Okay folks, it's time for another installment of everyone's favorite space-themed legacy, I Hart Space! This is part three of chapter five, in which our current heiress, Io, gives birth to the next generation of Hart kiddos. This chapter also marks the end of my turn with the family! At the end of this chapter, the Harts will be back in Roxy's much more punctual and capable hands.
By the way, if you're behind and need to catch up, you can find links to previous chapters here. Now, let's get generation six birthed!
When we last left off, the family was busy working on their aspirations. Mira and Brandy have both passed on, so it's just our heiress Io, her husband Louis, and our bugged gardener Madeline kicking around that house now. However, all of that is about to change, because Io just gave birth to...
Rook's infancy was generally unremarkable. He carried on doing normal sim baby things while Io and Louis carried on with their day-to-day routine. Still working down the sad moodlet from Mira's death, they moped around the house for the rest of that day and ate what must have been a very depressing grilled cheese lunch.
They did eventually find a way to entertain themselves. This little rendezvous soon led to...
...another little Hart on the way. Later that night, the grief moodlet finally expired, and our happy couple's elation over their new pregnancy buffed their moods back to normal.
Never one to be left out of important Hart family moments, Madeline also inserted herself into young Rook's upbringing. She once came all the way upstairs to the nursery to yell at Louis for not tending to Rook's needs quickly enough. Meanwhile, I tried to ignore the irony of Madeline yelling at someone for not doing their job properly.
While waiting for baby number two to arrive, Io continued working on her fishing aspiration. Her belly popped while she was down at the beach, looking for new fish to add to her collection.
Louis, who is still working on his Nerd Brain aspiration, held down the fort at home and worked some more on his logic skill. This self-satisfied smirk is his "I just got to level 5" face.
The next day in the household was much the same. Louis stayed home to watch Rook and work on his handiness, while Io headed out to the park in Oasis Springs to continue her never-ending quest for more fish...and to rant at the barbecue grill, apparently.
She was temporarily sporting a new outfit for this outing because I thought that her skintight cutoffs were probably restricting blood flow to her baby's brain. She was able to catch a few new fish while she was here, so the trip was a success. However, I was pretty annoyed with the fact that some of the new fish didn't count towards her aspiration. The game only counts base game fish towards the required 20 because...reasons.
Meanwhile, back at home, Rook popped out of his crib and became a supermodel.
Yes, as you can see, Rook got all of the best traits that The Sims has to offer. Interestingly, he shares his father's mismatch between being a loner and having very social aspirations.
I wish I could say that Rook's first few days of childhood went off without a hitch, but alas, it was not to be. He started off by being forced (by me) to do his first homework assignment.
Then, exhausted, he tried to go to bed early (in the newly decorated child bedroom), and was terrorized by a monster.
He ran to Louis, who sprayed the monster away, but Rook was still too scared to go back to sleep. Taking pity on the poor kid, I let him have a moodlet solver so he could play around until daybreak.
So, he started building up his social skill with a puppet show.
However, Louis here must have given his performance two thumbs down, because he got a sad moodlet that had him sobbing because he messed up the show.
To take his mind off that disaster, I sent him outside to meet some sims for his social butterfly aspiration. Unfortunately, he met Madeline, who proceeded to tell him off for no discernible reason whatsoever.
He did end up eventually meeting enough sims to clear the first level of his aspiration, but after that emotional roller coaster, he was spent. He took a nap on a bench for the rest of the afternoon. You know, he looks so peaceful here, he could be breeding frogs.
Louis, meanwhile, spent the day not supervising his son very well and giving himself a concussion on the woodworking table. The fun just never stops around here.
After a rather uneventful dinner, it was finally time for the next baby of the generation to arrive. Louis, quite impressively, managed to wake up and react to the occasion appropriately.
Our next little Hart was another baby boy, named Bradley. Bradley is named for a 4.2 km mountain on the moon named for James Bradley, a famous astronomer. But wait, there's more!
His twin sister, Hadley, was born next. She's named for a 4.6 km mountain on the moon named for John Hadley, an inventor and mathematician. I swear that I didn't realize I gave these guys rhyming names until after I'd already typed them in. Bradley and Hadley. Good Lord.
In other news, since we now have three children, and one of them is a girl, little Hadley here will be our next heiress.
Io and Louis couldn't spend too long cooing over their new little ones, however, because Rook was being terrorized by the monster under his bed. Again.
Io stepped in to calm him down, but she was pretty tired from, you know, birthing twins five minutes ago, so someone else came in and took over with Rook for her.
Yes, Mira saved the day (night), as is typical for a sim of her caliber. Meanwhile, I was torn between thinking about how cute this was and struggling to understand how this is any less scary for Rook than the monster that originally frightened him.
The next morning brought with it a family breakfast, in which Io behaved as she usually does while Louis and Rook politely ignored her.
It was also Rook's first day of school, which he left for in a terrible mood because he had a negative moodlet from being upset that his brother and sister were born. Brat.
While he was gone, Bradley and Hadley kept the rest of the household busy. They, more than any other twins I've played, were on the EXACT same schedule. They were always crying at the same time. Convenient, because it saved constant trips back and forth. Also annoying, because you always had to listen to one cry while you dealt with the other one.
Mira, who became an amazingly active ghost once the twins were born, frequently came around to help out though, so all in all, raising these two wasn't too bad.
Without the drain of being pregnant to deal with any longer, I sent Io back out to keep working on her fishing. It's slow going. She had 15 of the required 20 fish at this point.
Louis, who stayed home to mind the twins, continued on his handiness skill. He also took his one allowed youth potion, so that he and Io could be similar in age. He was quite a bit older than her when they married, and he was about to become an elder. It's way too early for him to be that old!
When three o'clock rolled around, Rook came back from school in a (thankfully) much better mood. He sat down to work on his homework after I kicked him out of bed. The lazy little stinker thought he could go directly from school to sleeping. Not in this house, buddy.
He also takes the time after dinner to become BFFs with his mother, completing the next step of his social butterfly aspiration. Next, he has to reach level ten in the social skill, and become friends with three other kids and two other adults.
With so much productivity going on in the house, I almost missed something truly amazing. At first, I couldn't believe my eyes when the little window popped up to charge us for gardening services. Surely, I thought, this can't actually be happening. However, as I checked the backyard for evidence, I saw it was true. Madeline, after an impressive 30 day stay at the Hart property, during which she didn't garden anything and spent most of the time using our computer and yelling at us, took some of our money and left the house. SHE LEFT THE HOUSE. It's a Christmas miracle.
Immediately, I started to miss her.
Actually alone with the family for the first time in ages, everyone headed off to bed. The night, however, was full of interruptions. The twins were fussy and Rook suffered another monster-under-the-bed scare.
It ended up being a moodlet solver and Void Critters kind of night for him. He also played with the puppets later on and managed to give himself an embarrassed moodlet from messing up another show. Way to go, Rook. This kid has the worst luck.
The next morning, Rook headed off to school and Io minded the twins. This left Louis time to go on some space missions for his aspiration. He needed to launch a rocket five times, so he suited up and blasted off into space for his first go at it.
He returned home unharmed...more or less. I don't even know with this family sometimes.
Once the afternoon rolled around, I sent Io back to Oasis Springs for some more fishing. She caught an exotic goldfish and a trout. The trout ended up being fish 16/20 for her aspiration, so it was a successful trip.
Rook, freshly home from school, joined his mom at the park to work on his social aspiration. He made friends with little Raymond, and even traded Void Critter cards with him. Everything was going really well between the two of them until Edward Scissorhands here busted in and distracted everyone.
Meanwhile, at the Hart household...
Yeah, Madeline came back the next day. At least she's actually gardening now.
The next morning brought with it some more aspiration work for the family while everyone waited for Bradley and Hadley to age up. Io traveled back to Sylvan Glade and caught a sturgeon, fish 17/20. She also caught an incredible amount of junk, like apples and other random objects that we don't need. Finishing this aspiration is difficult - catching fish is so random.
She returned from her semi-successful day of fishing just in time for her birthday. Of course, Louis and Rook were on hand to help celebrate her transition to adulthood.
She blew our her candles and spun into...
A woman that looks pretty much the same as she did five seconds ago.
She must have felt different, however, because she immediately sat down with her cake and got into an argument with Louis, something she's never done before. Maybe it's a midlife crisis.
Luckily, Io didn't get too long to lay into Louis before a much-needed distraction arrived. Bradley and Hadley chose this moment to spring into childhood.
At the exact same time, of course, as with everything they do.
Bradley's personality ended up being...interesting, to say the least. He inherited Io's insanity and his great grandmother Eris' desire to be a crime boss. He loves a good nosh too, apparently. And just to bug me, he wants to be a social butterfly, just like his brother, Rook. Great.
Our heiress fared a little bit better in the personality department. She has a collection of traits that effectively make her the heroine of a John Green novel. The Fault in our Sims indeed.
After some quick makeovers, the twins prove to be pretty cute. This is a good-looking generation!
The twins grew up on a Thursday, and I guess the game gives you a day off school when you are first born now, because neither of them had to head in the next day. It's a surprise long weekend!
Since the lot switches over to Roxy when the last kid becomes a teen, I'm not going to get a lot of time to work on Hadley's skills. Therefore, I decided to make her childhood count and dug into our stash of moodlet solvers right away. First up, she worked on her creativity skill at the art table. She wants to be an artistic prodigy, so this was the logical place to start. She makes it to level 2 in the skill and clears the first step of her aspiration.
I tried to send Bradley to bed, but predictably, the monster made an appearance and scared him awake.
So, he ended up with a moodlet solver too and worked on his social skill with the puppets. In case you're wondering, yes, he messed up the show and got a negative moodlet for his trouble.
To cheer him up, I sent him outside to meet 5 new sims for his aspiration. Much like his brother before him, he met Madeline first, who had just shown up for the day.
As it turned out, she liked Bradley better than anyone else in the house. It wasn't long before they were doing some early morning cloud-gazing.
Eventually, he headed off across the street and met the required amount of sims to complete the first level of his aspiration.
Hadley, meanwhile, kept plugging away at the art table until she reached level 5 of the creativity skill. After that, she moved onto the "play with three toys" requirement. We only play with toys in this house if it's part of an aspirational checklist, so I sure hope she enjoyed these 15 minutes.
Louis, who managed to get a full night's sleep, like a normal sim, woke up later that morning and continued to work on his Nerd Brain aspiration. He finished upgrading his five required objects and moved onto maxing his logic skill.
The family continued on in this way for the rest of the day. Hadley eventually moved onto the violin, Bradley worked on building friendships, and Io had an unsuccessful fishing trip. Once Rook came home from school, he treated the family to a puppet show, with good results for once! He maxed out his social skill on this performance, leaving him with a just a few more friends to make before becoming a social butterfly.
The next day was the official start of the weekend for the family. Since all this free time is excellent for making friends, I focused on Rook and Bradley's social relationships while Hadley took a moodlet solver and continued on with her violin.
Rook kicked things off by inviting over Raymond from the park for a game of Don't Wake the Llama. Both Bradley and Rook made friends with him here.
Next, Rook moved onto befriending random strangers that he flagged down on the street. Olivia Spencer-Kim-Lewis and Alana Goetz soon fell to his charms. This completed his social butterfly aspiration! Next, I swapped him to motor so that he could get a chance to play on the monkey bars as a kid.
Bradley, meanwhile, bugged his father until they became best friends, which completed a milestone in his aspiration.
Hadley was working on her music and artwork while all of this socializing was going on. After drawing all of the picture types on the art table, she finished her artistic prodigy aspiration! Next up, I moved her onto Whiz Kid.
This aspiration change meant that it was Hadley's turn to bug Louis, which she did until he read to her for three hours straight and played a bunch of games of chess. She made it to the second level of her new aspiration before calling it a night.
The friend-a-thon continued into the next day for Bradley. While his siblings settled down into their individual pursuits, he befriended two more sims and maxed out his social skill.
Hadley spent her day playing chess and made it up to level 5 in the mental skill. Her aspiration progress stalled out there, however, because she needed to do homework while focused 3 times to progress. Not wanting to waste any of the limited time I had with her, I switched her to the motor skill and had her work on typing.
The next morning brought with it an end to Bradley and Hadley's long weekend and the start of school. All three kids head off for a day of learning, and don't they look thrilled?
Io started her day with a fishing trip to Sylvan Glade that ended up being completely unsuccessful. She returned home to express her feelings in clay.
When the kids returned home later on, Hadley sat down to work on her motor skills (after aspiration hopping and completing a focused homework assignment, of course). After a few hours of work, she made it to the next level of the motor aspiration. Louis joined her in the focus room for a marathon chess sessions during which he got to level 9 of the logic skill.
Must've been a tough day at school for Rook. Since he's ineligible for heir and has completed his social aspiration, I let him entertain himself. This is what he chooses.
The night brought with it more monster attacks, but with an interesting development - Bradley was able to befriend it. Despite many tries with all of the Hart kids over the course of my turn, this was the only kiddo who managed to do it. Must be that self-assured trait.
The kids head off to school the next day and Io has yet another unsuccessful fishing trip. This fishing aspiration is killing me. I know I could finish it if she had maxed her handiness and I could get to the other hidden fishing spot, but at this point in the legacy, I don't have enough time for that.
Eventually, she heads home and spends some quality time with Louis. That's much better than fishing anyway.
When Hadley gets home, I switched her back to the mental aspiration and had her finish another homework assignment while focused. This allowed her to clear the second level of that aspiration. Accordingly, she started making potions.
Meanwhile, Louis kept working at logic, Rook went on doing whatever it is he does when I'm not paying attention to him, and Bradly worked on making some more friends. He's been steadily making progress on his social aspiration over the past few days, and making friends with Maeve here was the final piece he needed to finish it. I switched him to motor next, but he's officially on "do what makes you happy" mode now, like his brother.
In my quest to give Hadley the best start possible, she hasn't slept for much of her childhood. She stayed up into the wee hours of the mornings making potions and working on her mental skill. Hey, look, she went to the Colin Hart school of experimenting!
While all that excitement was going on with Io, Louis finally finished his logic skill and finished his Nerd Brain aspiration. This makes five completed aspirations for him.
Since I was running out of things I wanted Louis to do, I switched him into the cooking aspiration. This will take him longer to complete because it requires a career. He gets a job in the culinary track and practiced cooking until he makes it to level 5 in the skill.
He also confirms that he went to the Colin Hart school of cooking.
Eventually, the kids come home and everyone settles in for the evening. Hadley spends another night working in her lab. She makes her required three emotion potions and maxes out the mental skill. The only thing left to do is get an A at school, which should be happening the next day as long as everything progresses according to plan.
The next morning, Hadley, who has been aspiration hopping again, gets a high score on the typing game, clearing that requirement for the motor aspiration. She switches back to the mental aspiration before heading off to school.
Meanwhile, Louis, who is working on his culinary aspiration, throws a dinner party. He invites Io's sisters, Callisto and Sao, who we haven't seen in quite a while.
He also invites Madeline, who seems to have been laying low lately. She'll occasionally appear to garden, but not regularly. Time to get her cranky butt back in the house! Predictably, she walks in through the back door without knocking like she owns the place.
The party was a success, by Hart standards. Louis threw lettuce everywhere...
...and then ate alone in the garden.
Luckily, his guests had an okay time by themselves in the kitchen. We earned the required silver medal, and Louis completed the second step of his aspiration. He also reached level 8 in the cooking skill.
Following his party, he headed off to his first day of work since quitting gardening to marry into this legacy. He looks way too proud of himself here for a guy who just threw the most awkward dinner party in recent memory.
When the kids returned home from school there was more good news. Hadley earned her A, which means that she finished the mental aspiration. I immediately switched her back to motor, as she was already at level 9 of the skill due to all the typing practice.
Rook and Bradley, meanwhile, pursued other interests.
Louis returned home in the early hours of the morning with a promotion to head dishwasher. The game also informed me that he swiped something from work due to his kleptomania trait. A quick check of his inventory reveals that it was a lemon. Dangerous.
After a moodlet solver and several hours at the keyboard, Hadley finished her motor aspiration not long after Louis returned home from work. That means the only thing left for her to do to have completed every childhood aspiration in the game is the social aspiration. That's right. I have to do it THREE times in one generation.I think that qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment.
Now, here's what you have to understand about Hadley. I didn't have a doubt in my mind that she would finish the social aspiration. In fact, her laser-focus is a bit scary at times. I just felt like she would have to force her way into friendships with sims. You see, Hadley does not suffer fools.
She is disgusted with her brothers most of the time.
And has learned to roll her eyes at the more weird events that go on in the house.
She's not a big fan of her ghost relatives' mischief either.
While the rest of family automatically tries to socialize...
She prefers to be on her own.
So, she's not exactly the friendly type. She's got a bit of spice on her. Accordingly, I have her work on her social skill alone at first, in the puppet booth. She put on a show for her brothers and worked herself up to level three social before I sent her out into the world to interact with others.
Once let loose on the neighborhood, she immediately interrupted Bella Goth's workout and attempted to force a friendship on her.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Io's insanity decided that she was a flirty sculptor today.
To break up this solitary reenactment of Ghost, I sent Io down to Magnolia Promenade to work on her fishing. Hadley tagged along to meet sims and work on her friendships.
Io, happily, caught an angler fish here, which was fish 19/20 for her aspiration. Only. One. More. Fish. To. Go.
Hadley did pretty well too, for a sim who I'm pretty sure secretly hates most people. Although it looks like it physically pained her, she met enough sims to clear the first and second level of her aspiration (the fact that she was already BFFs with her twin brother, Bradley, helped a little). She was also accepted into the Renegades club, because, of course.
She stayed at the Promenade all day while Io fished and made it up to level 10 of the social skill. She befriended several adults, and now only needs three child friends to finish it up. She starts off with little Raylan.
Then she rounded off her night by frustrating her grandmother, Mira, over a game of chess (Hadley shamelessly cheats).
The next morning, Louis returns home from his second day on the job. He didn't get a promotion, but he did steal someone's romance novel out of the break room, so the day was a success, overall.
He continued to practice his cooking after getting a few hours of shuteye and ended up maxing the cooking skill.
The big event of the next day was Rook's birthday.
Hadley attended the celebration and did her best impression of a person who was having fun.
Rook transformed into a ridiculously good-looking teen, added kleptomaniac to his traits, and picked up Joke Star as his aspiration.
He cornered Bradley and began practicing his comedic stylings on him immediately.
After the celebration, Io headed out with Hadley again. She tried her luck fishing at the Oasis Springs park,but didn't catch anything new.
Hadley had better luck, despite what this photo shows. She befriended this kid, named Nicholas, as well as our old family friend Raymond, completing her social aspiration. She's the only kid I've ever played to finish them all. She's got all those special gifted traits now, so Roxy should have an easy time getting her to finish her future Nerd Brain aspiration.
In celebration, I directed her to play on the jungle gym. As you can tell from her expression, she considered this a great use of her time.
The next day sees Louis beginning to work on his mixology skill, which he will eventually need for his career. As you can see, he's quite a natural at it. He mixes his way to level two before having to head in for his next shift at the restaurant.
After a bad-chance-card kind of day at school, Rook returns home having stolen a book from his classroom. This kleptomania trait is turning this place into a den of thieves.
After finishing his homework, Rook continued to work on his comedy until it was time for bed. He isn't very funny yet.
Meanwhile, Hadley remains unimpressed with her brothers' need to waste time sleeping and eating.
Speaking of Hadley, her birthday was quickly approaching, so I used up our final few days getting her as far along on the skills she will need for the Nerd Brain aspiration as quickly as possible. Since she finished the mental aspiration, she can earn regular logic points now, so I had her spend most of her time doing that. She makes it up to level 7. Not too shabby.
In a vain attempt to finish her fishing aspiration in my final moments with the family, I send Io out on one last fishing trip. She catches Captain Fishbones, but this is one of the fish that doesn't count for her aspiration. So, sorry Roxy, but Io is coming to you needing just one more fish to become an Expert Angler.
Too quickly, it is time for the twins' birthdays. Bradley is first up to the cake.
He turns out pretty nicely (physically, anyway), adds the insane trait to his personality, and picks up the Public Enemy aspiration.
She pops into a stunning teenager. She picks up the insane trait, much like her brother, and officially adopts the Nerd Brain aspiration.
Some makeovers reveal a pretty attractive generation.
Hadley is most definitely pleased with herself. Let her reign of terror begin.
And with that, my turn is at an end! The next time you see the Harts, they will be back with Roxy. I can't wait to see how our little firecracker does leading the family and bringing in generation seven! Let's hope that her casual disdain for most things doesn't make life too difficult for everyone.
Check out SiMania for other legacy stories and a really friendly community! Happy Simming everyone!
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