I Hart Space! - Chapter 6: Dark Nebula, Part II

Hey people! It's Roxanne again with Part II of I Hart Space! Chapter 6: Dark Nebula. In this chapter, we're going to the chapel, and we're gonna get a vampire married. Metaphorically. There's no chapel. There is a vampire, however. Anyway, after Hadley's transformation, I'm sure you're curious to see how she lives her life, so let's dive in!

The start of chapter 6 chronicled the majority of Hadley's teenage years, and right at the end she finally transformed into a vampire! She's now got her new lifestyle and the associated Master Vampire aspiration, as well as her relationship with Jordon, not to mention school and such, to juggle. Can she handle all that? Duh, it's Hadley. Of course she can handle all that. Anyway, let's check in with our little vamp.

We left her looking like this, right?

Oh, no, my bad, we left her looking like this, only in a spa towel. That is . . . a lot of vampire face details. Also, I don't think a powder-blue romper is really Hadley's style. Digging the eyes though. Let's see what we can do to fix this.

I kept some of the veining and the eyes for the creepy effect, gave her an ashy skintone and appropriately dark makeup, and added pointed ears for her dark form. I wanted her to look like a vampire while still looking, essentially, like Hadley. I also gave her the same fangs in her normal form, so there would be just a hint of her true nature even when she was passing as fully living. If you look close at the generational banner, you can see her bottom fangs in her smile.

Hadley's favorite color to wear is black, so it was easy to pick out outfits for her, but I went a bit more formal/sexier than she typically wears, because I feel like if I was a vampire, I might want to have a bit of fun with it. So her everyday outfit in her dark form is this gown and gloves, which I thought gave her an appropriately vampire-ish look.

She's still our same old take-no-shit Hadley though, and she comes out of the mirror aggrieved about . . . something.

Perhaps it's that her father, who is very proud of this apparently, managed to spawn in the inaccessible reach behind the second floor staircase, and I had to move the plant to let him out.

While Hadley was in school that day, Io headed back to the fishing hole in Sylvan Glade. I was getting pretty desperate to finish this aspiration so I could focus fully on Hadley, but Io just could not get that red-tailed black shark! Luckily, I had recently installed CL and she finally fished up a blowfish (which came with that expansion), and unlike the many fish that came with OR, the blowfish counts for Angling Ace. Huh. So I cheated like I said I would (since she had caught 19 unique fish on Kristina's computer) and Io was able to move on. Finally! Io then switched to the Painter Extraordinaire aspiration. I figure with all the time she's spent outside, she's seen a lot of beautiful stuff, so it wouldn't hurt to commit it to canvas. (Also that's an easy aspiration that I have a chance of finishing while focusing on the next gen.)

Hadley: ". . . and so it turns out that that's why I was so sick at the restaurant. Because I'm a vampire now."
Jordon: ". . ."
Hadley: "Well?"
Jordon: "I honestly don't even know where to start, but I still love you, so it doesn't really matter, does it?"
Hadley: "Great! Since you feel so positively about it, I'm hungry. Do you think you could . . .?"

Hadley: *slurp* "Thanks, babe, you're the best."

Bradley is still engaged in The Great Meduso Hunt via Christmas crackers, and after what must have been dozens and dozens of crackers, bought 30 at a time, he got the last one he needed! Hurray!

So here's our Meduso collection in the playroom. They're very cute. I like the bunny and the robot.

Down here in the elder bedroom are a few of the cooler-looking fish that Io caught, topped by the aspiration-finishing blowfish.

Hadley had Vlad over for some vampire training, and they conducted it through the front door for no apparent reason. (Actually there was an apparent reason: talking through doors was a known bug at the time which got patched. I am so far behind.)

To recoup her energy, Hadley engaged in a little dark meditation.

She then enjoyed a plasma pack while Vlad channel-surfed. Just trying out all the vampire stuff.

Hadley: "Ah, sleeping, what a quaint pastime. I think I won't be doing much of that anymore."

Hadley studies up on Vampire Lore to gain more powers and also for her aspiration. I love the powers and weaknesses system. Although it can be a pain, it's kind of cool that it forces you to take weaknesses. It keeps your vampires from being OP, and makes you think creatively about what kind of vampire you want to make. By the time Hadley had added her last weakness, her life had changed significantly, but I was still able to keep her essentially herself. Some of them, like "guilty drinker" can even help you really shape the personalities of your vamps. Anyway, while she's studying, Hadley is dressed in her party best because it's her birthday. She took the day off from school to study, so when Bradley gets home, they will have their birthday party.

During her insane freakout (I forget Hadley has this trait about half the time because usually she has her act so together), I discover that Hadley cannot be the birthday sim. I presume this is because she's immortal, although she should still be able to age up via cake. That's some kind of discrimination that vampires can't have birthday parties. Sigh. So technically it's Bradley's party, but Hadley's throwing it because no one likes Bradley, lol.

The party starts to gather and, hey, there's Rook! Looks like he's doing fine out on his own. Rook, what do you--

*Jordon dances (?) his way into the room*

Rook: "Well, that's one way to get the attention on yourself."

Once the huge party is gathered downstairs (I don't even know how I actually got most of them downstairs this time!) the last two of this generation blow out their birthday candles.

Happy birthday to our twins! Also, I love how half the party doesn't show up in the mirrors because there's so many vampires gathered here, ha ha.

No surprise here, but Hadley is stunning as a young adult, and Bradley's looking quite good too.

We then force Jordon to grow up so we can make him change out of that outfit get him to join his girlfriend in adulthood.

Hugh: "Hey, last chance. I'm still available. Just so you know."

I know, Hugh. Believe me. I know.

Louis: "Well, all our kids are adults and we're one step closer to the grave. Time to drink."
Io: "Cheers to that!"

These dudes played a very dudely game of Don't Wake the Llama. For once, Hugh isn't harassing Hadley.

Caleb liked the game so much he got his sister to play again upstairs later. These vampires look a little less intimidating in the playroom, don't they?

Don't worry: Vlad didn't attack Hadley on her birthday. Rather, she challenged him to a vampiric sparring match, which helps her aspiration and her vampire lore skill. It also looks way rad.

Pictures don't do this justice. It was fun to watch.

Of course, Vlad is a master vampire and Hadley has officially been one for less than a day, so he kicked her butt, uppercutting her right through the ceiling -- or at least he would have if basements didn't exist in some nebulous liminal space in this game. Love the partygoers out there like "Oh, what a nice party!" and Hadley's getting her jaw broken in five places.

In fact, Vlad punched her so hard he beat her old ugly dark form back onto her face. Actually this was an early bug where they kept reverting to whatever they transformed into, face details at least, and it was quite annoying. Regardless, Hadley had a great time having her butt handed to her, and she gained a lot of skill from it, so that's a win.

As the party winds down, Hadley asks Jordon to move in and he accepts. We're really going to get moving on this generation now!

And so Rook heads back to his house with a sly wink from Moira Fyres, looking as awesome as he ever does.

And Bradley will be joining him there. Bye, Bradley! We'll see the guys again here and there, and I will even eventually do a spare chapter. I wasn't going to at first but, well, read on, because their household got more interesting to me later.

So Jordon Ramos moves in and changes a few of his outfits, but he was mostly okay. He wants to be a musical genius and has a cute personality. I haven't actually played many goofballs, so I wonder if that will rear its head much. Jordon brings more brown eyes and black hair into the family, because we certainly haven't had enough of that, but he also is very cute, so I have high hopes for his children.

After the party, Hadley convinces her dad for a drink. I do remember that "guilty drinker" was one of her early weakness because even though Hadley has a certain indifference to other people, I think compelling them for a drink would be outside of her character, so that was an easy one to take on. Hilariously, Louis and Jordon always agree but Io usually doesn't, despite them all having high relationships with Hadley. Now who's the crazy one?

Jordon: "Hey, Hadley, I really love you and now that we're adults, I wanted to propose to you and make it official, but I can't."
Hadley: "Weird. I'm in the same boat."
Jordon: "So you wanna be 'just friends?'"
Hadley: "Makes as much sense as anything else."

Another bug. Teens that were 'promised' to each other couldn't propose as adults. The only fix was to remove the relationship bits by breaking up or asking to be just friends and then rebuilding a romantic relationship. Luckily, they still had a full friendship bar and, in what was probably a part of the bug, they were still listed as soulmates, so I had access to high-level romantic socials right away and it didn't take long at all to get them back to where they had been.

Jordon: "Hadley, I thought long and hard about where to propose to you."
Hadley: "And you chose the entryway?"
Jordon: "It's that wall behind us. All the previous heiresses, great and accomplished woman, are on there with their spouses, and so are you. Generations will remember your awesomeness, and I want to be right there with you. Will you marry me and let me accompany me on your incredible journey through heirship?"

Hadley: "Okay, that was pretty smooth. Of course I'll marry you, Jordon! This has been a long time coming, and there's no one whose portrait I'd rather hang on that wall next to mine."

Hadley: "Huh. Wonder why he's so tired. He slept right through the proposal. What a cute old man."

Uh, maybe it has something to do with you draining him of plasma five minutes ago? Old or not, that's got to slow a person down.

The next evening, it's time for the wedding. What? I'm in a rush to get to toddlers. Can you really blame me? Although, knowing me, it'll still take two and a half chapters until we see one, probably. Ha. I wish that were a joke, but we'll see. :(

Anyway, is that what you're wearing to your only daughter's formal dark wedding, Louis?

Louis: "No, call me Stripe Man! And yes, I am prepared."

Great. Wake up your wife on your way to the arch.

And here's the bride on her wedding day, looking lovely in white black. You know, because she's a vampire and I'm so original.

Hadley: "Okay, last chance to back out now."
Jordon: "Hadley, we're getting married in front of a medical illustration of a heart. If I haven't run screaming by now, you know I'm in it for the long haul."

The attendees to the wedding were immediate family and Hadley's friend Yesenia, who was walking by or something. I don't even know. It's not like there's really such a thing as a closed-invitation wedding in the Sims anyway.

These two look awfully cute saying their vows. I was going to try to write some vows, but well, I suck at it, so you just get a little commentary instead.

And with that we welcome Hadley and Jordon Hart as the official gen. 6 couple, now all good and married.

Jordon heads to the patio to cut the wedding cake, but everyone -- including the bride -- is too busy messing around to pay attention. Except Bradley and his confetti, that is. Thanks, Bradley.

The woodworking bench was still a pre-patched irresistible lure at this point in my playing, so Jordon had to chase Hadley down to share their first bite of cake, but they succeeded in marking this important milestone, as well as reminding me to lock the door to the focus room.

The party was held on the patio, so it naturally turned into a pool party pretty quickly.

A very flirty Jordon (the flirtiness was overpowering his loner-inspired stranger danger moodlet and my flashbacks to Galaxy) waits for his bride in the hot tub for a while, but she's busy catching up with her brothers. Interestingly, for the party goals, I had Hadley order her 'favorite' drink, and the bartender made her a Plasma Jane. I thought that was pretty cool and logical.

While Rook looks on slightly concerned, Hadley gets her own wedding snack from her twin. This was pretty much the end of the party. Gee, I wonder why?

Finally Jordon and Hadley are alone, and they can celebrate their marriage. We'll give them some privacy here.

Hadley doesn't need to sleep much, so Jordon spent the night in bed alone, but Hadley was nearby, studying her vampire lore. It's not the most romantic first night in the master bedroom, but hey, vampire life is weird.

While Jordon sleeps off the party, Io finds her way upstairs and chats up Hadley, distracting her from her book.

Hadley: "Dad! Shh! Not so loud. Jordon's sleeping."

Boy, this corner is a regular hotspot.

Before he moved out, Bradley had been consistently rolling a whim for Hadley to turn him into a vampire. Also, she had reached a stage where she needed to win some vampire sparring matches, and it certainly wasn't going to happen against Vlad. So partially to make Bradley happy, but mostly so that Hadley could take advantage of his lower status and kick his butt, she turned him, using one of her new vampire powers.

Louis: "Do I even want to know? Eh, nope."

Hadley: "Ha! Success!"
Bradley: "I feel funny . . ."

And now, we wait.

Hadley and Jordon decided to get a start on baby-making, unfortunately in full sunlight, hence the little flecks of burning coming off of Hadley.

Luckily, Hadley survived and even got pregnant on her first try!

She informs her husband that they're expecting. Of course, it's the sims, so this conversation probably contained some variation on "but we grew up, broke up, made up, and got engaged two days ago, got married yesterday, and we just woohooed five minutes ago." Ah, how time flies.

Hadley shares the news with her father, who is very excited to be a grandfather. Because he's a fair deal older than Io, I'm really hoping he'll make it to meet his first grandchild. Louis doesn't have that much time left.

He's happy to contribute a bit of his lifeforce in the form of his plasma to Hadley for the purposes of growing his grandchild, though.

Hadley: "Ooh, I don't feel so good. Maybe I had too much plasma."
Bradley: "Or maybe it's 'cuz you're preggers."
Hadley: "Hmm, perhaps."
Bradley: "Yeah, you really oughta take it easy for a bit."
Hadley: "You know what? You're right. I will take it easy . . ."

Hadley: ". . . Hart woman style!"

Hart women are at their most badass when pregnant. That's a fact.

Down in the elder bedroom, Io and Louis are trying to slip in some quality time while Louis's life bar fills perilously close.

Hadley had taken the weakness that meant she could no longer sleep in beds, so I bought her a coffin and built her a vampire lounge in the basement. I built it pretty quick and without thinking, so I threw in a mirror, which seems unnecessary for a room meant for a vampire. I also guess our spiders are lazy or something, and that's why they didn't build the cobwebs in the ceiling corners. Honestly, I have no idea what I was doing except randomly throwing new buy and build mode items around an empty room. Maybe eventually I'll go back and neaten it up some.

Over a family breakfast the next morning, Io learns of Hadley's pregnancy. She's incredulous, but also very happy. It's really past time to see some adorable Hart toddlers in this legacy, and this is the path. Notice that Hadley, who is really, incredibly skinny, doesn't even really look like she's showing yet. In fact, she really didn't show at all until her second trimester, so I was watching carefully to make sure she wasn't bugged.

A look at our family photo wall, which now includes Jordon. His proposal was spot-on. We've had some really incredible sims in this family so far!

Here's a better look at Jordon's portrait, the last three generations, and bonus tiny picture of Andromeda, because everything is better with bonus Andromeda.

Bradley: "Okay, Hugh. I helped you find your way here. Can we please stop holding hands now?"
Hugh: "Yeah, thanks, bro. So, how am I looking today? Do you think Hadley will like my crop top?"
Bradley: "I'm going inside."

Hugh: "Okay, today's the day. Gonna win my girl back. Just gotta psych myself up a bit more. You can do this, Hugh. You've got the manbun. You've got the crop top. You've got the 'tude. You're the man. Hey, Siri. Help a guy out, will you?"
Hugh's phone: "Playing 'Eye of the Tiger.'"

Hadley: "Okay, Hugh. Here's a picture of where I aged up to an adult, while you are still a teen. Here is a picture of my engagement. Here is a picture of my wedding. Here's a picture from that ni--whoops, you weren't supposed to see that. And here's my sonogram of MY BABY, whom I am expecting with MY HUSBAND."
Hugh: "I don't understand what you're getting at."

Bradley's still considered a human even though he's undergoing the transition to vampire, so Hadley can still get a little plasma from him. Random Old Guy Who Was Walking By seems oddly okay with this.

In fact, he's so okay that he joins the twins and a still-oblivious Hugh in a game on the new console. He does stand pretty far away, though, so maybe he's got some sense in him.

Jordon is working on gardening so he can take it over from Io some day. He's also started a vampire garden of two garlic plants, two wolfsbanes, and two plasma trees (the other one's in the back). These are just in case Hadley needs to make any concoctions with these ingredients with her ever-increasing vampire lore skill. She took garlic immunity as a power so she can be out front without being bothered.

She stops by the Vatores' house for a little vampire training from Caleb. There isn't a whole lot she can do right now to advance in her aspiration except for building skill, since she can't spar while pregnant.

She also made good friends with Lilith.

Then it's over to the count's so she can share the big news with Vlad. He looks thrilled.

Then it's back home for more working out. I don't know for sure, but I have a hunch that fitness may help with vampiric sparring? At the very least, it gives Hadley something to do.

Jordon finally gets working on his aspiration, though his in-laws are doing their best to distract him.

Bradley: "When I said take it easy, I meant kick back. You know, relax. Then you'll get soft and I can kick your butt in sparring as soon as I turn and you're less, y'know, round."
Hadley: "Did you just call me round?!"

Hadley: "He may be my twin but ohhh I could just wring his neck sometimes. Come to think of it, I'm a fairly powerful vampire and he is, for the moment, still mortal. I could totally do that."

Hadley: "Gosh, I hope no one heard that. If you did, it's the hormones, I swear!"

Rook is proud of himself because this little klepto swiped an irreplaceable career reward that Eris earned. It's irreplaceable because when we switch households back and forth, the game loses the 'memory' of unlocks for everyone except living family, which is kind of a bummer. So thanks for that, Rook.

Rook: "My pleasure."

As she progresses in her pregnancy, Hadley is having a harder time keeping up with her thirst. Besides the medical packs she can order from the computer, I stuck a few frogs in her inventory so she can constantly breed them and turn them into plasma packs to supplement her growing thirst.

Another family breakfast, but now Hadley can no longer eat human food without throwing up. As she gets more powerful, she accumulates more weaknesses, but none of them have been too crippling so far.

Louis is very excited to meet his grandchild, but it looks like that may not happen. Hadley still has about another day, and his life bar is full and shining.

He says his goodbyes to Io . . .

. . . and passes away in the corner of the inspiration room, where the whole family is gathered for the moment, unfortunately.

Weirdly, despite everyone being there and Io even not being occupied like Jordon is, Hadley is the only one who notices that Louis died. She's slapped with that two day mourning moodlet, a great way to start her baby's life.

Despite not really being aware her husband died, Io follows my directive to plead for his life.

Death is merciful today and Louis is brought back to life. Then, and only then, does Io become sad, while Hadley is back to being happy.

Louis's first action after cheating death? Paying our nearly-overdue bills. What? There's been a lot going on.

Jordon: "I am really, really, really uncomfortable with this."

Yellow Turban Woman: "Hi, I'm Elisa, and I'm a new vampire in your neighborhood. I thought I'd come introduce myself."
Hadley: "Cool. I'm Hadley. You wanna spar as soon as I pop this baby out?"
Elisa: "I sense the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Oh, come on! Louis didn't even get an extra twelve hours before he's lying down to die again. That's cheap, Grim.

This time only Io is there to witness it, and she pushes her luck by begging for Louis's life a second time. If he could just survive through tomorrow night, he could meet his grandchild.

Grim: "Uh, no."

Io: "You're a jerk, Grim."

 

And so Louis passes away just a bit too soon to meet Hadley's child. Although sad, this seems like as good a place as any to wrap this part of the chapter up. When we come back, Io mourns, Hadley gives birth and spars, Jordon mostly plays guitar and gardens, Bradley turns, and we get a look at the first Hart toddler! Thanks for reading and check back soon for more updates!