Grainne’s marriage with Xanthos went as expected. They were rich and Xanthos worked hard to make them even richer. He wasn’t stingy with his wealth either. All the luxury items Grainne could have wanted were hers.



Soon after the wedding, Grainne gave birth to her daughter Circe.

Pay no attention please to the housekeeper. He was making the beds when Grainne gave birth, ran over to her and then continued to make the beds. I think this is related to the Abortable Bed Making mod I use, I've seen playable sims do that as well.



For a while, Grainne had to stay at home and look after Circe. She got pregnant again during this time. Motherhood didn’t appeal to Grainne much, though, and after the birth of her second daughter Alessa she decided to go back to her job.



Xanthos would have preferred a son to carry on the family name, but both Circe and Alessa were highly intelligent and he felt that he could safely leave his business to them.



Over at the Beaker household, things weren’t going as well. Bjorn had taken to drinking after his parents’ death and it kept getting worse.



Gundrun rarely saw her husband anymore. She spent most of her time alone.



Loki and Erin were her pride and joy. Loki was the smartest kid in his grade, or at least competing for the highest grades with Vid Curious, and he was always such a gentle soul when it came to his little sister. Erin admired her brother very much.



But children can’t stay children forever, and soon Loki became a teenager and realized that something was horribly wrong with the world.



“My life is ruined, Erin!”, Loki exclaimed. “Ruined, I tell you! My face is a cursed blight on my existence!”

Her brother always used really big words, Erin thought. She had no idea what he meant half the time, but she didn’t want him to think she was stupid, so she wrote them down in her notebook and asked Lazlo Curious, who asked his older siblings for advice, and usually Erin knew after about a week what Loki was talking about. She had become very adept at reading his tone though, so clearly he was upset about his face.

“What’s wrong with your face, Lo? It’s pretty!”

“Exactly! You take the words out of my mouth! My face is PRETTY. It is neither remarkable, nor striking, nor intimidating. It is pretty. My life is over.” Loki slumped over and looked ready to die. “No girl will ever be impressed by this tiny, adorable chin.”

Erin mulled this over for a while. “What if you had a beard, like Santa? I don’t know what his chin looks like, because it’s hidden behind the beard.”

Loki’s life and happiness had been saved. This was an excellent plan.



The plan did have one issue, though. Loki’s chin remained hairless.

Granted, Circe Salamis did think he was good-looking and smart to boot, but could she really love a man with no facial hair?



“It might be genetic.”, Pascal Curious suggested when all the Strangetown teens were hanging out at the Salamis house. “I mean, your father and grandfather don’t seem to have had a beard either.”

“I will have you know that my ancestors were Vikings, as shown by the name Halfdanarsson.” Loki said haughtily. “And a Viking with no beard would be simply ridiculous, so clearly I must have some beard genes somewhere.”



“You’re like one-sixtyfourth Viking on your MOTHER’S side, Loki!” laughed Circe. “Mrs Beaker certainly can’t grow a beard!”

This was the last straw. Circe was not supposed to side with Pascal on this subject! Loki got up and stormed out of the house in a huffed fashion.



Circe sighed. Loki was so easy to rile up. He was awfully smart though. With the right woman at his side, he would certainly amount to something great. Circe had plans to be that woman.

She would just need to flatter him for a few days. Tell him how ugly beards looked and how scratchy they were. Not to mention how pathetic it looked when the Curious boys would proudly present the half a dozen strands of hair that had randomly sprouted in their faces.



Loki's adorable chin has its revenge. He actually looks halfway decent with the Lokibeard, since it's hard to not look evil with it, but unfortunately the Lokibeard is not available for teenagers. Loki will have to remain beardless for all of his teenage years.

In any case, Loki is another one of the genetically impossible Strangetown sims. His facial structure is just pure evil, and none of his ancestors look like pure evil. The beard covers up a lot of the tiny chin (Erin was right about that), but there's no changing the eyebrows without cosmetic surgery. Which he is strongly considering.

Coming up next: Jenny's surprise

“Of course, dear! What a wonderful idea! I’m sure the others will love it!”

Kitty hung up the receiver and turned around to her family. “Jenny just called and asked if she could come and have dinner with us on Lazlo’s birthday. Isn’t that wonderful? She can take a few hours off from her studies and she has found someone who can drive her to Strangetown. Actually, Glarn, she would like us to meet this driver of hers and has asked if he can come to dinner too.”

“Well, I’ll be!” Glarn said smiling. “That sounds serious. We might have another celebration in the family soon.”



“At least one Curious who might start a family, eh, Pascal?” Vidcund grinned. “Have you even had your first kiss yet?”

“Have YOU?”



“Certainly! My beloved Circe gave hers to me just this afternoon near the lake!”

“Circe, as in the evil Circe Salamis who is dating Loki Beaker?”

“She is NOT dating Loki Beaker! HE is dating HER, but SHE is NOT! And you’re just jealous because she turned you down anyway.”

“I’m not… I wasn’t even interested in Circe, she just made that up!”



“Anyway”, Vidcund continued his story, “I asked Circe to be my girlfriend after kissing her and naturally she agreed. She was perfectly moved by my proposal. Actually, I am a little bit worried about how I’m going to top this for my actual proposal, but I suppose I will have some more years to think about it.”

Pascal buried his face inside his book. “Why are you still talking?”



“You will naturally be worried about her presumed relationship with Loki Beaker. I inquired into the matter and Circe assured me with heartbreaking sincerity that there never had been anything serious between the two of them. And although I know you won’t, I believe her.”

“Can you stop talking now?”



Through the familiar bickering between his older brothers, little Lazlo suddenly realized something and looked up to his father with a worried expression on his face.

“Daddy? When I become a teenager, will I be obsessed with Circe Salamis too?”

“For the sake of my sanity, Lazlo, I hope not.”



Lazlo’s birthday arrived and Glarn greeted Jenny with a big hug.

“Well now, who is that mystery driver of yours? Your mother has already decided that you’re going to marry him, so he’d better be good enough for my little girl.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll like him, dad. You’ll be surprised…”



Glarn looked in speechless surprise at his daughter’s mystery boyfriend who had just revealed himself. Then he decided he’d better say something.

“What.”

“Erm… hi, Glarn…”

“P.T.. What.”

“Well, you see, I went and found our daughters. And they went to college. And they met Jenny. And I met Jenny. And we’re engaged now.”

“What.”

“And I appear to age slightly slower than you do, so I’m not really old enough to be her father even though I actually am, but she doesn’t mind.”

“What.”



Jenny decided to put a stop to this talk and called everybody in for Lazlo to cut his cake. Glarn watched his youngest son grow up in a daze.



The rest of the family seemed to take well to P.T. though. Pascal, Vidcund and Lazlo were all amazed to find their sister engaged to a real space alien, and when Jenny told them about their sisters, their excitement knew no bounds.



The only person Glarn was really worried about was Kitty. He didn’t know how she would take the news that Glabe and his daughters were planning to be a part of their life again. But when Glarn asked her about it, Kitty just smiled.

“And who do you think helped P.T. to find those three anyways?”



After dinner, Glarn and P.T. talked for a long time about their past and future.

“Well, P.T., I have no idea how you always manage to get involved with my family business.” Glarn sighed. “But it looks like you’ve found the family you always wanted. Welcome to the Curious clan.”



“Sorry for hijacking your birthday party, Laz.” Jenny said as she prepared to leave.

“Are you kidding?” Lazlo beamed. “You brought a SPACE ALIEN to my party and you’re going to marry him! This is the best birthday ever!”



“You’re going to fit right in, little brother.”

“I’m still not obsessed with Circe Salamis though.”

“That is what we call a good thing.”



“You think dad’s going to be alright?”

“Oh, I saw him go to the roof earlier. Mom says he hasn’t been near the telescopes since P.T. abducted him. So that’s another good thing.”



P.T. Smith - still terrible with explanations.

But he has Jenny to help him with that now, so maybe he'll learn a thing or two.

Incidently, you may have noticed a slight discrepancy between Vidcund's story and what is happening in the pictures. You may think this is because Vidcund is making things up, but in reality, Loki Beaker used his evilness to erase all proof of Circe swooning over Vid from history. He is evil, you see.

Coming up next: Jenny's and P.T.'s wedding

I am enjoying this story so much!! When I play Strangetown, your 'background' adds another element to the characters and gives them more depth. Thanks!!

Just found this tonight and love it!

Poor Glarn. Having a space alien as a friend sure keeps you on your toes.

Smith



P.T. Smith built a wonderful house for his family, just like he’d always dreamed. A green garden, a pool, a playground for the future children. And it was just across the street from Glarn. His daughters were about to graduate, and Lola would be getting married shortly after her father.



P.T. had spent the past years improving his cooking skills and was now able to proudly bake all the cake needed for the wedding party. He had had to provide Glarn and Kitty with several samples until they stopped worrying that he was going to poison the guests, but they had been suitably impressed.



While P.T. applied the finishing touches to his cake, Jenny was outside, greeting the first guests. “And dad, if you could go inside and tell P.T. to finally change into his suit, that would be great. He was so careful with the cooking that he’s way behind his schedule.”



The entire Curious-Smith extended family showed up, with all teenage brothers stuffed in suits.



Chloe took over the final cake to allow P.T. to get changed and the boys managed to get left behind in the kitchen where they begged her to let them “clean” the bowls. Some additional wedding guests showed up to fill the ranks though, so it was all good.

Starring special guests Vikram Loner (welcome train) and Siri Halfdanarsson who came to steal the newspaper and stayed for the wedding.



P.T. Smith and Jenny Curious exchanged their vows as everyone present clapped.



And the cakes turned out to be delicious.

Eileen Simnitch, born McGork, also part of the welcome train. Angus' eldest daughter.



Chloe then proceeded to teach her younger brothers the latest college dance moves until the party was over. All in all, it was a nice wedding.


Newson



Lola’s wedding was a smaller affair. She had gotten engaged to Gavin Newson at college. Having recently gotten married himself, P.T. was all too happy to see his children get married. In fact, everybody should get married, as he hinted several times to Chloe.



There was no big garden in the Newson’s new home, but as long as there was a stereo, P.T. considered it a party.



Gavin and Lola got married and their family cheered them on.



Catching some air outside, Chloe met Gavin’s younger brother Gallagher. They spent most of the evening swapping weird family stories. Chloe was used to having the strangest family, what with the whole two fathers, one of which was married to her half-sister, deal, but Gallagher’s stories about six adopted orphans with a dead adoptive mother who had managed to hide from social services until they were old enough to live on their own were pretty fascinating.



So was Gallagher, Chloe found.


The Smith house has kept the essentials - green garden, pool, flower beds - and the first floor layout remains close to the original, with a few routing issues fixed. The tiny room next to Jenny's and P.T.'s bedroom is a full-fledged nursery, since I always assumed that's what is was used before Jonny and Jill grew too big for it. The second floor has received some additions and the TV was moved upstairs to make room for the changing table. Some outdoor playthings were also added.

And yes, the Single household won't ever exist in this version of Strangetown. The age differences are just too big - Lola and Chloe start out younger than most Curious kids, which doesn't make any sense. I explained P.T. skipping a rotation by saying that full-blooded aliens age a bit slower, but I didn't feel like changing the ages for every single half-alien.

The whole Newson clan was sent to college and married into various Strangetown households for this generation. They'll only play minor roles for the story though.

Anyway, with three plot sims having reached their starting age, it's time to compare them to their Maxis counterparts!


Jenny Smith: Her skin is a bit darker and her face looks rather different from the Maxis version, since she ended up looking a lot more like Kitty. Her eyes are blue instead of green, since there are no green eyes in her family tree. Still pretty close.

Lola Curious: Her features are generally much less human than the Maxis original, especially the giant eyes. I think I like her better that way. Pity about the lack of alien eyes in either of the Curious twins though.

Chloe Curious: Same as with Lola, the biggest difference with Chloe is her tiny mouth. Obviously no red hair, since, again, not in her family tree.


Coming up next: Bjorn's invention

Bjorn was still spending his time in the hobby room, occupied with his most recent hobby - robots.



Eventually, Bjorn managed to create a Servo, imbued with the latest in AI technology. ServBot_001 was capable of performing major household tasks autonomously, as well as hold a conversation. The battery life still left things to wish for and Bjorn assumed he would have to work on the exterior before his model could be sold worldwide as a household aid, but it was an outstanding prototype nonetheless.



Training ServBot_001 to respond to various social situations required Bjorn to spend almost all of his time with it. It was a very rewarding task. Unlike childcare, which had always bored Bjorn and which he had left mostly to Gundrun, educating the robot left him amazed at the wondrous creation he had produced.



To protect Bjorn’s invention from industry spies, ServBot_001’s existence needed to be kept a close secret even from the other household inhabitants. The robot was capable of keeping itself entertained for a while, but Bjorn noticed that over time it seemed to develop a close attachment to him and managed to emulate loneliness and sadness when left alone over a long period of time with astounding skill.



Gundrun was lonely, especially since both her children were now teenagers. She vigorously defended her husband from any criticism though. Erin always complained that they never saw her dad anymore, but Gundrun refused to hear of it.



Meanwhile, Loki (still lacking any trace of facial hair) had his own set of issues to deal with. That good-for-nothing Vid Curious had not only upstaged him in the latest Science Fair, he had also been looking at Circe Salamis in a way that made Loki angry.

Vidcund Curious would not like Loki Beaker when he was angry.



“You must be angry right now then, Beaker, because I sure don’t like you.”

Well that was just the worst.

“You Curious boys think you’re so great, with your observatory and your green relatives and all that! Well we’ll see who has the last laugh! For now I’m warning you! Stay away from me and those close to me, all of you!”



With that impassioned speech, Loki charged Vidcund with all his strength and put him in a chokehold.

“You stay away from Circe, got that? And tell your brother to stay away from my sister as well!”

“Wait. Wait wait wait. Time out. Which brother?”

Erin's schoolfriend in the background is Ivy Frehndly, Rose and Ray's daughter.



As Jenny put it when Vidcund came rushing through her front door and demanding that she talk some sense into Lazlo, “two houses, both alike in geekery”. In a complete disregard for their elder siblings’ mental well-being, Lazlo “that thieving sneak’s little brother” Curious and Erin “Her brother is evil incarnate, can’t you see that?” Beaker had fallen in love and were ready to elope in spite of their family’s age-old feud in a perfect imitation of Romeo and Juliet. Fortunately for the couple, their elder siblings headed off to college soon after their forbidden love was revealed and the feud was relocated to La Fiesta Tech.



As for Jenny, even if she had cared about the feud with Loki Beaker, she was very busy with her first pregnancy. P.T., always the culinary expert, had provided himself with all the information that was to be had on what kinds of food a pregnant woman should eat in order to give birth to a healthy child. Seeing as how this changed every week, Jenny had very early decided to ignore everything and eat whatever she wanted, but the next nine months were a constant battle against P.T.’s health trip.



It might have been the health regimen or not, but Jenny eventually gave birth to a beautiful and perfectly healthy baby boy named Jonny.



It's little Jonny! Aww, in't he cute?

Unfortunately for Loki and Vidcund, the family feud is restricted to them only, so nobody else takes it seriously. This is probably a good thing.


Coming up next: The Nigmos family

I cannot wait to see how Jill Smith will look like.

Unlike Olive, Willow’s single marriage had been calm and uneventful. Her life was only ever upset when she heard of Olive’s latest widowhood. Gossip said that burying two-and-a-half husbands couldn’t possibly be normal, but Willow knew better and stood by her sister. Poor Olive was just extremely unlucky.



The latest gossip even involved a child by husband #3 that had been horribly neglected and taken away. Willow refused to even listen to this.



Meanwhile, Willow’s life was thankfully free from all the pain and death that surrounded Olive’s life like a dark shadow. There was only thing she and Creon desperately wished for - a child of their own.



It was very late in life when Willow finally got pregnant. The parents were incredibly happy.



Finally, little Ophelia Nigmos was born.



Her parents doted on their only child. They refused to leave Ophelia to the care of a nanny, not knowing what kind of caretaker they might end up with. Willow and Creon both took time off from their jobs to make sure they could give their daughter the best care possible.



Ophelia’s first birthday was a great celebration in the Nigmos household.



She grew into an adorable toddler with a mop of curly blonde hair.



Olive was invited to see her little niece. Her hair had turned gray by now. Little Ophelia immediately took a liking to her auntie and crawled towards her, begging to be picked up. As Olive did so, Willow noticed a thoughtful expression on her face. Olive held her little niece for a long time, absently cuddling her.

A shiver ran down Willow’s spine as she watched her sister and her daughter. For the first time she wondered if there was something to the talk about Olive’s child. But why hadn’t Olive said anything about it?


Sorry for the late and short update, I was busy last weekend. Gen 2 is almost done, it will end as soon as the remaining Curious and Beaker kids graduate.

Coming up next: The Grunt family

I'm enjoying seeing the current generation be born and grow. Also wondering how you get the genetics right, or are you using the real sims aged down?

I just saw your problems with Loki's face. Try Closet Gussy Up, you can tweak sim faces in game with that.

The sims I use are the real ancestors that marka93 made playable. I was curious if their descendants would turn out to look close to the Maxis sims. Turns out they mostly will, with some issues:

- Eye colors and hair colors range from unlikely to completely impossible, since a lot of the time, the colors Maxis used are not even in the family tree. Taking Ophelia Nigmos as an example, the Nigmos and Muenda ancestors have no genes for blond hair and none for green eyes. I ended up changing hair colors for all the plot sims.

- Facial features work pretty well - I could see Circe's eyes in her grandmother (Grainne McGork) and they kept strong. The exceptions being Loki Beaker (of the adorable chin) and Nervous Subject.



I thought about using plastic surgery on Loki, but having him obsess over his chin for a while was funnier. :P

Grunt



Buzz Grunt and Lyla Vandermorgan got married right out of college, just as Buzz had planned.



It was a very traditional affair - white dress, black suit, a rose-covered arch, wedding speeches, all the usual.



Buzz even fed Lyla the first slice of wedding cake, which her father thought really amusing.

Also present: Lyla's twin sister Rita Vandermorgan. Buzz did not approve of her formal dress.



And a short while after the wedding, Lyla found herself pregnant with her and Buzz’ first child.



“Everything about my new life is so organized. It’s like there’s a manual on how to live your life and we’re following it religiously.

“We all have our assigned roles to play, and, aside from me, fill them perfectly. Chip, the wise and aging general, instructing the new generation. Buzz, his eager student and planned successor. Missy, the good angel of our household.”



“Having given birth to our son, I think that I am now expected to get instructed by Missy in the ways of childrearing, allowing her to fade into the background and become the sweet elder granny who always has a cookie for the grandkids. Meanwhile, I will perfect my cooking skills, raise our 2.5 children and greet my husband every evening with a smile.”



“I guess I’m exaggerating a bit here. It’s not like anybody is forcing me to play a role I don’t want. They just expect me to fill it, and never seem to notice that I am the absolute worst choice possible. And when I inevitably fail to meet their expectations, the family picks up my tasks without any ill will.

“Any criticism.

“Any notice.”



“I guess I’m just a chaotic person at heart. My life has never been orderly and I never expected it to be. But then I met Buzz and I thought it was amazing how he just expected everything to work out exactly as he had planned it and it did.”



“It was relaxing. Buzz knew what he wanted and had the confidence that he was going to achieve it. Meanwhile, I struggled to even make plans for an evening without throwing everything to the wind.

“I thought it would be wonderful to become more like him. Someone for who life would hold no nasty surprises. Who had not just goals and dreams, but the power to reach them and make them come true.”



“I didn’t realize that with this amount of control over your life, you will also lose all the pleasant surprises. The unforeseen circumstances that make it worth your while.

“I didn’t realize that Buzz never knew what he was missing. And that he will never see the necessity for some time that is not planned out to the last minute.

“I didn’t realize when I married him that I would end up feeling completely smothered.”



Newson-Curious



Just across the street from the Buzz family, Chloe Curious and Gallagher Newson lived a very different lifestyle.



A house painted in several shades of pink, a sauna, a barbecue, a whirlpool, a DJ booth and a bubble blower were placed wherever. Buzz considered it an eyesore.



He especially hated Chloe’s and Gallagher’s habit of throwing huge and noisy parties every weekend.

Lyla on the other hand snuck over as often as she could. She found that her and Chloe had a lot of things in common and they became good friends. Buzz vastly disapproved of this, but this only made Lyla come over more.

Now that's a number of guest appearances. Going left to right we have Garrett Newson (he married Erik Halfdanarsson's daughter), Oliver McGork (Owen's son), Jenny, Pascal, P.T., Jonas Simnitch (Michael's son) and Loki Beaker.



The Newson-Smith parties were here to stay, no matter how much Buzz complained that they were ruining today’s youth.

[IMG]And Hawaii Shirt in the back is Siegfried and Siri's son Soren Halfdanarsson.[/IMG]



Grunt



On one occasion, Lyla met Samuel McGork, an old college flame, at Chloe’s house. Buzz was away on a mission for several weeks and the two of them had some fun together. Buzz would never know, Lyla thought. She was conscious enough that what she was doing was wrong to break things off with Samuel before her husband returned.



Of course, what Lyla hadn’t banked on was another pregnancy.



In the end, she never was quite sure who little Ripp’s father was.



So here's Lyla. I had a few different ideas, for example that her family wasn't very respectable and Buzz didn't want her to stay much in contact with them (see Rita's formal outfit), but in the end I went with the simple fact that Buzz and Lyla are two completely incompatible people. I don't think anybody is really in the wrong here (although Lyla cheating on Buzz certainly puts a good deal of blame on her side), they just don't fit together.

I wondered for a while if Buzz' dislike of aliens can be blamed on Chloe blasting loud music all night, but that might be pushing it.

As for Ripp, obviously Buzz is his real father. But Samuel McGork looks a good deal like Ripp, enough to make this an option for Lyla.


Coming up next: Letters to Jenny

“No, Vid, I’m not going to talk some sense into Lazlo. Let him date Erin Curious if he wants. She’s a lot nicer than some other people I could name.”

“No, I don’t care who or what her brother is. You’re just jealous anyway because Circe is dating him again.”

“Yes, I said jealous.”

“Yes, she is dating him.”

“For crying out loud, Vid, this has been going on for five years now!”

“Look, just pack your things and move to college. Leave it to Jenny. Yes, Jenny will look after Lazlo. You don’t have to worry. Let Jenny handle this.”



Dear Jenny,

I’m really sorry for sicking Vid on you, but it was the best option. I mean, he wanted to skip college so that he could stay at home and break Lazlo and Erin up. I had to calm him down somehow. And you know how to handle him better than I do.

Anyway, I feel like I should remind you that you’re not the only one who had to change her plans because of Vid. I was really happy living on my own here and was planning to ask Michael to move in this semester, but since Vid’s plans to move in with Circe were overturned by her moving in with Loki, he’s staying with me for now.

His alternative proposal was to move in with Circe and Loki, but as much as I hate him right now for overthrowing my plans and eating all my food, I don’t want him dead.



Of course he thinks he’s doing me a favor, since I was so lonely here. Now he spends all night writing dirty chat messages with Circe. He forgot to close the window one night and I woke up to indescribable eldritch horrors.

No, I’m not sending you the chat log. I want you to live a happy life with your family. Me, I’m going to join a monastery. My life is over.

I hope little Jonny got over that ear infection.

Pascal





Oh yeah. Things were finally going Loki Beaker’s way. He had rented a small college apartment for him and Circe, with no Vidcund on the premises. Point One. And his facial hair was, as he had on good authority, the most impressive one on campus. Point Two. It accentuated his features and hid the horribly adorable chin. Point Three.



Point Four: Circe looked even hotter now than when she was a teenager. Hot enough to set a beard on fire. And she was all Loki’s. No Vid in sight.

The world was in perfect order, Loki thought, as he went off to fix his beard.





Dear Jenny,

Murdering Vid seems like a pretty good option from where I’m standing. Wait until you hear his latest.

So Circe moved in with Loki Beaker, as surprised exactly one person. And since we all know that Circe is an evil witch from hell, in a move that really should have surprised no one, she still keeps Vid in her clutches. He keeps telling me all about it.



Vid went to see Circe as soon as Loki left her alone to go attend his classes, and she wasted no time sinking her claws into him. Supposedly, he had gone there to give her a piece of his mind for stringing him along all this time.



Well, you can probably guess how this ended.

I did not have to guess.

I really wish Vid had left this up to my imagination.



Anyway, the story goes like this: Circe thought Loki was a nice guy, but it turns out he’s an evil, manipulative, controlling guy, much unlike her sweet and innocent self. Of course, Loki himself is not helping matters by picking a fight with Vidcund every time he runs into him. Which is pretty often, since Vid hangs around Circe’s house most of the time. He still manages to get excellent grades, which just makes matters worse. You know how jealous Loki has always been of him.



So, yeah, Loki’s pretty pissed. It did not help that Vid found out his most embarrassing secret and told all of La Fiesta Tech. No, not Mr. Fuzzlepaws, Erin blabbed about that when he was still a teen. But apparently he’s actually unable to grow a beard. That thing he has on his chin now? Robot beard.

Yeah, I don’t know either. Explains why it keeps changing colors at least.

And the whirring sounds.

You know, we probably should have suspected something way earlier.



Anyway, robotic beard aside, Vid has been entertaining hopes that Circe will come live with us. You know, because the house is not crowded enough already. That would be enough to make me move into the dorms, even if Old Angus still shivers when you mention them. I told him so, and he said I was the best brother ever for paving the way for him and Circe to get together.

Yes, I do wonder sometimes how oblivious Vid can get. I mean, there has to be a limit, right?

Congrats, by the way! Will it be a boy or a girl?





Dear Jenny,

Because having to deal with a lovesick Vid (Circe got engaged to Loki Beaker) wasn’t enough, I seem to be stalked by a woman in a cow suit.



She keeps trying to hit on me. Vid witnessed this and now he keeps joking about how I have found my soulmate.

I figured I’d take this opportunity to come out to him (for the sixth time, seriously, everybody back home knows I like guys except him), but unfortunately he stopped listening after “The cow costume isn’t really the issue here” and, bottom line, he now thinks I’m a furry.

Leathery?

Whatever.



Things with Michael are not going well. He thinks I’m letting myself be pushed around by my brother, and while he is right, somebody needs to keep Vid safe from himself.

To sum it up, we’re not dating anymore.



I’m… not feeling well. Something’s wrong with me. I keep getting unreasonably angry whenever I see Circe.

I know, this is a completely natural reaction to her presence, but I mean really angry. Like I want to beat her up angry.

Vid seems to have told her about the cow mascot (SIGH), since she keeps telling me stuff like “Go back to your barn, COW LOSER!”.



I hear she’s joined up with some shady people, too.

Okay, I’m locking myself in my room until finals, then I’m leaving. College does not agree with me.

Pascal



College time!

The cow chose... poorly this time around. I believe I mentioned before that I have set up some rules that qualify potential champions for the Cow and the Llama. Pascal fulfilled those conditions, but unfortunately as a plot sims he's immune to it. The Cow chose him nonetheless (meaning she stalked his house like she did with Michael), but since his plot didn't involve her, he only got slightly involved with this storyline. Circe, meanwhile, fulfilled the conditions for getting accepted into the Llama cult (which are joining the Secret Society, the Llama's conditions are way easier to fulfill), so this generation's victory clearly goes to the Llama.

Oh, and I should probably explain the story behind Loki's beard. You see, way back, something happened that I assume was caused by a corrupt objects.package - dating the incident to before Nightlife came out and we all learned to make it read-only to protect us from Crumplepires. What happened was that two blonde beards suddenly started to look weird. The big bushy beard Notzo has just turned invisible and since I never use it anyway, it didn't bother me much. The blond Loki beard however changed colors. And by that I mean that it would rotate through all the colors of the rainbow constantly.

It was beautiful. It redeemed Loki. He wasn't just that evil scientist with the evil wife keeping Nervous prisoner anymore, he had a beard that changed colors! He was awesome!

Eventually I reinstalled my game and lost the beard, but for the next several Strangetown iterations, the Beaker house always featured a note about Loki missing his beard of many colors.


Coming up next: Olive's fourth husband

The sad truth was that Olive didn’t recover from her last disappointment - otherwise known as Boy Thanasia. She never bothered to give her child a name. Boy was what the child was, and that was enough.



The baby boy crawled around the house, mostly ignored by Olive. If she remembered his existence, she’d sometimes feed him. Most times she didn’t.



When he was tired, he’d fall asleep on the floor.



Eventually, Social Service found out about the neglected child and it was taken away.

Olive didn’t care. The child was a burden to her, nothing more.



Eventually, Olive grew old. She met Ichabod Spector, a retired businessman.



And for the first time in her life, Olive actually fell in love.



It was too late for her to worry about producing an heiress. That time was gone. And with it the pressure. For the first time since she was a teenager, Olive was able to look for a partner she could love and respect, instead of a father for the daughter she still secretly wished for.



The marriage to Ichabod helped Olive greatly. She visibly relaxed. There were times when she looked back on her past life and wondered how she could have been so bitter. She started to look for ways to atone for the horrible crimes she had committed.



And that was how Death came to her as an enemy for the first time, cutting her time with Ichabod short mercilessly. Always before, she had welcomed its presence. It had freed her from those people who stood in her way.

Things were different now. And Olive only knew one way to react to this pain.





Report concerning the deaths of Creon and Willow Nigmos

The pool ladder incident at the Nigmos house occurred in the late afternoon. Both the parents, Creon and Willow Nigmos, as well as their daughter Ophelia Nigmos, were swimming together in the pool. Willow Nigmos attempted to climb out of the pool in order to prepare dinner, when the pool ladder broke under her weight.



Further investigations revealed that the ladder had rusted in some places, making this most likely a tragic accident.

The only survivor of the tragedy is the family daughter, Ophelia Nigmos. Her father pushed her outside with the last of his strength before drowning.



Ophelia cried for help, but the police arrived too late to save her parents.



With her only surviving relative currently away on vacation, Ophelia Nigmos has been taken to the local orphanage for the time being.

The deaths of Willow and Creon Nigmos were ruled an accident.



And so the tale of Olive's husbands finishes. We're getting pretty close to the beginning of the original Strangetown here.

Coming up next: A meeting

Strangetown Orphanage



The orphanage was a slightly better place to be than Olive’s house, I’ll give it that. There was enough food to eat at least. And I suppose it wasn’t really the staff’s fault that they kept forgetting I existed. I’m a forgettable person.



I felt that it was only right to greet the newest arrival though. Even if she didn’t know it, we were related after all.



Ophelia was sobbing when I entered her room. She looked up and tried to wipe her eyes.

“H-hello. I’m Ophelia. And you are?”

Ignoring her question, I looked at my cousin for the first time. She was so different from me. Beloved by her parents, raised in a happy household. Wanted.

We had absolutely no common ground.



I was about to leave again when she got up and looked right at me. “That’s rude! You can’t just walk into my room and leave again without saying anything! At least tell me your name!”

“Boy.”

“That’s not a name.”

“I know.”

We stared at each other for a while. Then Ophelia smiled. “I thought you were really rude, coming into my room without even knocking, but now you just seem nervous.”



During the next few days I found out that Ophelia, unlike most people, actually remembered my existence. And she was tenacious, if nothing else. I tried to avoid her, but she’d follow me anyways. She ended up squeezing my whole life story out of me - the only thing I neglected to tell her was that we were related.

“You know.” Ophelia finally said after I had told her everything. “My parents loved me. Everybody kept telling me that I should remember this and not grieve. But that only made it hurt so much more, knowing that they loved me and they were gone now. But when I hear about your mother, I think I understand what they mean. And I think it hurts a bit less now.”

Knowing what I knew, I didn’t really know what to say whenever Ophelia brought up her parents. I mean, how would you react?



And then Ophelia told me that she was going to live with her auntie. And that her auntie was coming to pick her up tomorrow.

“Thank you for being my friend, nervous boy.” Ophelia said when I helped her pack her things. “I’ll miss you.”



I watched Olive from around the corner. She led Ophelia to the cab and gave a hateful glare to the orphanage before she drove away.

It was fortunate that the orphanage keeper didn’t remember that I was still here, but she did remember taking me from Olive. And Olive was bent on keeping Ophelia.



I escaped that night. The building burned down shortly after I’d left.




Beaker



While Loki was away at college and Erin was getting ready to leave as well, Bjorn and Gundrun grew older.



Nothing had changed in the past years and they still lived their lives apart from each other.



Until one day, Bjorn was found dead in the driveway.

The police came to the conclusion that he must have fallen from the balcony. Seeing as nobody but Bjorn had access to the room above the garage, the death was ruled an accident.



Having seen but little of Bjorn for most of their marriage, Gundrun was surprised to find how much she missed him.



Only several weeks later did it occur to Gundrun to look for the robot she knew Bjorn had built. By that time, ServBot_001 had disappeared, never to be seen again.



Erin refused to leave her mother until Loki was able to return to her, so she ended up postponing college for a year.



But Loki’s return and the announcement of his upcoming marriage to Circe Beaker cheered Gundrun up considerably.




College Households Curious, Beaker



Dear Jenny,

It’s good to hear that Pascal has recovered from the breakdown he had during college. I’ll keep your advice in mind and make sure not to push myself too hard.

I sent Vidcund off today, he’s doing remarkably well if you consider the news about Circe getting married. In fact, I’m pretty sure he has something planned, so if you could lock him up in his room for the next two months, that’d be great.

He gave me a lot of advice about college, that can mainly be summed up as “Don’t you dare go anywhere near Erin Beaker, she is evil and will swallow your soul.” So nothing unusual there.



Dear Pascal,

I’m doing very well, my grades are fine and it’s nice to have the house to myself. There’s no need to worry about me, I’m not stressed at all and I don’t see any cows.



I am also engaged to Erin Beaker. Please break the news gently to Vid.



Since I know you’re just dying to hear it, Erin was nice enough to let me listen when she told her brother about our engagement, so here’s a transcript of his reaction:



“HOW DARE THAT SLIMY WEASEL’S BROTHER SLEAZE HIS WAY INTO OUR GLORIOUS FAMILY AND POLLUTE OUR PRECIOUS GENE POOL WITH HIS FREAK GENES! HOW DARE HE STEAL MY DARLING BABY SISTER’S INNOCENCE WITH THOSE WILY SUNGLASSES HE WEARS INDOORS! SOON THE WORLD SHALL KNOW THE WRATH OF LOKI BEAKER AND I SHALL HAVE MY REVENGE!”

Erin thought this considerably less funny, but she did like the sunglasses comment. I think they make me look cool.

Anyway, please tell me how Vid takes it.



End of Generation 2


Tying up a few loose ends that didn't fit very well together, but were very short. Generation 2 is now finished, since Lazlo and Erin were the last plot sims to graduate. Aside from Kristen Loste, who is really far behind on the age scale, but it'll be a bit before she gets her own plotline.

Anyway, surprise!

I decided early on that I was going to cheat for Nervous. Olive is really pretty and reaper kids tend to be very bland, so I made a sim version of Nervous' father. He looks a bit more like the original Nervous, more skeleton-like and such. Dark blue eyes, since that's what reaper kids get, and pale skin because that's what Nervous normally has. I'm pretty happy with the result, Nervous inherited a good amount of features from his father, but what he got from Olive softened them a bit.

Have I mentioned yet that I like Loki?



Coming up next: Bugeye!

All of a sudden I have the need to make Nervous Subject a witch...

Lola and Gavin Newson had received an addition to their household with little Irina in the meantime. She looked just like her father at first, to P.T.’s secret disappointment who wished for green grandchildren.



It became pretty obvious soon though that Irina had inherited her mother’s facial features at least. The giant eyes were a dead giveaway.



Originally, Lola and Gavin had only planned for two children, but the arrival of the twins Klaus (green) and Angelika (not green) threw those calculations off.



They all had to move a bit closer to make room for the surprise twins, but they were all very happy together.



That is, until Irina met Tank Grunt.

“Your eyes look WEIRD!”

“No, they don’t!”

“Sure do! You look like a bug! BUG-EYE!”



Irina blew herself up to full size and yelled with all the force a big sister could muster. “Stop calling me bug-eye! You’re mean and your dad wears stupid paint in his face and I hate you!”

At around this point in the discussion, Lyla came over to pick up her son and the fight was postponed. But Tank kept making weird faces at Irina in school and calling her bug-eye whenever he saw her.

Irina knew she had to get advice from the wisest person she knew.



“Well, that wasn’t very nice of Tank Grunt to call you that.” P.T. said when his oldest granddaughter charged through his front door at 6 AM on a Sunday. “And he’s wrong, too, you know? Those are not bug eyes, those are alien eyes, like mine and Jonny’s.”

“But yours are black and your skin is green. People know you’re an alien. And I don’t look like an alien, because my skin is pink, so they think I’m a bug.”

“Then you just need to explain it to them. Tell them that your eyes look like your mommy’s eyes. You wouldn’t mind if they called you ‘mommy eye’, would you?”

Irina decided that she wouldn’t.



Seeing as Irina was already here, P.T. thought he might as well put her to work helping Jenny with the preparations for the biggest party the Smith house had seen yet. All the Curiouses and honorary Curiouses were invited to little Jonny’s and old P.T.’s double birthday party.

The thought of eating tons of cake and gaining a playfellow with huge eyes cheered Irina up considerably and she worked hard setting the tables.



Little Jonny proved himself to be a much better dancer than his father was as he bobbed his head to the music. Auntie Chloe taught him to wave his arms as well.



Since the weather was warm, the main attraction was of course the pool.



As the sun set, the guests returned home and Jenny started to clean up. Jonny helped by finishing off the cake.



P.T. looked back on his birthday party and smiled. He’d had a wonderful adulthood.



And his pollination project went rather well.



Starting Generation 3 with a look at P.T.'s extended family. P.T. and Jonny had a double-birthday, so the whole clan was summoned.

P.T. ended up with a bigger nose and pointy ears, and of course his hair color is off, but he's a pretty good fit.

Speaking of comparisons, Lola and Chloe look a lot more alien than their originals. Irina is the only one on her family to keep this up though, Angelika looks completely human and Klaus has human features and green skin.

Jenny's skin is darker than the original Jenny's and she ended up looking a lot like Kitty.


Coming up next: A Curious wedding

“Mom, Loki, I’m getting married.”

Okay, she had said that. And the angry look on Loki’s face indicated that he knew perfectly well what was coming. Only Gundrun took the news with a smile.

“That’s wonderful, my dear! Who is the lucky man?”

“Lazlo Curious.” Erin replied, looking her brother straight in the face.

“Oh, how sweet! Why, it seems like yesterday that he was a baby. He looks so much like his mother, you know? Kitty has always been one of the prettier girls in Strangetown.”



Erin had had a vague hope that Loki might hold himself back for their mother’s sake, but no fence would hold an enraged Loki Beaker. He started by expressing his disapproval and listed several very important points on why Erin should not marry Lazlo Curious. He had, in fact, prepared a PowerPoint for just this occasion back when Erin announced her engagement, but the kitchen did not have the necessary equipment to show it, which fueled Loki’s rage even more.



Poor Gundrun looked on rather confused. She didn’t understand why her children were fighting. But then again, children often fought for a bit and made up later. They’d stop eventually. She was sure of that.



Erin grabbed her bags. This was just what she had expected. Why had she even tried to explain things to Loki? Well, Lazlo was almost done with college and she could stay at a friend’s house in the meantime.

It was a pity about mother though. Loki didn’t even seem to notice that something was wrong with her. She seemed to be in her own world most of the time, lost in old memories.

Erin wished she could take her mother with her, or have stayed for her sake, but that was impossible. Circe and Loki were not to be depended on and Gundrun’s older brothers were too old to do much.





Two of Glarn’s and Kitty’s sons had already moved back in and Lazlo was expected to arrive any day now. It was almost like before. Both Pascal and Vidcund had started to work now.



Glarn’s interest for everything not from this planet had been passed down to all of his children. It might express itself slightly different in Jenny - very slightly, Kitty used to joke, since she was really just copying her father in giving birth to half-aliens - but it was very obvious in his eldest sons.



Lazlo was probably the most down-to-earth Curious of them. And the only one of the brothers who was planning on getting married to a human.



Of course the house might be a bit too small (and filled with brothers) for a newlywed couple. Kitty was the one who suggested that Lazlo and Erin should just move into her parents’ old house.

“Of course it’s been empty for years now and you’ll need to do a lot of renovations, but I think it would be just perfect.”



It certainly was.



Loki had declined to attend the ceremony, which meant that none of Erin’s relatives would show up. The Curious-Smith-clan did their best to fill that gap.



With a dance number.

That one was actually Vidcund’s idea. He eventually decided that this was a perfect way of getting revenge on Loki Beaker, and so he was all in favor of the marriage. Besides, Erin did look very sad when her mother couldn’t come to her wedding (that evil Loki Beaker!) and seemed to need cheering up.



It was impossible to not cheer up when faced with a dance number by Glarn, P.T. and all the Curious kids.



Kitty passed away shortly after Lazlo’s wedding. Her children mourned her very much.

Glarn was beginning to feel his own mortality. Some of the people he had known as children were already dead or dying. Even P.T. was showing signs of age.



The dance has by this point become a tradition for the Curious-Smith clan. P.T. is getting pretty good at it. It doesn't help that it kind of looks like the Time Warp when everybody's in sync.

So, face talk. With the beard, Loki's face isn't half bad (he really was right about it hiding his adorable chin), even if his eyes and eyebrows are still a ways off. Nothing unexpected, obviously.

Erin is a really close fit. She almost got green eyes, too, but ended up with grey instead.

Pascal's face is less round and he looks very much like Glarn. Vidcund and Lazlo are pretty good fits.

So anyway, I'm wondering if anybody has spotted the secret I hid in this update and the last one. It's a bit hard to see I suppose...

Coming up next: Your guess!

And then Glabe died as well, leaving the question open what should be done with the fourth Curious brother.



It had definitely come as a surprise for Glabe when she found herself pregnant late in life and gave birth to a healthy boy. With Lola and Chloe about to leave for college, little Gabriel was an unexpected surprise who would keep her company.



As for Gabriel’s father, not even the twins had a clue. He was called Curious, because Glabe had never changed her last name back for some reason she preferred not to mention. The same aura of secrecy hung over Gabriel’s father. Glabe would only say that he wasn’t in the picture anymore. Presumably, Gabriel looked like him, as there was almost no trace of Glabe’s looks to be seen.



Gabriel was born and grew up in Strangetown with his mother. After Glarn’s reunion with the twins, Glabe and Gabriel had been naturally accepted into the family circle and were present for every family celebration. The Curious children considered Gabriel as another sibling, even if he wasn’t related by blood. As Jenny put it, the family tree was already a mess, and besides, four brothers couldn’t be any worse than three.



Gallagher and Chloe had taken Gabriel in for a few weeks after Glabe’s death, then taken him to college, according to Glabe’s wishes. A family conference took place and when Pascal went to visit Gabriel, he had a few suggestions.

“We would be happy to have you live with us when you’re done with your studies. Lazlo has moved out, so there’s room.”

“Actually, I’ll have to decline. Mother left some instructions with her lawyer, and I think there might be a hint to who I am. I would like to find out more first, if that’s alright with you.”



And so it was that, after finishing college, Gabriel found himself in possession of a letter from his mother that direction him to an impressive-looking house in town.

“You might be surprised to find out that I have been the owner of this house for some time. After all, why would we have lived in a tiny house in Strangetown if this was an option?

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t want to go back. I had left this place behind when I went to attend La Fiesta Tech, and when I heard the news, I was glad that I had done so.”



“Starting with the beginning, I was raised in this house, having been adopted by the family residing here. I spent my childhood with them, but not really part of the family.

“My adoptive father occasionally did this - he adopted a nameless orphan and raised them, giving them a home until they were old enough to stand on their own.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything about my biological parents. I have done extensive research on the subject, but nothing has ever come up.

“I’m sorry that I can’t tell you more.”



“Anyway, shortly after I left the house, my adoptive family died. There was a fire I think. There are very few details about the incident that were made public.

“The house changed owners a few times, but eventually I was able to buy it. I don’t know why I did it. Maybe I thought it was for your sake?

“Gabriel, I know that it has always bothered you how little you know about yourself and where you come from. I’m sorry to say that this is all I can give you. My short family story and this house.

“My parents and siblings are buried in the cemetery nearby. I doubt that you will find answers from their graves, but they’re the closest thing to a family you have.”



And so, Gabriel set off to visit the graves of the people his mother called family. They were easy enough to find. At a prominent place in the middle of the cemetery, Jon Smith Tricou and Jennicor Tricou lay buried.

Glabe’s letter had confirmed that Tricou was her legal last name, even if it wasn’t the name she had been born with. If he wanted, he could use it.

Gabriel Tricou. He had more rights to that name than to Gabriel Curious, but still.



Going through the names and graves, Gabriel wondered about the one subject his mother had never once mentioned in her letter. His father.

Why would she completely ignore this part of her history? Gabriel had questioned Lola and Chloe on the subject a thousand times, but all they knew was that Glabe must have met his father during a time when they were busy preparing themselves for college. Chloe remembered that Glabe had at first been reluctant to move to Strangetown, but suddenly changed her mind. Maybe the relationship that was keeping her here hadn’t worked out?



Before Gabriel knew it, night had fallen. He decided to say good-bye to his adoptive grandparents and return to the house for the time being.

“I wish I had known you, grandfather. I just want to know where I come from. I just want to have a family.”

He sighed and turned to leave.



“Well, son.”, a voice with a strange resonance said as Gabriel turned around to close the gate. “Perhaps we can help each other out here.”



So there's the surprise: Gabriel Curious. He actually showed up in the pictures for P.T.'s birthday and Lazlo's wedding, but with the sheer number of Curious brothers out there, he's easily overlooked.

I had two possible storylines planned for Gabriel. The second one involved the Cow, but she only showed up a few times during his first year and then stopped. So I went with the Tricou option. They're weird enough for Strangetown anyway.

Oh yes, since Gabriel turned out looking exactly like his father, that might be one of my added Strangetown secrets that's actually possible to guess. I suppose the other one is currently impossible.


Coming up next: The story of Nervous Subject

Thank you for writing a story that entertained me for a while over boring morning. I absolutely loved the start about Pollination Technician 9s background because he always seemed to be missing one. I lost attention soon after all the kids went to university because it started requiring having notes to stay clear who is who, and probably will not follow the story further but that first bit was brilliant!

Btw I know it's old but I hadn't noticed it before just came across it in lucky occasion.

Yes, I noticed that there were too many characters, especially since most people won't be familiar with them. That's why I've been cutting down on them, unlike the first generation, most sims won't be plot relevant. So, I guess if you're still willing to keep going, as soon as the first university ends, the story will only follow the Curious, Smith, Spector and Beaker families, with others only showing up as guests.

It's not old by the way, the story is still ongoing. :-)

Going into hiding seemed like the best option. I was able to steal a tent from the supermarket - like I said, forgettable person - and placed it wherever I wanted to sleep.



I became a pretty nocturnal person during my teenage years. There were less people around at night. I’d sneak around the park and swipe leftover hotdogs after everyone had left.



I knew that it was a dangerous place, being this close to Olive’s house, but the graveyard always attracted me. I’d force myself to stay away for several nights, but I always ended up coming back. It just felt good to be there. Like a home.

Look, I know it’s weird, but so am I.



Gundrun Beaker was another regular nocturnal visitor to the graveyard. She came here several days a week to look at her husband’s grave in silence.

Her son didn’t want her to come over that often, she told me. He was busy preparing his wedding and thought that she lived too much in the past.



She did live too much in the past, in fact. Gundrun’s mental stability had been very much shaken by her marriage and the circumstances surrounding Bjorn’s death. I could easily tell so by looking at her. But she was a nice person and furthermore completely harmless. And lonely. Nobody would have believed her stories about the graveyard boy, even if she had anybody who’d listen to her.



The summer I met Gundrun was a pretty harsh one. Wonderful weather, which meant that people would stay outside for a long time. And the little food I could gather spoiled fast.

Oh, hey Lyla! Playing chess with Kristen Loste's older brother Connor. Somehow the game seems to love creating those coincidences, later pictures have Nervous, Lyla and Olive chilling at the same bowling alley. I guess Olive might stake out Lyla and Nervous might stake out Olive?



Eventually, it came to the point where I passed out from hunger. I really thought I’d die.



Then I thought I had died and gone to Paradise.

I had severely underestimated Gundrun’s intelligence. When she noticed that I didn’t show up at the graveyard anymore, she had started to look for me in secret and found me just in time. She had brought me to her house and now she had decided that I was going to stay here.



Obviously, Loki was far from pleased with the idea of taking in some random street kid. But Gundrun showed far more resistance than usual, insisting on keeping me around.



It was her idea that Loki could train me as a lab assistant, and I guess he figured as long as I didn’t break too much, I’d be cheaper than a hired help.



When Loki didn’t need me, I kept Gundrun company. She taught me lots of things and I helped her out when her memory lapsed again - something that happened increasingly often.



Circe - whose nickname “the evil witch from hell” is completely appropriate and well-deserved - didn’t really like the idea of having another mouth to feed, but seeing as I was here to stay as long as Gundrun could have a say in that matter, she eventually came around to the idea of saving the expense of a caretaker for the old woman.

My name was subject to a lot of debate. I had stuck with Nervous Boy ever since Ophelia had given me that name. The way I saw it, she had as much right to name me as anybody. The Beakers, however, did not consider this a valid name. Gundrun was eventually able to talk me out of having Boy as a last name, arguing that I was grown up by now.

I regret to say that the person who eventually gave me my last name was Circe, what with her request that we all “finally drop this annoying subject and get to planning the wedding”. I insisted on keeping Nervous, so Nervous Subject I was - and “the annoying subject” for Circe.


And this is how Nervous Subject came to be a part of the Beaker household.

The idea of Gundrun adopting Nervous came to me when I realized that she would still be around at the time when Nervous moved in. So in this timeline, he actually has someone to protect him from Loki and Circe, which is good. And Gundrun has someone to keep her company.

Anyway, Nervous. As I said before, I made a sim father for Nervous - naturally, wearing the Reaper outfit and named Grim Reaper, because there has to be some consistency in the family tree. He also picks up any graves left behind on lots after the last occupant dies and moves them to the cemetary. I probably could have gotten a Nervous closer to the original if I had used a clone of MaxisNervous as the father, but that would have been creepy.

I've been busy during the last weeks, which explains the lack of updates. This will most likely continue to happen during the summer, but I'm planning to finish this story. I also ran into a scene that just wouldn't let itself be written, and to top things off I made the huge mistake of playing the whole first set of college households for Gen 4 in one go, because I wanted to have as many playable students as possible for the pictures. As a result, I ended up cutting and shortening several plots, because college is so incredibly boring.


Coming up next, the Beaker wedding!

I use this mod. http://modthesims.info/d/302233
Then one semester will last 24 hours only. College is much more fun this way and it's also more challenging then.

By the way, I love to see updates from you. This is a great story!

I already have some mods to change the number of semesters and to make things harder, but it's always the same routine and doing ten households at once pretty much killed the game.

It probably didn't help that my carefully crafted plan for a satisfying conclusion to the Cow and Llama story has now been foiled a second time. The Llama spontaneously combusted. I think this counts as a win for the Cow.

There's always the option to let a sim drop out of college. Sometimes, if I don't feel like playing in college, I just let them quit college and let them go home..