Soooo...I didn't update this legacy at all in 2020. But I have a reason. I did play it sometimes, you see, but having five toddlers, one child, and six adults is just so goddamn unpleasant to play that when I played, it was for like a sim day and then I'd shut this file and leave it alone for a month or two. I wanted to progress the family but I just couldn't get through having so many toddlers. Eventually I got through some birthdays playing this horrible pattern, and then it got a lot easier and just became the normal level of chaos that I look for in my sims families. I also relaxed my standards by, like, A LOT. So will this be the most accomplished gen? Heck no. But will I get through it and keep the legacy running? Yeah. I'm proud to say all the kiddos are children by the end of this chapter, and I'm feeling a lot better about playing the Allens.
Now, since it's been over a year, here's a quick catch-up: Sasha Allen, an alien and very irresponsible doctor, married Wendy, another alien and somewhat famous novelist, and they raised six children on top of a bulldozed penthouse, eventually building up a boxy and empty mansion. Aspen and Brady, two of those six children, tied in the poll, so they are dueling heirs. Whoever produces the third gen heir will be named the "true" heir for gen. 2, but currently they're both raising their families at the same time in this penthouse, which is gradually being built up room by room into a luxury home. Aspen is a scientist and married Mike, a painter, and together they had December, who is currently the only kid, and then twins Felix and Fritz. Brady, a botanist, married Ava, a low-level tech guru, and they had Emery and twins Gulliver and Gustavo. December just grew up at the end of the last chapter, but Emery, Felix, Fritz, Gulliver, and Gustavo are all toddlers. And that's where we're at. Phew! Let's get started...
So I showed a pic of December at the end of the last chapter, but there's a few minor cosmetic changes, so I thought we'd do a new intro card. I got some better fonts, and I also downloaded new alien eyes, so all of the characters look just a wee bit more interesting since these eyes are more vivid and high-res than Maxis eyes for aliens. They'll still have the old eyes for about a third of the chapter, but this is what December looks like currently. Right now she seems quite normal for the spawn of child-hating Aspen, but we'll see how she grows up. She got her blond hair from the mailman probably, because I really don't understand alien genetics and the hair colors are all over the place. Plus they seem to get the child eyebrow bug even worse than my human sim children do, so I have to just ignore their eyebrows outside of CAS so I don't have a rage aneurysm.
Here's the state of the penthouse. From the outside it's looking pretty good, but most of the inside is still empty and undecorated.
In desperate gratefulness for the first child making it out of toddler years, I decorated the patio. Cute! Might delete the grill some day because everyone insists on cooking on it.
I also updated the master suite, which Aspen and Mike currently occupy. It has a huge bedroom, walk-in closet with vanity and an off-center rug, and an absolutely enormous en suite bathroom with a rug under the tub and toilet somehow for...uh, reasons. Honestly, looking at this now I'm not sure what I was thinking with a lot of the rug placements, haha.
The walk-in closet is very nice, rug notwithstanding. It also has an actual closet in it to the right of the picture, but you can't see it from this angle. I remember having fun decorating this and feeling rather pleased with the master suite, whatever I may think of the rugs currently.
I am slightly less pleased with this pile of toddler beds. I finally moved in the boys from the empty future-gym next door into the toddler nursery, but there isn't really room for five beds without rearranging the whole rest of the room, so we're doing our best.
We're also doing our best to get happy toddler for everyone, but I don't remember if I managed. Emery and the F twins probably had the roughest time, attention-wise, because December got focused on early, and by the time everyone else had grown up, I was able to spend a little time on the G twins.
Wendy is double-timing potions, but neither of these are potions of life, because she had one as an adult. Wendy came in as an adult when Sasha was a YA, so Wendy, despite that early potion of life, is still really, really, really much further along in her life. I was having her write Books of Life and I wanted to get one and bind it for each of the kids, but that required Wendy to live long enough, because you can't bind Books of Life to toddlers, unfortunately. So in the meantime, the plan was to just have her write all the books and cross our fingers that she lived long enough.
Mike, I know I was only talking about Wendy, but I'd really prefer the rest of you live out your full lives too.
Ava: "Hey, Mike. Looks like the bacon got a little crispy on the edges."
Mike: "I don't wanna talk about it."
Wendy writes on despite illness and a pestering toddler. You can do it, Wendy!
She's got Emery's book all ready to go as soon as Emery is a toddler, and that time is now! Ava and Brady, Emery's parents, plus her grandmother who isn't chained to the computer, are there to celebrate the firstborn on this side of the family.
OMG, she's sooooo cute. I later got a mod that turns this hair color into a dirty blond, but it doesn't work for all CC hairs since the creator has to specifically replace the hair file and obviously they don't do that for every hair. But I put this hair on Emery before I had that mod, and I decided to leave it on her because with its accessory flowers, it's a perfect 'big girl' version of her toddler flower crown. She is now a loner and wants to be a rambunctious scamp, but she's still very much a fancy girl. I already had locked in purple as her color as a toddler, but with the new eyes that are very purple in this shade, it looks great.
She's exhausted growing up since she was literally taken from bed to blow out her candles, but it's okay, sweetie. You have a new bed waiting for you upstairs.
No!!! Wendy was just about to bind the book to Emery when the hated music started playing. I managed to snatch the book back out of her inventory in time, but I don't have anyone that can bind it, so fat lot of good it'll do me. Sorry, Emery.
Also, uh, sorry to all these sims that just lost their loved one. I guess I should focus on that for a minute.
Some powerful blue aurus in this room. Wendy and Sasha may be weirdos, but they were a power couple and very much in love, so it's hard for Sasha. Brady also is missing one of his moms. I think Aspen and Mike were at work, unfortunately, and the kids were in bed.
So Wendy is laid to rest (possibly backwards? I can't tell which is the front of this urn!) in our mausoleum upstairs.
Sasha has to go to bed by herself in her party clothes. What a day, high highs and low lows.
Oh, I guess the girls weren't in bed yet. I have no idea why they didn't come witness the death then.
That leaves them in a good enough mood to cement their friendship as best friends (which also helps December, our social butterfly), so I guess it's okay.
Aspen is working on Nerd Brain after having completed Curator earlier in her life. I got to the stage where we need a rocket and I noticed the flat part of the roof is just big enough for its footprint, so I put a door to that are and let Aspen get set up. She was able to build the rocket with me trying to guess which side she needed to work on and moving it, because although the footprint fits perfectly, I guess she still needs to get around to the other sides and can't. It's frustrating and we're at a bit of an impasse because she doesn't really have enough time at her job to do large chunks of rocket science during the workday. I'll have to think what to do.
While Aspen is coping with her sadness by walloping on metal with a wrench, Brady sneaks off to the closet for a quick cry.
The toddlers are also sad despite not really interacting with Wendy all that often.
Luckily there's some encouraging posters in this bathroom to motivate the boys to look on the brightside.
Brady and Sasha head off to work the next day, each with their own labcoat and sad aura.
Everyone was miserable at this time, and this was probably the longest break I took because everything sucked.
When I came back, I was gifted this sign that things were going to get better. Brady, I know you're a professional botanist now, but I don't think your son is a frog.
The F twins might be some kind of creatures, though. I love this pic because it looks like Fritz just shoved Felix and isn't feeling particularly bad about it at all.
Gulliver and Gustavo are much sunnier, altogether, though.
Four toddlers hard at work on skills. I'm really curious now if I did succeed in getting them all Happy Toddler or if I gave up at some point. Hmm.
Brady's cowplant that we spliced has grown, and it helps both him and Mike with their aspirations. At some point later on, it glitched and it's stuck, visually, at the sprouted stage, but everyone treats it like it's full grown. Very weird.
Time passed and everyone got over their sad moodlets. New best friends Emery and December decided to do their homework on the patio this day.
And Wendy finally graces our penthouse again, but unsurprising for a glutton, it's just so she can get to the fridge.
Aspen tried a rose perfume serum on Don Lothario and it worked, unfortunately, making him flirty. He did the little "smoothing hair back" flirty idle and I muttered, "Ew gross." Maybe giving Don a rose perfume wasn't the best idea.
The parents and grandmother gathered for Fritz and Felix's birthday some days later.
Sasha: "Barry, I'm glad you're visiting, but no invisible umbrellas in the house, please. I raised you better than that."
Barry: "Oh, sorry. You know, when I was his age, we didn't have a ceiling, so I guess I just kind of went back to that mentality."
Sasha: "You were never his age. This legacy is so gosh darn old toddlers didn't exist yet for the second generation."
Mike: "Do you two mind? My son is growing up here!"
So, since the household is over 8, I have to take sims into CAS a different way and it doesn't show their names, plus the aliens grow up in alien suits and bald, and Felix and Fritz are otherwise identical. So I accidentally switched their colors and I'm too lazy to change them back. Felix is orange now and Fritz is pink.
Here's Felix, the older twin. Creative and an Artistic Prodigy is pretty nice, but this is as good as his personality is going to get, so let's enjoy it for now.
And like I said, Fritz is completely identical. Something tells me these twins don't mind being mistaken for each other. They probably enjoy the confusion. Fritz takes the undercurrent of dysfunction in this family up several notches and is now evil. Joy.
Both boys grew up with CC monster teeth and it's perfect for these monster twins, so I left it.
Sasha: "These children scare me, and that's saying something considering I raised Aspen and also Caden."
I'm so sorry, Sasha. Just don't let them bite you. They might be poisonous.
Sasha: "Oh, I hope so. They make my mean heart so proud."
Ava: "Okay, everyone! I've prepared Harvestfest dinner with my three whole cooking points that are somehow the max in this household of five adults capable of cooking. Come and get it!"
Maid: "Could you not? I just cleaned up the table after you slobs."
Yeah, we needed a maid. I can't keep up. He does have a tendency to put our laundry away wet, unfortunately.
Anyway, Harvestfest dinner was mostly successful, even if Gulliver got trapped in the high chair with no food. Barry was visiting again so he got to join in.
Sasha grumpily ate a totally different meal in the kitchen, alone. Grinch.
Barry: "Say, sis, your daughter has been talking my ear off for the last three hours. Help an uncle out?"
Aspen: "No can do, and hide her plumbob while you're at it. There's a good brother."
December: "...I just wanna improve my social skill."
Mike, I know you haven't had a lot of exposure to things that aren't the garden or the easel, but I really think stuffing the basketball into the shrubbery is not the way to play. I'm not terribly athletic, so maybe I'm off base, but I just have a feeling.
Mike: "Nah, I know what I'm doing."
Are you sure? Are you really sure?
The maid has been neglecting our laundry totally by the time the birthday for the G twins arrives. If it seems like days are just flying by, that's because I was doing my best just to get through all this and not taking a lot of pictures. I am not doing this kind of crazy house-stuffing again for a really, really long time.
The youngest twins age up into mostly identical aliens who are bald. They do have different eyes and slightly different facial features, but I also botched their makeovers. Since they're not identical, I had to take pics of all their outfits that I had so meticulously crafted and go back and switch them with each other, which was a huge hassle. I also accidentally switched their traits at first, but I fixed that too.
So here is Gulliver with the correct appearance and correct trait. He's an art lover like his dad, and wants to be a social butterfly. Oh great, like one wasn't enough?
Well, apparently, neither is two. I've got three social butterflies this go 'round. Gustavo, however, is cheerful.
Aspen's work tasks for today included giving Eliza Pancakes a tainted serum. Eliza is Aspen's best work friend (they actually get on very well), but I 100% believe Aspen would just randomly wake up one day and be like, "Ah, yes, this person that I like--I want to give her a tainted serum!" Unfortunately, we couldn't craft a tainted serum to save our life. Aspen is frighteningly competent at being a scientist, much more so than
Faye Gregory ever was.
Finn: "Ah, just think Aspen, you could have married all this."
Aspen: "And miss out on the terrifying children and placid husband I do have? I think not. Why are you here, anyway?"
Finn: "Alien tourist day. Apparently, this includes aliens you already know."
Aspen: "Yeah, okay. Want a rose perfume?"
Aspen: "Hey, Brady, do you know what day it is?"
Brady: "Judging by that box up in the corner, it is Night on the Town."
Aspen: "Yeah, so let's get out of here, get some free drinks, and leave these randoms roaming our lobby while our children are unsupervised."
Brady: "Sounds great. I could use a break from the kids we rarely bother to parent anyway. I'll round everyone up."
So I sent all my adults to the bar in Mt. Komorebi to get free juice. Which we could have got, had the bartender not poured all of it out as soon as he saw us coming.
Super adorable premade: "Did that elderly alien doctor just flirt with my husband?"
Maybe.........
But he liked it. Just saying. Maybe your problem is him.
Ava: "Did my husband just flirt with that other premade?"
Oof. Methinks we've got a bad NAP in action. Yes, Ava stepped away from her nectar (her favorite drink because she is a fancy lady) and cheese tray (a very fancy lady) to go to the bathroom, and what autonomous malarkey does she come back just in time for?
Brady is completely oblivious because Ava prioritized getting her nectar over making a scene, but she's furious with him and nursing a bad sentiment.
She's so miserable, in fact, and I'm so worried about her dying from anger, that I tried to calm her down some, but when that failed to remove the moodlet, I just sent her home.
Wait a second. That's from the vending machines out back, isn't it? It's free drinks, and you found the one drink on the lot that costs money?
Mike: "I am a smart man."
While all of that ~~~drama~~~ was going on downstairs, Aspen has been making fast friends with Megumi, who is a celebrity, so I'm not sure how she managed the introduction.
Sasha meanwhile has pooped out, so I think we've
done enough damage had enough fun for tonight.
Cheating notwithstanding, that was fun and a good break from the kids that reinvigorated me to play. I should take my crew of deviant extraterrestrial lab coat collectors out more often! But this is enough for a chapter and it is LONG overdue, so I think we'll stop here and I'll hit publish.
Be sure to check in with
Boolprop while waiting (hopefully not as long!) for the next update. Thanks for reading!
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