Stacks-Scott Household: Week 2

Week 1 for this household is here.

Last time we spent a week here, it was for the surname Scott. Now we are already back because there is another surname here - Stacks, the family I moved into this house originally. Let's do a quick check on who is who, sorting by age:

Cedric Stacks is 71. Before he married into the Stacks family, his surname was Cooke. Rings a bell? Yes. Maxis-made playable Julien Cooke was his human father. Cedric became Chief of Staff, thus reaching his lifetime want, three days before elderhood.

Helena Stacks is 67. Her mother was Maxis-made playable student Jane Stacks, her father was Matthew Hart, another playable student. She reached her lifetime want 8 days before elderhood when she became Rock Goddess.
Together, Helena and Cedric used to have three daughters. Two of them tragically died in a fire that started with a short-circuit in an outdoors Christmas ornament. Only Stephanie remains; she is currently at uni.

Helping the Stacks to cope with their grief, their good friend Vyn Scott moved in. She is 62 and has the typical Family Sim lifetime want of having six grandchildren. At her age, the only chance she has at achieving this is by adoption, and so she adopted two children who will hopefully each have three kids while Vyn is still alive.
Sharin her bed is Waylon Lam, an NPC student who was conjured up for her by the Matchmaker and turned out to be her 3-bolt-man.

Vyn's two boys are George and Geoffrey, both still kids.

On this Monday morning, I observe Helena making pork chops on her own initative. As she and Cedric are both on Permanent Platinum, they receive little direction from me.

Waylon is using the sunny morning for some rope-skipping on the back porch.

The boys return from school just as Waylon and Helena are setting off for a run around the neighbourhood. Off the bus with them gets Nero Newson.

In between homework and playing Red Hands, George (left) and Geoffrey (right) become best friends.

For Geoffrey, Tuesday morning starts yet again with a slightly burnt muffin for breakfast.

Cedric is providing his own entertainment.

Later, he goes to work. As Chief of Staff, he rides to hospital in an impressive stretch limousine. Can you imagine a real head of a hospital doing that?

Waylon has gone jogging again, and his effort is rewarded when his fitness level increases.

The same evening, Geoffrey grows up into a teenager. My dice assigns him the Pleasure aspiration, and the game assigns him to become Criminal Mastermind as his lifetime want.

As is often the case when children turn into teenagers, he changes his hair style.

Vyn and Waylon share a tender moment early on Wednesday morning.

"Morning, little brother!" Geoffrey smiles at George.

Now that he is a teenager, Geoffrey is dropped off by the school bus two hours before his younger brother. Today, class mate Cadence Shin accompanies him. She is an NPC teen, but if she were Geoffrey's three bolt girl, I would make him do something about it. As it turns out, though, there is no chemistry between the two, and so she is sent home and Geoffrey sits down with his homework.

Vyn is usually the one to look after the orange tree at the back of the house.

The evening ends with George growing up, too. His aspiration is Romance and, not very romantically, he wishes nothing more than earning 100,000 Simoleons in his life.

Thursday has only just begun when Waylon is at the telescope again. Apart from the possibility of an invitation aboard an Alien space ship, he really wants to acquire another logic skill point.

Later, Vyn joins him at the kitchen table for lunch while the boys are still at school. Cedric is at work and Helena is left to her own devices.

After they have finished their homework, I keep the boys busy with a mix of things they want to do and things that need doing around the house. Repairing the trash compactor is not such a good idea when one has zero mechanical skill, as Geoffrey finds out. Fortunately, he is right as rain again once he has had a shower and something to eat.

Helena does not feel well on Friday morning.

It is the first day of autumn; still warm, but the leaves have begun to turn.

Waylon is promoted to Rookie and brings colleague Lisa Gieke along from work.

The boys stay out after dark, talking until it is time for dinner.

Vyn and her boys end the evening, chatting over plates of spaghetti. Cedric joins them, while Waylon is resting and Helena is once more left to her own devices.

It is Saturday, and Vyn takes the family car to drive herself and the boys to the park.

Hunter's Park is always popular, and as our trio arrives, some townspeople are already there.

Vyn makes hot dogs, much to everyone's delight. They head home only when it begins to rain.

Couldn't that rain ending their park outing have lasted a little longer? It would have saved poor Vyn from a fiery death. She was 68, and now her two adoptive sons won't need to have children in order to fulfill their mother's lifetime want.

It is a sad day for the Stacks-Scott household.

But being a Rock Goddess means the show must go on, and so Helena boards the limousine taking her to tonight's concert venue. A passers-by sees her, thinking to himself - "Hey, that's the famous Rock Goddess Helena Stacks, isn't it!"

The boys brood over their plates of spaghetti. George can't really bring himself to eat in his grief.

Early on Sunday morning, Waylon decides (or rather, I decide for him) to move out.
He was never meant to be a fully fledged New Maximilianian, but only moved in because he was Vyn's three bolt man.
The boys were not particularly attached to him, and neither were Helena and Cedric.

George's lifetime want is to earn 100,000 Simoleons, and why not start on it today? He makes his first fiver by selling an admittedly not very good painting.

[Geoffrey is a Pleasure Sim, and one of the pleasures of autumn is flying a kite. "Give my love to my Mum if you meet her up there," he calls softly after the rising kite.

When the boys are in bed and Helena is still at work, Cedric has a lone meal of leftover salmon. He is now 78 and won't be around much longer, if I interpret his lifetime bar correctly.

Helena comes home a little later but goes to bed immediately. She is now 74 and still performing; how much longer is she going to manage such a demanding schedule?

This week was not very exciting to begin with, but took a dramatic turn with Vyn's death.
The boys are going to stay here until it is time for them to go to college, and I think Stephanie Stacks will return to her childhood home very soon.