Hello again. I've officially run out of original ways to open up an update. You are here, there is an update to read, and I suggest you do that. Please enjoy yourself. Dive right in . . .
My last post saw celebrations galore as Eris became an elder, Mira became a young adult, and Mira and Brandy got married. Mira has just picked up a job and her parents are working their way to the top of theirs. Everything is going well! I know everyone wants to know (and can't tell because of how verbose I can be), but yes, there will be babies this time. ;)
First up: elders! I am still having trouble managing their night jobs, so I'm experimenting with having them take naps during the day. Unfortunately, the energized moodlet from a good nap often overrides the desired job-related moodlets, so that's a minus. Anyway, this little courtyard out back seems like a nice place for a nap.
Tense and sleepy, Mira and Brandy both return from a day in the art career. Brandy is on level 1 due to not having many skills, so she still gets to dress like a normal person. Mira just got promoted to level 4, so she gets a slightly better outfit than she had at the end of the last update. More importantly, she gets recognition for reaching level 3 in her career, and finally moves into the third stage of her aspiration. I quickly switch her to a new career in athletics, and since she's already wearing her uniform for painting, she changes into . . .
This. And then I made her garden and do chores in it because it was so hilarious. I am a mean, mean simmer. This is also level 3, so once again Mira needs one promotion to fulfill this next requirement.
"ARGH! What do you mean they took it away?"
I was down to the wire with the growfruits. We had growfruits spliced onto this pristine plant and just needed it to evolve once and then produce a perfect growfruit. On April 20th, Brandy evolved it right before I shut off the game and went to bed for the night. I figured, since the previous update had happened on the 22nd, I had one more day to get that perfect growfruit, which had not actually grown yet, to Jasmine. Well, nope. They took it away on the 21st, right when the perfect growfruit was ready to be harvested. Argh, indeed, Brandy. Oh well. I don't actually like the gold pot anyway. I'm just a perfectionistic completionist with some things. ;)
Denzel's heading off to work charged with creative energy. Hopefully he will get that promotion to level 8 soon so he can complete his Master Chef aspiration.
Brandy got to know Eris over a game of chess, which helps Brandy build a skill and Eris to work on her Nerd Brain aspiration, which requires logic skill. They actually get along pretty well. Eris was nice to her and everything. I assume that means she approves of this marriage.
What does an embarrassed llamapegacorn look like? This. Bad day at work, Mira? You're still getting closer to that necessary promotion.
Mira has to work out for her job, and Brandy randomly wanted to gain a level in fitness, so the newest Hart couple got to work out together for a little while. I love this gym. It always reminds me of Galaxy.
Finally, it is baby-making time. I read somewhere that both prospective parents getting fertility massages nearly guarantees multiples, so I sent the ladies down to the spa before heading home for some . . . "activities."
They were happy to participate in my scheme, of course.
Congratulations Mira! You will be bringing in generation 5, which is pretty amazing. I can't believe we're nearly halfway done already.
Mira: "I'm pregnant!"
Brandy: "Sweetie, that's highly improbable. We're both women."
Mira: "I know, but the world is a wild place, and I just know I'm having a baby . . . with you!"
Brandy: "How is that even possible?"
Mira: "Because I'm awesome. Also mods. But mostly the awesomeness."
Mira: "Daddy, I'm pregnant! Brandy and I are going to have a baby!"
Denzel: "But how is that possible?"
Brandy: "That's what I said!"
Eris: "I don't understand how this works. How is that possible?"
Brandy: "That's what I said!"
Everyone is mystified by Mira's pregnancy at first, especially since she isn't showing at all, but they were all happy for the incoming new addition.
Eris is heading off to work at level 9 of the Criminal - Boss branch. She's so close to a promotion! With a little luck, she'll top the career tonight.
That evening, Rigel and Sirius are both visiting. They text all the time to come over, but they usually just end up playing computer games or being on Simbook or whatever all the time instead of socializing with their family. When there's two of them here at the same time, though, they have to share. There is another computer, but this one is the favorite apparently. It was Andromeda's gaming rig.
"Hello? Yes, I want to retire. What do you mean I can't? I'm the boss! I'll damn well retire if I want to! I don't care if criminals don't have a pension plan. You do now. Work it out. Eris out."
Eris got her promotion and retired before she could even come inside. I haaaaaate night jobs, so I'm so relieved at least one of them can quit. Plus, now Eris can play the sweet, doting grandmother.
Or maybe not. She is Eris, after all.
Denzel also returned with a promotion an hour later, making him a Master Chef. Now he's going to go for the mixology aspiration, since he's pretty much got all of the requirements already.
Eris and Denzel decide to celebrate their promotions in the wee hours of the morning. Happy woohooing, guys. You deserve it.
So, Mira had me pretty worried. Most sims look pretty pregnant, or at least have a little bump, as soon as they take the test, but Mira here is nearly in her second trimester and her belly's as flat as a board. I was really hoping her pregnancy wasn't glitched, but I was aware that the fact that she has pretty much no fat on her might influence her body shape.
Sure enough, the second trimester came around, and out popped the belly. What a relief. Looks like we'll be seeing a new Hart in just two more days or so!
Mira, being a Hart woman, does not see pregnancy as an impediment to any of her usual routine.
"Yeah, I am pretty amazing. I just did a heavy lifting routine and I feel great."
"Ooh, my back. Okay, maybe a little not so great."
It's okay, Mira. Happens to the best of them.
Mira apparently went to the Collin Hart school of cooking, because she is forever battling flames, but thankfully, she has not set the kitchen on fire again yet.
Lexi: "Wait . . . you're telling me you're pregnant?! I'm from a culture that impregnates men and even I'm confused. How is that possible?"
Brandy: "You guys! That's totally what I said!"
It cracked me up that Brandy always just happened to be in the background whenever Mira announced the big news to friends and family. Truly puzzling, indeed.
Brandy has come around to the idea of it, though, and she is excited to meet their very special biology-defying baby . . . or hopefully babies since they both had the fertility massage right before conception.
Mira battled some illness during her pregnancy, but this medicine took care of it right quick.
Eris has completed Nerd Brain, meaning she is now ready to upgrade everything with her instant upgrade powers! Well, one at a time, of course, and only once a day. Upgrading is her mission now, though. I couldn't figure out what other aspiration that she hasn't already done would fit her personality, and I didn't really come to a good conclusion so I just gave her the computer one. I didn't work very hard on it. She has completed three aspirations now, one of which took a grueling amount of promotion-grinding, so perhaps she deserves some free time.
Brandy's still working her way up her first career. She's a level 2 painter now.
And with the third trimester changing her body even more, Mira makes it as the dance team captain an so completes another level of her aspiration. Now she needs six skills at level 8, and to reach level 3 of one more career. For her final career for this aspiration, I had her join . . . some career? It's been a bit since I played all this (I played ahead quite a bit before writing) and apparently I didn't note her career or take a picture of her in a uniform, so now I have no idea what her third career was. Oh well.
Denzel had to make a bunch of drinks for his aspiration, so I had him make his favorite drink, which is apparently the flaming zesty salt. Why my brain can remember that and not Mira's career, I don't know, but there it is. Once he has the required six drinks, he works on bar tricks to bring his mixology skill up. Right now it's 8, but it will eventually need to be level 10.
Eris is, as promised, upgrading everything. It's a shame upgrades don't transfer with the house.
Denzel has level 10 in cooking and gourmet cooking (and fitness - he's a pretty accomplished sim), and the reward trait for Master Chef means his dishes never spoil, so anytime he's hungry, I just have him cook a group meal. That way there's always plenty of leftovers for people too busy to cook. Mira, who has stayed up all night skilling with the power of moodlet solvers, is also cooking, but that's just another form of skilling for her, actually.
During a cheerful family breakfast, Mira starts to feel a little not-so-good.
Make that a lot not-so-good. That is the face of misery right there. Looks like labor's a little hard on her, but that's perfectly understandable.
Mira slept off most of her labor, but when she, still miserable, was ready to have her baby, I sent Brandy in to the nursery too for support. Brandy is psyched to meet their new baby(ies?), but Mira just wants this over with.
Brandy: "You're doing good, babe! Just keep breathing!"
Mira: "I regret everything!"
Brandy: "That's just the pain talking . . . I hope. Breathe in, and out . . ."
Ah! A single baby. Drat. Why don't any of the fertility tricks ever work for me? At least it's a girl, so we already have a guaranteed heiress if the other children are boys.
Mira: "She's perfect! I regret nothing."
Brandy: "That's a relief! What should we call her?"
Mira: "I was thinking Io."
Brandy: "Sounds wonderful."
Io is a moon of Jupiter, and according to Wikipedia, is the driest object in the solar system. Neat. It also has some pretty awesome geography, what with ridiculously tall mountains, erupting volcanos, and plains of sulfur dioxide frost. Io in mythology was a "lover" of Zeus, put in quotations because we all know how consensual those stories sometimes are, and was changed into a cow by Hera's wrath or, in some versions, by Zeus himself for his escapades. Weird stuff. I prefer to focus on the totally cool moon.
"Hello, little Io. Welcome to the world. You're going to have the best of everything. I love you so much!"
Brandy settles in nicely to being a mother. Mira was still exhausted and retired after feeding Io and giving her a snuggle.
Eris: "Well, look what we have here!"
The grandparents rushed up the very first time Io cried. I can tell they're going to be very attentive already.
That's a good thing too, because there will be more on the way soon! I didn't even bother with the fertility massages this time. The internet lied to me! This is unprecedented.
Congrats, Mira, on another successful conception.
Brandy: "I am totally on board with this and understand fully that you are, indeed, pregnant."
Mira: "You don't have to fake it, Brandy. It's okay for it to be a mystery. It's our little miracle."
Brandy: "Oh, well in that case, this is all weird as hell but I'm glad it's happening. I like being a mom."
Mira: "Me too."
Mira: "You're going to be a big sister already, Io. I hope you'll be responsible and sweet to your little brother or sister. I just know you'll all be best friends!"
Brandy: "Wait, wait, wait. You're saying you're an alien?"
Despite having lived in the house for a sim week or two and interacting with Denzel on a daily basis, all the while he never wears his disguise, Brandy
just now figured out Denzel was an alien. And then she has the audacity to feel confident about it.
Brandy: "How did I not know this before?"
That's the question we're all asking ourselves, Brandy. Maybe she's not as bright as a Renaissance Sim should be.
Mira's got some morning sickness with baby #2 though she's not showing yet. Poor thing. Also there's a dirty dish out of the frame, so that could just as likely be the source of her distress.
Brandy, who apparently got a promotion off-screen since I don't have a picture of it, reached level 3 of the painter career and is now in business. Go get 'em, Brandy! I was worried I would have a lot of trouble juggling two Renaissance Sims, but both of them seem to be getting through it at a fair clip.
These two are so cute. I wish they could just live forever. They're both oddballs, but they're so perfect for each other.
Mira is doing well with her skills. She now has several at level 8, or beyond. The beyond ones are gardening and cooking, which she kind of has to do regardless of whether they're already at the level she needs or not. Oh! I just now remembered: Mira's third job was astronaut, I think, which would explain why I took a pic of her playing chess, since that's the daily requirement in the lower levels. I want to keep her in it because I think she'd make a good astronaut. She's tough and can exercise with the best of them, and being half-alien has got to give you an advantage when it comes to space travel.
Brandy's close to a promotion in business, although the 'work hard' option is obviously taking a mental toll on her.
Io cries so much. She needed diaper changes frequently. I said this about Eris, I think, but Io is way worse: I have never had a baby cry so much.
She would also cry to be fed, even if it wasn't that long since her last feeding. I think between the diaper changes and breastfeeding, she spent half her early life behind a pixelated screen.
Mira, who is finally showing again, constantly pulls this animation and it just cracks me up. She's so proud of herself!
Rigel: "Good thing you're working out. You're looking a little chubby there around the middle, sis."
Mira: "I'm pregnant."
Rigel: "Whatevs. You know dudes don't like a big girl, so good on you."
Mira: "I'm also a lesbian, so I could give a flip what dudes care about."
Rigel: "Well . . ."
Mira: "Rigel, go home."
He just went off on Mira while she was working out. Mira was not amused. Gotta love those Hart black sheep.
Eris adores Io. It's like she's a totally different person around her granddaughter. It's so sweet.
Because they were already good friends, I let Eris grow Io up . . . and wow did she grow up in a contradictory outfit. Tough hair and shoes, ballerina clothes. Okay.
Here's Io after her makeover and her personality. I kept the hair because she looks awesome in it. She gets gloomy from Mira, loves outdoors from Brandy, and insane must come from the same gene that affected great-uncle (or whatever) Aries. Not a terrible personality altogether, and her aspirations are good. Between the teen trait and her adult aspiration, I see her as a real nature-lover, so she has a daisy chain around her neck in nearly all her outfits and an animal on several of her shirts. She's a little offbeat, but that's part of what's so lovable about her. She obviously got
a lot of her looks from Brandy, but she definitely has Mira's nose bridge, which you'll see in any profile pics of her in the future. I think she's a little tough, maybe pessimistic with the gloomy side, but loves nature and being out and about in it (the rambunctious scamp side of her), and she already has great relationships with her family.
For instance, proud grandpa Denzel rushed in to take a pic with Io right after her makeover and before she had even been allowed to leave the nursery . . .
. . . and then finished with a hug. Aww. Everyone loves Io.
Our Renaissance Sim ladies are pushing themselves pretty hard to get those promotions. Mira's very pregnant now and will give birth just about any time now, so it's good that she got through the workday.
Eris: "Io, honey, your homework would go faster if you took your head out of it."
Eris, Io's closest friend, helps her with her homework, but apparently Io wasn't really in the mood.
In fact, that gloomy trait often rears its head. Io wakes up gloomy most mornings, but usually shakes it off.
Mira just skills, skills, skills through her pregnancy. Io's little brother or sister's arrival is imminent, but Mira just keeps skilling.
Io starts in on her skills too by learning to type, the most rambunctious and scampiest of all activities.
But she takes time to chill with her grandma, too. These two are seriously so cute. Eris just adores Io, and Io loves the attention. They are besties without being actual 'best friends' in the game. I'm so glad Eris lived long enough to get to know her grandchild, and with the birth of baby #2 so close, she'll get to see at least one more. However, that will have to wait until next time, because we've reached the end of the update! Next time we'll see more Hart family shenanigans, more Hart family members being born, and hopefully some aspiration completion on the part of the moms. Thanks for reading and be sure to drop by
SiMania! :)
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