I Hart Space! - Chapter 8: In Her Orbit, Part II

 

Well, well, well. What is this? Another update? Yes, we're back with I Hart Space!, your favorite space-themed matriarchal Sims 4 legacy. Mae is the heiress, and she's on the path to fame, as well as juggling a bunch of other stuff. Read on for the chapter...

So, when we left off, Mae was pregnant with her first child and had two fame stars. She'd also embarked on a career as a home decorator, starring in her very own reality home makeover show (at least in her mind). Her husband, Julien, is a politician who dabbles in the mystical arts, and her parents are still kicking around, plus her younger brother, Yuri. Let's check in now with the household.

Well. We've been having a lot of thunderstorms this summer, and this woman was randomly ringing our bell at like 11 p.m. when she got electrocuted. I managed to capture it. Maybe not the best idea to harass random houses in the middle of a thunderstorm. She just stood there more afterwards, and I was scared she would get hit again and die, so I sent her home eventually.

Mae is starting to look pregnant. She didn't show at all in the first trimester. She's also having an absolutely miserable time. She's had morning sickness both days so far, and she's just not feeling great.

Wondering about Yuri? He's still glued to the computer, working on his Bestselling Author aspiration so we can get books of life. 

This is maybe unnecessary because Julien can make Potions of Plentiful Needs now, but I'd feel bad not following through after making Yuri waste his entire adolescence. Let's make it count. As for Julien, he's climbing the ranks as a spellcaster and is now an acolyte. Stardust, his familiar, follows him everywhere.

Aww, so cute. Mae has a really good relationship with her dad, but she's less good friends with her mother, which isn't for any particular reason. Cassini is just really good at straight up disappearing for half a day or so and I have no idea what she does, so neither does Mae.

Aw, yeah, that damn morning sickness. Mae's body was apparently not really optimized for pregnancy.

We're back to work, and this time we're at the Eclectic Arts household in Strangerville. It's kind of a cool house but so dismally decorated, which is just generally a theme with Maxis builds. Please ignore their kitchen peeking through. This is actually the screenshot I took for one of her before pictures, and I can't see the whole screen easily, so they're not the best pictures, but they're what we have to work with. The household likes comedy and cosmolux style but hates gray and guitar. Well, first thing's first is to get rid of the gray carpet.

I actually rather like this one. Cosmolux is kind of a silly style, but luckily some of the newer stuff from this pack apparently counts so I finally got to play with modular sofas.

Uh, excuse you, we are trying to take a selfie here. Do you mind terribly?

Mae is still trying to get famous so in between decorating, she updates all her social media and takes a bunch of selfies to sell later.

Julien: "Babe, have I told you you're glowing? Pregnancy suits you."

Mae: "The filthy upstairs toilet begs to differ with you, but thanks, babe."

Julien: "I am off to duel for my aspiration for your honor."

Mae: "Babe, that's so romantic!"

Julien has to win three duels for his aspiration. These are really cool animations.

This looks promising!

Oh, psych. He was doing fine and then he got one little blast and fell over. Way to go, Julien. Sigh.

To take out his disappointment (and also to increase his skill level), he repaired the toilet that someone had pranked, scrubberoo'ed himself to fix the prank-caused hygiene dip, zipzap'ed the toilet to break it again, and then fixed it one more time. Sure, that's a lot of fixation on the only toilet on the whole lot, but as the playable character, we reserve the right to bend reality to our will with magic, even at the risk of inconveniencing others. After all, what else is magic for?

Julien is getting some training from L. Faba and they couldn't find space to face each other in this gigantic room, but doesn't this look like the cover of a fantasy novel? Two mages, fighting butt to butt back to back? I'm loving playing with this pack finally.

After his disappointing first showing, Julien picks on Emilia, who is canonically a very new mage and only an apprentice. Should be a piece of cake, right?

Magic shopkeeper: "Oh, I thought this was going to be a good duel, so I closed up shop to watch. But I think I know how this is going to end."

Shopkeeper: "Good thing I didn't finish watching. I'm very sensitive to secondhand embarrassment."

Julien: "Hey, hey, Simeon! Hey! I tried riding my mop and even though I was aiming for the balcony behind me, I somehow ended up merely teleporting to this one in the corner behind plants that I can't walk past. A little help?"

Simeon: "And that is why we suggest not being a dolt when practicing magic."

Needless to say, it was time to go home since we couldn't get out of this corner, even with the mop, which simply failed. Love that for us.

Back home, Julien studies some spellbooks he picked up while Mae takes a well-deserved nap. She's having such a rough pregnancy.

But once she's a little fresher, it's time to work on her aspiration, so she heads off to Orchid-a-Go-Go in Del Sol Valley to host a meet and greet for one of her goals.

She has plenty of friends and friendly acquaintances, but Alondra was the first to show up (Neil was second, awww). We grabbed a selfie with her, which Mae will of course sell for more fame. We have no room for sentimentality in this aspiration.

After maxing out their green bar, I had Mae and Alondra make it official, and they're now best friends. Love that this continued over into Mae's young adult years.

This picture is the quintessence of this generation. While Mae updates Simstagram, Julien showed up so we put him to work casting Scruberoo on as many celebrities as possible, as it is the only sim-targeted spell he knows that isn't considered a mean social. He's been focusing on practical magic, but he knows a fair few untamed and mischief magic spells too. Bit of a loose cannon. Will he fix your shower? Ruin your day? No one knows!

Mae is interacting with her fans, but I guess since she's picked up the "no touching" fame quirk, she wants to keep her distance.

Then the game notified me that she had gone into labor. I wasn't even aware she was in her third trimester! We've been spending so much time away from the lot that I don't have a good sense of time. This pregnancy flew by, which is good, since she was miserable for most of it.

With Julien (and Stardust!) by her side, Mae trudges off to the hospital. Why? I don't know. I just felt like it.

Julien does his best to help by immediately peeling off to go make a microwave pastry. Sigh.

Mae makes the long walk down the hall by herself. Although this is what we see, I think the following is what Mae imagines in her rich inner life in moments like these...

Mae: "So chic! So motherly! The audience goes wild. Copies sell out. Everyone wants a hospital gown, as A-lister Mae has made it the must-have birthing outfit. Oooh!"

Mae: "Hi doc, can we hurry this up? I've got a live AMA in a few minutes that I need to freshen up for."

Doctor: "Oh, are you mildly famous? I, uh, need to go..."

And then he took off! I feel like while a patient is in the surgery machine is a bad time for this. Mae got out and walked to the other room, and the doctor disappeared off the lot.

New doctor: "Sorry about that. After the last few incidents, John isn't allowed to operate on anyone with any kind of social media presence or audience of any sort."

Julien: "For safety reasons?"

New doctor: "Sure, we'll go with that."

Julien: "Oh shit. Babe! I just realized this is dangerous! Babe, are you ok? Do you want me to get you the microwave pastry I abandoned in the cafeteria? It's for your own protection!"

Mae: "It's fine, babe. The baby is almost here. I'm good."

Julien: "Oh, uh, babe, did you want to take the baby home, or...?"

Mae: "So. Tired."

LOL. She didn't even cuddle the baby or anything. Just took right off. Poor thing.

Before we get kicked off the lot, Julien met his new son, supervised by Stardust's watchful glowing eyes. Yeah, this kid is going to grow up so normal.

So welcome home to Baade! I am using the names of galaxies from a list I found on a Caltech website. I'm not picking them for any notable features, rather just what I think makes cool names. Baade is a boy, so he is not eligible to be heir, but we are happy to have him nonetheless!

Mae finally meets her child, still in her hospitable gown (that magazine daydream must have been a doozy!) and dresses him in a onesie we bought off of Plopsy.

Then, while Baade sleeps, everyone gathers in the kitchen downstairs, and of course the clay is invited. ALL important household members are here. So what's the occasion?

It's finally Yuri's YA birthday! We're not releasing him yet, but at least he can stop going to school and just focus on his writing. I'm going to give him a really good life when I play the spares, because I feel terrible about what we're doing to him now.

Then Mae is whisked off to her next job, which is a gym renovation in Windenburg.

I was excited to do the pool area because I wanted to use Courtyard Oasis stuff, but it turns out I was only allowed to renovate the ground floor, which sucks. I was going to have the Moroccan pool area of my dreams, but nooooo. On the other hand, the budget is pitiful so maybe it's a good thing.

Anyway, the representative wanted green, boho, and comedy again, so here's a green gym with a boho rest area with a microphone. I also snuck some laptops in the check-in area since those count as comedy for some reason. I did use the Courtyard Oasis wall tiles. I also put a door in between the lobby and the gym, because this is that awful gym where they forgot a door and the only way to get to the workout area is to go downstairs, traverse the entire lower level, and then come back up in this section. So stupid.

Mae is still living her hospital fashion dreams for...reasons. Anyway, the client loved it nonetheless.

Then it's off to the lounge to sing for fame and chump change. I mean, we don't really need the tips, but we'll take them, I guess. I just want the fame, which is so hard to get. I don't know why; I mean, Mae dressed up for the occasion.

Then Emilia challenged Julien to a duel. He's been working hard and is moving up the ranks, so we were hopeful.

And Julien wins his first duel! Hurrah! On a high from the unfamiliar taste of success, he challenged someone else and he won that one too. Just one more for this aspiration step.

He makes sure to check in with Simeon, who is his mentor and his closest friend besides Mae.

Then it's back home, where he breaks in the madeover former vampire room, which is now a magical study for him. We just confine our occult wackiness to the basement, and I don't see anything wrong with having secret rooms hidden away for mystical and possibly nefarious activities. Totally normal.

Mae finally gets a good night's rest after her nightmare pregnancy. Well deserved.

Meanwhile, Julien is on parenting duty. There's just not much exciting to these days. I guess Baade at least matches his dad's shirt. Does that count as exciting?

Julien: "Ooh, time for work."

Are you...just going to the leave the cauldron like that?

Julien: "It's fine, I'm sure. Besides, I'm not allowed to wear glasses to my politician job, so I can't really see the black doom smog of magic, so that means it doesn't exist. No harm, no foul."

Stardust: *deep breath, keels over*

Because we've been out and about a lot still, Baade's babyhood flew by and it's time for him to grow up into a toddler. He's cute! I see the baby skin bug is still active, because I don't think it selected the right one for this tone.

Mae gets Baade started walking.

Mae: "He learns to walk, I get pics for my story. Everyone wins!"

After a makeover, I kept a large curly hair on Baade, but I picked this one instead of the one he grew up in because it looks more like his parents' hair texture. He's got Mae's exact skintone, and as you can probably tell from the eyes, he's a spellcaster. They inherit weird genetics if they're born one, but that's kind of cool. He's super adorable, and I love him. I predict good things for this generation.

As a toddler, he's a charmer, but as he grows, he's going to get a bit insufferable. Even though Dance Machine is the only trait he inherited (it's from Julien), I feel like this personality fits well with Mae's. Perhaps the child of a celebrity gets too used to unrealistic expectations and the good things in life. Although Baade will be rambunctious as a kid and an energetic dancer as an adult, he ultimately just really wants to get a good education and look down on other people. He would probably be on student government and his main cause would be throwing a lot of mixers.

I noticed Ferdinando standing in the hallway and that was my sign that Felicette was growing up, so thanks, Ferdinando.

OH MY GOD.

We must all work together to protect Felicette at all costs, you guys. She's incredible. Absolutely the best cat raccoon.

She looks a bit more raccoon-like from a distance. Up close and when she's pulling faces, she's just a goofy mess, but I love it. Here's a fun experiment: look closely at the shape of her in any pictures she appears in, and imagine her with any coat besides raccoon markings. Guaranteed hilarity.

Hey, mister! Where did your spellcaster eyes go? UGH. Turns out this is a long-running bug that, as far as I can tell, is because the occult eyes that spellcasters pull from weren't originally designed for toddlers and kids (the eyes Baade had were vamp eyes, which normally only teens and up would have access to), so they tend to lose them, especially when making changes in CAS. But the bug makes it so you can't reselect any occult eyes as they are no longer an option. Did we just lose Baade's defining feature? Also, how long has ROM been out that this isn't fixed yet???

As frustrating as that is, I decided things are going well enough that another kid would be just about perfect right now. We do need a girl to continue the legacy, after all.

Wow, they actually both found their underwear for this activity.

And Stardust creepily watches because of course he does. The drone shuts off for bathroom and intimate activities. Why doesn't the familiar? I feel like you can be TOO familiar with your familiar. Anyway, let's not commit the same sin, so let's clear out of here.

Yay! Mae is pregnant again! The morning sickness started immediately, so it looks like this is going to be another fun pregnancy for her.

Mae: "Babe! We're having another baby!"

Julien: "Babe, what? That's amazing!"

Mae: "Baade's going to be a big brother!"

Julien: "Oh, speaking of Baade, does anyone know where we left him?"

Mae: "That sounds like a you problem, babe. I'm busy being pregnant."

And how. Poor Mae. Some sims soldier through pregnancy like it ain't no thing (see pretty much every women of Hart past), and Mae does get the essentials done, but she sure doesn't feel well doing it.

Anyway, Baade was busy getting his eyes fixed. I had to download a mod that allowed me to replace them, and I can reselect them every time they change as now every sim has access to occult eyes, even though it doesn't directly affect the bug, which will presumably keep happening. So that's just another fun thing. Kristina, if the heiress is a spellcaster and has spellcaster children that you want to fix, the mod is here.

Ferdinando is on level 9 of his career and he looks super cool, but I don't know if he'll finish it. He needs two more points of fitness but that's tricky as an elder, and I don't think he has a stupendous amount of time left. I eventually realized that if I tell him to skill fitness while I'm away from the house, he doesn't get the 'dangerously fatigued' moodlet from it, so we're going to try.

While Mae is supervising Baade, Neil comes over to visit and meet his nephew. The plan with the boys is that I want Yuri to hang around to bind Books of Life to the heiress and any others available (which may be necessary for Ferdinando to die first for enough room unless this next baby is a girl). Then I'll release my grip on him and check in with Neil and Yuri. Although I'm only 50/50 about this because I feel bad about Yuri and we do have the Potions of Plentiful Needs. Hmm.

Whoa, Mae! There's such a thing as too much flash, you know. 

Mae: "If I take my selfies like this, it's like the paparazzi are blinding me with their relentless pursuit of my fabulous self!"

Yeah, well you're going to actually blind yourself first.

Just some time with the heiress cuddling our pet. Please don't mind the drone hovering creepily with the absolute worst expression. We're trying so hard to get famous, and if filming Mae hugging Felicette in the cat raccoon's favorite room is what it takes, well...

Felicette still loves the shower downstairs, but she recently unlocked a fear of the same room's toilet, so this room is very confusing for her now. She mostly sleeps in here, despite having no less than three cat beds and a cat tree in the house.

Julien is doing a lot of parenting because Mae's energy and stomach are giving her problems, but Baade, despite what the friendship bar says, has a complicated relationship with is father. Hugs? Ew.

Random encounters with the cat raccoon? Awesome.

(Note: standing like this is the most Felicette ever looks like a raccoon, in my opinion.)

Bedtime story? Ugh, Dad, why?????? I think it's hilarious but I'm worried he's going to get a grudge sentiment against Julien, so now I'm having to have Baade initiate all their activities to avoid that. He's two and already running the house.

What the...? How? Why? Who?

This, for the record, is an herbalism concoction that I found half-finished on the back walk. No one has had the herbalism skill since Colin in generation two, whose ghost has been gone lo these many years. I am so befuddled how this pot came to be on the back walk.

Mae sells a bunch of her pictures, and she is so close to three stars but getting her that last bit is proving troublesome.

So off we head to the Magical Realm again, with Mae in tow. Just in case you thought I was kidding about Julien riding a mop, I very much was not.

Julien finally won his third duel and advanced his aspiration.

Simeon: "Damn, dude. You could have put him down just a little softer. Don't let that power go to your head. Sick duel, though."

And then Simeon and Julien tried to take a selfie together, yet somehow this was the image.

Anyway, they decided to make best friends too. My sims are always best friends with their spouse and have very few family friends, so it's kind of a nice change of pace to have other people in our lives besides the household.

While taking and selling selfies, Mae finally reaches the third star of fame, making her a B-lister.

She immediately picks up the Phone Fanatic quirk, which is not too surprising if you remember her teen years. She's just finally made it official.

Now that she's got the third star, she attracts the paparazzi and indeed needs to interact with them for her aspiration. I'd say she's finally legitimately semi-famous now, but we're aiming to make her the media darling she's always dreamed of.

Inside her new favorite community lot, her selfies are less than cheerful because she's feeling poorly from the pregnancy again.

Mae! That better have been actual juice. Like fruit. Not "juice."

Mae: "Oh, don't worry. It's not even that. I just chugged a bottle of Pepto-Bismal on the rocks. This baby business is not friendly to my guts."

Yuri: "Do you realize that when she leaves the lot, I get to live my life? When was the last time I played with clay? This is great!"

Cassini: "Yeah, I just surfaced from whatever hole I spend all day in and I just wanted to warn you, Yuri..."

Yuri: "No, this is great! I'm not writing, my butt isn't asleep, my hands aren't cramping!"

Ah, that reminds me, sir. Time to get back to work.

Yuri: "Dammit."

Cassini: "I tried to tell you, honey. That's why I make myself so scarce."

He's not happy about it but he just published his last bestseller and has completed the aspiration. He gets on writing Books of Life so quickly I haven't even selected a new aspiration for him yet. I'm so sorry, Yuri. :(

We're back at Orchid-a-Go-Go trying to give people the opportunity to ask Mae for selfies (which I'm not sure is actually possible at three stars because we were here forever), and apparently I left Julien to his own devices a little too long.

Julien: "I am a magical force of nature! I am power drunk! I mold reality to my desires! Bow before me, inferior beings!"

Okay there, Loki. Chill out.

Julien: "That's what I was doing!"

Darren Dreamer: "I heard this lounge was cool, but I'm not too sure about what they meant by that now."

Selfies. Need more selfies. Always more selfies. SELFIES.

However, while selling dozens of identical selfies (helps if you take them with the best camera because then you can take 20 at a time!), Mae achieved her fourth star of fame. It helps she's picked up some perks that allow her to donate things to fans for fame (which we have been doing sparingly, because when you're this rich it's essentially an OP mechanism for trading cash for fame) and use a PR agency.

Now a Proper Celebrity, Mae has the fame shine and walk, but since she's pregnant, the walk isn't working currently. And on that note, this seems like a good place to break. Baade really needs some attention next time, and we'll hopefully see our heiress possibly, or another brother. Mae and Julien will continue working on their goals, and hopefully the rest of the family gets some stuff to do besides live their lives in desperate bursts of privacy when I'm off-lot. Plus more lot makeovers. Check back soon and thanks for reading!