Frog HatThe White Legacy:Generation Eight, Chapter Two

I… am such a bad simmer.

Last time in the White Legacy, Rhea (and eventually Lara) moved back home from college. Rhea married her sweetheart, Shane, and they had three children together (Clary, Spikenard, and Fennel). There were many birthdays, of course, and a great time was had by all. It was remarkably quiet, in fact.

*cries* I am such a bad simmer…!

Clary: “Well, I’m in platinum and I have full cooking skill.”

*sniff* Thank you for your vote of confidence, Clary.

Clary: “Vote of confidence? I was just saying that I’m really good at taking care of myself, since you’re never around to help out.”

*cries*

Clary: “Ha-ha.”

Hey look, it’s the Incompetent Butler, drinking soup instead of cleaning up that rotting bottle there.

Incompetent Butler: “No comment.”

I always know the instant the pack has entered the lot. Why? Because the game has to stop and pause for a little bit to try and figure out how many sims are entering the lot, and whether they’re in werewolf form or not.

Anyway, the pack is here for another double birthday!

But before we get to that…

Rhea: “Huh? But I thought—what?”

Don’t worry, Rhea. This’ll be your last pregnancy.

Rhea: “More kids!? YES!!”

That’s the spirit.

Everyone: “Hooraaaaay Spike!!”

Clary: “Booooo, stinky little brothers.”

Kevin: “What a charming child.”

Sure he’s cute, but…

Arie: “I think he has his dad’s eye shape… right?”

Spike: “And my mommy’s everything else!!”

Next up! Good luck, Fen! Don’t be a carbon copy of either one of your parents, okay?

So much for that.

The green eyes are still cool, though.

Hold up, Rhea. Don’t eat that cake.

Rhea: “Why not? I’m hungry…”

Because I have a special cake for you… ehehe.

Rhea: “Isn’t this a cheesecake?”

Yes, it is!

Rhea: “Doesn’t it…?”

Yes, it does!

Rhea: “Okay… if you’re sure…”

Spike: “Aww, look! It’s almost like looking in a mirror!”

Spike, that is not a good thing.

Spike: “But, but! I like my brother!”

You don’t have to not like him. I just don’t like that you two look so similar, that’s all.

You can’t see it because it’s dark, but Rhea just popped again. Really.

Rhea: “Hi there, Cynthia! How’re you doing, sweetie?”

Cynthia: {You stink.}

Rhea: “Sorry I asked…”

Lara: “You’re cute, Fen, but you’re the last one I teach to walk, or talk, or potty train, or anything. I just wasn’t meant to raise kids. You understand, don’t you?”

Fen: “Auntie Wara?”

Lara: “Close. L-ara, with an ‘L.’ Don’t worry, you’ll get it.”

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. WHAT!?

Not Fen gaining a logic skill point. The death notice! Who? What? When!?

But—but—she wasn’t that old! I was watching her life bar! I swear! And also, why are my pets doling out life insurance checks!?

…not that I mind of course, but still. It’s the principle of the matter.

*sigh* Oh, well. We buried Cynthia in the same spot where Maugrim used to be buried. With any luck, that spot isn’t cursed or anything, and we’ll be able to keep her around.

It was fun to have Cynthia around the house. She was a pretty cat, and while she wasn’t as bright and lovable as Maugrim was, she was still fun.

Clary: “Hey, hey Mom! Lookit lookit lookit! I have better grades than Spike!”

Rhea: “Wow, an A+! Good job, baby!”

Clary: “Dumb Spike only has a B+! HA!!”

Rhea: “Okay boys, let’s wake up Auntie Lara, shall we? One, two, three!”

Fen: “BOO!”

Spike: “I’M DANCING WITH MOMMY BECAUSE I LOVE TO DANCE WITH MOMMY WHEEE!!”

Lara: *groan*

Rhea: “Last ones last ones last ones last ones LAST ONES!! OW!!”

Spike: “ACK! MOMMY! Are you hurting!? Don’t hurt, Mommy!! DADDY!! GRANDMA!! GRANDPA!! AUNTIE LARA!! COME QUICK!! MOMMY’S STOMACH IS EXPLODING!!”

Spike: “AAAAAGH! AN ALIEN JUST TORE ITS WAY OUT OF MOMMY’S STOMACH!!”

Rhea: “Haha, calm down, Spike. It’s just a baby.”

Okay, so first we have a little girl. Saffron.

And then there’s a boy. Bay. You know, as in “bay leaf.”

Lewis: “Hey Rhea, do you smell something burning?”

And right at this point, my game quit on me.

It was bad. I saved and quit right after the twins were born, and came back to the game later in the afternoon. I opened the lot, un-paused the game… and the lot crashed. I tried again, same results. For a few nasty minutes, I thought the legacy was over, dead in the water in the middle of generation nine.

Depressing, to say the least.

I convinced myself I could start over by using my copies of Rhea and Shane in a different neighborhood, and began brainstorming plot ideas to explain the sudden move. It would mean I’d lose at the very least the twins, if not all of the current generation nine children, but at least I would be able to continue the legacy.

Luckily, Arie came to the rescue. She singlehandedly saved this legacy.

Here’s what happened. I clicked around a little on the legacy lot before un-pausing, and realized the issue was probably with Saffron and Bay. See, Lewis had the option to put toddler Fen in the crib, but no options for the twins appeared at all. By using a backup of the neighborhood, I moved the family into an empty lot, and confirmed that moving lots fixed the problem (whatever it was). I reloaded the original neighborhood, and had Arie invite Rhea and her two problem children to move in. They did. Arie’s lot didn’t crash, and loading up the legacy lot proved that the issue was solved there, too. All I had to do was have Rhea’s husband invite her back home.

Which he did. Successfully.

Thank goodness.

Rose: “I am so happy to be alive! And in my own house, with all my family’s graves, portraits, and fortune intact!”

You tell ‘em, Rose. I can’t tell you how relieved I am right now.

Ani-Mei: “So? What lessons have we learned from this, children?”

Vale: “Um, regularly back up your game so that if the lot glitches horrendously during the home stretch, you don’t run the risk of losing it all?”

Chryse: “Simself powers are free to be abused so long as you have the greater good of the neighborhood at heart? And also that Keika is stupid and doesn’t back up her game enough, but is also stupidly lucky.”

Oi! I can hear you!

Anne: “Hey, Ani-Mei. You about done with home school? We need all three of you to help in the garden.”

Chryse: “Does it seriously take fourteen full simselves and two demi-simselves to figure out how to plant a garden? How hard could it be? It’s not like building a computer or anything.”

Anne: “I’d sure rather build a computer. We’re simselves. Our expertise is in cheat codes and writing, not vegetables.”

Rhea: “Hi guys! What’s up?”

Matthew: “Nothing much. We just heard you guys were having trouble, and we came to check in. How’s it going?”

Rhea: “Not bad! In fact—”

Shane: “Rhea Rhea Rhea! I got the tickets!!”

Rhea: “YAY! This is incredible! I can’t believe you got the tickets!!”

Shane: “Not only that, we’re in the front row! Can you believe it!?”

Jessica: “Going out for a night on the town, huh?”

Rhea: “We sure are!”

Shane: “Rhea just had five kids in a row, you know? We need a vacation. And what with that whole business with the house, we could really use some time downtown, just the two of us.”

Rhea: “I can’t remember the last time it was just Shane and me! Ever since we got married, there was Mom and Dad, and the kids, and Lara…”

Jessica: “Say, do you happen to need a babysitter or six? Since we’re here and all.”

Rhea: “Oh, sure! You can fight over the kids with Mom and Dad and Lara!”

Shane: “There’s the taxi.”

Spike: “WAAAAAAIIIIIIT!! Don’t leave yet!!”

Matthew: “Well, well! Spike! Long time no see, bud!”

Spike: “Love ya, Mom! Love ya, Dad! Are you sure I can’t come along? Please!?”

Rhea: “Love you too, kidd-o. Sorry, Dad and I could only get two tickets—the theatre was already full. Maybe next time.”

Spike: “Aww…”

Matthew: “Nice to see you too, Spike.”

Rhea: “You know, we should really get our own car. Maybe yellow! Ooh! And with a dreamcatcher in the rearview mirror!”

Shane: “Eh, that would require effort. We don’t have a driveway.”

Rhea: “Ooh, you’re right… we’d have to cut down a few trees, and reroute the fence…”

Shane: “The kids wouldn’t like us moving their water wiggler, either…”

Matthew: “There you go, you got it!”

Jessica: “You know, this babysitting thing isn’t so hard. What do you think they’ve got in the kitchen?”

Clary: “This show is dumb. Let’s watch something else.”

Alexandra: “Wait… did you feel that?”

Rose: “These werewolves are wonderful, and I’m so glad that Rhea’s found some friends, but I’m starting to run out of meat in the freezer…”

Lara: “So, Priya, right? Tell me, what do you do as a Beta? What are your responsibilities? The scientific community wants to know!”

Priya: “Science, huh? I’m not so sure how I feel about… science. They keep trying to poke me with things.”

Lara: “Er…”

Priya: “Well, since you asked, as Beta, I make sure everyone stays in line. I’m the pack’s muscle, and I take care of all the smaller…”

Lara: “Yes?”

Priya: “I have to go. Sorry.”

Lara: “But I have so many more questions to ask! Don’t go yet!”

Rose: “Second dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes, Priya.”

Priya: “Thanks, Mrs. W. I’ll pass that on to everyone else.”

Lara: “But… questions!”

Alexandra: “What’s going on, Alpha? Why the Summons?”

Matthew: “Rhea just felt a spike of fear. I need a pair to go track her down and—”

Julien: “Ugh… anyone else feel that?”

Sanjay: “ARGH! My blood is burning!!”

Priya: “What’s happening!?”

Jessica: “No… she’s—”

Matthew: *howl*

Lara: “What’s going ON!?”

Priya: “Can you handle the kids!?”

Lara: “Well, yes… I mean, it’s not just me here, my parents are around too—”

Priya: “Fine!”

Lara: “WAIT! Where are you going!?”

Matthew: “We’ve lost Rhea! We’re going to find her!”

Lara: “Lost…? What do you mean by…!?”

Spike: *sniff* “Auntie Lara? I had a bad dream. Could you read me a story?”

Lara: “Not now, Spike. Go back to bed. I’m waiting for something.”

Clary: “Auntie Lara!! Spike keeps waking me up because he’s shouting and sniffling over some dumb dream! Tell him to stop being so loud!”

Spike: “It was a really scary dream! There were monsters in it!”

Lara: “Kids, please…”

Clary: “I’m NOT a kid!! I’m PRACTICALLY a teenager, and I NEED my sleep!!”

Priya: “…Lara…”

Lara: “Priya! Where’s the rest of the pack?”

Priya: “I’m just here to pass some things on… everyone else is still downtown. Oh, Lara…”

Lara: “No…”

Spike: “Auntie Lara, what are these things?”

Clary: “They’re graves, stupid. Heh, whose are they?”

News Anchor: “The news broke overnight that Rhea White, eighth generation heiress to the local legacy family, and her husband Shane White, were in a tragic hit-and-run car accident at approximately 11:42 last night. They were on their way downtown to attend a Simway show when their taxi was T-boned.”

News Anchor: “The driver was taken to the hospital with several broken bones and a concussion, but both Whites were killed. Shane White died instantly in the crash; however, according to our sources, Rhea White initially survived, but bled out before emergency services were able to respond. The driver of the pickup truck which collided with the taxi was missing when emergency services arrived.

“Rhea and Shane White have both been laid to rest in the family graveyard. They are survived by Rhea’s elderly parents and her sister Elara, as well as the couple’s five children, which include twin infants.”

Oh, Rhea and Shane. This was much, much too soon. Plot bites. I’ve known for a long, long time that the heir and spouse of this generation were going to die early, but I didn’t count on emotionally investing in Rhea. These were very, very painful deaths.

Rhea was up there with some of my favorite heirs. Perhaps not my absolute favorite, but up there. I didn’t like Shane quite as much as I liked my last married-in slob, but I still really enjoyed playing him. I saw these two as pretty much made for each other. I really wish Rhea’d gotten to do more as heiress than just join a wolf pack, have kids, and die, but that’s that. I’m sorry, you two. Rest in peace.

Rose: “That’s enough of that.”

Lewis: “I just… I can’t believe it.”

Rose: “Let’s go into the kitchen, everyone. I’ll make us some breakfast. How does omelettes sound?”

Clary: “I don’t WANT dumb omelettes!! I HATE them!!”

Lara: “Clary…”

Clary: “I’m going to my ROOM!!”

Rose: “Clary… it’s okay…”

Clary: “LEAVE ME ALONE!! And get OUT OF MY WAY!!”

Arie: “Well, she’s in a bad mood. Justified, though, I think. Just let her have her own space, that’s what I say.”

Rose: “Aunt Arie? What are you doing here?”

Arie: “Rose… Lara… Lewis… I’m so sorry… I feel like this is my fault.”

Rose: “Huh? Why? Aunt Arie, you couldn’t have known there would be a car crash. I mean, you’re amazing, but what could you have done?”

Arie: “I don’t know… I just feel so guilty for not being there. I mean, she bled out, according to the news… that takes time. If I’d been there, I could’ve called the hospital so they could get there sooner. I don’t know. I could’ve done something. C’mere, give me a hug.”

Arie: “That’s why I’m moving in. I’m not going to not be there ever again. Besides, you’re going to need help with child rearing.”

Arie: “Come on, I brought some cake over, and left it in the kitchen. It’s a brand new kind that Gil and Mom’s Bakery just came out with a few days ago. It’s the perfect thing for drowning your sorrows in sugar.”

Rose: “Aunt Arie, I appreciate the offer, I really do, but—”

Lara: “That’s what I don’t understand.”

Arie: “What’s that?”

Lara: “You brought it up, Aunt Arie. Bleeding out takes time. But Rhea’s werewolf pack knew the instant she was in trouble, and left to help her. And I watched their reactions. It seems to me that Rhea was gone even before they left.”

Arie: “So the news lied? I wouldn’t put it past them. Did you see the report where they accused us all of narcissism? Narcissism! Psh! Come on, let’s get some of that cake.”

Priya: “Hey there Rose, Lara, Arie! We’re moving in!”

Arie: “M-my cake…”

Lara: “May I ask why?”

Priya: “Why? Because we were too late for Rhea, but we’re not going to be too late for her kids! They’re practically pack! So we’re moving in! Is that someone’s cell phone?”

Sun: [ROSE!!]

Arie: “Heh heh. Sun. I love that vampire.”

Sun: [Hey dudette, I just saw the news! SO not cool!! When the sun sets, I’m gonna, like, do some of my own investigation, because Rhea all ‘bleeding out’ sounds awful suspicious to me, but then I’m going to be moving in, man! Get my old room ready, okay?]

Rose: “I very much appreciate the offer, Grandpa, but it won’t be necessary.”

Sun: [Huh? You sure, dudette?]

Rose: “Positive. Though you can come to visit anytime you want. It’s just, Lewis and I both have a lot of life meter left to burn through, and Lara’s here too. Not to mention, Clary only has a few days left until she’s a teenager, and I’m sure she’ll be a big help with the younger ones. We’ll be fine.”

Sun: [Well… if you’re, like, sure…]

Arie: “So… I’m guessing you’re kicking us out, too?”

Rose: “Oh, I’m certainly not ‘kicking you out!’ I would love for all of you to be over here all the time! Well, not all of the time…”

Priya: “Don’t worry, we understand. But, Rose…”

Rose: “Yes?”

Priya: “The whole pack is here for you, okay? We’ll be over here as much as we can, probably in pairs, and we’re going to help. Don’t be a stranger.”

Rose: “Thank you, Priya.”

Priya: “It’s our pleasure. We’re really going to miss Rhea. She was the life of the party. Now, I’d better leave with Sanjay and Julien over there. We need to head off a certain Alpha pair and a moving van.”

Well, Rose just turned down about eight live-in nannies for you, Lewis. Ready to try your hand at parenting again?

Lewis: “But… can’t we just have a little bit of time? It’s just… my daughter…”

I’m sorry, Lewis… but hungry babies wait for no man. On your feet.

Oh, sure. It’s the instant that Lewis puts the baby down that he starts crying. Of course. I really shouldn’t be all that surprised, but still.

I love toddlers. Seriously, I can’t tell you how much I love toddlers.

Clary: “I require someone to make me food immediately. This juice stinks.”

Sure, let me go find your grandf—

Clary: “And I don’t want stupid grilled cheese. I want my dad’s berry pie. He made it the best.”

Lewis: “Come on, Fen. I know it’s been a tough week, but let’s get that aspiration up for your birthday, okay? No more sad faces.”

Fen: *hiccup*

Alright, everyone’s gathered! Come on Fen, blow out those candles!

Lara: “Is this some kind of joke?”

What is?

Lara: “This cake. Look at it. It’s… odd.”

Oh, the cake? It’s brand new! The first of its kind! I know you guys are used to the other one, but isn’t this one pretty?

On that note… ah, this is kind of awkward, but… I may have lost Cynthia’s grave already.

I made the switch to the Ultimate Edition that just came out recently, which is a compilation of all the expansions and stuff packs for Sims 2, if you don’t know already. (Which is why I have a brand new, non-base game birthday cake!) To do so, I completely uninstalled my game, installed Ultimate, and then moved all my stuff back in. Well… as we already found out when I switched computers, my graves don’t really like being moved between games. All the humans made it through okay thanks to my mods, but I still don’t know how to spawn in pet graves.

Sorry, Cynthia. She didn’t even get to haunt once.

Hey look, the brand new non-base game cake WORKS! This is such a novelty!

Man, but the birthday parties for this generation have been huge.

Okay, transition pictures, transition pictures. I know I have them here somewhere…

Here we are! Hey, that’s a nice look! I might even let you keep that!

Fen: “Fen agrees. He likes this outfit and hairstyle.”

…third person?

Fen: “Fen thinks that third person is da plumb-bomb.”

It’s vanilla. Hehehehe.

Sun: “I wish I could eat it, man.”

Matthew: “Don’t mind if I do!”

Arie: “How did THESE get in here!? SHAMEFUL, you pests! This family has suffered enough! Here’s a Raid can for you!!”

Sun: “Ewwww. Pesticides, man. Just, like, stomp the bugs. It’s better for the environment, dudette.”

Arie: “But not nearly so effective. Or satisfying.”

And because I am a bad simmer, we time warp to the next day, when Clary, Bay, and Saffron are having a triple birthday.

Clary: “I don’t wanna share my birthday with stinky babies!”

Tough.

Clary: “This isn’t fair! Mom and Dad wouldn’t make me share!”

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but still. I love how the guests form themselves up like this during birthdays. I never noticed it before because this is really the first time I’ve thrown large birthday parties, but the half-circle is great.

Except for Fen over there.

Fen: “Fen likes being apart from the crowd. Fen refuses to join the huddled masses.”

Hey, look! That’s one of my new outfits! Thanks again, EA, for giving us Ultimate Edition!

Clary: “Hm. I could work with this.”

I like it too, but I think I’m still going to sift through my new outfits before we definitely decide on this, okay?

Clary: “I insist on being part of this process, Author. I don’t want you picking out something lame for me.”

Yeah, okay, sure.

Clary: “You better watch your back, Author. I will find out where you live, and I am going to toilet paper your lawn.”

*snicker* That almost sounded like a Vis threat.

Clary: “I’ll do that after I kill you, of course. I will smother you with this dress. If you want to call it that.”

Okay, okay, I’m just kidding Clary, sheesh. Go change back into your transition outfit; it kind of suited you.

Clary: “Better.”

Clary rolled up Pleasure, and quite strongly, might I add. I use the Random Roller program to determine aspirations, and I have it set up to roll both a primary and secondary at the same time. Her first roll was “free choice” and Pleasure; I couldn’t come up with an aspiration for her myself, so I rolled again, and both her primary and secondary came up as Pleasure.

Okay, I can take a hint.

Next up is Saffron.

Clary: “What’re you looking at, kidd-o?”

Hey, look! She’s got a mix of her parents’ features! Who’da thunk it!

What a little sweetheart. I love these pigtails. Next up is her twin brother Bay, I believe.

Rose: “Hey, this cake looks familiar.”

I cycled through all the pretty colors in the last two days. We’re back to the normal cake.

Clary: “Quit staring at me, kid. What is it with babies and staring?”

Well, Bay here favors his dad, but I still see a few of Mom’s features in there. Sweet.

Ooh, you know what I just realized!? He’s wearing the green sweater outfit! That means…!

FROG HAT!!

I love that sweater paired with that hat. Love, love, love, love, love. Look at him! He’s so cute!!

Clary: “So, Grandpa Sun. You were investigating the crash, right? Tell me what you know about how my parents died, or I’ll smash your face in.”

Sun: “You can try, dudette, but I think you’ll probably, like, smash up your fist instead. I’ll tell you anyway, though. You ever heard of the loathe?”

That’s all for now! See you next time!