Sims 3: Zodiac Challenge - Chapter 3, The Tiger

I've ended up spending longer than I wanted with an adult Avery living with his parents.  I was still aiming to see Silas reach level 10 of his career track, but first it was graduation day - so no work - and then it was family day - so no work - and then it was his day off - so no work.

Haven ran into Jenna outside of Avery's graduation.  As soon as they spotted each other, they started thinking about each other.  I think that Haven is suspicious of Jenna, based on the fact that she immediately wanted to question her as soon as they got engaged, and now keeps getting wishes to talk to her and get to know her.

Logan has confessed his love to Ashlee, the mother of his brother's child.  I presume he is vowing to stand by her and adopt his nephew as his own son, despite the fact that he's only like 16 or 17 at this point.  He's a good boy.  He's also an athlete who loves the sun and the cold.  I forget his other trait, but I know Haven's hoping he'll become a genius when he ages into adulthood.

Having signed up to join the military, Avery got to enjoy one last family Christmas at home, with all his relatives and their close family fried, Oxzyothe (the alien).  At this point, Avery and Silas are exchanging glances over the fact that Rosemary has turned up in her underwear again.

He did a bit more working out in preparation for boot camp.

Meanwhile, Silas aged up into an elder and Haven revealed that they will have a third child to care for in their golden years!   They're both hoping for a girl, like they secretly wanted all along.  Then Silas went off for his last day of work, and his promotion to level 10, and Avery moved out.

Having just gotten the Pets expansion, I kind-of want Avery to move towns, to Appaloosa plains.  Apart from anything else, this town is really full and built over - so very few empty lots to play with -  and we're related to most of it.  He's already woohooed with one of his first cousins once removed (Leo's great-granddaughter, if anyone's keeping track) and dated another.  I checked though, and it seems like Avery would lose his entire family tree, which is a bit much for a legacy challenge.  He would also lose his fiancee, and I have plans for them.  However, I may well have Avery's heir move.  I can (hopefully) keep my legacy paintings and pack up the family graves before I go, so losing the family tree won't be as much of a loss.  Plus, Avery's youngest child will be born quite a bit later in his life than he was in Haven's, so he'll be a lot closer to death when they reach adulthood, and Haven and Silas will be long gone, so much fewer ties.  We'll see.

I'm quite pleased with Avery's new home.  It's modern, with huge windows, overlooking the sea.  I put in lots of realistic little bits of clutter, which I normally never bother with.  I'm quite happy with it!

Avery's eldest son, Sammie, is now a child.  I like that he's wearing a tiger-striped jumper.

To celebrate his new home, Avery invited one of his old friends over, woohooed with her in the shower, and then was like "so, we're cool right?  You know I'm engaged, and this can't ever be a thing?".  She wasn't happy.  Later, she got together with someone else before giving birth to Avery's second son, Jon, who is hydrophobic and neurotic, so that sounds delightful.  I bet he's one of those twitchy, nervous kids, who knows the exact statistics on what might kill you.

Avery's new puppy is called Piper, and she is a lovely little ball of fluff.  Avery makes her gourmet dog food and dotes on her.

Avery called Jenna over after work.  She's joined the journalist career, hence the outfit.  Piper didn't seem to like her any more than Haven did - she barked a lot and Jenna went home, right when she and Avery were going to woohoo for the first time.

...so Avery called over his new boss and woohooed with her instead.

She wasn't happy about the let's-be-friends speech either.  Later she gave birth to Bruce - who is friendly and easily impressed - and presumably had a lot of explaining to do to her wife.  Around this point, I decided that my personal goal for Avery is for him to have 12 children, with the last and youngest being his heir with Jenna.  I'm hoping for a girl my next heir.  Speaking of third sons and hoping for a girl, Haven's third child is a boy, Theodore.  He'll be her last child, since she's now an elder.  Both Haven and Silas wanted a daughter - and have since Avery was conceived - but Theodore is artistic, like both his parents, and a genius, like his grandpa Jake, so he's not a total disappointment.  While we're on the subject of Avery's parental household, they adopted another cat before he moved out, Shadow, because Eli was a bit lonely and no one had time to play with her.  According to Avery's friend screen, Shadow and Eli are now married, so that worked out for them.

Avery invited Jenna over again.  I'm planning a long engagement - until he reaches adulthood as opposed to young adulthood, basically - but the game isn't used to that.  Avery has popped wishes to marry Jenna and to get married generally so far.  Notice how Jenna is thinking about money.

Avery made her dinner and then they watched TV together.  Avery seems worried about their relationship, judging from his face.  Sure, he's sowing his wild oats, but Jenna is his one true love.  I like to think he puts sex and love in different categories, and would be shocked to learn that other people feel otherwise.

 This is what he said when he shared a secret with her.

Meanwhile, Piper is having nightmares about crying babies.

There's something I keep hinting about with Jenna, that I know but Avery doesn't.  See, I created Jenna and her sisters as teens, and I gave her only positive traits.  For instance, she's a handy daredevil, which is why she gets on with Avery.  I was thinking of a Cinderella thing, which is why her mother's an ambitious mooch and Ashlee's a kleptomaniac.

I didn't know what trait Jenna got when she aged up as an adult, because Avery hasn't discovered it yet - and nor has anyone else in his family - so I can't see it on any friends screen.  However, if I go to the family tree and click on Sammie, I can go back up through Ashlee and see all of Jenna's traits.  I know what her last trait is, even though Avery doesn't.  I think I know why she thinks about money and diamonds every time she's with Avery.  It even explains why she doesn't mind about the cheating.  You see....Jenna is evil, and I suspect she's a gold-digger, which means her lifetime wish is to see the ghost of her dead, rich spouse.

Avery.

Sims 3: Zodiac Challenge - Chapter 3, The Tiger

Having broken up with Ashlee, Logan is now playing the field.  He has a thing for Jenna, Ashlee's sister, but she's dating someone.  I sent him to the library to do some work, left him alone for a bit, and came back to find him flirting with Tracy, who is an artistic loner with ugly hair who works in the mausoleum.  I feel like, for those reasons, she's not a popular kid.  Avery later invited her over to work on their homework together, woohooed with her in the shower and then never bothered to call her.

Remember this description of the Tiger.

I'm leaning in to the charming, seductive, intense, passionate, selfish, and reckless elements, especially after three generations of responsible parents.  Speaking of responsible parents, Haven and Silas got a cat!  Her name is Eli.  

After Tracy went home, Jenna came and rang the doorbell, but started walking away before Avery could get to the door.  He called her back.  I like to think they had a passionate and intense conversation, about the fact that they love each other, but he dated her sister, and she has a boyfriend who is good and nice, and who she won't break up with for the guy who dated her sister and then broke up with her after sex.  Even if she does keep coming over to flirt with him, and they've been exchanging love letters.  They are bad for each other and this will not end well.

Haven got a wish to question Jenna at this point - because she's now reached that level of the police career - so I went with it.  It seemed very in character.

Another thing which did not come in Jenna and Avery's conversation - because I assume they never ever talk about it - is the fact that Ashlee had a baby.  I didn't realise she was expecting, and no one's ever had a conversation about it, but Avery started having wishes to buy baby things (and also to get married, though not to Ashlee), and this little guy popped up on the family tree.  His name is Sammie.  Since the next heir will be the youngest and I'm bored of looking after children, I'm ignoring Avery's older children.  He may have several - I'm choosing the risky woohoo option every time.

Following the painful and intense conversation with Jenna, Avery got invited on a date with this girl (whose name I have forgotten).  They built a snowman and woohooed in an igloo.  Avery is very popular at school.

It's now Avery's birthday, and he's basically ready to move out.  Haven has achieved her legacy goal and her lifetime goal, and Silas has also achieved his lifetime goal.  I might stick around for one more day, because Silas should get to level 10 of the police career, and that would be nice.  I've also got a painting of Haven's that I'd like to see finished.

Oh, and Silas has painted the legacy portraits.  I like how Haven's looks quite old-fashioned!

Jasper and Rosemary turned up to the party marching along in unison, like the twins they are.  Then Jasper broke the pattern by crying about a woman he loved, who is now dead.  Libby is also sad about the death of her second husband.  Meanwhile, Rosemary and Audrey gaze at one another, wondering if they've met before.  I'm not sure either.  Audrey is Libby's second daughter.

Later, after most people had gone home, I got this picture of Logan (now a teenager) and his uncle Jasper, hanging out and looking all matchy-matchy.  Logan's hair is a slightly different colour - presumably inherited from Silas - but the style is all Jasper.  Logan has a different personality though.  For one, he's been going over to visit Ashlee and Sammie every day.  I really wanted to put them in a relationship before moving out, even though he doesn't officially know that Sammie is Avery's son either.  It's weird how Avery is becoming a cross between his Uncle Jasper and his Aunt Libby.

When Avery aged up, he cut his hair.  That makes sense to me, because his life goal - selected as a young teenager - is to become an astronaut, so the first goal he got as an adult was to join the military.  Of course he cut his hair!  He and Jenna - now also a young adult - had a moment.  He asked her to break-up with her boyfriend and she finally agreed.

Then he proposed.  She said yes!

This presumably did not help Jasper's feelings about the only woman he ever actually loved.

Sims 3: Zodiac Challenge - Chapter 2, The Ox

Logan is now a child - though I'm not all that interested in him - and Haven has reached level 6 of the cookery career and switched to police.  That means she's achieved her legacy goals!  I do also have a private goal of having both my legacy sim and their partner achieve their lifetime wish, so Haven needs to reach level 5 in the police career - and get a car that Avery can take with him when he moves out - and Silas needs to max his painting skill.  He's on 8 right now.  I'd also like to visit Jake again, since he's still alive, having outlived his wife and all his younger siblings.

We have quite a large stash of household funds, but I'm going to save them all for Avery rather than invest in businesses right now, since he's not too far from aging up and out of the house.  Right now, I'm trying to get 20 friends for him, since it makes life much easier when you get that charisma achievement and your relationships stop decaying.  Avery is still dating Ashlee, but I think I'll probably have him dump her soon.

I tried to have Avery visit Jake - and Libby and Skye, who still live there - but everyone in the house was invisible, so I had Haven invite Jake over instead, and every one got to have a chat with him and hug him.  Which was good, because he died the next day.  I need to hold a funeral party for Jake, the genius, charismatic, incredibly successful businessman, who was basically a mafia boss.  What a guy!

Avery had an exciting Fall Festival.  He went to the fair and got turned into a ghost.  When that wore off, he visited his girlfriend, who was still in her costume.  They woohooed on her mom's bed, and then he broke up with her.  He doesn't want to get too tied down.  Also, he does kind-of fancy both her sisters, and every girl at school is attracted to him.   Breaking up with her was a good decision.  The sex first was a douchebag move though, and almost definitely one he learned from his uncle.

Silas is on level 9 of the police career, but it's going slowly because I can't be arsed to do reports and his logic skill is too low because I'm focused on painting.  He's on level 9 of painting now though, and halfway through that, so hopefully I'll be able to finish that soon, then work on logic and get that last promotion before Avery ages up.  I've been ignoring Silas for a bit, since those are his only goals, so when I checked his lifetime happiness points, he had LOADS.  Enough to get a motive mobile, and holy fuck, this thing is amazing!   Your sim gets into it and all their motives are maxed.  Brilliant.  I immediately gave it to Avery and it made learning to drive a breeze.  Normally, the teens fun level drops fast and you have to stop, but this time, we just kept going.  We got back at 3am, but it didn't matter, because both Avery and Haven had max motives and were ready for school/work.  I might lend it to Logan for his driving lessons, just to tick that off.  

This thing is a game-changer.  As long as I can keep it with my heir, it will make everything a lot easier.  Instant max motives, just for getting in a car!  No need to prepare for work, just remember to get the sim to drive there themselves rather than take the lift-share.  It's kind of ugly though - I wonder if I can edit it?  I also got the thing that changes a sim's body immediately (with Haven's points), and another floaty bed, ages ago.  The latter might be part of the reason Silas' points got so high, sleeping on that every night.

Oh, I also got Avery enough friends to get the charisma achievement by utilising the magic of phone calls.  A couple of them every evening got his relationships up fast enough to reach the goal, so now his friendships shouldn't decay any more.  He also reached level 5 charisma for breaking up with Ashlee, which was pretty funny.  Perhaps at level 10 he'll be able to break up with people as well as Phoebe did in Friends.  I'm quite excited for Avery to move out, because I know exactly the kind of house I want to build for him.  Still a few things to do before we can really start the Tiger chapters, though!

Sims 3: Zodiac Challenge - Chapter 2, The Ox

It occurs to me that I never explained why Avery is the heir.  Part of it is, I didn't know how many children Silas and Haven would want,  and honestly, after 4-5 kids, I'm hoping for a low number, so the eldest was always a strong candidate for this generation.  Another aspect is that I've read that Tigers are seen as the guardians of young children.  How can anyone but the eldest get that opportunity, to guard their younger siblings?

I've been taking a bit of a break from the Sims because of, you know, uni.  Also, I got Amnesia: Memories for a dollar through HumbleBundle so I just blitzed through that.

Haven, teaching her second child, Logan, to talk.  Haven is on level 5 of her third career.  Her life goal, Jack of All Trades, is to reach level 5 of four careers, but her Legacy goal includes reaching level 6, so I'll probably let her reach 6 in cooking and then have her join the police track, just because then I get a second free car (as well as the one Silas already owns).

Speaking of Silas' police career, we got burgled!  My first time in the whole challenge!   It turns out my burglar alarm was on the wrong wall, but luckily Silas was able to attack the burglar and get Avery's weight-lifting equipment back.  Then she hit on him.  It was weird for everyone.

Three sisters and their mom have moved in next door.  I was going for a Cinderella thing (and also playing with hair colours).  Their mom is a mooch, the middle sister is a kleptomanic, and so on.  Avery fancies all of the sisters (as intended), but my OTP for him is Jenna, the youngest.  However, she has a boyfriend, so he asked the middle sister, Ashlee, to prom instead.

Remember, the Tiger's goals are as follows.

In other news, Silas has begun painting the Legacy portrait of Haven, and Avery repaired the TV for the girls next door, which impressed Jenna a little bit.

At the prom, Avery was crowned King and became Ashlee's boyfriend, so it was generally a good night for him.