Chapter 7: The Ballad of Shadow and Misty

"Can't sleep, Dad, clowns will eat me!" Spider confesses his worst nightmares to his father when they meet one evening on their street. Lionel can't really offer any comfort to his son, because it's true, clowns will eat you if they get the chance.

Shadow has set his mind on Misty, so he's making an effort to get to know her family. He meets her mother, Celeste, at the park.

Her older brother, Eduardo, is a scientist.

"So, if all your ancestors are blond," Shadow asks, "how did you end up with brown hair?"

"According to the Asspull theory of genetics, most of the time a Sim inherits the hair color of one of his parents or grandparents, but there is a 10% chance of getting a completely random hair color," the man of science explains.

Shadow becomes a man, and takes over the master suite on the second floor. Fate chose the Eccentric trait for him, and he looks forward to his unusual career as a ghost hunter. His twin brother Pink also grows up and moves out on his own before anyone remembers to take a picture of him for posterity.

Invading spirits are brazen enough to hang out on the front porch. Until Shadow shows up to banish them.

Shadow makes a date to meet Misty at the Buccaneer's Rest before his shift starts. Once again, she shows up with a toddler on her arm.

"Babysitting again?" he asks sourly.

Misty shrugs, "I can't get out of it, not while I live in their house."

Was that a hint? Shadow wonders. If so, he's got it covered.

Misty puts the toddler aside to check out the sparkle on her new engagement ring.

Shadow and Misty love the rockabilly music this bar plays, and dance in celebration of their engagement. Unfortunately, Shadow has to take off just as the sun sets, because that's when the ghosts come out.

"Drop by my house later," Misty says, "We're having a little party, it would be great if you come."

Shadow sucked up the poltergeists as quickly as possible so he could be at Misty's house at a reasonable hour. The party had mostly broken up by the time he arrived, but Misty was waiting upo for him in her bedroom.

The GilsCarbos had started out poor but were now very rich. Seeing the huge modern mansion for the first time, Shadow was a bit nervous about bringing Misty into his family's much smaller house.

"Don't be silly," Misty laughs at his concerns, "It's not the size of the house that matters, it's the amount of money you have in your family funds."

"Well, Ii have a huge pile of cash," Shadow answers, much relieved, "Did you see my new car?" He'd just bought himself a red La Matea.

Saturday is the wedding day. Lionel and Cameron set out the food and nectar in preparation for the guests. Cameron, realizes she's dressed in her formal outfit as the guests arrive, and quickly changes into her athletic clothing. She has a reputation of insanity to maintain, after all. Shadow's twin Pink is first to arrive, followed by Spider and his wife, Corrie. They are new parents, having just had a son, Jasen.

Pink dances with Misty's older sister, Mandi, who also happens to be Cameron's partner on the police force.

All the guests have arrived, but there is as yet no sign of Misty. Shadow performs a few songs on his guitar to entertain the guests, and keep his mind occupied, while he waits for his bride.

Finally, he calls her to remind her of their wedding, and she apologizes for her lateness and rushes right over.

"What's up?" he asks when she shows up,"Are you getting cold feet?"

"Hell no," she answers, "I was having last moment doubts about this dress."

"Are you kidding me? Why? You look smoking hot!"

Not wasting any more time, the couple takes their vows.

And then celebrates their union with a dance. Misty is glad she didn't wear a gown that would restrict her movement.

After the guests all leave, Shadow and Misty head out to a nightclub to dance late into the night.

They don't get home until just before sunrise.

Challenge Notes:

So, generation 3 is officially on. I celebrated by selling off some of the junk gen 2 was hoarding, like the clothesline (not needed since we have a dryer.) I was also able to buy and later sell back wedding party stuff. Generation 3 goal of Party to Remember is complete. We served 3 courses, salad appetizer, fish and chips as main course and cobbler for dessert. I used to use a mod that allowed any meal to be prepared at any time, so I was dismayed to find my options limited to brunch selections at the time I chose to have the meals prepared, lol. Shadow bought a bottle of outstanding nectar at the consignment shop, and he performed on his guitar. There were more than 5 guests: Spider and Corrie Cross, Pink, his teen girlfriend Kristy, and Misty's sister Mandi, brother Eduardo and her father Randall (her mom died just a few days before). And of course the drama was the wedding.

Misty not showing up to her wedding was real. I had to call her and reinvite her during the middle of it. This is why I rarely throw wedding parties in Sims 3.

I feel bad about not getting a birthday pic for Pink. There was just so much going on, and I forgot before getting him moved out. I put him in his dream career (science) and bought him a nice house. His girlfriend is still a teen. Pink's final random trait is Over Emotional.

Shadow's last trait is Eccentric, which is great for his career.

Misty is Athletic, Snob, Virtuoso, Friendly and Loser. Her LTW is Living in the Lap of Luxury, which should be very doable as the family is already more than halfway there (she needs the household to be worth 324,00).

Her career will have to be in photography, so she'll be getting Risk's old camera.

Chapter 6: 3 Brides for 3 Brothers

Shadow and Pink become teens. Shadow is Hot-Headed, while Pink is Childish like his father.

Shadow is a virtuoso so he got a new guitar for his birthday.

His childhood friend Misty GilsCarbo becomes a teen shortly after he does. Shadow learns she's a Libra, not the most compatible sign to his Scorpio, but that doesn't stop him from pursuing the romance. She is the prettiest girl in their school, in the whole town even, and Shadow has laid his claim on her.

Misty is a bit of a Snob, and runs to check herself out in the mirror to be sure all the kissing and stuff hasn't marred her make up.

"So, your house is kind of small..." Misty remarks to Lionel. She's agreed to go steady with Shadow and foresees where the relationship will lead, so she's making sure the family she will likely be marrying into is as rich as they are suspected to be.

"I thought the same when I married into this family," Lionel responds, "But I assure you, we are sitting on a huge pile of cash. We're wealthier than the Goldbeards, even though we don't live in a mansion." Misty likes what she's hearing.

When Shadow and Pink become BFFs, Cameron is not pleased. Being an Insane Evil mother, she was hoping her twins would end up in an epic rivalry that would result in an unending family feud, and the fraternal harmony in the house is getting her down.

Shadow and Misty go in their first real date. He's surprised when Misty meets him at the beach with Kermit, her toddler nephew. "I had to babysit, I couldn't get out of it," she explains.

"Hey, you guys, I could use a diaper change here."

While his slightly older twin brother pursues romance, Pink is not quite ready to let go of childhood, and spends his weekend playing with younger children like Kristy Shore.

Kristy becomes a teen and wants a more grown up relationship with Pink. Pink is finally ready to move on from childhood. Mostly, anyway; he still likes playing with his old toys. but he can get into this whole dating thing now.

In this house, privacy is just not an option.

Spider's girlfriend Corrie graduated high school before he did, so he spent the latter half of his teen days dateless, focusing on his education to prepare himself for his dream career as a doctor. As soon as he grew up, he rekindled his romance with Corrie, who stayed single while she waited for him to graduate. They didn't waste any more time, and got married right away.

Spider bought the house next to his parents' house for himself and his new bride. This also happens to be the house Corrie was born in. Her parents both died when she was in high school and she had to move in with her older brother, who had married Catherine Caliente, leaving her childhood home abandoned until now.

Challenge Notes:

Lionel and Cameron have both achieved their LTWs (not that that was required). Shadow has 5 more days in his teen life before his generation takes over the legacy. Shadow's LTW is to max Guitar and Charisma. Pink's LTW is the Science career, to be a creature-robot cross breeder, or whatever that is.

Oh, and Spider picked up Coward as his final random trait.

Chapter 5: Death and Romance

Lionel calls this piece 'Hands Under Faucet: Wash Three Times'. And he wonders if he left the sink running the last time he washed his hands. He'd better go check on it...

Death comes for Zoe while she's making Goopy Carbonara. No one else in the house is skilled enough in cooking to finish preparing the meal she left half done, so the food has to be thrown away and the family dines on leftover peanut butter and jelly while they mourn.

Zoe's death coincided with Lionel's birthday. Cameron mourns her mother while celebrating with her husband.

"You really don't have to do that, you know."

Death came for Risk the day after his wife while he was playing computer games.

"But I was just about to level up!"

The twins, Pink and Shadow, are not at all bothered by the loss of their grandparents.

"So, I hear they're opening a new Starbucks...."

The paparazzi, however, are devastated by the loss of the town's most famous celebrity.

Shadow, the heir, has his birthday. He's inherited grandmother Zoe's good sense of humor.

Pink's birthday follows. He's a genius like his mother.

As the heir, it is Shadow's duty to start scouting for a potential mate as soon as possible. There are very few children of either in town, so he will have to act fast to secure a future bride. Misty GilsCarbo is exactly the right age, only one day younger than him, and is a virtuoso like him as well. And, she dresses as a pirate, which has to be a good sign, right?

Spider grows into a teen. He picked up the eco-friendly trait as a child, and took on his grandfather Risk's Friendly trait as a teen. Spider wants to be a world class surgeon when he grows up.

There are even fewer teens than there are children, and Spider is lucky to find any unattached girls to flirt with. Corrie Cross is free, and she's an Aries, which is compatible with Spider's sign, Leo, so the two get along very well and quickly start a romantic relationship. Corrie is nine days older than Spider, but he's determined to make it work.

Challenge Notes:

Generation 2 was pretty easy. The Hoarder goal is next to pointless, as it just means stashing things in the basement instead of selling them. And since the Misc. Fun is random traits, There isn't much of anything for me to work towards. I am trying to get both Lionel and Cameron's LTWs. Hers is to reach top of her career, and she's currently at level 9, and just became an adult. Lionel's is to max Athletic and Logic skill. He's at level 9 Athletic and level 8 Logic. He spends a couple days a week at the gym, and a little time at the telescope every night, or playing chess with one of his genius sons.

At least I now have the challenge of finding mates for my three boys.

Chapter 4: Which One is Pink?

Cameron and Lionel left Spider with her parents to enjoy a night out together at one of the local clubs. Cameron was even feeling lucid enough to wear her everyday clothes instead of her swimsuit or formal wear.

The club was nearly empty so the couple was able to enjoy the hot tub in privacy. Well, until the paparazzi followed them out to the patio. As the son of the governor, Lionel is as used to the paparazzi as Cameron, who had been followed around since childhood due to her father's fame as the local architect. Why a town this small needs a team of paparazzi is something of mystery; everyone knows everyone else's personal business without having to read about it in the paper, anyway.

Cameron knows evil when she sees it, and her father-in-law Richie Radan is as evil as they come. She's always liked him because they could openly plot evil schemes together, but her husband hates his father with a passion. So Cameron feels no guilt about using her friendship with the old man to get him to open up about the crimes and misdemeanors he's committed since becoming governor.

She follows up later that night by rummaging through the Radan trash can, and finds more dirt on her father-in-law, all of which goes into her thorough report on the governor. This will definitely get her a promotion, and will please her husband at the same time.

When she tells Lionel about the report in the new hot tub they've added to their backyard, he isn't as delighted as she thought he would be. The reactions of the non-evil can be hard to understand sometimes. But he isn't exactly angry about it either, and a good soak in the bubbles washes away any distress, and puts the couple in a more romantic mood.

Spider becomes a toddler. He's inherited his mother's looks.

Lionel teaches Spider to walk while Cameron files a report on her neighbor's activity.

Lionel's work tends to reflect his daily life. With a toddler and a pregnant wife, his mind is very much on babies. He calls this piece 'The Torture Seat'.

Cameron's second pregnancy results in twin boys, Shadow and Pink.

Risk and Zoe greet their new grandsons.

"Honey, which one is Pink?"

Challenge Notes:

So, that's all three kids for this generation. I rolled the second child as heir, and Shadow is slightly older than Pink, so he's the one. Shadow's two random traits so far are Virtuoso and Clumsy. Pink is Disciplined and also Clumsy. Their father is clumsy, too, so I guess that's a family trait.