Rose 2.79: This and That

     The Maker has decided to try her best to get my story going again, even with the crashing and error code 12's. I don't know what prompted her to do so, but I am glad.
     It is time for my little Stefan to age to child.

     The Maker took some pictures, but she freaked out her processor by keeping it in camera mode when little Stefan got the sparkles and was going to jump to child.
     The game crashed.
     We redid the aging up of Stefan, but she didn't take any pictures of that one. She forgot to take pictures of Stefan as a child.

     Mama does more painting:

     She is happy to see this painting again.

     While cleaning out Shauna's camera's inventory, The Maker found this picture taken a long while ago.

      Mama gets abducted by aliens.

     Neither the carpool nor the school bus were coming to the house for days. The Maker changed a few settings in MC, and something She did must've corrected it because the school bus FINALLY shows up.

     My nephew, Fiona's second boy Marquis, ages to child, and The Maker managed to get a picture! In fact, she took him into CAS because she hated the hairstyle he had.

Marquis Monty

Witch

     Just after taking Marquis into CAS, She spots Carmen walking by, pregnant! Skye is finally going to be a father. (again--but that save with Lorelei vanished with the hard drive meltdown)

     Mama worries me. She frequently cries about Papa.

     Shauna paints when she has a moment. Or... at least she pretends to as seen in this pic.

     Our parrot actually says Sul, Sul! 

     I am still so happy to be with my beautiful Shauna.

     "Would you two stop with the sappy love stuff?" Arlen stands next to us with a disapproving look. "You're grossing the poor kid out." He means Stefan.

     Stefan responds with his mouth full of food. "Don't care. Eating." He has gotten quite an appetite for a little boy. But then again, he is very energetic, burning off everything he eats.

     I decide to irritate Arlen for the fun of it. "Why shouldn't I show your mother how much I love her? Besides, she's such a sexy woman that I have a very difficult time keeping my hands to myself." I sigh in an overly-dramatic way. "There's no hope for me." I grab Shauna and kiss her like a madman right in front of the boys.

     "You both are disgusting," Arlen grumbles as he makes his way to the kitchen.

     I laugh against my beautiful wife's lips.

     My little flower is getting married!? She brings him by to meet us. Personally, I think the man isn't worth her, but she insists she loves him. At least I know the Costa family is a good one.

    And my brother Milo has a baby! Racheal is the 9th grandchild for Mama. When Carmen and Skye have their child, that will make 10, fulfilling a want she's had for a long time.

     Just as it fully learned Sul, Sul, our parrot dies.

     Time passes, and we live happily. Before we know it, it is time for Arlen to age up.

     How can this be that I am about to have three adult children? And my generation for the legacy is at its close.

     I worry what will happen now that the reigns of the legacy move to his hands. What will his evil trait mean for it?

     Shauna insists my son looks like me, and... I can see it now. Oh, I still see that awful Abbie in him as well, but he is without a doubt my son.

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And he'll break hearts.

Can we say hunk? How can he be like that and still have a babyface? Guess it's the Donovan in him.

Sorry this was a kind of info-dump. I just wanted to close out gen 2 so that I can really pick the story up with Arlen. He goes to university, and I can't wait for the drama to build. >:)

Updates:

-Stefan got the athletic trait

-Marcel Monty finally moved in with his wife Angela

-Athena Monty marries Cyrus Guthrie

-Rose is 116 days and counting

Skye and Carmen have a girl they name Krista!

I hate that I didn't make this more of a thing, but I was constantly worrying about my processor. My computer doesn't get hot, which is nice, but I still worry about crashing. That keeps me from doing a lot of things like going to another lot for a while to do a wedding, etc.

Remember Ron Frey? No? Well, he was the one in the very beginning who broke up with Rose, saying she was 'cheating' on him when they didn't have anything serious going. She's held a grudge against him ever since (as much as she can hold a grudge). Stefan is friends with his grandson Brad.

-Rachael age to toddler

Again, something else I didn't make a big deal out of: Lorenzo gets married! to a woman named Cosma DeLuca.

-Arlen gets the brooding trait.

Rose 2.78: Party crasher

Donovan

     I get a promotion to level 8 of the game designer job. These are my new work clothes. I suppose they could be worse.

     Strange things happen around our house for the next little while:

     Both Camilla and Arlen get abducted by the aliens. The Maker can't remember if She turned off teen pregnancy or not. She will be furious if Arlen is pregnant.

     That sounds bizarre...Arlen pregnant.

     Some good things happen too. Stefan says his first word.

     And then his second.

     Before I know it, it is time for my little flower to age to adult. For the first time in a long time, I see a man I've been meaning to have a talk with: Clifton Mancini.
     "Welcome to the party, Clifton," I say in short tones.
     "Heh, well, it's important to Giselle." He looks away, not able to meet my accusing eyes.
     I decide not to let the bush beat me. "Do you know what is important to me about my little sister?"

     He still will not look me in the eyes. "Look, Donovan, I know what you're saying..."
     "Oh, you do? You know that you have been taking advantage of my sister?"
     "It's not like that. You see, when my papa was alive, he-"
     "Your papa is not alive anymore. Find another excuse. If you love my sister, you will ask her to be your wife." I bring up my inner monster, and he shows through my voice. "Do I make myself clear to you?"
     "Crystal." Someone in the crowd behind me catches his attention. "Is that...?"

     I hear my son Lorenzo's voice to my right. "I think we have a party crasher."
     "We have several party crashers all the time."
     "But, um, Papa? You have always said Camilla looks like her mother with your red hair."
     I turn my head and see him looking past me towards the kitchen. I turn my head the other way.
     And I see one of the last women on earth that I ever want to see...standing in my house...on her daughter's birthday.

     Seething, I cross the floor with 'how dare you!' all in my eyes.
     "Hello, Don Robles," she says in her voice, and I want to shake her. Camilla is in the greenhouse! She didn't want this party, afraid of strangers. I should have listened to her.
     "Get out. You don't belong here." I suddenly remember saying those things to my dear Shauna. However, they had a different meaning then.
     "I wasn't going to make a fuss. I just wanted to stand in the background. I just wanted to see her. You don't have to tell her who I am."
     She is pregnant. It doesn't surprise me. She's good at that. But if she thinks that just because she's feeling motherly that she can come and interrupt my little flower's life, she is very mistaken.

     "You have no right to be here," I snarl, and I hear Giselle gasp behind me. People are starting to recognize her.
     "Donovan, don't make a scene." She sounds nervous. I don't care if ten tons of sh*t is raining down upon her head! I want her out of my house!
     "You are not her mother. You gave up that right. Shauna is the only mother she's known, and she is a million times better than you could ever hope to be with the child you carry now."
     "I just want to see her! I've thought about her every day. You have to understand that leaving was the hardest thing I've ever had to do!"

     "Well, you've had such good practice. You can do it again." I am so glad that neither Shauna nor Camilla are in here. Either one of them could make a bigger scene that what I am trying to control.
      All of a sudden, I hear my sister Fiona say, "I don't think so." A pressure wave whooshes past me. "That's not going to work today. If my little brother asks you to leave, you leave."
     Livid now, my monster comes back for the second time today. "It does not surprise me that you would try that little trick, even though you once said you never would again with me. After all, why should I believe anything I ever heard come out of your mouth?"
     Willow starts breathing fast. "Donovan, I... Oh! Oh, Maker!"

     She goes into labor in my living room. At first, I wonder if this is merely a stunt for attention and sympathy, but with Fiona, Link, and Giselle at my back, I doubt it.
     In between contractions, Willow gasps. "She has your red hair."
     Plum. I turn around and see my little flower.

     Immediately, Camilla turns against me. "What is she doing here, Papa? Is this some sort of cruel joke? Nonna said I'd know her when I'd see her."
     "You think I invited her? No! Like always, she works on her own schedule."
      My little flower glares over my shoulder. "I don't want to see you. You or any of my little half-sibling spawn. You abandoned me, but Papa says that was a good thing. Whether or not he's right, which he probably is, Shauna is my mother, not you. Stop trying to ruin my birthday."
     Willow goes into another contraction. "I need to go to the hospital."

     As Willow walks out the front door, Mama comes out of the kitchen. She and Shauna had been discussing something in Shauna's old room. Link does what he can to distract Mama from creating a bigger scene. A boy asks Camilla to dance. Clifton walks up and kisses my sister Giselle as passionately as if he'd been the recent victim of a love charm, saying she was 'so hot' how she stood up to Willow. Before she can convince him she didn't do much, he kisses her. Lorenzo plays chaperone to Camilla dancing. As for me, I want this party to move forward so I can forget seeing my ex-whatever-she-was. Ex-lover.

     Because of all the crazy routing issues with blowing out candles inside, we set up the table outside in the front yard for Camilla. The paparazzi love this.

     The Maker hates that this is the only picture she has of Camilla aging up. She did go in and fix her clothing as well as package her up for download.
     My little flower has grown up. I can't believe it.
     She already gets offered a job to work as a nanny for Fiona. Fiona recently had a baby boy, but she will age to elder soon. Camilla remembers how she loved Shauna as her nanny before she became her  mama, so she happily agrees.
     And that is that. My little flower has bloomed.

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I admit it. I invited Willow on a lark. I actually had to throw two different parties. She didn't show for the first one, so the second time it came around, I was surprised.

Time for gossip:
-Athena Monty engaged to Cyrus Guthrie
-BEFORE the party, Willow had Joaquin Spears's baby boy Helmut.
-Rose reaches alchemy level 10
-Willow marries Joaquin
-Crystal Valenci (from the Fiona drama in gen 1) gets preggers with Rian Perry's kid. She eventually has a girl they name Barbara.
-Marquis Monty (Fiona's 2nd son) is a redhead! Wow! That bit of genetics really snuck in there! I haven't had a chance to get a pic, but I will, of course.
-Willow's second child with Joaquin (the one she goes into labor with during the party) is a girl they name Sasha.
-Camilla gains the excitable trait.
-Fiona ages to elder. There goes that clock ticking again.
-Shauna reaches photography level 10

And while I was working on her photography skill, I had her go to the graveyard and "manage the dead." Then, this happens:

She got the 'really bad ghost problem' pic (or whatever it's called) very easily. I know it's hard to see, but look at the large number of grave markers. This was even after replacing some of the bogus placeholder ones. I guess I shouldn't be surprised to have loads of ghosts considering the huge number of people who have died in this save. I'm going to have to do some culling eventually. The save file is enormous!

And I still can't say whether or not Arlen is alien-pregnant. I don't think enough time has gone by in the game to be able to tell. If he is.... grrrr.... Normally, I'd just ship off the alien with someone else, but that would totally not work with Arlen's character, even if he's evil.

Click here to go to 2.79

Rose 2.77: Perspective

A/N: I couldn't decide.

So, I went to random.org and rolled two dice.

1-6 = Camilla is heir

7-12 = Arlen is heir

I rolled... 8! Arlen is heir!
It really makes more sense for him to be heir anyway, given the profession that was rolled.

Now... who is the "help"?
Camilla is beautiful, but Stefan is a ROBLES! Trust me.

Sadly... I will have to let Camilla go. I'll be sure to save her .sim file and put it up for download.

Generation Three Heir

Arlen Robles

Brave, Workaholic, Inappropriate, Evil
Fairy

The "Help"

Stefan Robles

Genius, virtuoso (plan on choosing 'good' if I get the chance)
Human

(I'd like to put an adult or even teen pic here, but I don't want to ruin too much of the surprise.)

As I've mentioned, with my redhead rule, the heir has to be a redhead. I don't know what I'll do if these guys don't produce a redhead for gen 4. The number of kids I rolled is one of the higher ones, though, and I don't think there is any rule saying I can't have more than the number of rolled children. So, their ladies might keep popping out babies until I get one LOL!

One thing, though: The heir doesn't have to come from Arlen! IF he produces a redhead BEFORE the rolled number of children reached, then I could move the story so that Stefan can have kids too, and IF one of Stefan's children is a redhead, that child could be heir.

It's actually kind of exciting to see what happens!

Now, on with the story....

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Arlen Robles

     My family is so pathetic. Nonna sleeps all the time. Mama can't stop cleaning. My sister Camilla is an airhead. Stefan is a weak baby. Lorenzo left us. And Papa... Papa is a walking disaster.

     Do you like how I'm totally breaking the fourth wall here? Cool, huh? I'm not stupid. I know exist in a story. But you know what? It's going to be MY story. I'm not going to pretend I don't really know what's going on.

     Back to my Papa: Oh, I've heard all about his 'escapades' a few years back. In fact, that's how come all four of us have different mothers. I know what I am: I'm a product of a one-night stand. 

     Wait... when you think about it... Papa being a disaster is actually okay! I mean, he 'made it' with four women! Two witches, a fairy, and a human! He makes being a walking disaster look good. Maybe he's the least pathetic of all of them, but as he was hugging on Lorenzo before he left us, he looked like a wuss.

    This shouldn't be a still photograph. It really should be a movie so everyone can see my sweet dance moves. You're missing out, trust me. Your loss.

     It's the full moon tonight. I like the moon, and...

     Holy plumbob! That's a ghost!

     "You must be my son's new wife," it says.

     THAT'S Nonna's dead husband? That makes him my Nonno.

     He's standing there talking to Mama. Why isn't he talking to me?! I'm his grandson! I'm important!

     Nonna comes dashing out of her room, throws her arms around the ghost, kisses him, apologizes to Mama, and does her best to 'pull' the ghost into her room. Mama giggles.

     She turns to me. "That was your grandfather."

     I give her a look. "Duh."

     She just smiles and walks up the stairs to check on my baby brother.

     I know she's not my REAL mama. I mean... look at me. I'm a plumbing fairy for plum's sake. I was actually bummed when it finally hit me that she couldn't be my real mama. But... Mama has been here for as long as I can remember.

     "It's your night to do the dishes," she tells me.

     "I don't want to." She likes to do household stuff. Why doesn't she just do them and quit pestering me?

     "I didn't ask you if you wanted to do them."

     "What is this? You're sounding like the wicked step-mother from Cinderella. Why do I have to do the dishes?!" I am going to do whatever it takes to keep from doing the dishes. It shouldn't be my job to do them!

     "Arlen..."

     I fold my arms. "You can't tell me what to do. And unlike Cinderella, I don't have to wait for my own fairy godmother!"

     Being a fairy has gotten way cool since becoming a teenager. I can do some neat tricks. I throw one on her now.

     "Arlen!" she gasps and starts shivering.

     I laugh. That was fun! "You're not even my real mom. You can't tell me what to do." That ought to put her in her place.

     "Arlen! You don't do that to people, do you understand me?!"

     "Whoa! Chill, okay?" She is taking this WAY too harshly.

     "And what do you mean I'm not 'really' your mother?" She sounds hurt. "Just because I didn't give birth to you doesn't mean that..."

     She can't finish it, and a strange feeling starts inside me. I don't like it.

     Papa speaks. "She is your mother more than any other woman in the world, even more than your Nonna. She has loved you and cared for you, and you shouldn't speak to her in this way." He puts down his paints and stares at me through his sunglasses.

    Mama looks at me, waiting for me to say something. I won't apologize. She can't tell me what to do. I am a teen now. It isn't like she can put me into a time out. I give her a hard look. Her own resolve cracks, and she brushes past me into the greenhouse.

     I won! My spirit lifts.

     Mama makes a quiet sob sound, and I hear her feet start running for the other door. She's going to go cry in the little house because she lost and I won.

     Uh oh. Papa looks like he'd like to pound me into the floor. His jaw is clenched, and his movements are stiff as he walks toward me. If I have to, I can turn into a little speck, making him unable to get me.

     I ready myself to turn into a speck the second he moves to strike.

     "Shauna is your mother."

     "Oh, please! Anybody could tell she's not. I mean just look at us!" I won't surrender.

     "She is the only mother you have ever known."

     "Where's my real mom? You know. The one who gave birth to me. Where is she?" I have a right to ask that question, don't I?

     "The fairy woman who gave birth to you said she didn't have time for a child in her life. She didn't want you. Shauna did. She loves you as if you were hers by blood, and the way you treated her just now was terrible."

     I get angry. My mother didn't want me? I'd always sorta pictured that Papa and the other woman fought over me with Papa winning. I'd always thought that she was out there somewhere, wishing she could know me, perhaps waiting until I grew up enough and then coming to find me. Now, I find out she merely just dumped me on Papa.

     "Arlen..." Papa tries to intrude upon my thoughts. "I never wanted to tell you this, but you need some perspective."

     "Perspective?" I choke out. "You're saying I should be grateful that you and 'Mama' are so kind to take in the stray?" I don't like this pain in my chest area. "Why not just drop me off at the nearest orphanage?"

     "Because you are my son, Arlen. I could never do that. How could you think I could do that? I was furious with Abbie when she-"

     "Her name is Abbie?" I quickly interrupt, and Papa bites his lip.

     He regains himself, knowing he made a mistake but pushing ahead anyway. "The name of the mother that matters is Shauna. She loves you. You have hurt her down to her heart. She asked you to do a simple chore, and you speak to her like she's dirt under your feet. Now, you will do two things. One: You will apologize to her and mean it. Two: You will do the dishes as she asked."

    "Fine," I say in an ordinary way. It no longer matters to me that Mama asked me to do the dishes. My mind is actively thinking about something else now.

    I apologize to Mama and let her hug me while she cries. I even hug her back some. After all, what Papa said is true: Mama has always been here for me. It's this Abbie person...

     I will find this Abbie person, and I will make her pay.

     It's not that I wish she'd never given me up. Mama is probably ten times the mother this Abbie person could've ever been, but it's the principle of the thing.

     No one will tell me anything other than she was in Monte Vista for a short time and only came back long enough to give me to Papa before disappearing again. I can't even find out her last name. Papa wanted to hide it from the press.

     I am more patient than the press. After all, I will have a very long life. Our paths will cross again, and I'll be ready when they do.

Click here to go to 2.78