The Smith Family: Week 4

At the start of the Smiths' next week, Jenny is 70, and as a PermaPlat Sim, I hardly control her any longer (with the exception of greeting other New Maximilianians when they happen to walk by her house).

Her son Johnny still lives with her, and he still is pursuing his romantic relationship with Jenna, the vampire contessa.

No, that's not Jill - it's Jenna, when she's not in her contessa robe and vampire hairdo!

It was bound to happen at some stage, wasn't it! While it is still dark very early on Sunday morning (remember: the Smiths' weeks are played Sunday to Saturday, not Monday to Sunday), Jenna approaches Johnny...

...and turns him into a vampire. This could be dangerous - he is on PermaPlat, too, uncontrolled by me for most of the time. Will he be daft enough to go out in the sun?

So that's what an Alien-Vampire skintone looks like! (A première in my game.) At least the shirt matches his eyes ;-)

A coffin is placed in one of the two empty rooms upstairs, for Johnny to sleep in. But... he really IS daft enough to not hide in there during the day.

Still on Sunday, Jill moves back in with her Mom and big brother. She has graduated Summa Cum Laude in Philosphy and will now make a start on her LTW, that of becoming General.

But before she even starts looking for a job, she asks her sweetheart Mitch Indie and his half-Alien daughter Isabella to move in with them. Of course, Mitch happily accepts! (You can read how their relationship started here.) Well, if anyone knows about half-Alien children, it is the Smiths!

Isabella now changes her hairstyle. It is not as long as that of Jill's yet, but she hopes that one day it will be.

Jill is lucky and is accepted for the position of Counter Intelligence.

Here's Johnny - still not in his coffin, still up in full daylight, and not doing well at all regarding his needs.

Jenny watches her newly acquired "grandchild" Isabella getting acquainted with Bailey, Jill's cat.

The gypsy woman leaves one of her magic lamps on the back porch. There seems to be no end to her supply!

Two gypsy ladies on the same lot at the same time? Yes, it's possible; one has just left the magic lamp, while the other was called by Mitch, who buys vampirocillin from her. Yes, I have decided to "cure" Johnny's vampirism; he is really doing so badly, AND he has spun up the wish of being cured - that's enough reasons for me to intervene in this situation, although I normally do not intervene much with PermaPlat Sims.

Johnny takes the medicine and is a normal half-Alien again.

Meanwhile, food has been served downstairs. For Mitch and Isabella, it is the first meal at the Smiths'. Yes, it is still the same day, Sunday.

Jill has just finished her first day on the new job.

I know that Jenny won't live very long into the following week, and since both Mitch and Jill show the wish to get married, I decide to have them have their wedding immediately. The arch and chairs are set up in the back yard, and balloons (from Jenny's inventory) make the guests feel welcome by the garden gate.

Benedick Monty, Silvia Singles, Beatrice Monty, Pauline Aspir and Bottom Summerdream are on the guest list...

...as well as Shaun Singles and Sharla Ottomas.

I did not expect Jill to wear a Kimono for a wedding dress, but it was her choice, and so be it!

Everyone applauds the new Mr. and Mrs. Indie!

No, not everyone. Johnny has fallen asleep on the spot where he took the vampirocillin a few hours before. As I said, he really is not doing well at all.

There is wedding cake for everyone, and Johnny desperately reaches for a piece - but it is too late... he has been waiting too long, and it is entirely his own fault, I'm afraid!

Nobody invited Mr. Reaper to the wedding, but he came in nonetheless. Poor Johnny, and poor Jenny and Jill - I am sure she and Mitch never imagined their wedding day to be the day of the brother of the bride's death! Johnny was 9 days from Elderhood.

I have intervened with Johnny's vampirism, and the reasons for intervening again are similar: Both Jenny and Jill show the wish to have Johnny resurrected, and since the family have been given a magic lamp the day before, Jenny is allowed to request this from the genie on Monday.

Her wish is granted, and Johnny comes back - in full glow, not as a zombie (that was my secret fear!), and much younger than before: he is now at the start of his adult life again. He is still (or again) on PermaPlat, by the way, and still with his former job of Mayor.

What with all those events - Jill returning from college, Mitch and Isabella moving in, Jill starting her military career, Johnny being cured from vampirism, Jill and Mitch getting married and then Johnny's death by starvation - nobody has really had time for any yard work. Mitch and Jill are both going to be busy with their careers (Mitch is not yet on Permaplat; he is an aspiring Education Minister). Jenny and Johnny are both not controlled by me, and so I can not rely on them to do the gardening regularly. Therefore, a gardener is employed.

Jenny is glad the genie was able to defeat death and bring her son back.

Mitch returns from work on this Monday as a High School Principal.

On Tuesday, Jill is promoted to Flight Officer.

Isabella brings home her first A+...

...and it is a good sign that she comes running to her new step-mom Jill to show the report.

Later that day, Jenny's time is up - she is only 72, but she can leave in the knowledge that her son was resurrected and has many good years ahead and that her daughter is happily married and little Isabella settling in well. She is now ready to join Polli, who has preceded her quite a long time ago.

Even knowing all that, Jill and Johnny suffer a lot from the loss of their Mom.

On Wednesday, Mitch is promoted to College Senior Professor. He now needs quite a few more skill points, and it is questionable whether there is going to be another promotion for him before the week is over.

Jill is made Senior Officer. Work helps a bit with the grief for her mother.

Johnny is even more affected than his sister. I don't think I've ever seen a Sim grieving for a family member for so long! For the rest of the week, he keeps interrupting his activities to cry over Jenny; he sleeps badly and even gets out of the bath tub before he is really finished.

Befriending his recently acquired "niece" seems to help a bit. (He did that on his own.)

On Thursday, Jill is made Commander. That is the first time she smiles again since her mother's death.

On Friday, Bailey the cat plays with Bailey the dog :-) (The dog is a stray. I really DO wish the name generator for pets wasn't so buggy!)

Johnny is on his own today. Isabella is at school, Jill and Mitch are at work. On his own initiative, he takes care of the bugs that have infested the lot (someone - I never saw who - had thrown the trash can over).

He spends good part of the morning reading the science section of the paper. Never mind the old newspapers accumulating on the front porch, or the puddle left there by Bailey, the stray dog!

Still on Friday, Mitch - who needs a cleaning point - rakes the leaves in the yard. I order him to burn them, and next thing I know, he has caught fire himself!

Isabella and Jill are safe inside the house, both busy with tasks I gave them (homework for Isabella and skilling for Jill), but the uncontrolled Johnny runs out to the fire, and I fear he'll be caught in the flames as well.

This time, Johnny has better luck than when he died of starvation, but it is too late for Mitch: he ends up as a tiny pile of ashes, and Mr. Reaper is paying his third visit to the Smiths' this week!

Only now do Mitch's daughter and wife realize what has happened. They are, as you can imagine, devastated. (The other Sims here are Callum Capp and Parvati Patel; they had been walking by and were invited in by Johnny.)

"Now we only have each other, love," Jill hugs her step-daughter.

Poor Isabella!

Johnny does his best to cheer up the sad little girl. (Again, he did that without me telling him.)

For Jill, playing with her cat seems to provide a bit of helpful distraction. Who would have expected her to become a widow so soon!

Isabella, too, enjoys playing with Bailey.

The week ends with Isabella growing up into a teenager on Saturday evening. She draws the Pleasure aspiration, but by the time I sent her to bed, her LTW still had not come up. Therefore, we'll have to wait for the next round to find out what it is!