Part two of the Apoc Challenge where stuff happens and people don't die.

1. Welcome back to my completely fubared version of an apocalypse where I don’t go for the sane lifts, but the ones that most of us leave for much later. Last time, we met our founder, Xavier Doran, watched him meet his LTW, get engaged, and graduate Summa Cum Laude from University with a degree in art. Thus the apoc began. And there is no real reason for the apocalypse, it just happened. And Elf-eared romance boy’s family gets to be the unlucky slobs who get to fix it all. A word of warning if you are easily offended by the random butt shot, then I suggest you turn back now. This part is peppered with meditation and sponge-bathing. And given the choice between the two I found sponge-bathing infinitely more interesting. On with the show!

2. We open with what will be a very familiar sight this Apocalypse, meditation in order to preserve needs/aspiration. Unlike his everyday outfit, Xavier’s athletic one bugs me. However I will have to live with it.

3. “Oh great,” the red-haired paper girl muttered, “not another Apocalypse. Haven’t we had enough of these?” “Om…” “And why can’t they find someplace else to meditate? I feel like they are stalking me, just waiting for the paper to show up.”

4. That is because we are. The sooner we find a job in Artist, the sooner we can get this thing moving. However no go. The first two jobs were both Freetime careers (Intelligence and Dance) and the last was Culinary, which I could take since Xavier’s degree is in art. However, lifting that would defeat the purpose of this experiment.

5. So it is back to meditating.

6. And more meditating. Yay! Now he can teleport random places for my amusement.

7. And still more meditating. “Maybe if I tiptoe, the crazy floating dude won’t notice me.” He may not, but I sure will. And I am not letting my paper be out long enough to get stolen. It is too crucial at this point in the game.

8. And I caught a break. Artist was the second career listed in the paper. However there was a small problem…

9. Someone, or some thing, decided it would be fun to kick/knock over Xavier’s trash can in the middle of the night. And I being the unobservant player that I am (Hey I was working at the time) missed it until we already had two infestations of roaches. Without science for spraying for insects, I am SOL. Although I did have a plan, I just needed to wait until later that day, Tuesday, to implement it.

10. But first, I moved the trashcan into the house so that it wouldn’t get knocked over again. Remember kids, Building cheats are totally acceptable. ^_^ So there is nothing in rules saying that your trashcan can’t be readily accessible by the family and inaccessible for those assholes/jilted lovers/hungry pets who like to knock it over.

11. And it’s back to meditating. Although Xavier didn’t get very far before the phone rang – one of the reasons this is his preferred meditation spot, easy access to the phone for those very important friend calls.

12. Oh Apartment Life, I love you. But the random gift giving that you do for the networking is not helping with athletic still in force. As you can see, one of his dormie friends gave him a $3500 television. Thanks, but yeah not sure what I am going to do with it. He later got a large flatscreen TV, a computer, and a discount in the buy/build mode. The last seems like a very unfair advantage to me, so I am family funding away the difference to make up for it. As he got these “Gifts,” I pulled out the one tile items. Per RoseFyre’s suggestion, I shoved the snapdragon on the inaccessible roof so that its effects wouldn’t reach him yet. After he finished the call with dormie chick, he rang up several old friends and invited them over.

13. A few brought new people with them, which turned out to be a very good thing…

14. Since Regina here did what I hoped someone would do…

15. And killed these icky, plague-ridden, bugs of doom deader than PadmeAmidala at the end of Revenge of the Sith.

16. Then Regina who was already in my good graces, became one of my most loved sims ever when she took out the second colony as well. I don’t care what career she is in, this girl is marrying in. The common sense gene is strong in her.

17. Although her dancing could use some work.

18. While his guests flail around and contort themselves into uncomfortable positions, Xavier makes the first meal of the apocalypse: Hamburgers. We shall be seeing a lot of these…

19. “Get a room.” “Happy to oblige…”

20. “So, I am rolling up the want to woohoo in a bed. Since you are still in college and can’t move in, we should take advantage of the non-pregnancy causing woohoo while we can.” “You had me at woohoo.”

21. “Dude, that is disgusting.” “Meh. Free food. Don’t want to die of post-woohoo hunger. That’d be bad.”

22. Soon after he licked all of the plates clean, Xavier shooed everyone out and went to bed. In VERY inappropriate PJs. I mean, there is such a thing as being too prepared for a zombie attack.

23. Although I gotta say, I do love a man in uniform. Rawr!

24. Wednesday, Xavier started his first day of work and I opened up Snooty Sims for their chance card options. Since I can’t ignore the suckers, I want to know which option is the least likely to end with him fired. Thus began the long climb to the top.

25. Along the way, there was much undie dancing. Xavier’s undies were MUCH more appropriate. So much so that I laughed when I saw the little hearts. My game does love me.

26. There was also more sponge bathing.

27. And of course, going to work. I also don’t mind Xavier’s outerwear. Although it is a bit too J-rock for me.

28. Xavier, amusingly, longed for the day when he could finally buy that lawn gnome that he had been dreaming of. He wrote lovingly about Mr. Gnome in his diary every night.

29. And because of his permaplatness, he continued to advance.

30. “Dammit, creator! I need a shower and some nookie. Not necessarily in that order. A psychotic romance sim isn’t a pretty thing to see.” Fine. Go get clean, I’ll keep an eye out for the walkbys.

31. Another sponge bath, and then I sent Xavier out to greet the 7pm walkby.

32. This guy. He’s the elder jock social group townie with the Komei face.

33. And he is also apparently Xavier’s new best friend.

34. Maybe I should make that best friend with benefits…

35. Lots of benefits… However I think that woohooing this guy would prove to be a mistake – he displays massive stalker tendencies.

36. Not to mention that Xavier here felt very unclean afterward.

37. And the sink also lodged a protest.

38. To make up for it, I invited over a different set of friends and Christy the next Tuesday.

39. I think Xavier felt better. Although I was massively creeped out by his sleeping with his eyes open.

40. Back to the grind… After this promotion, Xavier had a day off…

41. So he spent it meditating with breaks to answer incoming phone calls.

42. Another day, another promotion…

43. This time with a three day wait between work days… Cue speed three.

44. So on Monday, 14 days after moving home from college, Xavier went to work in what would hopefully be his last promotion. Now here is a crappy thing about the Artist career. Unlike many careers, you can’t get promoted and go to work again for another promotion. Another issue is that artist likes to have lots of days off. So while it may look like I am flying here, game time was another story. Seriously, I was ranting about the sheer number of days off…

45. However it all became worth it when he got home that evening and made it possible to decorate the house and skill creativity again.

46. The next day, Tuesday, as soon as noon hit, Xavier called up Christy and invited her over. Nevermind that he had work at 1pm. This was infinitely more important.

47. One greet, with creepy stalker man watching.

48. And Christy was moved in. And with only 5 minutes to spare before he would be late, Xavier dashed off to work. Nothing says true love like sprinting to the carpool while your wife-to-be transitions in front of your most recent lover.

49. “Oh my god what am I wearing!” “Oh I can’t look.” Yeah, I forgot to pull some of my Tudor/medieval clothing. Along with my random other clothes. This apocalypse is apparently not going to let me live it down.

50. Although, like Xavier, Christy does get a damn good everyday outfit that we will rarely see.

51. So allow me to introduce our founding Spouse: Christy, last name unimportant. She wants to have 20 simultaneous lovers. Which is likely not ever happening, although I may try. She has a bachelor’s degree in Biology and moved in with $13,000. She is in pretty good shape to go for Natural Science – which is my next lift. Now, it is Meta time. I am going to be knocking out the University Careers early. Why? Because I will not be able to go to college. Right now, it looks like Military is going to be my absolute last lift. So that means that I can’t move sims out. Which means no college, no community lots, etc. So my only chance to lift the Uni careers is by moving in dormies with degrees and to do that, you have to have a person on the lot with a diploma to do that. Hence the rush to knock those careers out early. Natural Science is my first choice. Simply because people think that Paranormal and Show Business are more important. You picked this, folks. I am just going to be playing with it.

52. That night, under the watchful eyes of stalker lover and his friend – they just keep inviting themselves in – Xavier and Christy exchanged their vows.

53. It’s a good thing that Christy has Xavier’s heart here, otherwise I think it would have been stolen by this guy. “That looks uncomfortable.” “It is.”

54. “Look, I’m gonna poke you in the ear and see how you like it!” “Mmmm… Hamburgers.”

55. Since Natural Science wasn’t in the paper at all, it’s time to start on generation 2. Heck, if Natural science had been there, the conception would be happening tonight. “Do I have to do this?” Yes.

56. “Look, I know that we are only going to be able to do this when we want to have a baby or when I am old and crusty. So you better make this worthwhile.”

57. “Hopefully I lived up to your expectations, love.” “I’ll tell you in a minute. All of a sudden, that hamburger isn’t sitting so well.”

58. “Maybe I should become a vegetarian.”

59. Xavier sighed. “She hates my cooking. She hates my woohoo.”

60. “Have I lost my touch?” “Let me finish washing my hands, and I’ll give you an answer that I think you‘ll like.”

61. “Does my being naked and in your lap assuage your fears?” “Yup!” -- Meta time! Sharp eyed viewers may have noticed that I have ACR in game. And I do. And it is not coming out – I love the hack and it is thanks to that hack that I have all of the plot in my OWBC and most of my kids. However in the spirit of the challenge, I changed the pregnancy settings to Try for a Baby – Always, Use Maxis Jealousy, and Low Autonomy. So every time Xavier’s and Christy’s timer goes off, they will try for a baby. In a house where I can’t move people out, this could present a problem. I figure the population problem I know this will cause makes up for the minor bonus the mod gives.

62. So next generation conceived, Xavier and Christy settled into married life. -- You will notice some decorations around the house. That is Xavier’s contribution. However until Life of Crime is lifted I am limiting my decorations to ones that cost under $100.

63. Christy quickly befriended stalker lover boy over a game of chess and while they have two bolts, something happened to prevent them from acting on that…

64. Namely Christy being sicker than a dog at inopportune times. She was sick literally 14 times during the pregnancy.

65. Although some of that may have to do with the fact that I made her eat spoiled food since that was all that was availible. BTW, did I mention that her needs dropped like a rock? They did. This is why you have not seen/will not see Xavier for a while. He is meditiating to try to conserve resources. Oh, and Natural Science still hasn’t come up in the paper…

66. “Rargh! Stupid pink flamingo!”

67. “Oh my poor baby! Who could have done this to you.” Ahhh the joy of pregnancy hormones, why else would a heavily pregnant woman be out in the snow in her skivvies kicking the lawn ornaments?

68. And I do mean heavily pregnant.

69. “You know this hotdog is not sitting well…”

70. “Owww!!!!” Here comes the heir/heiress. Doesn’t Christy look pleased?

71. “I’d like to see how you look in a situation like this!” Point taken. In any case, let’s both pray that my luck with multiples doesn’t kick in and that Xavier doesn’t have the twin token like his father did… “Oh god…”

72. And we have baby! Say hello to Barbara Doran!

73. “Barbara? She doesn’t look like a Barbie…” And she will never be called that. Babs maybe. I decided that my naming scheme for this experiment would be superheroes. Barbara here is named after Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl aka Oracle. Considering that her father was named after Professor X from the X-men, it made sense.

74. And we are still having no luck with finding natural science. Although a free time career has come up every day. So really any bonus that expansion may give me is being negated by its careers.

75. Baby born, Christy decided it was time for her to regain her girlish figure. Love the athletic wear, the sequins are faboo.

76. With her husband meditating or at work, Christy was pretty much left to her own devices. Which included autonomous cleaning. She’s a Taurus with 5/5/3/8/4.

77. Although you would think that her neat points were much higher.

78. To keep her aspiration up, I had her greet walkbys for the inevitable “Meet someone New” want. One thousand points is nothing to sneeze at…

79. Especially not when Natural Science finally showed up… It only took 5 days…

80. And since she could still go to work the day she found the job, the apocavan finally saw some action.

81. The career was so accommodating in its schedule, it allowed me to squeeze two promotions out of her before I had to wait until morning. Unlike Artist…grumbles. Stupid Artist restriction! No wonder everyone saves you for last!

82. That night, Barbara was tossed into toddlerdom.

83. “Nice of you to rejoin the family, Xavier. Maybe you can make yourself useful,” Christy grumbled. “But I’m fearing changing a diaper right now.” “So you’re permaplat!”

84. Barbara Doran is an interesting mix between her parents. She got her mother’s eyes, her dad’s hair and skin and of course the ears. She is an Aquarius with stats of 2/2/3/10/10. Cue headdesking. Our heiress here will not be able to meditate. Kill me now.

85. Although she really is a Daddy’s Girl. I think she was even trying to go for his hairstyle.

86. Meanwhile, Christy proves that she can sponge bathe despite having 5 cleaning points.

87. Xavier quits his job, he wants 20 lovers anyway, in order to take care of Barbara.

88. I somehow don’t think he minds that much. Sniff… You remind me of your father, Xav. Almost makes me regret killing him off.

89. When Tuesday rolled around, Xavier put into action the next part of my plan…

90. He invited over one of his non-lovers, Howard My-Last-Name-Doesn’t-Matter, and invited him to move in. Yep, Howie here will be Babs spouse. Don’t you just love arranged marriages?

91. “Way to transition, son-in-law!”

92. Oh yeah… Salty goodness. Remind me again why I haven’t played Sim State? I don’t care if he’s married into every damn legacy out there, he’s still nummy. Howard, dear, you are hence forward known as Eye Candy. Deal with it.

93. Eye Candy immediately started looking for the career he was destined to lift – Show Business. -- Meta time! In my poll at the time I made this choice, ShowBiz had 3 votes and Paranormal had 3 votes as the most useful college career. However Showbiz also had 2 votes as the most useless early on career as well. So thank you everyone who just gave me the option of going after dates, dressers, hair changes, and marrying Mr. Big/Diva. Can you tell that I think Showbiz is much more important? I have options for graves and death – more on that later – probably not until someone dies. ^_~

94. Despite moving in with a Drama major, Eye Candy wasn’t able to find ShowBiz in the paper. So I set him to work building up his body skills. And can I say thank you again to my game for picking great athletic wear.

95. “Dammit! I didn’t move into this legacy to get ogled by my creator and marry a toddler. I want to earn $100,000 and I want a painting worth $5,000!” Too bad, so sad. Thanks for playing.

96. Again, let me say. Eye Candy.

97. Meanwhile, Christy was working hard on studying cleaning and mechanical for her career.

98. And she continued to advance, not even the stink could keep her down.

99. And to make things even better, Eye Candy finally found an opening in ShowBiz. Yay! Go Eye Candy!

100. “No!!! I hate this. I am tired and I want to socialize and flirt and get a promotion dammit!!!” You know, you may be cute but you sure whine a lot.

101. That night, I got the pop-up telling me that it was time to grow Barbara up. So one final diaper change to last her, Xavier set her down to become a child. Please note that Eye Candy’s PJs are also military fatigues. Do you think my game is trying to tell me something?

102. Babs grew up well with all of her toddler skills learned including the Nursery Rhyme – because I could. I even like her outfit.

103. Eye Candy was quick to get to know his future wife as well as lay down some expectations. “So you want me to get big and fat and only wear my underwear?” “Yep! I have a thing for big-boned half-naked women.” “You do realize that I’m still a kid and you shouldn’t be talking about this.” “Babs, your creator and father already engaged us. You don’t have a choice and neither do I.” “Crapcakes.” “So wanna go play chess? I think your parents are about to migrate into PDA.”

104. While their daughter and future son-in-law went downstairs to get acquainted, Xavier dragged Christy over to the bed to get reacquainted. “So, my creator’s been telling me that we should have another kid. That Apocalypses aren’t known for their high mortality rates.” “You do know that she is pushing her luck because she has Triplets and Quads – the random version still in her game?” “She knows. But she assures me that she has a plan for that.” “It’s your funeral… But I’ve had a locked want for woohoo and woohoo in a bed for a while.”

105. Downstairs, Barbara and Eye Candy began the painful process of getting to know each other. “So I got a new job.” “That’s nice. Stop trying to distract me.” “Aren’t you supposed to have 10 nice points?” “Yep. But I refuse to be pigeon holed!” “Right.”

106. Bathroom stalking of his in-laws aside, Eye Candy I think was happy to be working, horrible costume aside. It got him out of the house.

107. With his wife and son-in-law at work and daughter at school, Xavier was once again relegated to Walkby Detail. I was concentrating on this when something popped up on my screen – a chance card for Christy. She was currently a Rogue Botanist and the text read: Next to a crashed UFO, you find some odd, glowing plants. Will you harvest some or call in a team? Reading over the options and consulting Snooty Sims, I chose option 2. Call in a team.

108. And I am so glad I did! She answered correctly and got promoted to Ecological Guru. That’s right. She skipped 3 levels of career and jumped from level 6 to level 10. I love you Christy! You know what that means?

109. Say hello to my little friend… Plans, I have them…

110. This is where I will leave you for now, with Xavier taking a sponge bath, blissfully not caring about the badly dancing townie next to him. So what does this mean for the family? Well, in addition to being able to skill creativity easily and have nice things, they can now build walls on the lower level, plant food, use the water tool in build mode, order groceries over the phone, place things from the plants tab, and I can de-dirtify their lot. And the biggie, the Snapdragon is now allowed. Join me next time when Gen 2 takes center stage and Eye candy is well Eye Candy. Also discover if I can avoid my multiple birth curse – all this and more in Part Two coming some time. Until then. Ja ne!