Sims 3: Zodiac Challenge - Chapter 4, The Rabbit

We left the Ursine (formerly Masemame) family at Haven's funeral.  As the wake carried on into the evening, an unexpected guest turned up.

Serena, Jasper and Haven's mother, and Avery's grandmother.  She has returned from beyond the veil to attend her second daughter's funeral.

Jasper was standing outside.  He burst into tears and wept on his mother's shoulder.

"Hush, my child, my only son..."

Still, Jasper wept in his mother's arms.  As a commitment-phobic loner, he had never married.  He spent most of his life living with his twin, Rosemary, and her wife, Lindsay.  Neither Jasper nor Rosemary had children, but their younger sisters, also twins, Liberty and Haven, had.  Liberty had two girls and Haven had three boys.  Jasper had loved them all, from afar.  He had hated Haven, as a teenager, for asking his girlfriend to break up with him, a girlfriend who is now long-forgotten.  He never told Haven he forgave her.  Not when she gave him his beloved nephew, Avery.  Not at their mother's funeral or their father's.  Not at the funeral of his own twin, their elder sister.  They had lived together, with Avery, for only one day, and now he had outlived another sister, and yet this was worse, because she was younger, not older.  There had always been the possibility that he would outlive Rosemary, but to outlive Haven and Liberty was perverse.  And now he wept in his dead mother's arms and knew that something was deeply wrong with the world.

Serena warned him that their family would soon face a great evil.  She didn't know what it was or when it could come, but she warned her son "you must protect our inheritance" before fading away.

The next night, Jasper was visited by another spirit.  The ghost of his father, Jake, the genius who had built a business empire from nothing, who had cared for all his children from babyhood, who had been a successful author, who had dragged himself out of a shack in the woods and into the heart of the city, a man whose funeral Jasper had attended in Avery's childhood.

He wept again.  His father held him.

"A great change is coming," Jacob said.   "The child must have a guardian."

Jasper knew he was living on borrowed time.  He had outlived two sisters.  Surely it could not be long now.

"Father....I - I'm not long for this world.  I must join you soon."

Jacob looked into his eyes and took his hands.  "The child must have a guardian."

Jasper wracked his brains.  He knew that Bunny had 11 older brothers and sisters.  Jasper himself wouldn't be able to keep her safe throughout her life, but perhaps one of them would be suitable?

A day of research did not give him a great deal of hope.  Many of Bunny's older siblings were evil, or hydrophobic, or had some other flaw.  The best, Bruce, was friendly, good, technophobic, and lucky, but he was already grown, and had his own life.  Would he forsake all that for the sake of a younger half sister?  Would he stay with her throughout her life?  Jasper thought not.

On the third night - which was Christmas, incidentally - Jasper was visited by the third spirit, his sister, Haven, Bunny's grandmother.

"Part of me," she told him.  "Give her a part of me."

When Jasper came to the house, he had two imaginary friend dolls in his inventory.  One, Wiggles, was his own.  Jasper and Wiggles had fallen out long ago.   Jasper apologised, and spent a day appearing as if he were talking to himself, but then they had another row, and Jasper sent him back to doll form.  The other, Buddy, was, I think Haven's.  I'm not sure how Jasper got it.  I know I was bored of imaginary friends at that point, after Rosemary's obsession with hers, so perhaps I gave it to Rosemary and Jasper when they moved out, to keep it away from Haven so she'd make real friends.  Initially, I put both Wiggles and Buddy in the family room downstairs, but Wiggles kept moving to follow Jasper and Buddy looked lonely, so I gave Buddy to Bunny.  I didn't think the imaginary friend would work for the wrong sim, but I got the same message from the game about Bunny becoming close to the toy as I normally would, so maybe it will.

Seeing his grand-niece's obsession with the toy, and knowing that his own time is limited, Jasper knows what he needs to do, to send a part of her family with her and keep her safe. He doesn't yet know why she might be in danger or where she might go, but he knows what he needs to do.  Jasper is a trained scientist.  He reached the top of the profession before retiring.  He has the skills he needs to do this - to make a potion which will turn her imaginary friend real, and give Bunny a real guardian, for the rest of her life.  Neither he nor I know if he has enough time.  His life bar is right at the end.  We're up against the RNG now.

Sims 3: Zodiac Challenge - Chapter 4, The Rabbit

While this is the first Rabbit chapter, it's mostly about tying up loose ends.  It also has a soundtrack.

Last time I played, I spent most of my time creating a new house for Ashlee (Jenna's sister) and Sammie (Ashlee's son with Avery) to live in with Logan, Avery's brother and Ashlee's boyfriend.  It's based on my current house, which I share with my landlady and her three kids, hence the huge amount of toddler stuff.  I'm quite pleased with my L-shaped stairs, though I did mean I had to change the shape of the back of the house to accomodate the weird floor.  It wasn't until I went to move Ashlee in that I realised she had been living with just her son and her cat, which is a bit unusual in this town where sims seem to move in together at random.  Logan had still been living with Haven, I guess because he was in a relationship with Ashlee, and sims don't really care about living with their parents.  Anyway, I moved them in and then just played for a few minutes.  At the end of that session, the game told me that Avery's Uncle Jasper was getting older and probably didn't have much time left.  Now, Jasper is Avery's favourite uncle - he's one of the reasons Avery became an astronaut.  He's also an old bachelor, now living with his twin sister's widow and the widow's new husband, which was probably a bit weird for everyone.

...so, Avery asked him to move in, and I turned the spare room into his bedroom.  I'd originally intended to keep Bunny's current room as a nursery and make the spare her big-kid room, but I can just sell the crib and have a guest room.

Shortly after that, I got a warning that Haven was also getting older, and was likely to die soon.  The game then moved Theo (Avery's youngest brother) in with Logan and Ashlee and rehomed Eli, her one remaining cat (I guess Eli's husband Shadow passed on already).  So I moved Haven in as well.  I'd thought tha Jake and Serena's tombstones/urns had gone missing, but they were in Haven's inventory, so I made a little shrine for them under Jake's legacy portrait (Jake was the Rat, second in the legacy challenge, and Haven and Jasper's father).

I also had a quick look at Jasper's memories, and there was loads of stuff I'd forgotten about, like all the teen party's he'd held when he was young, and even what Jasper and Rosemary had look like when they were young.  Here's Jasper's first memory of picking up Haven.  Remember, Jasper is second in age and Haven is third.  Rosemary was the eldest and Libby is the youngest.

To celebrate Haven and Jasper moving in, I sent them out with Bunny to grab a family photo.  Piper was also there, but for some reason, dogs can't be in the photos, which is dumb.

Jenna is fine with these new additions to the family, because they are old and rich, and so will die soon, and also they can help care for Bunny.  Remember that Jenna is evil.

Haven was enjoying a nice lunch with her eldest son when she suddenly complained of feeling ill.

Jasper ran in as she started to collapse.

...and Haven died.  Bunny is too young to remember her grandmother or be affected by her death (and also she was upstairs) but Jasper and Avery are a mess.   Jasper just wants to stay in his room and cry.

I've created a shrine for Haven in the dining room (Jake and Serena's is in the library), and I'll need to have someone go and fetch Silas' urn soon.  I also held my first funeral party.  It was kind of nice - Avery's cousins (Libby's kids) came, along with Rosemary's ex-wife and her new husband, and he got to talk to them.  Jasper did some reminiscing about childhood with Liberty - I hoped they'd flash Jake, Serena, Rosemary, or Haven's faces, but they just had pictures of party balloons and happy faces, possibly remembering Jasper and Rosie's teen party when Libby and Haven were kids and they went and asked their older cousins for bedtime stories.

...one of Avery's kids showed up and hung around outside for no apparent reason.

...and Avery got to have a nice moment with his brothers, Logan and Theo (who is still a teenager).  Jenna's mother also died during the party, but she wasn't invited, and Jenna didn't get any additional sad moodlets from it.   Jenna actually spent most of the party writing an article about the death of mother-in-laws, and got paid quite a lot for it.

Sims 3: Zodiac Challenge - Chapter 3, The Tiger

 

Tracy and Wyatt have moved in with Brianna McCombs next door, in the little house I built ages ago for Serena, when she and Jake broke up.  It's on a lake!  Piper misses them, so every so often she goes and scratches at the door.

In other news, Tommie Applegate tried to burgle Avery again, and the game tells me they're no longer friends.  I'm really not surprised.

Avery and Jenna have been dating and, finally, Avery proposed!  Right after he got his final promotion, to astronaut, and achieved his lifetime goal.  That leaves only one thing left for Avery to achieve - an heir for the next generation.  

Achieving his lifetime goal gave me enough points to purchase the 'clean slate' reward so everyone forgot about Avery's debauchery.  He's turned over a new leaf entirely, and invited his mother to his stag night (in the background, playing videogames with their alien friend).   That's Uncle Jasper flirting with the party dancer (the same one that Avery woohooed with at his stag night before his wedding to Tracy). 

As an astronaut, Avery only works on Mondays, so I just married them the next day.  I invited Tracy and Wyatt, as well as Avery's oldest child, Sammie (since his mother is Jenna's sister).  None of the school-age kids turned up, annoyingly, probably because the wedding was within school hours.

Avery's dead grandfather sent them a wedding gift, which I've decided to consider an inheritance.

...and I got a cute shot of Logan and Ashlee dancing together.  They're still together, but they don't live together and don't seem to be planning on getting married.  Maybe I'll do some town-editing and move them in together to hustle it along a bit.

Avery and Jenna needed a bigger house, because Jenna wanted one, and because she wants to have a baby very soon.  I like to to think this is part of her master plan in taking Avery's money, ensuring that she has a legitimate heir to claim.   I also like to think she wants a big house as part of her whole gold-digger thing.  Finally, I just wanted to have a go at making a big house, even though I do really love Avery's bachelor pad.

I'm quite pleased with it, even if we are just decorating room by room, as we need them and as they can afford it.  I'm thinking of it as Jenna planning most of the decor, so there's lots of pink, purple, and white.

Another change that I'm blaming on Jenna is the fact that Piper now has to sleep outside.

Jenna managed to get pregnant on day 1, and it's not been easy for her, though she did enjoy showing off the house and her belly at a house-warming party.  I like to think Heidi - who is a kleptomaniac, iirc - is jealous.  Sammie and Ashlee and Wyatt and Tracy were invited - I think so Jenna could rub it in their faces - and Sammie and Wyatt had a moment.

Since it was spooky day, Wyatt stopped by to trick or treat.  I think Wyatt is wondering if his dad recognises him in his costume.

Jenna has a lovely new office, which she keeps locked.  There, she writes up her stories - remember that she's a journalist - and plots her plots.

D'you see the little pink bear?  That's a mod called Dexter Bear.  It lets sims murder other sims.  I've also downloaded the overwatch and errortrap mods from NRAAS, because they help the game run more smoothly.  There have been a lot of bugs appearing recently - not least Jake sending his grandson a wedding gift quite a time after he died - and that's cemented my decision to have the heir move to another town, which hopefully eliminate most of them.   At the very least, it should eliminate the error messages about Cosmo, Rosemary's imaginary friend, who still seems to be around even though she has also died.

This will be my final Tiger update, because it ends with the birth of Avery's heir, the Rabbit.  I really wanted her to be a girl, so when feeding Jenna 10 watermelons didn't work, I resorted to using Cmar's pregnancy mod.  So Avery has his daughter!  Her name is Scarlett, but everyone will know her as Bunny.  Jenna won't have her crib in the bedroom, so Avery has resorted to his army training. 

Sims 3: Zodiac Challenge - Chapter 3, The Tiger

Avery's daughter, Carmen, came to the wedding.  She - and her mother and grandparents - weren't invited, but I didn't set the event to be 'exclusive', because, in all honesty, I was hoping for some kind of drama.  Carmen's thinking about fire, presumably because she's hydrophobic, which I think is linked to her being conceived in a shower.

Monica, Carmen's mother, glares at Tracy through the window as she walks past.

Ashlee, Jenna's sister and the mother of Avery's eldest child, is also in attendance.  She was invited, in her role as Logan's girlfriend.  Still, out of sight of Logan, she wipes away a tear as Avery finally turns up and says his vows.

After the ceremony, Ashlee approaches Tracy.   Avery has already headed home at this point.

Presumably, Ashlee is bringing up the idea of child support for Sammie.  I think part of her motivation might be a little bit of spite - wanting the woman Avery finally married to know what he's really like.  After all, he did have sex with Ashlee then leave her holding the baby before dating and proposing to her sister before cheating on her.  It's not Tracy's fault, but I can see why Ashlee would want to rain on the parade a little bit.

At home, Avery is, I assume, thinking (out loud) about being single.  Piper is thinking about chewing stuff.

When Tracy arrives home later, she checks the mailbox.  Inside are love letters from many of Avery's flings, and from Jenna.  He's already asleep, so she can't talk to him about it.

The next morning, Avery thinks about Wyatt for a bit and then goes downstairs and calls Jenna anyway.  I like to think that he's currently thinking of Jenna as his best friend, and she's certainly encouraging that.  They've not been romantically involved for a while, and she's not expressed any jealousy over his other women.  He's been seeking happiness in everyone's arms, believing Jenna wouldn't forgive him, for cheating on her, and for having a baby with her sister.  When she arrives, he immediately gets a wish to kiss her.

Maybe, he thinks.  Maybe Jenna was his happiness all along.  Can he resist the chance to find out, despite Tracy and Wyatt?  Well, remember that the Tiger is passionate, daring, selfish, and impulsive.

Before we get a chance to find out, Tracy wakes up and sees them through the window, flirting and complimenting each other.  As Avery goes inside to bathe Piper, Tracy comes downstairs. 

I get an option to "tell about Avery's other relationships" and when I click it, this happens.  Presumably, Tracy's reminding Jenna that Avery is married, to Tracy, and that they have a son.  Tbh, I think some of her annoyance at Ashlee is coming out here.

Jenna doesn't react to Tracy's insults, until Tracy slaps her.  

Then, she still doesn't react, but Tracy realises that Jenna is evil.  I like to think Jenna gave her a little smirk and maybe a teensy bit of evil monologuing.  Maybe just that she was going to steal Avery.

Avery missed whatever Jenna said to reveal her evilness, but does see Tracy screaming at her.  He goes to comfort Jenna.

 

Tracy accuses Jenna of being evil, but Jenna feigns innocence and all Avery can think is that he's tired of it all.

They row more, until eventually Avery says that he can't handle Tracy's jealousy, and that she can't attack his friends.   He wants a divorce.  In the background, Jenna smirks.

Picking up Wyatt, Tracy prepares to leave.  In the background, Jenna reassures Avery that it will always be okay, that clearly Tracy wasn't the right person for him, but the right person will turn up soon.  Inside, she thinks about how much fun she's having.

Avery and Jenna sit down to watch the stars together.  Jenna is having the best evening of her life.