Paternity! Werewolves! Engagements!

1. Hi there! So, here’s the thing: I’ve been playing this neighborhood for a while now, and
I’m on generation two. (Maybe three, depending on how you count.) I didn’t start taking
pictures til December 2007 (when Bon Voyage came out for Mac) and I didn’t start
reading stories til February 2008. In September 2008, I thought “Hey, I should try my
hand at this writing thing.” The results were pretty awful, and so now, in July 2009, I’m
rewriting early chapters. This first chapter will still be a little choppy, since I’ll need to
stop every so often and let you know who this sim or that is.
A few notes about the way I play: I don’t use hacks, the only CC I use is what I’ve made
myself, and I never use cheats.
No, never.
Well…hardly ever.
Generally, when two sims get married, the younger takes the elder’s name regardless of
gender, with a few exceptions such as complete untypeability or the prospect of yet
another family named Sanders.
Are you ready? Okay, then, let’s get started!

2. Once upon a time, there was a woman named Madame Sanders who had two daughters.
Martha, the younger, was fairly ordinary (and also fairly dull); no pictures of her survive.
Javotte, the elder, was heartbreakingly plain and a great favorite of mine.

3. I made a handsome husband for Javotte (Henri Sanders, born Henri LeRoy – on the left)
and did my best to fulfill her wants. After babies number three and four, I would have
stopped, but Javotte decided she wanted ten children.

4. I tried.
Javotte is the distinguished lady in brown. Clockwise from her: Gervaise (#5), Pierre (#6
– one-half of the second set of twins), Marcel (#4 – one-half of the first set of twins),
Francois (#7 – the other half of the second set), Henri, Jean (#2), and Yvonne (#3 – the
other half of the first set). At the time of this picture, Marie (#1) was no longer living at
home.

5. Actually, that picture may have been taken at the same time as she was getting married
on a tropical beach. The lucky fellow is Orion Curious, soon to become Orion Sanders,
the son of Pascal Curious and a really nice telescope. I like to have alien influence in my
gene pool, and I’ve had exactly one natural abduction in three real-life years. (And I was
so excited about that, I accidentally quit without saving.)

6. Like I said, I didn’t take very many pictures when I started out, and I took even fewer
pictures of the people I didn’t find particularly interesting. Even when I had some sort of
plot going, I didn’t document. That’s why, despite a whole involved storyline about
Francois’s college affair with a much older woman obsessed with resurrecting her dead
boyfriend, this amazingly low-quality picture is the only proof it ever existed. (Well, that
and the resulting baby.)
Allyn was four days from elder at this point, and her father was a hale and hearty 83. She
did succeed in resurrecting boyfriend Steven Raymond after the birth of Robin, and he
promptly left her when he found out that she was still willing to be friends with Francois.
Allyn’s father died shortly after Robin turned toddler, and Allyn herself died on the day
Robin became a child.
Actually, that’s not a bad place to rejoin our story, which is Already in Progress…

7. FRANCOIS: Hi. Um. My name’s Francois Sanders. I’m calling about Allyn Smith? She,
uh, di – passed away recently, and her son Robin –
FRANCOIS: Yes. I’m his father.
FRANCOIS: Of course.
FRANCOIS: I’ll be down first thing in the morning. Thank you.

8. FRANCOIS: Well, here we are.
ROBIN (politely): Thank you, Mr. Sanders. I had fun today. What time do I have to go
back to the Home?
FRANCOIS: Go ba – ? (blinking very fast) Never. You never have to go back to the
Home. You live here now. And my name isn’t Mr. Sanders – try “Daddy.”
ROBIN: Mr. Daddy?
FRANCOIS: No, no, just “Daddy.”
ROBIN (trying very hard to understand): Mr. Just Daddy?
FRANCOIS: (sigh) Mr. Daddy it is. Do you want to see your room now?
ROBIN: Okay, Mr. Daddy.

9. FRANCOIS: So, here’s your room. It was the guest room, but it’s all yours now. I had a
designer in when I first moved in here…what do you think? Is it okay?
ROBIN (politely): It’s really fancy.
FRANCOIS (quickly): I can have it redone. We can use whatever theme you want. What
do you like? Cowboys? Soccer? Race cars! (No reaction from Robin.) Um…
ROBIN: This is okay, Mr. Daddy.
FRANCOIS (easing towards the door): Well…if you’re sure…I’m just going to get
dinner started, so take some time to get settled…
ROBIN: Mr. Daddy?
FRANCOIS (stopping in the doorway): Yeah, kiddo?
ROBIN: Is Mommy ever coming back?
FRANCOIS: No. No, she’s not. (hopefully) But I’m here…
ROBIN: Uh-huh.
FRANCOIS: Well…I…Dinner. I have to make dinner. (Escapes)
Wow, this doesn’t bode well. And now the poor little guy’s asleep in that big huge
horrible room. I feel just awful. This isn’t going to work out – wait…What’s this…?

10. ROBIN: Um…Mr. Daddy?
FRANCOIS (groggily): What’s up, kiddo?
ROBIN: I can’t sleep. It doesn’t sound right in my room and the bed’s too big and I don’t
like being all alone. Mommy always used to stay with me until I fell asleep…
FRANCOIS: It’s going to be okay, big guy. Do you want to come in with me tonight?
ROBIN: (sniffle) Uh-huh.

11. FRANCOIS: Good night, kiddo. Sweet dreams.
Maybe this will work out after all. I sure do hope so. Poor little guy…

12. Not all of Javotte’s children are as interesting as Francois. Gervaise, for example, became
the owner of QND, a clothing and makeover business, and this is probably the last you’ll
ever see of him. Pity I hadn’t quite got the picture settings figured out yet.

13. Similarly, Pierre has moved in with bachelor brothers Gervaise and Francois and helped
take care of Robin. He joined the Adventurer career track, and eventually topped it. He’s
pretty easygoing, and totally uninteresting. (Although Robin doesn’t seem to think so.)

14. Other family members go in and out of being interesting. Take Yvonne, for example. She
married a nice Family sim she met in college, Ricky Miller. Strange but true fact: Yvonne
and Ricky look creepily alike. If you cloned Yvonne and made her male, you’d end up
with someone very much like Ricky.
They woohooed like hormone-crazed rabbits all through junior and senior years, but
since Yvonne is a doctor and therefore knows all about family planning, they did not end
up with a family the size of Javotte’s. The Millers have three children: Lucky (blond,
one-half of a set of twins), Stacey, and Byron (brunette, the other half of the set). For
now, just remember that they’re here.

15. Or Jean. Jean became a Hall of Famer in pretty short order. The love of his life is Polluxa
Curious, star of stage and screen. (You can see some of her posters on the wall behind
them.) They never bothered to get married, but they have one child: Alice Curious. She
just left for college; we’ll see her next time, although I have lots of kids in college just
now, so there may end up being a separate college chapter. We shall see.
Incidentally, Polluxa Curious is Orion’s cousin. Also his half-sister. It’s complicated.
Polluxa is the daughter of Vidcund Curious and a really nice telescope.

16. Polluxa has a twin brother named Castor. Marrying Tiffany Zarubin (of Garden Club
fame) is the only interesting thing he’s done.
Vidcund ended up marrying plantsim Daisy Greenman and becoming a plantsim himself.
They had a set of twins the usual way – Galileo and Heddy – and Daisy had a plantbaby,
a boy named Thorn. Vidcund and Daisy Curious have both passed on, but Thorn has two
plantchildren of his own: a boy named Root and a girl named Lily. I mention this because
they show up occasionally. In fact…

17. Galileo married a mail-order bride from the Far East named Lydia Couderc. Although
she’s quite a bit younger than him, it seems to be working out. He even took her name,
since I’ve already got five adults named Curious running around the ‘hood. They have a
son named Mircea, after Lydia’s father.
Galileo secretly still worries because he doesn’t actually know how to spell MEER-cha.
They left the ancestral Curious house and moved into a lot which will be improved using
a middle-of-nowhere handicap, just because I get bored sometimes. Galileo’s twin sister
Hedy also lives with them.

18. HEDY (V.O.): You know that Gabe guy who was in our Welcome Wagon? We wen – I
mean, I saw him down at Ninja Games the other night, and it turns out he’s a werewolf.
Isn’t that wild?
LYDIA (to Galileo) (V.O.): Gabe? Is that the one she was flirt with?
HEDY (V.O.): I was not! And so what if I was?
GALILEO (V.O.): Oooo – has my little sister got a boyfriend?
HEDY (V.O.): Shut up! Anyway, Francois is my boyfriend.

19. GALILEO: You mean you’re one of his girlfriends. The man’s a tomcat.
LYDIA: What means “tomcat”?
HEDY: That’s it. I’m leaving.

20. I’ll show them. He really is my boyfriend. They’ll see.
HEDY: Hi…Francois?

21. HEDY: There you are, stranger!
FRANCOIS: Mmmmmph!

22. FRANCOIS: I thought you said it was important.
HEDY: It is! I missed you.
FRANCOIS: Listen, Hedy, tonight’s not a good night.
HEDY: But…
FRANCOIS: Listen, Hedy, we have fun together, right? And you know I love you. But I
have other…responsibilities now. I’m a father, for Peri’s sake, I can’t just drop
everything…
HEDY: Yeah, I get it. Go home.
FRANCOIS: Hedy…
HEDY: Nah. It’s cool. Go.

23. HEDY: (sniffle) Hi…Gabe?
And speaking of people who show up later in the story…

24. This is the Littledragon family. The fellow with the huge nasty unsightly plumbob over
his head is paterfamilias Vlad Littledragon. (I did eventually learn about things like
framing, cameraman mode, and plumbbobtoggle, I swear!)
Moving clockwise, we have Colin (son #1), Andrew (son #2), Elaine (wife), and
Jonathan (son #3).
Vlad is rich. Elaine is beautiful. This is apparently a good basis for marriage.
I am aware that normal teenage boys do not wear button-up shirts and nice slacks. Both
Elaine and Vlad are near-paranoid about appearances.

25. Vlad considers education to be second in importance only to appearances. The boys
spend a lot of time skilling. All three are accomplished piano players and chess masters.
Jonathan still does poorly in school.
ELAINE: Dear, if only you would try, Father would ease up a little.
JONATHAN: I do try, Mother.
ELAINE: You can’t really be trying, dear. If you were, your grades would be better. I’m
afraid that at your current level of effort, you’re simply a disappointment.
Jonathan is actually severely dyslexic. Vlad believes “dyslexic” is a synonym for “lazy,”
and will neither accept that as a reason for poor grades nor provide for any special
assistance.

26. Fortunately, this doesn’t seem to bother Jonathan too much.
Remarkably enough, this family is actually not related to the Sanders family in any way,
although Elaine and Vlad are friends with Marie and Orion, and Colin and Andrew are
friends with Andromeda and Hunter.
Wait…who?
I bet you thought I’d forgotten about Marie, didn’t you?

27. As if I’d do that! Marie and Orion are particular favorites of mine. Not everyone gets to
have a wedding on a tropical beach, you know.
Marie and Orion have just become elders. That means that someday the Grim Reaper will
come for them, which makes me sad. But I promise, guys: If he must come for you, he
will at least come with a suggestively-named drink and hula zombies.

28. Marie and Orion have two children: Andromeda, on the left, and Hunter, on the right.
Hunter is the older, by a good seven years. This picture was taken the night before he left
for college.

29. Since Hunter is both a Family sim and painfully shy, he signed up with the Wishing Well
Dating Service. They guarantee instant satisfaction.
Hunter certainly has no complaints. This snazzily-dressed fellow is Peter Fuchs. Go
ahead and snicker; get it out of your system.
Feel better? Good, ‘cause I’ve decided it’s actually pronounced “Fewkes.”

30. Peter’s eight years older than Hunter, and he grew up in a trailer park instead of a nice
big house, and he joined the military straight out of high school, but none of that seems to
be a problem. He – oh wait, Hunter’s talking about him now. Let’s listen in.
HUNTER: He’s handsome, he’s fit, he’s good with his hands…
HUNTER: MOM! No! He’s very skilled mechanically! Esme, I can’t believe you just
said that! – He knows all the best clubs and we always have a good time…
HUNTER: The problem is, he stood me up last time. He said there was no excuse and he
apologized like five times already, but I don’t know if I can trust him anymore.

31. HUNTER: Of course I’m trustworthy!
HUNTER: The bus? I don’t know. I missed it like four times, I guess…
HUNTER: Because I started doing something and forgot.
HUNTER: Just one! I only slept through one final, Mom, and you know it!
HUNTER: Because I forgot to set the alarm. Okay, I see your point.
HUNTER: No, I don’t think he’s cheating on me.

32. HUNTER (V.O.): Yeah, I guess you’re right, Mom. I’ll give him another chance.
HUNTER: Peter, I…I’m sorry I got so upset.
PETER: Aw, it’s okay, sweetie. I messed up. You have a right t’be mad.
HUNTER: No, but I overreacted. I…I want to make it up to you.
PETER: You don’t hafta do that.

33. PETER: Course, if you insist, I’m not gonna argue…
Ahem. Let’s give them a little privacy, shall we? We can visit the last member of the
Sanders family.

34. As you can see, Marcel’s face exploded when he got to college. Despite this obvious
handicap, he immediately rolled the want to fall in love. I sent him on so many dates with
nice, middle-of-the-road girls, and about two and a half sim-minutes in, he would start
rolling wants for doing his homework, or gaining a cleaning point, or calling his mother.
Frustrated me no end! Given who he picked out on his own, though, it’s understandable.
This is Zeeshan Sanders, tattooed and pierced Knowledge sim.
Zeeshan was abducted by aliens several years into the marriage
*cough*boolProp*cough* and returned with daughter Cassiopeia and alien technology
*cough*moreboolProp*cough* that would allow him to have a baby with Family sim
Marcel, who wanted one. Zeeshan’s pregnancy was fairly easy, but Marcel’s was near-
fatal, and Zeeshan refuses to share the technology with anyone else. Both men consider
both girls to be fully theirs, but only Rosalie is genetically related to Marcel.
Because I cannot type Cassiopeia, she will forever after be referred to as Cassie.
I did eventually learn about cameraman mode. I swear!
CASSIOPEIA (V.O.): DadZee? I was reading a book last night and it said that kids look
like their parents.
ZEESHAN (V.O.): That's true.
CASSIOPEIA (V.O.): And Rosalie looks like you and DadMar...
ZEESHAN (V.O.): Yes, she does.
CASSIOPEIA (V.O.): But I don't.

35. ZEESHAN (V.O.): Sure you do – you've got my cheeks and my cute little button nose.
CASSIOPEIA: But I don't look much like you. And I don't look like DadMar at all.
Why?
ZEESHAN: (deep breath) Well – you know boys and girls are different, right?
CASSIOPEIA: Uh-huh. Boys are stinky. And big boys have beards unless they shave.
And big girls are fatter than big boys.
ZEESHAN: Fatter?
CASSIOPEIA: Uh-huh. In the chest and the sit-down.
ZEESHAN: Right...

36. ZEESHAN: Well, when they grow up, girls can have babies. And the reason that girls
can have babies is that there's a special chemical in their bodies called estrogen. It makes
them...fatter...and it lets them have babies. With me so far?
CASSIOPEIA: Uh-huh.
ZEESHAN: Well, with aliens, the chemicals are a little bit different. The chemical that
lets alien girls have babies is called testosterone. Human girls don't have it, but human
boys do. That's what makes them grow beards.
CASSIOPEIA: Unless they shave.
ZEESHAN: Unless they shave, right.

37. ZEESHAN: Well, all the alien girls got very sick and now they can't have babies
anymore. Do you know what happens if there are no more babies?
CASSIOPEIA: Everybody gets old and dies and then they go extinct, like dodos?
ZEESHAN: That's right. Now, I'm a human boy, so I have testosterone, just like the alien
girls. That means that I can have alien babies. So the aliens took me up into their
spaceship and asked me if I would have a baby for them so they wouldn't go extinct and I
said okay. And that's where I got you.
ZEESHAN: What's wrong, pumpkin?
CASSIOPEIA: I don't have to go away on a spaceship when I grow up, do I?
ZEESHAN: No, of course not! You can stay here forever.
CASSIOPEIA: Good. (thoughtful pause, then, concerned) Does that mean that DadMar
isn't my real daddy?

38. ZEESHAN: He's not your biological daddy, but he's still one of your real daddies. You're
still my little princess. And DadMar still loves you every bit as much as I do. Okay?
CASSIOPEIA: Okay.
And I’d say that about sums it up…Wait. Hang on a second.
Oh, come over here, quick! (beckons excitedly) But shhh. We don’t want to spoil the
moment.

39. HUNTER: So, um, I’m going to be graduating soon, and I was thinking that maybe, um,
instead of me moving back in with my folks, that maybe we could, um…
PETER: Wait a minute. Are you plannin on proposin?
HUNTER: Um, well…
PETER: I hope not.

40. PETER: Cause I am. Hunter Sanders, will you marry me?
HUNTER: Eeeeee!

41. PETER (in one breath): Now I know that’s only from onea those cheap places in the mall
an not only is it not a real diamond it’s prolly not even glass an it’ll prolly turn your
finger green if you get it wet but I needed the money for a down payment an I swear to
you I’ll replace it as soon as I can –
HUNTER: A down payment on what?
PETER: A house.
HUNTER: But you already own your house.
PETER: A new house. Cause you want kids an there’s no way they’d fit inna that little
one bedroom. Now, the new one’s a handyman’s special, but –

42. HUNTER: I don’t care what the house is like and I don’t care if the ring is real glass or
not. As long as they come with you, I’m happy.
PETER: So that’s a yes?
HUNTER: Yes, that’s a yes.
(sigh) Oh, I do like engagements! But you know what’s even better than engagements?
Weddings! And I think we may just have one next time.
Thank you for joining me! I hope you’ll stop by again for Chapter 2. I swear that I
eventually did get the hang of the whole plumbbob thing.