The Allen Invasion, Chapter Two

Hello and welcome again to The Allen Invasion, an all-alien legacy where we're trying to build a lasting legacy atop a high rise! We're . . . not very far in that goal, no matter how you measure it, but especially if you measure it by 'building.' Last chapter, you got to know our lovely founder, Sasha Allen (pictured above), and got to meet her twins and then her surprise triplets with wife Wendy. The two alien ladies now have one girl and four boys to raise on the top floor of the apartment complex. How are we going to manage all that going on when the only thing walled in is the bathroom? Well, read on . . .

Sasha and Wendy had just returned from the hospital with Barry, Brady, and Bryce and Sasha's new alien outfit. Aspen and Alec already haven't had a full night's sleep since they were babies thanks to constant monster visits, and now there's going to be three crying babies all the time.

This no-walls situation has become even more untenable than it was before. Luckily, Wendy has been writing and publishing like a mad woman, and her royalties, even more than Sasha's doctor paycheck, are what are going to allow us to build a little.

Alec: "Momma! I missed you so much! Why did you bring screaming things home with you?"

Sasha: "At least one of them is sleeping right now, I just want to note."
Aspen: "Are we getting a running start for when we dropkick them off the side of the building?"
Wendy: "Aspen, I really wish you wouldn't hate children until you at least have that trait. We're just getting out of the way for a magical building to appear before our eyes."

BOOM. The Box has arrived. It still won't let me remove the original wall covering and it's applying it to anything connected to the elevator shaft. So they have an outside wall covering but nothing inside. Speaking of inside, let's take a look.

I eventually want to go for a streamlined, modern feel befitting a penthouse, but right now this is a shack with fancy windows and doors. From the upper left corner and moving clockwise, we have the parents' bedroom, the twins' bedroom, the entrance, the elevator shaft, two teeny bathrooms, the large multipurpose room that currently just has kitchen and sparse living room stuff in it, and the triplets' room. I didn't add any new furniture yet, and they don't even really have lights. There is also a huge puddle in the kitchen area from where the garden plots used to be, but neat little Aspen had a great time mopping it, so I guess it all worked out.

The non-baby family members immediately set to working on aspirations and money-making. Aspen and Alec are living indoors for the first time in their lives. Heady stuff.

While the older sims are doing that, the triplets sleep semi-peacefully (Bryce was always off-schedule while Barry and Brady had fairly synchronized schedules) in their own room.

Aspen and Alec's room has the only lights in the whole house currently, which are of course Coolala night lights. Hopefully we will see fewer monster! This is like 99% of why I built The Box, so these things better work.

Meanwhile . . .

Wendy: "Do you consider yourself a completionist? Like, you just have to have the full set of something?"

Sasha: "Ooh, I love it when you talk dirty to me, baby."

Yes, we're going to go ahead and get a sixth baby up in here. Why not? With five it's already going to be a madhouse, so one more kid can't hurt. Plus, we have walls now! They're living the good life. I'm also curious whether Sasha and Wendy will ever have a green or purple kid. I'm just pleased that the household limit is eight, because with the way Ley Lines is working in my game, I feel like this would have been a quadruplet birth otherwise.

Newly-pregnant Sasha then had to turn around and clean up her own filthy toilet. With four sims using one toilet, that thing is constantly grimy. I hope to have a second toilet by the time the triplets grow up, because otherwise it'd just be ridiculous. Also, this seems like a reasonable time to note that this was all played before the toddler patch, so none of the Allen kids got to be toddlers in this generation. Sadface.

And so life continued in the Allen household. Sasha's belly grew and she painted a really, really "amazing" confident painting. Wendy was excited to meet their sixth child.

Aspiring artistic prodigy Alec got to the stage where he needed to play the violin, so I just bought him one and set it outside. Now no one has to get tense listening to it unless Sasha is out here gardening at the same time.

I also bought Aspen a science table for her to make those emotion potions. They're both making good progress on their aspirations.

The babies also saw plenty of care. With three of them, things were pretty crazy.

This is the first time I've actually played triplets in a legacy (the one other time I've got them they were born to a spare), so keeping three babies happy with only two parents was quite the experience. They did pretty well for the most part, but there were a lot of middle-of-the-night awakenings to change diapers and feed the babies and whatnot.

While on a break from caring for her five current children and gestating the sixth, as well as enjoying some cold salad prepared on their only countertop in a room with no wallpaper or lights, Sasha stares out the window at the city full of a multitude of lives and apartments with lights, and she wonders, "What if?" Can you really blame her? A founder's life is not an easy one, for sure.

Alec and Aspen are getting to be pretty good friends, but that's partially because there's not much to do around here except work on aspirations and talk to other sims. Hopefully we can start adding some more furniture soon as more royalties roll in.

Sasha had the requirements and the performance for a promotion, so I sent her to work by herself. While Wendy's on duty with the kids, the house becomes filthy, the toilet breaks, and Aspen nearly starts a fire. Wendy is not quite as 'on top' of it all as Sasha is when it comes to family life.

But, the triplets also are growing up, which is the main reason I sent Sasha to work alone, since I knew this was coming. Barry grew up several moments before the other two, one of whom is currently crying with a soiled diaper (I see you, Bryce). They could not grow up soon enough!

Barry: "What the . . .? You mean I'm not the only one?"

He got mad from meeting siblings he didn't want, lol. Wait until he finds out he has an older brother and sister and another sibling on the way!

Brady and Bryce use their first few moments as kids after the makeover to get to know each other. We'll take a closer look at them and their personalities in a minute, but where did Barry get off to?

Oh, he's stomping around, pouting that he's not an only child.

So here's Barry, the oldest of the triplets. I love that we're seeing so much red hair this generation! He definitely looks a lot like Sasha, but I think he got Wendy's nose and maybe her mouth. I feel like Barry's personality really fits his namesake (Barry Allen is the Flash, for those that don't know), at least the iteration I know from the current TV show. He's got a pretty good personality regardless, and geek and Curator go along together really well, much like Alec's teen trait and aspiration. He got two out of three of Sasha's traits, and despite his outburst over having brothers, I don't really think mean would fit him, so I'm glad he got those two.

Brady is really adorable, in my opinion. I don't think his child aspiration fits at all with the rest of his personality, but maybe it's what will influence him to want to be outdoors a lot as an older sim. I dressed him more to fit his personality than his aspirations.

Despite being a neat child (like big sis Aspen!), I saw Bryce as an easy-going spirit, so I dressed him in a more relaxed style. He's the only one that got Wendy's hair color. Unfortunately, he also wants to be a Freelance Botanist, so there isn't so much variety. Also, all three triplets got nature aspirations, which is mildly interesting. Thanks to Barry and Brady, we've also got the full set of child aspirations, so there's going to be a lot of different activites going on around the house. On one hand that means I'll be busier, but it also means I need to buy fewer things since the only aspiration that's currently duplicated is Whiz Kid.

Sasha: "What? I have five actual children now? Sigh. That's great. I'm just going to go lie down now."

Taxing day at the hospital, or perhaps it's the pregnancy, which Sasha is pretty far along in.

 Since Bryce and Aspen share both a trait and an aspiration, they get along really well right away.

Meanwhile, Brady needs to play on a jungle gym while playful and Barry needs to talk people's ears off. Wendy kindly takes them down to the park in Oasis Springs to do just that. Brady had a whim to play basketball that had been fulfilled on the way to the park, so that's why he's in his athletic clothes.

Back home, Alec has mastered the Creativity skill and completed his aspiration! Way to go, Alec! I gave him Rambunctious Scamp next, but with all the craziness going on and since I'll be doing an heir poll when they're all teens, I'm just going to go for one aspiration each probably.

The whole family spends some time around a brand-new dining table for the first time ever. You may notice the kitchen has gotten a bit of an upgrade, too. I'm gradually adding more things for everyday life, but I really want to save up for a grand rebuild of a penthouse that looks like a penthouse, so I'm trying to keep things pretty minimal and only buying bits and pieces as I go. Managing to keep five kids fed and finishing their homework is quite a task. I can only imagine what it'll be like when there's six.

Aspen follows her twin and finishes her aspiration at the chess table. I don't remember what aspiration I gave her next, but I never completed it, so it doesn't matter. She gains the Mentally Gifted trait.

Barry is also making great progress on his aspiration, which is kind of surprising since it's the dreaded Social Butterfly. He made best friends with Alec since Alec wasn't doing anything more important and could be spammed with socials. In the background, Bryce and Aspen are continuing their friendship over a game of chess. Brady is probably out back on the new monkey bars I got for him.

Sasha: "You expect me to garden? When I am in labor? I don't think so."

Okay, that is a pretty good excuse.

Dr. Alien Enthusiast: "Heh. Aliens are so cool. Look, she's all, like, glowing and stuff. Ha."
Nurse: "Sigh. Why did it have to be my night on call?"
Wendy: "This is it, babe. One last time."
Sasha: "Oh, thank God."

Sasha: "Now listen, Dr. Alien Enthusiast. I only want ONE baby this time. One! Do you hear me?"
Dr. AE: "What if there are more? With your biology, who knows?"
Sasha: "Leave 'em in there. I only brought one car seat, dammit, and I am only taking one baby home."

Thankfully, Dr. AE heard her, and only little boy Caden joined the family. He's also the same light bluish-whitish that Brady is. So that's five boys. Wow.

After returning home with their newborn, Wendy had to hurry off to work and the kids were in school. Sasha had taken a family leave day to be home with Caden, and how did she spend it? Doing push-ups with her landlord, who was bored and stopped by. I'm sure it makes sense to an active sim.

We got our sixth birth certificate for the wall. This is actually what sims see when they first step off the elevator on the Allens' floor. Caden is out here because then his crying won't wake anyone. And Sasha's momentum conserver is here because . . . actually, I have no idea. I think it probably just looked cool with the birth certificates. Speaking of which, as much as I hate the surgery machine, I really love these glowing birth certificates and I wonder how many I could accumulate by the end of the legacy if all the births are hospital births, so even after Sasha has passed the crown, I think I'll be sending my pregnant sims to the hospital.

Barry came home from school and, not amazingly at all, he is mad that he has a new sibling. What the heck, Barry? You're supposed to be the friendly one. Come on, now. Has Aspen been tutoring you?

As Wendy enjoys a dinner with all of her older boys (who knows where Aspen was), she has a youth potion. Normally I like to save these to prolong the elder stage since it is so, so short, but because Wendy came into the legacy as an adult and is about to age into an elder despite having a newborn, I decided I wasn't ready for her to be that old yet. Thus, potion, and she gets to redo her adult years, which will actually keep her around her kids for many more days in the long run.

The next day at work, Sasha got to make her first house call. She was sent to the very strange Munch house, which has this weird extra room out back where random sick sims (who did not live there) were hanging out. Mila Munch was there too, but she didn't seem to be bothered that her house had been infested by disease-ridden strangers. Or maybe she was hosting a free clinic. Who knows? Sasha got them all fixed up, however.

She then returned to the hospital and watched clouds with a sick Anton, who is my less favorite of the only other two aliens I know of in town. Still good to keep him as a friendly contact, just in case. Since Sasha gave up on the scientist career and I doubt we'll get around to the rocket any time soon, I plan on sending the generation 2 heir down to the bar on alien night and hoping the game spawns some better choices. If not, Anton here or Davon will have to do.

Back at The Box, Wendy has all the children doing homework, except for Bryce, to whom she is reading for aspiration purposes. A+ parenting, Wendy.

 She then autonomously gives Caden the exact thing he needs. I love you, Wendy!

Despite having two lights in the room, Bryce had a monster attack and it woke all three of the triplets up. I hate the monsters so much, but they have been much less frequent since we got the lights.

Fast forward a little, and Caden has grown up. Let's take a closer look.

He somehow got brown hair from a blonde mother and a redheaded mother. Okay . . .? Also, that is a truly repugnant combination of traits there (worthy of The Gregory Legacy for sure) that will hopefully take him out of the running when poll time comes around, even though he is cute. He looks a lot like Brady, but with Sasha's eyebrows. Actually, that reminds me. Let's do a comparison pic of the six kids and see how the genetics shook out.

So only Aspen and Bryce got Sasha's nose, and only Brady and Caden have Sasha's lips. Brady and Aspen got Wendy's less rounded brows. I think everyone except Alec may have gotten more of Sasha's eyes but we'll have to wait for the teen years to really be sure. I like the diversity! We've also got three skin colors, five eye colors, and four hair colors. Interesting. Large families are always fascinating in the sims when you get to see how the parents' genetics can combine in many different ways.

Sasha: "Oh, Saanvi. You should not have come in today. I have been pregnant for approximately eleventy-billion years, but now that I'm done, I'm going to fulfill this whim I've had locked forever and kick your ass!"

Saanvi: "Ow! Do you even know how to fight? Stop slapping my back!"

Sasha: "Oh yeah? Make me!"

Both: *RAWR*

Sasha lost the first fight, but there was a second and she won that one. Thank you, random autonomous workouts on the treadmill and pushups with Seiji for raising Sasha's fitness high enough. Sasha really did have this whim locked in ever since she became enemies with Saanvi, but since she was always pregnant, she couldn't do much about it until now. I figured I owed it to her.

Sasha: "And that, kids, is how I vanquished my nemesis and taught her not to insult pregnant women who are on the toilet."

Caden: "Momma, I'm not sure I can include this in my book report."

Next game session, this is where the game says Aspen is when I try to center on her. Somehow I doubt it. I couldn't figure out how to reset her, so I sent her and Sasha to another lot, hoping the magical loading screens would unstick Aspen from the balcony two floors down (where there appears to be a flamingo decoration possibly?).

It did the trick, but Sasha took Aspen to visit an acquaintance of hers (one of the guys that came with CL but whose name I have forgotten) and he immediately got mad with Aspen for being an alien, which in turn made her embarrassed.

Sasha: "It's okay! I have the shameless trait now."

Yeah, I'm not worried about you. Just go home.

With all six kids safely not invisible on other people's balconies, Sasha presides over a truly impressive homework party.

Barry finished his aspiration way before the other triplets by befriending this hipster. It helps that random 'neighbors' kept dropping by the apartment, so Barry didn't have to go far to find new friends, and a lot of them somehow didn't even notice he was an alien.

Aww, our oldest and youngest getting to know each other. Cute. Aspen and Alec won't be kids for much longer, so it's nice to see Aspen and Caden bonding since soon Aspen will hate all of her brothers except her twin.

Random Fancy Hairdo Friend: "I'm almost positive that's not how you use a watering can."

Sasha: "Hey, who has five whole points in gardening? That's right. It's me. I think I know how to use a watering can."

Just a few more days until these two are teens, and since they've long ago finished their aspirations, they're pretty much running free except for doing homework. On one hand, the time seems to go quickly in some ways, but on the other hand, with an eight-sim household with hardly any funds or furniture, this is taking foreverrrrrrr in real life time to play, hence the tardiness of this update (plus, y'know, life).

Sasha is sent on another house call, again to the Munch household. Now I suspect that Mila is manufacturing bioweapons and these are the unlucky workers that caught something while laboring in her unforgiving operation. Also, lol forever at Mortimer playing Sims 1.

Back at the hospital . . .

Sasha: "Ah, here's your problem. You seem to have a flashing red heart over your head. I think a little surgery will clear that right up."

Patient: "Aren't you a general practitioner right now? Do they even do surgery?"
Sasha: "Trust me."
Patient: "I . . . don't?"
Sasha: "Then just do as I say. That's almost as good."

Sasha: "So . . . let's see . . . I hold these handles, and the image pops up on the screen. Hmm. Okay, the image pops up on the screen . . . now. Now. Now. Dammit, why isn't this stupid machine working?"

Patient: "You don't have any idea what you're doing, do you?"

Sasha: "Hey, shush, you. I know exactly what I'm doing."

Sasha: "I have no idea what I'm doing."

While Sasha bumbled her way through her first surgery (three of which are required for her advancement), Saanvi was further earning my ire by abandoning her post as the receptionist. I guess she's too cool for that kind of stuff, or maybe she's still mad that Sasha kicked her butt the other day. Either way, that's not really a reason to leave poor kids like Max here just sitting around. Not that Sasha would have treated him even if somehow Saanvi had checked him in. Oh heck no, her performance is full! What kind of doctor do you think she is?

Back home, the kids are mostly busy or in bed, so Wendy and Sasha celebrate Sasha's adult birthday with a simple cake and just the two of them. Now Sasha will only be a few days younger than Wendy.

Ughhhh. I've noticed, here and with Andres Gregory in my other legacy, that sometimes the faces of aliens change to a more alien look when they age up. I know that Sasha's nose was not that small nor her face that long and thin since I made her, but that's how she aged up. I may try to fix that later.

In the meantime, Sasha and her funky face took the youngest three down to the park. Caden needs to play on a jungle gym, which we can not afford hahaha why would you even think we could afford that with six kids? *sob*

Ahem . . . let me try that again. Caden needs a jungle gym, and Brady is still working on Rambunctious Scamp too and Bryce is still working on Whiz Kid, so they came along as well to keep working on their aspirations at the park.

These two blond boys are actually Caden and Bryce's disguises, but I don't remember which is which. After Caden marked off the jungle gym, they messed around on the monkey bars for a few hours, building motor skill.

Bryce played chess to work on his mental skill (in disguise, of course), and chatted up Morgan Fyres, who I will marry him off to in a hot second if he is not the heir. I did a makeover of her once for a challenge (the result of which is available in the Gallery under 22Taube, if you're interested), and once you strip away all the makeup and 'edgy' clothes, she's really quite lovely and actually has a nice personality.

Early the next morning, Bryce wakes everyone up by setting the chemistry table on fire while experimenting. Everyone else is freaking out, but he just looks disgusted that he won't get to collect his results from this experiment.

Sasha and Wendy immediately set to work putting out the small fire, and I sold the stupid thing immediately after this since Bryce has already made his three emotion potions.

All six of the supremely disgruntled kids made it safely to the elevator (apparently their escape point), but I thought you were supposed to avoid elevators in case of fire. Well, since there's no fire escape, I guess the elevator is a better choice than throwing yourself off the side of the building. Or perhaps they were going to ride down in the trash chute. Who knows?

I finally get all eight sims back to bed to sleep off their tense moodlets, and these three wake up with new ones from a monster under Caden's bed. What the heck? I gave you three nightlights in here. Why are we getting monsters?

Okay, apparently the fire reached through the wall to singe Caden's nightlight, so I guess he has an excuse after all. Great. Now all three of them are going to be awake for a while.

Those three went off to school very sleepy and Sasha headed in to work, where this transpired.

Sasha: "Saanvi! We have an emergency! Call the trauma squad or whatever."

Saanvi: "I don't work for you."
Sasha: "You literally do."
Saanvi: "Well, I don't feel like it."
Sasha: "Fine, I'll just deal with it myself. Ma'am, I'm just going to squat down on you in a very careful, medical manner. Don't make any sudden movements."
Collapsed patient: "This is not what I came to the hospital for."

This patient turned out to be so much trouble! Sasha just needed one more surgery to get a promotion so I was excited, but then she went to the other room than the patient went to (hence the walls down), but then it appeared we were delivering a baby and not doing surgery? Only the whole scenario would never progress (perhaps because Sasha's instrument panel does not control that other machine), but I couldn't cancel it out. I also couldn't reset Sasha. Finally I reset the patient, hopeful that we could start over.

Instead, she went to a bed but couldn't be interacted with, and now she has a rash, so perhaps the bassinet was just a feint? I have no idea what was going on with this woman, but she didn't get her surgery and Sasha went home without her promotion. I hope this lady is pleased with herself.

I decided then that it was time for a different surgery . . . of the plastic variety. I was really fed up with looking at Sasha's new alien face that did not resemble her old face enough for my liking, so I decided to do a few tweaks.

There. It's not the same as the original, but it still looks more like Sasha to me. I think I may have made the face a bit too short, but it doesn't really matter.

Then it was time for the twins' birthday. This will be the first time we get a good look at how Sasha and Wendy's genetics combine. Aspen is up first, and everyone is gathered around celebrating.

Then it's Alec's turn. He's frowning because everyone is still tense about the fire this morning. Happy birthday, twins!

Here's Aspen! She's lovely. Definitely a lot of Sasha's features, but with Wendy's basic face shape. As a reminder, she is now neat and hates children, and wants nothing more than to be the Curator. I dressed her very prim and proper, more of a museum curator than a simple collector, and definitely she's wanting to differentiate herself from those disgusting children she hates so much.

Alec, on the other hand, looks extremely chill. His nose definitely shrunk in proportion to his face and he has Wendy's heavy-lidded eyes, so he looks a lot like a male version of her face. He is outgoing, an insider, and wants to be Leader of the Pack. Hmm, what kind of club should he form?

Once out of CAS, Aspen is immediately furious, since she is in a room with four children after all. She is not going to be happy in such a tight space until Caden has grown up, which is still a ways away. I hope she has some plans to meditate or something so she's not permanently the upset one.

Although, frankly, with the tense fire moodlets still there, everyone is pretty miserable.

And that's where we'll be stopping today. When we come back, more birthdays and maybe we'll get to the heir poll, but maybe not the way I take pictures. More doctor days at the hospital and possibly someday a renovation! Hopefully everyone will calm down a bit before then. Thanks for reading, and as always, come visit me at SiMania and Boolprop!