To celebrate the birth of little Doyle, I decided to take Angelus to visit the library. Angelus was thrilled at the books I read him; it is so handy to have Winifred able to look after the younger ones.
Time is slipping away from me. Unlike puny humans we of the changing breed can keep our senses a little longer - but eventually the senility plague will take me as well. I can hope only that there will be time enough.
It is week 16, day 4. I have 3 teens (Winifred just got Athletics 10, with 9 days to go), 3 children (the twins Glory and Anya have 1 more day), and a toddler (with 3 more days to go; he'll easily get Parenting 101, and hopefully the books too). Glory now counts as having fulfilled all the child requirements for Moodlet Manager. Hopefully she can get a portrait of Tara (she already has a still life) before she dies.
It is time to join Mumsy. For a while, at least.
No problem with getting things done before she died. I could have kept her alive indefinitely. Werewolves do not age transition while in werewolf form - and of course being uncontrollable I was not even allowed to switch her back to human form. Using "Call Household To Mean" I kept her fed for a while, but eventually Winifred was about to age up, so there was no real point delaying it further, and I stopped feeding her.
Definitively, a sub optimal result there. The sudden cessation of my forebear's terrestrial existence has engendered in me a form of melancholia that will doubtless adversarially affect my performance as I begin a career in natural philosophy.
I am Winifred Badmoon. I bear a genetic anomaly shared by both my forebears, and also my sibling Glorificus, that results in my physical form being only metastable. The usual expression of this phenotype is outwardly indistinguishable from other baseline humanity, however at will (and also when subjected to excessive lunar radiation, a problem in the past that has been alleviated by a terrestrial engineering project initiated by my uncle Xander, that has resulted in the moon never leaving a waxing gibbous phase) I can assume a more feral aspect, which comes with enhanced sensory abilities and animalistic traits.
But at present our knowledge of such things is sparse and hardly conclusive. It is high time that this phenomenon was studied more carefully; as the third heir to the Badmoon legacy since the Event, it falls upon yours truly to undertake this task.
It's week 17, day 6, when Tara dies and Winifred becomes a YA. It is almost as if I planned it that way. :) Having lifted both Military and Journalism, I can freely choose careers by walking to the appropriate site; having also lifted Paranormal and Espionage I can do this at any time, without escort. Our new heroine is Ambitious, Genius, Green Thumb, Handy, Slob; she has the skills Athletics 10, Charisma 2, Cooking 1, Fishing 1, Gardening 10, Handiness 1, Inventing 1, Login 6, Painting 6, and Writing 5. Her LTW is to become a Creature-Robot Cross Breeder, which not coincidentally is her chosen career. As with all attempts at Science she's going to suffer with Fishing at some point, but I am confident that this will only be a minor road bump.
I have fraternal twin siblings Wesley and Faith that are, chronologically, only slightly younger than myself. When they reach the age of adulthood they chose the paths that we had previously planned for; Wesley would put his rebellious talents to use as an art appraiser and, eventually, via patronage, allow us to end many of the restrictive housing requirements we have laboured under for 3 generations. Faith, by contrast, was more similar to myself; following the biological sciences instead of the physical, she entered the medical profession with the intention to (amongst other requirements) clean up the water supply so that it is, once again, safe to bathe in. Only those members of my family that were sufficiently lacking in societal graces (such that they could bathe themselves in a sink like common animals) have been free from dirt for decades - Faith's contribution will be a welcome one.
It is week 18, day 2. Architect and Medical are on the list. I've been having Wesley rant about various things, and use a few LTR rebel influences to close the gap; he's straight into the Art Appraisal career. The base game method is, to my mind, both unpredictable and object heavy (though I am capable of owning multiple easels, it really is difficult to fit them). The Ambitions method requires too much micromanagement (I am controlling 7 Sims after all). So the University Life method is my selection.
In order to make sure that Glory didn't become a teen before maxing Painting, I left her in Werewolf form. Again, this prevents age transitions - and the rules do not forbid this. One of the little tricks for werewolves.
Each of my other siblings (save only Doyle) have now entered the employment sector. Glorificus has followed in uncle Oz's path, though she intends to diverge from it into the forensic rather than the espionage route. Anya's cooking skills are unrivalled and she is rapidly taking control of the small eatery at which she works; soon she will have secured us a supply of clean food that we will eat at our leisure. This has not been the starvation diet one might have suspected, as most of my siblings (save only Glorificus and Wesley) have hardened stomachs capable of tolerating food that is pass its optimal use date, but nonetheless it will be welcome to eat what we wish, when we desire. Angelus follows Aunt Cordelia, though his tastes run more to the modern popular music rather than the symphonic side. Should he be successful - and he is a Badmoon, one can hardly doubt it - then we will have far more entertaining options opened to us - for while my work and that of Faith are necessary to support life, one must not neglect the artistic endeavours that make life more pleasing.
So I'm also lifting Forensics, Entertainment, and Culinary. Doyle, in a few more days, will start on Politics. One might ask while I'm not beelining for Master Thief - the fact is, I don't really need it. I'm careful never to be late to work, I always make sure my werewolves are in wolf form before going to work (so they don't leave to change if their mood drops). No Criminal for better beds? Again - I don't need it; with Paranormal lifted I can take Meditative Trance Sleep and quickly restore energy even with poor beds. (They don't all have that yet, but most do). Winifred is basically using her free time to Hunt for Gems at the moment, while I'm gradually closing in on the Moodlet Manager with Glory (2 more points of Writing, 3 more Best Sellers, and likely the royalties will pass $4000 at that point. There is very little synergy with her career there, but it's not so bad. I suppose I could go Naturalist or Communicatins but honestly, it will all work out. I probably don't have time to get Alien Technology in generation 4, and the only real reason to do so would be Collection Helper, which I can largely supplant with werewolf hunting.
With Forensics and Politics lifting, I will be able (should I so wish) to send the final generation to University. I doubt that is worthwhile, but we'll see.
Utilising the services of an extradimensional entity summoned by means of a paranormal device discovered by Uncle Xander, I returned the founder forebear to corporeal existence. This will enable her portrait to be painted by one of our resident artists, hopefully in a fashion that will render it a timeless masterpiece. Dealings with these entities are never entirely safe, but in this case (having reviewed possible research from Anya regarding a biological solution, and concluding it would require considerable effort in cultivation that we are not presently prepared to carry out) I have deemed it the only reasonable course of action.
I have finally succeeded in my experiments to restore the physical sciences as more than a mere scholarly pursuit. Sadly the material sciences and biological sciences are still limitations, so I am heavily dependent on my siblings Faith and Wesley, but they are proceeding well. While the perfect portrait of Buffy is being attempted, I am concerning myself with improving my hunting skills.
Faith does not disappoint; her newly developed sanitation and medical techniques have revived a flagging biological science discipline.
So that's Science and Medical lifted. While I can replace the sink in the bathroom with a small shower, I'm honestly struggling to find room to put a television. Kudos to the adjudicators - the combination of Architect + Politics is now a very real space restriction, whereas before it was largely cosmetic.
What's that you say? Don't cram the house full of Sims and you'll have more space? How dare you sir, how dare you! :)
Medical saves on a lot of micro management, depending on how far you want to go. Steel Bladder for everyone means you only need a toilet for children. Get rid of the hamper, unless you really need the laundered clothes moodlet. Get rid of the sink (which I only have for sponge bathers) and replace it with a dish washer (if you like; personally, I prefer to handle that myself, so that no well meaning idiot cleans up all my rotten food). Simmunity means that they can eat rotten food without needing to be Slobs. (Of course in my case Culinary isn't far from being cleared but that's by no means always true). However most of that is cosmetic; the main reason to lift Medical early is for Fertility Treatment, which reliably gives twins if you combine it with working out to the Kids channel (occasionally triplets - and you can skip the workouts if you have both parents with Fertility Treatment). That allows you to quickly fill up your house. If you prefer not to do that - and I repeat, how dare you sir! - then Medical can be one of the last lifts without any real problem. (It is quite late for me, after all).
My forebear's portrait was finally perfected by Wesley, after which I deemed her a waste of resources, so she quickly returned to the incorporeal realm. Inspired by his masterful painting, Wesley then became a master authenticator - inducing such demand for his services that many of ther restrictions on our home were removed. No longer did we have arbitrary limits on the number of floors, nor were we denied high quality goods. To celebrate, I arranged for the resurrection of my immediate ancestor Tara, to obtain a high quality painting of her as well.
A bunch of things happened simultaneous and I closed the wrong pop up, but as you can see - Architect is also lifted. I immediately took advantage of this to build two more sub basements; the first with a bunch of fun objects - TV, sculpting station, inventor station, another easel - and the second for my new gem cutting machine and my gem collection.
Anyanka was not too long delayed in her own contribution - a solid food source, an end to rationing. Still no fresh vegetables or plants, but I am certain one of my own offspring will be capable of rectifying that slight omission.
Culinary lifted, week 20, day 7. Entertainment and Politics are proceeding. I could drastically reduce the number of Sims in the house right now, and I'm of two minds about it. I need Wesley for the moment to paint - Glory is at least as good a painter, but she has to devote her efforts to Writing for the moodlet manager. Faith is the one I've been using to cut gems, so she's tough to ditch. Anya is certainly the most expendable, but even if I ditched her now I'd only be able to get a single kid. Better to wait until the Tara masterpiece is finished, and then have Faith, Tara, and Anya move out together. With a little help from the genie lamp I can guarantee triplets, and if I've calculated correctly I only need 4 lifts in the final generation. So I'll keep Anya a little while longer, she can train a couple more Sims for Adonis points.
Glorificus finally completed her law enforcement attache training, coming away with a new method of DNA analysis that works even after the Event and all the disruptions caused to normal technology devices. Using this seed DNA, we are able to cure Tara's dementia, and she leaves to be properly treated by the now re-instated elderly care facilities.
I know, Forensics sucks. But compared to Naturalist is was a lot less micromanagement, compared to Communications it is less mucking around with career switches, and compared to Criminal and Master Thief it does actually have some impact, if very minimal, whereas those two really don't at this stage. It is week 21, day 2. As soon as Wesley manages a masterpiece of Winifred, it will be time to seriously thin the herd.
In any case, that's a good point to leave it. Stay tuned for the final chapter.
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