We're starting this chapter off with some dawws. Sibling bonding ftw.
The house had a random visitor in the form of Nina Caliente. She sauntered right inside and made herself at home.
Laying down some life lessons on Cassandra while her parents hover worriedly in the background.
Frequent visitor Elyse was upstairs in the attic, playing on Alexander's chem table.
I said last update that Alex wasn't trying for another aspiration, and that was a lie. He's nearly maxed on Social skill so I decided to try for the Social Butterfly. This little guy was invited over to the house to maybe become Alex's next child friend.
Except he turned out to be kind've a tool.
KID - What's this? A door? Only STUPID PEOPLE have doors on their houses!
Uh, wat?
ALEXANDER - Uh, d-do you wanna come inside, or . . .
KID - As if! I don't hang out with four-eyed DWEEBS.
ALEXANDER - Well in that case you need to gtfo off my porch.
CASSANDRA - Before I kick you off.
The kid was seriously insulting Alex over and over so I finally gave up and booted him off the lot.
Mommy to the rescue!
BELLA - Don't pay attention to him, sweetheart. He's just jealous.
She sat down to play Alex's favorite game with him, to make him feel better. <3
Meanwhile Evil Cassandra cackles maniacally over her plate of eggs and toast . . . .
It was here that I created (and implemented) Hard Mode in my TS4 ISBI rules. No using HOG (Hand of God) to manipulate objects, so that means someone (Alex) has to manually clean up the dirty dishes around the house.
ALEX - I'm fairly certain there are child labor laws in place that prohibit this sort of thing . . .
Elyse and Mortimer hang out on the porch together, getting their literary groove on.
Our Helpful Ghost visited again that night, and kept Cass company while she refused to go to bed.
OHG - Really? THAT'S what you ask me?
CASSANDRA - What?! Of course I wanna know what being dead is like . . . .
But apparently their relationship wasn't high enough for such a personal question. Awkward encounter is awkward.
It was enough to chase Cassandra upstairs to bed though, so yay for that. Meanwhile OHG haunted the model ship on the coffee table to work out her frustrations.
ALEXANDER - Hey dad! Can I have a hug?
MORTIMER - Sure son! Lemme just put my grilled cheese on the table here--.
ALEXANDER - Yay grilled cheese!
MORTIMER - . . . .
BELLA - Hahah, that's my boy.
Yes, Alex has resorted to stealing food from his father. He's gotta get fed somehow! A boy can't subsist on cereal and chips, GDI!
BELLA - Hmmm, let's see what the forums are up to today . . .
Yep, Bella still be trollin.
Kids home from school and-- . . . Alex, what in the heck are you wearing?!
CASSANDRA - Ugh, something smells foul!
ALEXANDER - That would be YOU, sis.
Happily Cass managed to find the shower before partaking in a late lunch with mom.
CASSANDRA - Hey mom, where's the slablet?
BELLA - No idea, dear.
CASSANDRA - . . . you speak only lies . . .
She also breaks ALL the plumbing. *replaces*
CASSANDRA - OMP, he falls for it EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!
MORTIMER - Everybody keeps stealing my food . . .
Then stop being a lazy pile of poop and make a GROUP MEAL!!!1!11
Alex corners this random passerby in an attempt to score an adult friend.
It didn't go well, though. I forget exactly how, but the encounter had poor Alex feeling the sadz. D:
And then . . . this little cutie appeared. I had been leaning toward Elyse the Frequent Visitor as eventual spouse but . . . genetic variety. Blond hair, teal blue eyes . . . .
Unfortunately little Azure Merritt here was as frumpy as Alex was.
Quick, initiate cloud-gazing sesh!
The two of them lay on the sidewalk all afternoon, building friendship and speculating on the size and shape of passing cumuli.
By the time evening rolled around, they were well on the way to becoming fast friends.
BELLA - I needz some coffeez.
You NEED to go to sleep.
BELLA - Coffee.
Slee--
BELLA - COFFEEEEEE.
*backs away slowly*
What's this? Cassandra doing her homework?! *looks to the sky for the oncoming apocalypse*
CASSANDRA - Oh, ha ha.
The next day at school, Azure randomly texted Alex with an offer to go play hookie at a Windenburg dance club. I was becoming more and more intrigued with the opposing dichotomy of these two little sims. Alex - the goodie-two-shoes nerd and Azure - the rebellious wild-child.
I've never played hookie with my sim children before, so I decided it would be a fun change of pace.
The two grade school children hit the dance floor, the DJ happily spinning some sick beats with utterly no care for their truancy.
Not so smart to take photo evidence of the crime, but whatevs. Selfies to confirm solid friendship status is a time-honored TS4 tradition.
In due time the dance floor began to fill with the local dance club (I forget what they're called, I rarely bother with clubs in my games). Alex was sure to introduce himself to a few, for future Social Butterfly purposes.
For now, though, he focused solely on Azure. And before the outing's timer ran out, they were able to reach official BFF status.
Back home Bella was being remarkably domestic, cleaning the dirty counter top. Thanks Bells!
BELLA - You're welcome, even though I don't at all appreciate the patronizing condescension in your tone.
Pff, nonsense!
Alex needed one more child friend, so he invited over Elsa Bjergsen.
ELSA - I thought you said you didn't want to join my club.
ALEX - Oh, I don't, but--
ELSA - We have nothing more to say to each other.
-_- Elsa proved to be a bit of a pain, but more on that later.
Mortimer had a bit of an embarrassing mishap at work, so when he came home he Hid From the World under the covers. Poor Morty. You wanna talk about it?
MORTIMER - *muffled* No.
Okay then.
That night, another ghostly visitor. And this time it appears to be Olivia Spencer-Kim-Lewis' now-deceased grandma, Vivian? Interesting.
MORTIMER - There! I made a group meal! Are you happy now?!
Yep. ^_^
Unfortunately the whole house is coming down with a case of Starry Eyes. Bella and Cass keep getting randomly dizzy while trying to enjoy Mortimer's tacos.
And then she progressed to the swirly rash stage while everyone else was at work/school.
And now Alex has it too, awesome. Though at least with Alex I can buy medicine off the computer. The rest of the family has to suffer through and let the illness run it's course.
Alex only has a few friendships left to earn for his 2nd child aspiration, so he invited some people over and got to spamming them with friendly socials.
Rather than accommodate my plans, Elsa went inside and chatted up Bella instead.
ELSA - I mean, I have blond hair and blue eyes AND I'm from an obviously superior family and upbringing. Surely I'm more desirable as a potential spouse than that . . . other girl.
BELLA - Fair points.
No, not fair points. -_-
And also getting into fights with Cassandra.
ELSA - When I move in here, the first thing I'm doing is kicking you to the curb.
CASSANDRA - I will stuff you in the closet and throw away the key, you little snot!
ELSA - This will all be mine . . . soon . . .
HEADPHONES DUDE - Something is seriously wrong with you, kid.
MORTIMER - What are these people doing cluttering up my front walk? Much suspicions, I have them.
Alex just needed ONE MORE adult friend to finish Social Butterfly. I got tired of waiting for a random person to walk by the house so I sent him to Magnolia park and flagged down the first non-teen-or-child he saw.
ALEXANDER - Hi! Do you want to be my friend?
LADY - Sure. *hug*
Yasssssss! That's TWO completed child aspirations. Alex now has the Mentally Gifted and the Socially Gifted bonus traits. Score!
ALEX - So yah, this life thing? Nailing it.
CASSANDRA - No one likes a braggart, squirt.
BELLA - My son is the best!
And clearly didn't get those winning genetics from your side of the family, dear . . . she started (and stopped) two separate meal preparations before finally managing to finish a (single) BLT sandwich.
Gallant Mortimer didn't pay Bella back for all those times she stole his food. Rather he simply sat down with her in the kitchen and tossed flirts back and forth while she ate. Dawww.
MORTIMER - Eh, that joke didn't go over as well as I'd hoped.
ALEXANDER - My childhood! It's RUINED!
CASSANDRA - *snerk*
And then karma being what it is, she came down with a case of Itchy Plumbob soon after.
CASSANDRA - FML.
The next morning, it was time to use Cassandra's one free action for her teen life-stage. We needed a cake. Why, you ask?
Because BIRTHDAYS! Both Alex and Cassandra are due to age up today. Alex steps up first.
Then it was big sis Cassandra's turn.
Introducing Young Adult Cassandra Goth! She adds Self-Assured to go with her Evil and Lazy traits. She didn't get anywhere near to earning an A in school, so no points from that. But still, a successful age-up all the same. She's quite pretty, imo.
But more importantly, our future Founder has reached his teen years! Alex is now the proud owner of the Snob trait, to go with his Good one. He also rolled the Big Happy Family aspiration, so he gets the Domestic bonus trait as well.
Alex attempts his first teen selfie, and Cassandra LOLs at his fail.
CASSANDRA - Helps if you actually have your PHONE out. Dweeb.
ALEXANDER - :<
So she shows him how it's done.
In my TS3 game, Cassandra's Lifetime Wish was to become the CEO of a Mega Corporation. Thus, I had her sign up for the Business career.
After school let out for the day, Alex was sure to invite Azure over. He set about baking her a cake, so she could join him in teendom. And apparently the both of them went on to WEAR most of that cake, too.
Azure blew out the candles on her
And voila! She turned out quite pretty!
Alex certainly thinks so, at least. He wastes no time laying on the flirtatious spam.
First kisses! Boyfriend/Girlfriend status was achieved not long after. And then Azure took off, no doubt due to low motives. Still, progress!
The rest of the Goths were amusing themselves with selfies and games of blic-block.
Oh sweet plumbobs preserve us. The hallowed coffee maker has died . . . I had to replace it, lest I have a complete and savage revolt on my hands.
I was surprised when Azure texted Alex that night with an offer to hang out at a local bar. Still the free spirit coaxing the nerdy good-boy to take a walk on the wild side, I see.
ALEXANDER - So, I'm eventually going to be starting a legacy, and there's no one else I'd rather do that with than you. So . . . d'you wanna maybe . . . do that? With me?
AZURE - Oh, Alex . . . .
AZURE - *GLOMP*
I'm gonna take that as a yes. ^_^
Moments later . . . .
Uh, Alex?
ALEXANDER - She said she was super tired and had to go home.
But . . . she invited YOU out here!
ALEXANDER - Classic Azure.
. . . yeah, you're smitten. It's official. Oh well, he enjoyed himself a plate of french fries and then headed back home to bed himself.
That's it for this installment! Check back next time to see how Cassandra handles having a job, how Mort and Bella handle going gray, and how Alex handles his fine but fickle girlfriend. Until then, happy simming!
