Author: DSLady

1.7 – Chaos and Success

So I actually scheduled this post to go live last week or something, and completely failed at getting that to work properly. Hands up if you’re surprised I messed it up.

Honestly. God knows why I just got hired as a software tester. (Without a degree, no less??)

Are you ready for more toddlers!?

Thankfully, the toddler stage for these guys doesn’t last very long through pictures, because every day is the same and I don’t want to bore everyone with what is essentially the same image.

Morrigan: Kitty!

Leah: So, what’s up?

Uh… that’s a plant. You’re aware it won’t answer you, right?

Leah: Neither do babies and yet I still talk to them.

Good point, but I still think we need to get you out of the house.

Also, I see where the toddlers get their desire to chat to the plants from.

Leah: When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.

James: Oooh, you got through The Hobbit already?

James: Woooo, one less toddler in the house!!

Leliana: Eh? Whas wrong with toddlers?

That’s right, it’s little Alistair’s birthday already! I told you I didn’t take many photos of them while they were toddlers.

He didn’t max out all of his toddler skills, but he got enough to pick up the ‘happy toddler’ trait. He rolled ‘Active’ as his first trait. I wish TS4 had more than three traits per sim, plus I wish there were more traits.

I mean, I could mod some in but that feels kind of cheaty. Or at least means it’s much harder to upload any of this lot to the gallery if there’s anyone who wants them.

Leliana, from the corner: BROTHER STINKY

Leliana: Mama!

Leah: Yeah that’s right, I’m mama!

Leliana: Mama stinky!

Leah: Oh, for the love of-

Leah: I’ve got it under control! It’s all okay!

Please don’t burn the house down, you can’t afford to replace anything!

Leah: IVE GOT IT UNDER CONTROL

Leah: Ready to learn, Leliana?

Leliana: Ducks!

Morrigan: Aight, Ima head out.

I forgot to mention which of the child aspirations I gave Alistair, and despite the fact that he’s currently working on his creativity skill, he actually has the Rambunctious Scamp aspiration, which is the motor skill aspiration.

So far this kid is determined to be a conundrum with his Active trait but determination to be a creative, social kid.

James is still plugging away at his degree; I have him taking only two courses per term just to make everyone’s life easier. I think he’s up to a B- as his average now, which I feel is quite impressive!

He’s got one more term left before he graduates, though, so not much more to go and then he can finally get a job and start bringing in the big bucks.

James: Soo… you thinking of going to University?

Alistair: Dad, I’m eight years old.

James: Never too early to plan ahead!

In aging up, Alistair has progressed from talking to plants to looking after them.

Alistair: Someone has to, god knows nobody else is bothered.

James: Woah, I didn’t know it took Frodo so long to leave the Shire after Bilbo left him the ring?

Leliana: Da-ad, you’re supposta read the book out loud!

James: Sorry sweetie, how about some cake instead?

Leliana: I huff and I puff and I BLOW the candles out!

Birthday round two! This means Morrigan’s birthday is up in just a couple of days given how close together I aged them up after the Free Baby Fiasco.

But anyway; Leliana picks up Top Notch Toddler after a last minute push to get that imagination skill maxed out, and also the Bookworm trait! I gave her the Whiz Kid aspiration, which I realise now requires a chess set that I have not yet purchased.

Leliana sets about putting her new bookworm trait to good use, while Leah picks up a job as a freelance writer.

With neither Leah or James working, they can barely afford to pay their bills (mood) and definitely can’t afford beds for their kids so uh, we need to make money somehow!

With what little money these guys have left I managed to get the kids a swing set for something to do.

Alistair’s gotta build that motor skill somehow.

James: Happy birthday to my youngest daughter!

Uh, James? Should the oven be smoking?

James: I’m sure it’s nothing 🙂

Yeah, I’m not so sure about that.

Leah grabs Morrigan and the lot of them make a run for it to the front of the lot, which is extra annoying because Leah’s the only person I’d actually trust to put out the damn fire, but she can’t because she’s holding a baby.

Firefighter: Never fear, for I am here!

For some reason, this does not comfort me.

Miraculously, the fireman does actually manage to be helpful and put the fire out, so everyone can go back to normal and pretend none of that happened.

James: My babies are all grown up!

Morrigan: All growed up!

Aaaand finally, here’s Morrigan! She’s got a bit of a pinchy face, but it actually works for her and she’s cute!

She picks up ‘happy toddler’, having also not quite maxed out all five skills, and then takes Good as her first trait. I gave her the Social Butterfly aspiration, if only because I wasn’t giving her one someone else had and there was no point giving her the creative one.

Poor James and Leah have been trapped in Parent Mode for the entire time the tots have been… well, tots, so they’re both struggling from ‘Fear of Unfulfilled Dreams’.

Apparently, going for a jog in the rain is enough of a dream for James, though.

James: I got a dream, I got some dreams…

Morrigan: – and then he went like this!

Leah: Kids these days! (That’s a thing people say, right?)

Absolutely not, but I appreciate your attempts to bond with your daughter.

Morrigan: Hey, so has mum told you about this whole legacy thing yet?

Leilana: No, what’s that?

Morrigan: People vote on our personalities and who they wanna see have kids!?

Leliana: What, that’s weird! Who writes stuff like that??

Uh…

Morrigan: Hey there, bestest brother in the whole wide world!

Alistair: … What do you want?

Leliana: I love you, daddy!

James: I love you too, sweetie. Now, what do you want?

Legacy points, I’m sure.

The Festival of Youth comes round, and as part of James’s aspiration requires him to “eat food” at one of the three festival, I chose to send the entire family.

This time, though, I deliberately sent them all to the local lounge instead of letting the game pick and had them take a quick trip across the road to the festival area.

Except Alistair, who decides to walk the long way around for some reason.

Alistair: I’m a lone wolf!

One thing I didn’t account for (and probably should have, realising that it’s called the Festival of Youth) was the million children swarming the place.

This little girl is Miranda Wright, and her parents are Julia Wright from Discover University, and one of the generated Uni housemates that I made over and slapped down in the world somewhere, so I know she has good genes and I’ll be keeping an eye on her as an spouse potential.

Or uh, a less weird phrasing of that.

And this is someone-or-another Akiyama, one of the kids from the snowboarding family in Mt Komorebi. I always consider having one of my sims date one of her parents (Jenna or Kado) until I remember that they’re married and leave them be. So this kid is definitely staying close.

Hm, that’s equally as creepy.

Morrigan: Hey, wanna join my totally legit and not just made up on the spot kids club?!

Kid whose name I’m too lazy to look up: Sure! What’s it called?

Morrigan: … Kids Club!

Original.

I force Leliana to go Pokemon Voidcritter hunting in the hopes of having this festival serve a purpose other than “James eats food and Morgan stalks children”, because so far that’s all this is turning out to be.

Leliana: Why haven’t my friends opened any of their gifts yet?

Maybe their bags are full, don’t be so hard on them!

I was talking to my other half today about previous legacy spouses, and as long as these two hold (which I mean, look at them. I don’t think they’re going anywhere any time soon), I have a 8/10 hit rate on legacy spouses!

Marasi, (the heiress of generation eight) was the only one of my heirs to get divorced, and Lyra (generation three) had zero interest in her husband. I don’t remember if they got divorced, but they should’ve; despite TS3 having nothing to dictate it either way, Lyra was definitely aromantic. And her husband was also definitely interested in her cousin.

Legacies get weird, man.

Anyway, my slight detour down memory lane aside, all three kids brought home projects to work on.

Poor Morrigan. When the free baby gets more attention from the parents than you do!

Don’t worry, though. Once Alistair and Leah finished, Leah sat down with Morrigan and worked over hers together.

You know, this is a completely pointless screenshot, but I’m including it because I am unreasonably pleased about getting these three into an actual routine.

They all go to bed around the same time, and they all get up around the same time!

James: Look who made it to graduation!

Oh damn, it’s that time already!? Are you ready to join the world of corporate drones?

James: Sounds delightful.

Heaven: Hey James, I’m just texting Leah! Want me to say hi for you?

James: I literally just left the house…?

Ah, just when I thought we could make it at least one post without the appearance of Heaven or her sprogs, she manages to sneak her way in at the end.

I do feel a bit sorry for James, having to graduate on such a miserable day, but hey! He made it! 

I genuinely wasn’t sure he was going to graduate at all when he first moved in, but I kept pushing because I’m a stubborn ass.

Speaking of…

From probation to B-, not bad, buddy!!


Sorry this one has taken so long, that’s just on me screwing up the post scheduling and then life getting crazy!

1.6 – Toddlers and Glitches

Ready for a bizarre glitch that I probably shouldn’t have just rolled with and yet, did?

SO! When we left off last I said my game had crashed, and I’d been forced to reload a save from three in-game days prior. And remember how everything was exactly the same as before? 

Except for the extra baby.

Still named Leliana, but zero relation to anyone else in the household.

Well, as usual with any game played by me, literally everything begins to happen at once.

First thing to happen is that it’s James’s birthday! Happy birthday, now you’re a full grown up. Good luck, friend.

The second thing to happen is that Leah goes into labour.

And there’s a blonde toddler in the middle of the room.

Technically, the first thing to happen was that I aged up the mystery baby, and then realised that despite her being called Leliana Gordon, she otherwise had no connection whatsoever to the family.

I quickly did a ‘play with genetics’ and replaced the random ass baby with the generated one (this version), and called it a day there. She picked up Independent as her toddler trait, which amused me to no end considering how she appeared.

But don’t forget! Leah just went into labour and has now given birth to the baby that (I think) was supposed to be Leliana, except Leliana somehow already exists so… it’s not Leliana.

Meet Morrigan!

Leliana: ‘posta be me?

Yeah, that’s supposed to be you, kid.

Leliana: But I’m me?

I’m as confused as you are, honestly.

Leliana is not overly happy that she’s been born and replaced on more-or-less the same day, but Alistair doesn’t give a crap either way.

Leah: This is fine. Spontaneously cloning babies is completely fine.

I also panicked, given… my previous half an hour of play time, and aged Morrigan up almost immediately.

She picked up charmer as her toddler trait.

Leah: So this all started long ago, with your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother Lori…

Do you think that’s enough greats??

Leah: Can’t hurt to be careful.

It is well and truly winter now, so of course Alistair has chosen now to start taking off his clothes and making a run for it.

Through the remains of Leah’s sad garden, I might add.

Leliana: Good mo’nin, Mowigan!

Morrigan: She’s still here!!

Technically she was here before you, so you don’t exactly have much to cry about.

Corralling multiple tots into a day time routine is… difficult. Hence these two having BLT’s for breakfast.

Leah: Hey, at least it’s vaguely nutritious. What did you have for breakfast?

… I didn’t.

ANYWAY.

I’m trying to limit the amount of ‘toddlers learning skills’ pictures that I put in throughout the posts, but given that’s it’s literally all that’s happening at the moment… you’re gonna be subjected to some of them!

But look how precious James’s face is while teaching his son to talk!

Okay, that’s freaking adorable.

I’m glad these two are so cute, they’re setting up the legacy nicely. It would be really awkward if I hated them, ya know?

Chaos reigns in the Gordons household right now, which in fairness isn’t any different to what was normally happening back in my TS3 save, but it’s a little full on.

Leliana: Baf time!

James: I think I’m taking more of a bath than you are, kiddo.

Morrigan: This plant is my friend! Stinky siblings!

Alright, I lied. I can no longer hold off on the toddler spam. Please enjoy a montage of the three kids being cute and also talking to plants!

Alright, spam over! Cute toddlers be cute, yo.

Uh, James?

You good there, friend?

Oh dear lord no he is not good.

James: HELP

Morrigan: Daddy arms broke?

Morrigan: Be friend!?

Heaven: Uh… is your mum in?

Morrigan: Oh.

Leah: Hey… Heaven! It’s so… nice to see you!

Heaven: I know! It’s been so long! Look, I’m even pregnant!

Bud, it’s literally been like a week. If that.

Also, I didn’t screenshot the popups because at the time I didn’t think they were at all relevant, but following this Heaven called both James and Leah separately to ask if she should have another kid.

I said no.

Believe it or not, I’ve just about managed to get this lot into a routine; the tots all head off to bed at roughly the same time, leaving James and Leah some time to themselves (Leah likes to do her cross stitch one of the tots beds) while James is usually forced to do homework or some kind of studying.

However, while easy to play it does make for boring screenshots as everything is the same day-in day-out. Especially because 90% of what’s happening in the house is just toddler skilling.

James: Uh, honey? Why is the baby in the ceiling?

Leah: Don’t question it, sweetie. Here, take your herb crusted salmon breakfast and go get ready for school.

James: I’m so confused.


Hey, finally a chapter without a cliffhanger!

I feel like I should have a “posts since last Heaven appearance” counter somewhere on this blog, just so I can keep a record of how many times Leah’s stalker/friend actually shows up. At this rate, there’s a strong possibility that one of Heaven’s kids ends up being an potential marriage candidate – which is terrifying.

I’ve got a bunch more screenshots lined up and ready to go, so I’d best get cracking on those!

See you in the next one!

~ Morgan ❤

1.5 – Stitching and Studying

Ahh, we love a good cliffhanger in this here legacy. Seven years on and it never gets old.

Maybe it should, but it probably won’t.

Speedy recap; Last post was pretty much just all things relationship – James moved in, he and Leah got engaged, Leah got pregnant and then I cliffhangered you all with her going into labour. Onwards!

Channelling the energy of every legacy spouse, James has a complete meltdown outside the hospital.

Well, it’s either this or complete indifference..

James: IM NOT READY

I’m sure this is perfectly safe and that nothing can go wrong.

Dr: I work better when I’m in the baby’s shoes, okay?

Leah, please. You’re not even off the operating table yet!

I locked it in.

Me too, kid.

Meet the first child of generation two, Alistair Gordon! He… is a baby, so in TS4 he is a boring and annoying object. But hey, he exists!

Yes, there is a naming theme once again, which will become clearer with each subsequent child. I mean, you could guess it from just Alistair, but I’d be mega impressed 😛

Newsflash! Local couple very much in love!

One of these two seems to take to parenting a lot faster than the other…

James: What does it want from me!?

He. That is your son.

James: I’m a father!?

Oh boy.

Well, you’re about to have a second one, so buckle up, bucko.

Leah: Well, that’s one wish checked off the list.

James: I’m starving!

Hey, you’ve got a kid now, your needs are secondary. No time to eat, you gotta sort out that stink cloud.

Luckily for James, Leah is a hotshot mama and is on it before he even has time to move. Which turns out to be a blessing, because did I mention that James is on probation at Uni?

He is currently pulling a D-, I believe. Poor boy is about to find himself staring down nothing but University study books and stinky diapers until he graduates.

James: What was that?

Nothing!

Leah, on the other hand, now has nothing to do. It’s winter so there’s basically no plants for her to be gardening, and I can’t have her out working on her aspiration because she’s pregnant and can’t do that, so…

A new hobby appears!

Leah: Ow!

You’re supposed to stab the fabric, not yourself.

Leah: Great advice, thanks.

Aw look, my first cute legacy family moment…

Leah: MOTHERFUCKER-

Never mind.

Part of James’s aspiration requires him to go to various different festivals and places in Mt Komorebi, so… here’s a picture of James fighting with a vending machine.

❤ cuties.

University doesn’t stop for anyone, particularly when you’re pulling a garbage grade, so James is forced to slog across the lawn in a blizzard to head off.

James: The cold doesn’t bother me anyway.

It’s Alistair’s birthday!

I was hoping to wait until James was home to age him up, but I was impatient and bored so… happy birthday, little boy!

Oh my god he’s adorable.

He picked up ‘Wild’ as his toddler trait, which means he’s going to need a eye kept on him.

James: Can you say ‘dada’?

Alistair: Mama!

James: No, Dada.

With a third sim in the house and needing somewhere to sleep, it was time for another house upgrade! But uh, we don’t talk about the upstairs.

Yeah.

MOVING ON.

It’s WinterFest, and Santa is raiding our fridge. As you do.

Santa: I just wanted something that wasn’t milk and cookies, or carrots.

Leah: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

Start ’em young.

Leah’s the first one up the next morning, and chooses the end of Alistair’s bed to sit and finish her embroidery.

Yes, his bed is in the hallway. No, we don’t talk about it.

We’re always after those bonus toddler traits here, because skill boosters are OP, so it’s time to get cracking on Alistair’s training.

Leah: Alright kid, buckle up. This is about to get intense.

James: So, how’s your day been!?

Alistair: Teese!

James: Yeah! Cheese!

He’s so eager, it’s adorable.

Most of the time, Alistair is making a run for it out into the garden.

Alistair: Legacy house bad.

… Good point?

James: I’m not ready for another one!

Leah: I’m afraid at this point you don’t really have a choice.

After the…. mildly traumatic experience with the doctor at the start of the post, I elected to have Leah give birth at home this time. In the creepy, undecorated attic.

Leah: I’ll take that over having any doctors standing through me.

And with that, we have Leliana Gordon, the second child of generation two!

This is also the point where things start to get… a little weird. You’ll see.

Oh, look who’s here! And here I thought we’d made it one whole post without an appearance from Heaven.

Heaven: Congrats on your two babies!

Leah: Congrats on your… third? Fourth!?

Heaven: So, do you plan on having anymore kids?

James: I’m not sure right now, I mostly just need to focus on my Uni work.

Heaven: That seems reasonable. I’d love to bring my kids over sometime; maybe all our kids could be besties!!

James: Maybe we’re not having anymore kids.

Uh, about that…

I wonder if Heaven has any cute kids?

Toddler animations in this game are very cute. Expect to see a lot of this!

*

Okay, so it’s somewhere around here that things got… weird.

My game crashed on trying to load a festival, as it sometimes does when it thinks it can’t find a lot to load in on, and I had to force quit.

I loaded up the game again, and we were back to just after Alistair’s birthday. Leah is still very pregnant and literal minutes from going into labor, Alistair doesn’t know how to use the potty…. standard things you’d expect when your save has rolled back three in-game days.

Except there’s an extra baby in the attic.

Huh!?

1.4 – Trails and Tribulations

Alright! I’ve finally figured out how to force WordPress into the ‘classic editor’ style without having to pay for a plugin (I’m poor because I spend all my money on sims 😒), which means that captioning pictures for this thing is significantly less painful now. Here’s hoping that’ll help me crack on with some chapters! 

(Coming back to this while halfway through editing this chapter and holy crap. Switching editor styles made a SIGNIFICANT difference!)

(Also yes, the title says trails and not trials on purpose!)

Quick recap; Leah ticked off a chunk of sections on her Aspiration, James and Leah made their relationship official, and so James was cemented as our legacy spouse and moved in.

And speaking of James, lets give him a proper introduction now he’s a member of the household! I’ll have trait cards done again in the future, but for now he gets the bog standard trait list.

James is a Good, Active, Outgoing sim, who is apparently chopstick savvy. He originally had exactly the same aspiration as our dear founder – giving him the High Metabolism bonus trait – but I’ve now switched that one out for Mt Komorebi Sightseer instead..

He’s also a Communications major at the University of Britechester, but because he’s been out in the timestream for a while, he’s currently averaging a D+. Time to get those grades up, bud!

1.3 – Climbing and Pancakes

Alrighty, it’s legacy time! I have once again stalled on a published project, but let’s be honest, who on earth is surprised.

We are in the middle of a heatwave (again) and I am suffering. The only things getting me through this is the sorbet machine I bought last year, the severe amounts of lemonade I’m consuming, and my fan. Oh, how I love my fan right now.

The benefit of having a tiny home is that relationship building is a lot faster, meaning it doesn’t take too long for these two to become a little closer.

Maybe a bit too close, eh James?

James: Nah, it’s standard bro life protocols.

Leah: For the love of all that’s holy can you please stop displaying my bare butt on your blog?

Oh look, Heaven’s here again! I’m starting to think I picked the wrong person for you to become friends with, Leah.

Leah: Tell her I’m not here.

Heaven: Hey Leah, I can see you through the window!

Leah: Drat.

Heaven: So, when were you going to introduce your new friend to me?

James: I’m sorry, should I know you?

Heaven: You haven’t even told him about me!?

Leah: I am incredibly uncomfortable right now and would like to leave.

So she did.

My founder is perhaps a little too much like me, and avoids her problems by going climbing.

Seriously, Heaven is starting to scare me a little with how much she constantly shows up outside our house. I wanted Leah to have a friend, not a stalker.

Given that we’re in the very early stages of a legacy, there’s not much happening day-to-day. It’s largely just climbing, collecting, and being apparently stalked by Heaven, so there’s not a lot to document.

Interrupting the monotony of climbing and snowboarding, is a phone call from James.

I’m very happy with this.

However, I hate hanging out at other people’s houses, so I send these two straight to the park.

Leah: Isn’t it such a lovely, sunny day out here!? What a time to be alive!

James: Are you high?

Ah, active sims.

Leah: Wow, your muscles are so impressive!

James: Yeah, this is getting weird – I’m gonna need you to stop that.

Leah: Wow…. your muscles are so impressive…

James: Alright, that you can continue.

It only took a little nudge to get these two to start flirting, and then they were off.

I’m not sure what prompted me to move them back to the house instead of continuing their little day out at the park, but hey, here we are back at the legacy lot.

And, of course, they’re high-fiving. Because who doesn’t high-five after a bit of flirting?

Well, who is surprised to find out that the two who high five after flirting would be the same people to celebrate after having their first kiss?

*listens intently to the sound of crickets*

Yeah, me either.

With the relationship increase from living in a tiny home, it didn’t take long for the two of them to max out their relationship bar and then autonomous woohoo to kick in.

Genuinely – I got up to go get a drink and forgot to pause my game.

Turns out James is still enrolled in Uni, though I can’t imagine that’s going well as most NPCs I find out in the wild tend to be failing all of their classes.

Leah: Soooo…. what’s your major?

James: Communications.

Leah: Huh. Sounds… exciting.

Apparently it’s so exciting, that upon completion of his homework (at what I assume is his homework), he immediately takes a nap.

My reluctance to have Leah take a job seems to have finally bitten me in the ass as we’re now running low on funds.

Leah: Who could have foreseen this?

Hush, you, and get back to your garden. It’s far too easy to make money by gardening in this game, so this won’t be a big garden, just one to keep your fridge stocked.

Speaking of stocked fridges, is it not a good sign when your founder makes breakfast for the guy you hope she’ll end up marrying?

Bless.

James: Mooooorning’s heeeere… the morning’s here!

Ah, it appears we have a singer.

Well, at least you guys can enjoy karaoke together.

[insert terrible segue here]

I realised we hadn’t made any progress on Leah’s aspiration for quite some time, so off to the slopes again with you!

Leah: This seems dangerous, I thought you didn’t want to risk the fate of your legacy?

I’m sure you’ll be fine!

Leah’s been making mad progress with snowboarding lately – it seems that all the times I’ve left her to go snowboarding continuously in the background while I’ve been doing something else has paid off.

Leah: Hell yeah it has, look at my sick new-

Leah: -mmmphhhhhh.

Are you dead???

Leah: I think every bone in my body is broken, and also my mouth is full of snow.

Well, at least the cold with numb the pain. 

Leah: I can always count on you for sympathy.

She did get some sympathy out of me, because after that spectacularly disastrous wipe out, I decided the best thing for her was a cute date night with James.

Look at James, busting out a cheesy, autonomous ‘make a move’.

God, they’re adorable.

It was around this point that I decided screw it, James is moving in. These two are just too cute together and I’m not getting him get stolen by story progression, or something equally awful, so that’s it.


Finally, post three is posted!! I have been trying to caption this goddamn post for a month, and I’m still not sure I’m happy with it! Either way, I’m happy to have the thing posted so I can move on to new content!

But hey, we’ve made it past our first major break/writers block, so surely this means only good things going forwards???

Please?

Catch you next time!

~ Morgan ❤