO! NOT MY GEORGIANA!"



This death is one of the weirdest I've ever experienced. That circusy acrobat music plays over the scary death music, making the whole scene feel ridiculous. Also, the acrobat does. not. stop. acrobatting. Wouldn't she realize that someone in her audience is dying and nobody's watching her anymore?



Even though this picture is tragic, it still cracks me up because of the acrobat in the background. The show must go on! Anyway...Georgiana passes away at age 93, in the most ridiculous place imaginable. Georgie dear, you were especially close to my heart, being the sensitive, artistic soul you were. We'll miss you dreadfully. Rest in peace.



Franky immediately pops a wish to resurrect Georgiana, worth 10,000 points (a wish I've never seen before), but it disappears when Georgiana goes into her headstone. He also gets the "Saw a Bad Show" moodlet, because of course.

Acrobat: "Ta-da! Why isn't anyone...hello?"

Poor girl. I hope her future shows are less tragic.



Georgiana's death hits me harder than most Sim deaths, partially because she leaves an unfinished landscape painting on the roof that I will probably never be able to move or delete. Also, whenever I open one of the family bookshelves, I'm faced with a long list of Georgiana's fairy tale books. I guess we'll never lose Georgie entirely, because we'll always have her creations to remember her by.



Franky and Anastasia bond over their shared grief and simultaneously discover that they're attracted to one another. (I almost didn't get a screenshot in time, but you can see the last little heart off to the right over there.) I'm choosing to ignore how inappropriate this is.

Why? Because OUR KITCHEN IS ON FIRE.



I don't see the fire break out. I just get the notification and hear screaming. I zoom over to the kitchen to find Anastasia freaking out and Peter floating off to the side of his stool. Both of them are going up in flames.



Franky comes to the rescue and grabs the fire extinguisher, but he's a little slow and doesn't seem to know how to work the thing. I'm watching the countdowns on Peter and Anastasia's moodlets, trying not to panic. It's okay, we've got time, we've got time. Hurry, Franky!



(Archie, as you can imagine, catches one glimpse of the flames and makes a break for it.)



Okay, the extinguishing is taking a REALLY long time. Franky keeps stopping to be like "How does this thing work again?" YOU'RE DOING FINE, JUST KEEP GOING! WE'RE ALMOST OUT OF TIME!



And then, to my utter horror, Franky stops. In order to, I don't know, stare around in wonderment. At WHAT, man? WHAT ELSE COULD POSSIBLY BE WORTHY OF YOUR WONDERMENT AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!?



When he looks back at the fiery scene...it's over. There's no more fire. And also, there's no more Peter.



Franky: "What...just happened?"
Anastasia: "......"
Grim Reaper: "Hello again, Lovelands. Nice to see you again, and so soon!"



Franky: "Wait, I did this??"



Franky: "I didn't--but I--I didn't mean to--I thought--"



Peter's rematerialization on the floor of the house confirms the truth. He's gone and died in a fire, y'all. Our Forever Young Fairy has gone and died in a fire.



Grim: "Wow. So your father failed to extinguish the flames in time and you died. When you would have lived to be hundreds of years old otherwise."
Peter: "Pretty much."

Well. What do I even say? Peter, you were way too young to die. You were a delight, and your adventures as a fairy and as a father were only just beginning. But also, I couldn't have made up a more dramatic and hilarious death if I'd tried. Rest in peace, my lost boy.

(And although I do blame Franky for failing to put out the flames in time even though he had the time...I also shudder to think what would have happened if he hadn't been there. Anastasia and Peter might both have burned to death, leaving Archie and Heather as orphans and...essentially making me lose the game?? I don't even know what happens if all the adults in your household die. I guess the universe had a reason for letting Franky live another day. Or maybe Tink is psychic.)

As I'm sitting here in shock and utter bewilderment, wondering how the heck this even happened...it hits me. After the death of Georgiana earlier in the day, most people in the family were hungry. So I had Anastasia cook up a nice pot of Chili Con Carne for everyone to share. You know, something warm and cozy and comforting? That's what she and Peter were eating at the counter when the fire started. My only theory is that one of them, presumably Peter, had a bad reaction to the spiciness, breathed flames as Sims do, and started the fire that killed him.

IT WAS THE CHILI, PEOPLE. IT WAS THE GOSH-DARN CHILI.

[Beks]

Yes!  I guessed the next town correctly.  Was
Quote
I just know that wherever it is...I'm lucky to go there with you."
a deliberate clue?

I've never had any luck with procreation elixir either.  It seems to do the opposite and guarantee a single birth.

Quote
Poor kid. What's he going to do if a flock of ghost kittens suddenly appears?
Good heavens, why would that happen?

You spotted the clue!! Yes, it was deliberate.

I have no idea what came over me when I wrote that thing about ghost kittens. Totally out of the blue! So strange!

[hazelnut]

Peter's dead?!  I'm in shock.

At least there are kids to carry on the line but still... 

(If your Sims catch fire again, send them to put themselves out in the bath or shower.  There's usually plenty of time for that.  I've even had a Sim set fire to himself on a lot with no bathroom and TAKE A TAXI to the gym for a shower.  The driver didn't even seem to notice that his passenger was on fire.  Amazingly, he survived.)

Edit: Oh, and RIP Georgie.  I almost forgot about her with all the drama later on.

[Trip]

This was NUTS but you are presented with two mutually-exclusive upsides:

1. Never having to worry about what to do with a long-lived heir since he's dead.
2. Bring back Peter with the Philosopher's Stone or the Oh My Ghost! opp so he can be a ghost fairy, a.k.a. probably the way he'd prefer to live.

[deedee_828]

I am in shock! Peter, the long-lived fairy, has met Grim and is now a fairy ghost! What more could a Supernatural Fan hope for than to be two types of supernatural! I think Trip is spot on that though it's unexpected, it's probably Peter's dream come true.

[Beks]

Peter's dead?!  I'm in shock.

At least there are kids to carry on the line but still... 

(If your Sims catch fire again, send them to put themselves out in the bath or shower.  There's usually plenty of time for that.  I've even had a Sim set fire to himself on a lot with no bathroom and TAKE A TAXI to the gym for a shower.  The driver didn't even seem to notice that his passenger was on fire.  Amazingly, he survived.)

Edit: Oh, and RIP Georgie.  I almost forgot about her with all the drama later on.

I know! I was in shock for a good long while. And yeah, I'm glad it happened after the kids were born. I don't know what I would have done otherwise.

I completely forgot about the bath/shower technique in the moment. I guess I just assumed Franky would finish extinguishing them...? My bad. That taxi story made me laugh!

This was NUTS but you are presented with two mutually-exclusive upsides:

1. Never having to worry about what to do with a long-lived heir since he's dead.
2. Bring back Peter with the Philosopher's Stone or the Oh My Ghost! opp so he can be a ghost fairy, a.k.a. probably the way he'd prefer to live.

1. You are so right. Honestly, part of me was relieved...
2. Hmmmm. I could bring Peter back...I didn't consider that. Wouldn't he be part of the household permanently, though? I've never used the Philosopher's Stone to bind a ghost before. I worry that that would just create the same problem again where I don't know what to do with him long-term. We have the room in the household right now to add him back, and probably will when we move to the next town, but we'll need more space again after the move. It might be easier just to keep his grave out indefinitely so he can haunt whenever he wants.

I am in shock! Peter, the long-lived fairy, has met Grim and is now a fairy ghost! What more could a Supernatural Fan hope for than to be two types of supernatural! I think Trip is spot on that though it's unexpected, it's probably Peter's dream come true.

Oh wow...I didn't even think about the fact that he's a Supernatural Fan--and now he's a double supernatural. Brilliant!