The Schreibers, Generation Two, Part Five

Randy was still off fishing for angel fish red herring, but Caroline/Alice’s birthday was starting soon, so he heads home.  The Schreibers had invited all of Randy and Michael’s ambulatory bastard children over so the various fathers, grandfathers, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews could get to know each other.

Randy makes friends with grandson Vaughn Landgraab.

This is Michael’s kid?  Yeesh.  I can’t very well blame Yasmin either.  She’s one foxy lady.

Alice makes friends with half-brother Rodrick Kane.

Michael chats up his boss, Gerardo, again.  They had a falling out when Michael failed a work-related athletic competition.  They need to heal that rift to improve Michael’s work performance.  Jason needs that bedroom!

Caroline gets to know Shara Kane.  Shara thinks Caroline smells bad, I guess.

All Sims get grossed out negative moodlets whenever Jason or Caroline are near, even when their hygiene is maxed out.  If being stinky is a hidden trait, I’ve yet to find any info on it online.  Poor kids.  Sims can be so cruel.

Elisha plays the guitar.

Randy finally gets to know Rodrick, his eldest son by Heather.

Rodrick thinks something smells gross; Randy is preoccupied by being mostly dead.

Then Caroline blows out the candles.

Isn’t she pretty?  Being softer than her brother, but still a virtuoso, I figured Caroline should have a little more of a flower power vibe.  I still haven’t figured out what to do with her, so the game chooses her next trait, charismatic.

Right now, my Sims’ relationships panel is showing two Grim Reapers, one of whom has a slightly higher relationship rating than the other.  Maybe Grim is training his replacement?

Elisha has a wish to become best friends with Caroline.  I set them to talking.  Despite the game giving her the charismatic trait, it still took FOREVER to make them best friends.  Caroline doesn’t help matters by trying to wander away to play video games.  Kids these days.

I again orchestrate simultaneous trying for baby with Randy/Heather and Michael/Yasmin.  I especially want a ghost baby.

Success!

I remembered Alice’s birthday, but decided to blow it off.  My Sims have babies to make!

She ages up while practicing chess.

Only Elisha and Caroline cheer her on.  Randy and Michael are, um, preoccupied.

Randy goes out to catch the elusive death fish yet again.  Since the death fish can only be caught at night, there are other ghosts afoot.  Randy isn’t afraid of them (it must help that he’s brave), and they are similarly indifferent to him.

Lara Finis plays the guitar.  She has blue water lines all over her.  Death by drowning?

Funny that a long-dead ghost has a guitar in her inventory.

Randy catches a few death fish.  I save the game and decide to try to resurrect him once more.  If he dies within a day *again*, I’ll quit without saving and will finally accept his demise as inevitable.  It’s not that I can’t take failure; it’s that I can’t take five Sims mourning all at once.

Almost a day later, Randy still has the mostly dead moodlet, and the clock is winding down.  I have him eat another serving of ambrosia.  Still the moodlet won’t go away.  In a panic, I have him eat a life fruit.  Still nothing.

To bide time, Randy and Alice play catch.

5…4…3…2…1

Randy’s still here!  Success?  Since I’m still having trouble figuring out this whole resurrection thing, I’ll save the game early and often.  If he suddenly croaks, I’ll quit without saving and have him eat ambrosia first thing once I restart.

I tentatively enroll him in medicine again.

Randy recently completed a trashy novel, Ghost Sex, and he’s now gotten started on a humor novel, Herp-a-Derp: A Look at Modern Politics.

He plays chess with Chantel Shelley.

Seriously, lady, don’t you have your own house to go to?

Caroline finishes her painting.  Almost immediately, she tries to rack up the Master of the Arts lifetime wish.  Sorry, kid, you don’t get to copy your brother.

At some point during all of this, Heather gives birth to Dianna, who is not a ghost baby (dammit!).  Yasmin gives birth to Candace.

Caroline wants to become best friends with Alice, but still tries to wander away.

She also wants to throw Jason a birthday party.  She schedules it the next day.

Alice retires from her job.  If Randy’s going to keep eating ambrosia while working toward his lifetime wish, Alice is going to have to take care of catching death fish.

I have my Sims invite all their relatives over again for Jason’s birthday.  The occasion is full of lively conversing.

Caroline gets to know Heather Kane.  The newly resurrected Randy talks to Rodrick at length.  Michael chats with Kristina, his half-sister, and his own daughter, January Landgraab.  Elisha becomes reacquainted with his half-brother Kelley Idaho.

Jason and his aunt Shara get to know each other upstairs.  Jason starts racking up wishes to become friends, good friends, and best friends with her.

Jason blows out his candles.

I give him a zebra-print leather jacket and boots.

Here he is practicing to be a rock star, or the Godfather.

When Caroline had a wish to become best friends with Alice, I realized that many of my Sims barely knew each other.  Caroline, Jason, and Michael were barely acquaintances.

I start by making sure grandpa is on good terms with everyone.

Since Michael will be clearing out soon, I make sure he gets to know Caroline.

The next morning, Michael heads off to work.  Those military men get up way too early.

Jason has a wish to make money by playing the guitar.  I send him to the graveyard after he signs up for the music career track.

That same day, Michael finally gets promoted to astronaut.

His lifetime wish is achieved only a few days into full adulthood.  It definitely helps when you don’t have a family to take care of.

While Jason is out earning simoleons, he meets Camilla Landgraab.

He immediately has a wish to become friends with her.  Budding romance?

I’m determined to kick Michael out that night, but not before he makes friends with Elisha.

And then Jason.

Then, it’s time to go.

Unfortunately, the console game doesn’t allow for Sims to just get kicked out of the house.  If you choose the “move” option through the computer or phone, the Sim interacting with either gets automatically shifted to “New House.”  You then have the option to have the Sims you don’t want as playable characters stay at the old house or get kicked out, which is crap, but I was determined to make lemonade.  So, I move them to the biggest lot they could afford and recreate my childhood home.

With some improvements, such as their very own pool.  We had to share ours with the rest of the townhouse complex.

I kick Michael out, which apparently completely deletes him from the game.  He can’t even continue as an NPC.  This is where I officially get annoyed with the console version of the game.  There’s no reason to have multiple children in the console game or legacies with that crap.

I guess, since Michael’s an astronaut, I’ll say that he volunteered for a deep space mission which will lead to amazing discoveries for all Sims but will take him away from the planet for hundreds of years.  When he comes back, he just may find this: