Wednesday, September 10, 2014

And Baby Makes Four

Welcome back everyone to the next installment of Out of the Wood Work! Today we're starting things off with Buttercup and Oleander arriving back on the home lot from school, and from the looks of things BC did NOT have a good time.



She wanted to tell someone about her problems, and her adopted bro got volunteered for the job.

OLEANDER - . . . I wish I could help you sis, I really do. I just don't understand where you're coming from. I'm so cool, EVERYbody likes me.

BUTTERCUP - . . . I hate you.


She moped her way into the house. Poor bb.



But it was another day, which meant another surprise visit by Don. I Buttercup decided now would be a good time to make the acquaintance of her father for the first time . . . .

BUTTERCUP - Soooo, crazy story. I'm your kid! surprise!

DON - Wut?



Once she got him inside, Buttercup proceeded to unload more of her emotional drama to a semi willing ear.

BUTTERCUP - So then I told HER that her breath smelled like llamas and the teacher got mad at ME! Can you believe it?

DON - *gasp!*



By the end of the visit BC was actually feeling a lot better. She got her very first daddy-hug and things were finally starting to look up.



Ollie briefly forgot how to carry a plate of mac n cheese. Either that or he's just demonstrating his bawse telekinetic powers. From that smug-@ss expression I'm inclined to believe the latter.



HOLLY - I can't WAIT to have this baby! I love babies so much! Did you know that Ollie? BABIES are AWESOME!

Holly, tone it down. Relax the crazy eyes. You're gonna scar the kid for life.



But nah. I mean, look at that face. Ollie has zero f*cks to give.

Zero.



Part of Holly's next aspiration milestone requires one of her children have 5 friends. In order to do this, I decided to send the kids out to the Desert Bloom park to meet people. Rambunctious youngsters that they are, they both zeroed in on the starship jungle gym right away.


Sadly, perhaps due to the late hour, there were no other kids around. They did meet this lady though, who gladly filled in the role of alien monster when asked.



It's here that I discover that empty spaces on bookshelves can actually have things PUT ON THEM! Unfortunately my sims have a nasty habit of putting their empty plates there.

I forsee a future of many stinky plates hidden around the lot. I might have to make a game of it. Spot-That-Stinky-Dish.



After her brisk shower the next morning (needed for school performance) Buttercup wanted to drop down and give me twenty.

Yep. She's definitely Don's daughter.



Since we're now officially BROKE, Holly has started writing books in her spare time. She just finished her first, a children's book entitled "I'm Gonna be a Big Sibling . . . 99 times! - The Do's and Don't's of explaining to your children that you're a 100 Baby-Challenge Parent."

Appropriate? Y/Y? :P

So far I've given all her books quirky 100 BC related titles and descriptions because I'm that kind of dork.

PS - . . . why does Holly not look pregnant in this pic? O_o I know she hasn't had the baby yet at this point . . . . weird.



And then Joanna came over . . . in a wedding dress. Jo? Why are you in a wedding dress?

JOANNA - No reason. *poker face*

Uh . . . huh.



Oh well, Ollie needs friends. There's no reason why Joanna can't be one of those, she's over all the time anyhow. Oleander goes ahead and calls over the other two sims he met at the park last night once he gets home from school.



The first is Cassandra Goth.



And the second is the alien-monster lady, who looks a lot older and VERY uncertain of all this shady business in the light of day.

Yes. All of Oleander's potential friends are women. Older women. Who's surprised?

*crickets*

Yah, me neither.



Ollie escorts his budding harem indoors where he proceeds to regale them all with jokes, compliments and general schmoozery for the rest of the afternoon.



At some point Joanna drifted off and found the lump of clay that I'd bought.



And she turned it into a bunny! HOW CUTE IS THAT?! I'm totes keeping it.



Another day, another plate of mac n cheese. Holly's coming right along in this pregnancy, it won't be long before the next nooboo arrives.



And moments later, she's got a bowl of yogurt in her hands. Pregnant sims in TS4 are always hungry, lol. Or sleepy. Or they gotta pee. It's always one of those three (sometimes all at once). 

Still, cute family bonding time over breakfast. They're watching the kids channel to see if this effects multiples for Holly. Interestingly enough she actually got a Bored mood from it. Kids network is apparently not her cup of tea, lol.



After breakfast Holly takes her little man aside and makes sure he's wuved.



DAWWWWWW. That's so cute! Even though your hair is eating his face. CUTE.



And of course Holly wasn't about to let Buttercup feel slighted. Being Family Oriented she gets sad if she doesn't interact with the family enough, so these types of encounters are quite common.



With a little extra cash due to book royalties, some paintings and selling off all the yield from her garden I finally felt comfortable enough buying a few mood lamps. This here is an Inspiring one, to help with Holly's Writing skill-building.


She's also started collecting post-cards.



The next day from school, BOTH kids came home peeved. Matching grump faces, fear it.


Holly went out to get the mail, then decided to call Joanna . . .

HOLLY - Hey Jo, you feel like chatting?

JOANNA - Sure!

HOLLY - . . . why do you sound so close?

JOANNA - Cause I'm standing right behind you!

HOLLY - . . . .

And still in the wedding dress I see . . . .


Don also came over that afternoon, and Buttercup kidnapped him for a few games of chess. Working on her Mental skill for school. Logic is definitely not Don's thing, but he proves a good dad and goes along with it for BC's sake.



Holly got super hungry in the middle of the night. She was also flirty--random--so she decided to make some Flirty Cookies.

Also, say hi to our expensive fire sprinkler unit. I thought it had to go indoors but I've seen Maxis houses that they're on the outside of the house. So I'll probably move it, the next time I see/remember. It's a bit of an eye-sore, lol.



HOLLY - Oo-la-la!

Really Holly? Stirring cookie-batter turns you on?

HOLLY - Don't judge me.



Aww lookit! Little heart-shaped cookies! That's too cute.

Now to just keep the kids out of them. Flirty kids is not something I want to play-test.



The next morning before school Ollie decided to pull a not so flattering impression on mom. Holly was not amused.

HOLLY - Stop that right now!

OLLIE - Stahp that right nao!

HOLLY - I will END you.

Also, I just noticed . . . Holly and Ollie . . . it rhymes. LOL. <-- easily amused trait.



The kids went off to school, and Holly went off to labor-town. I dunno how most simmers are doing it but I've been clicking on the mom and choosing the Have Baby option as soon as they go into labor. It makes them route to the bassinet and immediately have the kid.

Not sure if it's 'cheating' or not, but it's handy.



In a flash of sparkles, another feminine butterfly-onesie makes it's way into the world. Everyone say hi to Azalea Wood!

So, test #1 with the kids channel on TV is negative/inconclusive. She didn't watch a LOT of it, but she did watch it more than once and still only got a single birth. The Fertility trait might be the only guaranteed way to increase multiples in TS4.



Outside, Joanna had invited herself over yet again and this time decided to help Oleander with his homework.

And only Oleander. Buttercup was on her own back there on the bench.

BUTTERCUP - Lame.

Joanna, WHY do you keep wearing your wedding dress?

JOANNA - Reasons.



Ollie finished reaching friendship status with Jo thanks to that homework session, so he quickly dialed up the next prospect on his list.

JOANNA - Ollie . . . you don't need any other friends but me . . . .

OMG Jo. Creeper much? O_o



Joanna went off to play in the motion gaming rig while Ollie met Cassandra outside. She came over pissed about something.

OLLIE - Whoa, you don't look so good . . . 

CASSANDRA - Thanks, that's JUST what I needed to hear. >:[



Smooth operator that he is, though, Ollie had Cassandra laughing in no time. She was also declared a friend not long after and then sent home.



Family dinner time! Well, dinner time for the kids, while Holly continues to work on her next book - Baby Timez! - A collection of 100 BC themed Haikus.

Have I mentioned lately that I love the multi-tasking in this game?



So, compared to Buttercup, Azalea here is a little screamer. She cries CONSTANTLY, sometimes for NO reason. 'Nice' to see they still have THOSE babies in the game . . . I was very glad for my 2-day-only-infant rule on this one.


Appliances are finally starting to break around the house, giving Holly a chance to start working on that handiness skill. One day we'll be able to make all the plumbing unbreakable, but it is not this day.



Poor Oleander had to re-take a test during recess and came home sad the next day. He wanted to go and Cry it Out beneath the covers. Poor thing!




I sent him to go take a bubble-bath afterward, hoping that would cheer him up. He sobbed into his bubbles.

MY FEELS!



Buttercup was coming right along in her Mental skill and had progressed enough that she rolled a whim to make a health potion.

Oh gawd. Please don't explode, please don't explode, please don't explode  . . . .



YAY she didn't explode!

Turns out the health potion fills the hunger need. BC just happened to be a bit peckish, so she immediately tried her own concoction. 

So? What's it taste like?

BUTTERCUP - Mercury, lead and a dash of hazlenut.

Um, wat?



JOANNA - Ollieeeeee . . . .

Ok, now I'm getting creeped out.

HOLLY - Relax, she's doing it for me.

Huh?

HOLLY - I need to have a child get married for my aspiration milestone. And eventually four grandchildren.

Oh . . . OH! O_o So that's why the wedding dress . . . .



Joanna decided to make herself useful in her late-evening visit by taking out the garbage for us.



JOANNA - *two feet from the door, drops the trash on the floor* Welp! Looks like I should be going now, goodnight!

>_< Not cool, Jo. Not cool at all.



Holly had to do some repairs on the toilet, and Ollie decided that he'd like dinner and a show so he followed her in the bathroom and watched while nomming his grilled cheese.



And after that . . . BIRTHDAYS! Holly had baked a white cake the night before in preparation for this event.

Pro-tip, you only need one cake now. You can just keep adding birthday candles to it until everyone is aged up. No more endless stacks of birthday cake in the fridge!

Also, I'll say here that I didn't manage to finish any aspirations OR get an A in school. Buttercup had a B, Ollie never got past a C. I just don't think they're going to be possible in a 100BC, the kids aren't in the house long enough. Oh well.

As the eldest, Buttercup was the first up to the cake. Holly made sure to pelt her with plenty of confetti and streamers while she blew out her candles.



And poof! Buttercup transitions successfully into a teenager! ZOMG she looks so much like mama in this shot, it's kinda scary. She definitely has Holly's face shape.



OLLIE - HUZZAH!

Ollie, Ollie, Ollie . . . could I love you more? I submit that I could not.



And it was now his turn to blow out those candles. Mom and big-sis cheered/tooted him on.



Uh . . . wow  . . . so, the appearance of hulk-arms confirms that even as children they will develop ridiculous amounts of muscle-mass from digging up rocks. 

-_- Lame.



And finally Holly headed upstairs to release Azalea from her bassinet.



Before his makeover I tried to have Ollie drink an instant-lean potion to see if that helped with the muscles. It didn't. -_- I had to use the cas.fulleditmode cheat, but thankfully it didn't mess up their familial relationships.



So let's meet the kids all over again, shall we? First up is a very grumpy-for-no-reason Buttercup! She's now Active as well as Cheerful, and has the Bodybuilder aspiration.

DEFINITELY Don's daughter.



And here is post-makeover Oleander, rolling the awesomely appropriate Romantic trait to go along with Outgoing. Not Holly's blood, but so far he's very much a child of her spirit. His aspiration is to find his Soulmate.

And I think we ALLLLLL know who that's gonna be by now . . . .



And last but not least, allow me to introduce you to child-age Azalea. She inherits the Evil trait, and the Whiz Kid aspiration. Hard to tell here, but she has Aiden's green eyes as well as his black hair. 

I'm really surprised, so far neither kids have inherited any of Holly's colorings. It's a bit of a nice change from her super-gene red-heads in the TS3 version.



After things settled down with the birthdays, there was a knock on the door. 

I bet you can't guess who it was.

Oleander was sent outside to say hi.

OLLIE - Uh . . . I . . . I suddenly have weird feelings. In weird places. O_o

Welcome to hormones, my boy.



I don't use 'those' mods, so for now Ollie and Jo are still just buddies. But one day . . . one day . . . .

Selfie to commemorate!

They're actually pretty darned cute together. :P I think they'll make Holly some super-cute grandbabies . . .



I was a little surprised that Buttercup grew up a little chunky, given that both of her parents are thin, she didn't over-eat (to my knowledge) and had a fairly high motor skill. 

Therefore it didn't surprise me that one of her first whims was to work out, so I sent her to the treadmill.



With the Whiz Kid aspiration, Azalea's first order of business was to plop down at the chess table and ponder some moves.



And then she started slinging insults at her older sister.

AZALEA - Geez, put some real pants on thunder-thighs! You're offending my eyes!

Evil cherub that she is, Azalea wants to make an enemy. Buttercup got nominated by the fact that she was in the same room at the time.



BUTTERCUP - WHAT?! I know my kid sister did not just diss my junk!

It wasn't long before Azalea's constant jeering had BC pretty steamed.



She went outside and slammed an energy drink or three.




Then started Working Out Pent Up Frustration on the punching bag.

Um . . . Buttercup? Tell me you're not picturing yourself punching out your kid sister?

BUTTERCUP - No promises.

Oh dear.



How did Azalea react to this news?

AZALEA - HAHAAAAAH! I totally cheezed her off! I rawk!

Ah, evil sims . . . whatcha gonna do?



That's it for this installment! Tune in next time to see the next baby-daddy, perhaps the next nooboo, and if Azalea can manage to not get herself killed by her sister. Also, can Ollie keep from getting kidnapped by Overly Attached Simfriend? Does he even want to?

We shall see! Until then, happy simming!