jothirteen

The chapter's title is a play on this, by the way.
Last time, in chapter 12 of "Hark(er)! An OWBC": at the main house, Darryl finally cooperated and died of his mysterious illness; former burglar Jessica Ebadi was moved in to be the final Ghost Hunt sim for this generation, but has failed to be scared to death by the ghosts so far. Also, Olive was finally lucky enough to have the Garden Club deem her garden good enough to receive a wishing well. At Académie Le Tour, the Harker siblings were extremely frustrated by the continuous inductions into the secret society. The eggplant juice was a welcome help to Peri, who ended up having fairly good grades at the end of a couple of semesters. Lethe finally admitted to Vernon that she had feelings for him as well, and the two started a relationship, later on getting engaged. Phlox also found love with a secret society member, Donald Chapman, and Ruthie with Amin Sims, with whom she went on a date a couple of chapters back. And by the end of the chapter, our heiress was only one semester away from graduation...

We start off at the main house, with Jessica being stuck in the island again...and still managing to avoid getting scared to death despite having not one, not two but three ghosts roaming around in that same island. *sigh* I just don't get it.

The next morning, she's still irritatingly alive and kicking, and as I watch Olive dealing with a roach infestation, I find myself wishing I could deal with Jessica (and other Ghost Hunt sims) the same way.

This, of course, is but a prelude to yet another party (summer being the current season), with Börje and Yvonne as guests (and Yvonne once more proving her awesomeness by helping to kill the bugs).

"Yay, family members are paying attention to me!"

Oh, would you look at that, even the guest I had Olive greet a while back joined in the roach killing.
(That is Emlisa Undine, yet another sim from Garden of Shadows, this time from the December 2013 TS2 Sim Challenge.)

"You're lucky to have married into this family, Yvonne, they really look like a fun bunch."
"Oh, sweetheart, you say that now, but you've only met my husband, my sister-in-law and myself. Meet a couple more family members and I guarantee that you'll change your mind."

The next morning, I start cheering as I realize the summer heat has been strongly affecting the still-trapped Jessica...

...resulting in her collapsing shortly afterwards...

...and eventually dying a few hours later. (Finally!)

"Death by heatstroke, huh? That's a good one, certainly better than death by cowplant or by mysterious disease. But you can still do better."

And here we have it - the Ghost Hunt is over for this generation, and there is now a total of eight graves in the island. Back to front, left to right, we have: Dustin (starvation), Donna (fire), Reese (drowning), Cody (old age, platinum), Nisha (old age, platinum), Alani (cowplant), Darryl (disease), Jessica (heatstroke).

With that, we head back to ALT, to find the cafeteria lady, April Archer (yet another sim with an alliterative name!), taking her frustration over Lethe's insistence to have grilled cheese be served for every meal on poor Phlox.

Peri finally gets a makeover, with less than two semesters left before graduation. Yes, I know, I'm lazy. She does look adorable with this new hairstyle, though.

Now, the moment you'd been waiting for - our generation 2 heiress graduates! (Psychology major, Summa Cum Laude.)

Phlox, Pomp and Ruthie keep up the top grades for this semester - Peri disappointly ends up with another 12, not that I'm too upset about it.

And it's time for yet another party...

"Graduating already, can you believe it? Soon we'll head home and get married...and I guess Mom might want me to step up as the new head of the family now."
"Which you'll do wonderfully, no doubt - I will be with you for every step of the way."

"You're really going to pass on the main responsibilities of heirship over to Lethe? Don't you think it's still too soon for that?"
"Phlox, I think it's time for me to retire from heirship duties, spend my time with my plants, and, soon enough, looking after my grandchildren. Lethe has changed for the better, and Vernon was the main catalyst for that change. They'll do a great job, I trust them completely."

The party went on, with many more romantic interactions between our gen 2 power couple (who decided to hide away in Ruthie's room for some reason)...

...Olive congratulating her daughter on all her accomplishments...

...and some time later, Vernon fully ignoring the celebration to work on his assignments. I have no idea why he did that in the middle of his fiancée's graduation party either.

Soon, time was up...

...and Lethe became an adult, now ready to head back to Bio-Thingy and take over as the new head of the family, leaving Olive to her hobbies.
(And the clothes she grew up in weren't too terrible, either! Good news all around.)

When she arrived home, though, there wasn't enough money for her to get some new clothes for herself and Vernon...so she had to resort to digging for treasure. (Yes, the no-promotions generation has led to it becoming one of the Harkers' main chores.)

After finding some random objects and taking a short trip downtown, Lethe was ready to ask Vernon to move in and officially join the Harker household.

His outfit was a bit worse than Lethe's, but still not terrible. (I've seen far worse.)

And here is our charming (future) generation 2 spouse after a makeover.
Stats: Vernon Moss, soon to be Harker, is an Aquarius 4/4/4/7/6, and a Family sim with the LTW to have 6 grandchildren (which seems to be a popular one in this family). His turn-ons were originally makeup and brown hair (with brown hair later being changed to black hair, giving him and Lethe 3 bolts of chemistry instead of the 2 they had before), and his turn-off is full face makeup. He joined the household with 22 skill points, 19000 simoleons and 7 friends.

Why am I not having Vernon and Lethe get married right away, you ask? Well, dear readers, it's because summer is almost over, and there was already a party thrown for this season earlier in the chapter. I want their wedding party to count as the required autumn one. So they stay engaged for now, and Vernon joins Fergus in stargazing duty (sadly, with no better luck than his future father-in-law).

The lack of a marriage will not stop the happy couple from getting started on the next generation, however, and that very same night, they conceive.
I check the ACR pregnancy scanner shortly afterwards, which tells me Lethe is having twins (it must run in the family: Börje and Bruna were natural twins, and so were Lorens and Ravi; this will be the third set in 3 generations).

Poor Lethe has a hard first trimester, with morning sickness showing up just mere hours after getting pregnant. Still, her pregnancy was not nearly as difficult as Nisha's were.

Lethe notices Esme (

esmeiolanthe's simself) passing by that morning, and takes the opportunity to greet and hopefully befriend her.

They quickly bond over grilled cheese, which is a welcome boost to Lethe's aspiration level. Thanks, Esme!

Vernon and Lethe's wedding party takes place that night (so that Fergus could be there).

And they are just as happy with the occasion as you can imagine. :)

Vernon Moss is now Vernon Harker and an official challenge spouse...

...and the bride's parents and siblings (plus Esme, who stuck around for the party) enthusiastically cheer for the newlyweds.
But, as it always happens with Harker weddings, you might notice there is someone missing from this picture...

"Wait, did I miss something?"
Peri definitely takes after Olive (who frequently indulges in missing wedding ceremonies), and arrives after the whole thing is over. It was bound to happen, really, I don't think there has been a single wedding so far in this family with every guest in attendance watching.

"I'll try my best to ignore the fact that the sister I recently managed to become friends with completely ignored our wedding ceremony...can't get mad at her now, not tonight... It's time for cake, everyone!"

"Here, my darling husband, just appreciate the fact I won't shove the cake into your mouth. You did marry a girl with 10 neat points, remember that."

Vernon just eats the cake and decides not to argue the matter any further - a smart move on his part.

Which evidently pleases Lethe very much. (Potential crisis averted?)

As the guests arrive to get their share of cake, Vernon realizes that while his wife has 10 neat points, most of her family members do not have many (if any at all).

"This really is some delicious cake, isn't it? Isn't it, Vernon?"
And Lethe, cringing, tries her best to ignore her siblings and father's table manners. It doesn't quite work.

"I'm so glad you could join us for this special occasion, Esme, we used to have simselves around much more often in the past, but it hasn't happened in a while. Pity, that."

"I can't see why my fellow simselves wouldn't want to visit, why, you're such an...intense and friendly bunch. Truly, it's a mystery."

"Lethe is glaring at us again, isn't she?"
"Seems like it. It'll be better if we just hurry up and finish the cake quickly, that way she won't be wishing her looks could kill for much longer."

"What do you mean...I look upset? Clearly, I haven't said anything of the sort, and-"

"Never mind, sweetheart, never mind, forget what I said, I'll just go ahead and clean up, alright?"

"Oh, Lethe, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to miss your wedding, I just got distracted and-"
"Peri. It's fine. I forgive you. Now, please don't bring up that subject ever again."
"But why-"
"Just trust me, you don't want me to get mad at you over this. You really don't."

Meanwhile, Esme has escaped into the purple bedroom (deserted at the moment) - the Harkers really are a bit too intense for their own good sometimes.

As the guests leave, Lethe falls asleep over her half-eaten slice of cake, with pregnancy-associated motive decay finally taking its toll on her.

"Don't you worry, Lethe, you can go rest for a while now. You did great, it was a wonderful party, everyone said so."

She does end up regaining consciousness as a limo arrives to take them on their honeymoon (perhaps bringing up unpleasant secret society memories).

They're back after a short while, and Vernon expresses his love for Lethe in a cloud of little hearts as she goes inside to finally get some sleep. Another sweet moment at the Harker household.

Vernon starts off the next morning by working out (he recently gained some extra weight due to Lethe's full-time grilled cheese diet).

In the kitchen, while preparing to eat some more of the aforementioned grilled cheese sandwiches, Lethe pops into her second trimester, and realizes that her outfit doesn't have a pregnancy morph.

Which, of course, is unacceptable, so she heads for the closet to get some brand new maternity clothes.

And the remainder of her pregnancy goes like you'd expect - Vernon works on his skills and makes new friends...

...Lethe works towards her LTW...

...Fergus and Vernon stargaze every single night, still with no success...

...Vernon and Lethe display their excitement towards the upcoming arrivals...

...and they have interesting conversations over yet more grilled cheese.

Eventually, the time comes for Lethe to give birth, and as she curses Vernon under her breath...

...the first of the twins, a boy with Lethe's black hair, Vernon's brown eyes and both parents' skin tone, is born.
The first theme randomly picked for this generation was "Names of stars and planets", and so this little boy is named Okul (one of the names of a star in the Capricorn constellation).

We then have the traditional "handing firstborn twin over to nearby family member" take place...

...and Lethe goes into labour once again as Olive runs into the room and proceeds to freak out.
Also, someone picks the worst possible time to call Lethe - I definitely wouldn't want to be in that person's place when she calls them back.

Some time later, the younger twin - our Bad Apple for this generation - is born. We have yet another boy (this being the first generation with more than one boy!), with Vernon's hair and eye colour, and a custom (likely geneticized) skin tone. He is named Orcus (the name of a possible dwarf planet).

The new parents are, of course, over the moon, and so is Grandma Olive.

And they soon settle into routine, with a brand new nursery being prepared for the twins, featuring the now-traditional stork cribs.

The birth of Okul and Orcus also marks the end of the generation without promotions (yay!) and Vernon is able to get a job in the Journalism career track.

Lethe stays unemployed for now, as she spends her days caring for the twins with the help of Olive...

...and also, she got pregnant again (offscreen) very shortly after the twins' birth, so she's really in no mood to be working any time soon.

Vernon brings home some much needed simoleons and a promotion...

...and Lethe reaches the second trimester that night.

She really has happily settled into motherhood, which I'm thrilled to see.

Even if there are still disagreements with some family members. Fergus just cannot bring himself to go to his bedroom to put on some clothes.

A party is thrown the next day, as the season shifts from autumn to winter. Peri drops by...

...and so does Börje, who as a Family sim, is quickly entertained by Lethe's tales of her boys.

This is no ordinary house party, though - Okul and Orcus' toddler birthday is being celebrated, as assorted family members cheer them on.

With a twirl and a bunch of sparkling lights...

...Okul becomes an adorable toddler (I can see a good mix of Vernon and Lethe's features in him).
His personality? Sagittarius 4/4/9/7/1, the meanest Harker born in the main house so far (stealing that title from Oil and her 3 nice points).

Orcus' turn is next...

...and we have a glitched toddler. (Uh-oh.)

Fortunately, the glitch soon clears up (phew!) to reveal a little boy who takes more after his father than Okul does (I think that's Lethe's eye shape in there, though). No stats, of course, as he's the Bad Apple.

All things considered, everyone had a pleasant time, and both Börje and Olive were amusingly reminded of their childhood glitches at birthday parties.

Okul gets a makeover after the guests leave. He looks so cute with his new hat, doesn't he?

Orcus looks equally adorable when his father arrives and promptly goes to play with him (despite not having a makeover of his own, as it is customary of Bad Apples).

Vernon brought something over from work, too - the Journalism career reward. Which means we're only missing three now! Exciting.
This is where I'll wrap up this chapter - join in next time for the birth of the remaining members of generation 3, more potentially glitchy parties, further progress towards Workaholics Anonymous and other shenanigans. Until then, goodbye and happy simming to you all!

But, before you leave, a note: you might have noticed that nothing was shown about the triplets and Ruthie's remaining semesters at college, their graduations, marriages, etc. Well, the thing is, I have decided to show main house events only in the actual chapters.
That does not mean you won't get to see what happened to Peri, Phlox, Pomp, Ruthie and their cousins during their adult years - those shall be covered in "interlude-ish" entries (much like the "20 loves of Oil" one, but far more picture-heavy), which will be separated in the "Gen 2 Cousins Picspam" and "Gen 2 Spares Picspam" editions. I'm planning on getting the first two of those future entries (one for each group of gen 2 sims mentioned) out after chapter 14 is uploaded (so that the events of those entries will be on par with the main house ones, or as close to it as possible).

***

Current challenge stats:

Base Game Bonuses:
-Obtain an alien through a legit abduction
-Go one whole generation - from birth to birth - without getting any promotions [Done - from before gen 2's birth to before gen 3's birth]
-Have a gnome to guard the flamingos [Glycogen, with Pheromone standing in for him at ALT]

Nightlife Bonuses:
-The heir(ess) for every generation must go on a date via gypsy matchmaker and see it through to completion [1st generation: Olive's date with Fergus; 2nd generation: Lethe's date with Sean; ...]
-Every heir(ess) is turned into a Grilled Cheese sim [1st generation: Olive; 2nd generation: Lethe; ...]
-A sim must be turned into a vampire [Fergus]

Seasons Bonuses:
-Throw a party once per season [spring: Nisha and Cody's wedding, Olenna's toddler birthday, 7 house parties (2 at college), Ruthenium's toddler birthday, Lethe's graduation; summer: Börje & Bruna's toddler birthday, 7 house parties (2 at college), Ruthenium's child birthday; autumn: Olive & Oil's toddler birthday, 8 house parties (3 at college), Lethe and Vernon's wedding; winter: 7 house parties (4 at college), Olive's graduation, Olive and Fergus' wedding, Okul & Orcus' toddler birthday]
-Earn a wishing well [Done - earned by Olive]
-A sim must be turned into a plantsim [Olive]

Story Bonus:
-Finishing the challenge and posting it online [work in progress]

"Boolprop Naming Scheme" Mini-Challenge:
-First generation: children resulting from the 3 mandatory pregnancies must have names starting with B, O and O respectively [Börje & Bruna, Olive & Oil, Olenna]
-Second generation: children resulting from the 3 mandatory pregnancies must have names starting with L, P and R respectively [Lethe, Peridot & Phlox & Pomp and Power, Ruthenium]
-Third generation: children resulting from the 3 mandatory pregnancies must have names starting with O, P and C respectively [Okul & Orcus, ...]

"One Bad Apple" Mini-Challenge:
-Every generation, one child (chosen at birth) must be uncontrollable (they get 8 commands at day from college/adulthood onwards) [1st generation: Bruna; 2nd generation: Peridot; 3rd generation: Orcus]

"Cowforbrains' Ghost Hunt" Mini-Challenge:
-Three sims must die every generation, and every cause of death must be different [1st generation: Dustin (death by starvation), Donna (death by fire), Reese (death by drowning); 2nd generation: Alani (death by cowplant), Darryl (death by disease), Jessica (death by heatstroke); ...]

"Family Scrapbook" Mini-Challenge:
-Every member of the family must have their picture taken or their portrait painted and hung somewhere around the house [Nisha, Cody, Börje, Bruna, Olive, Oil, Olenna, Dustin, Reese, Donna, Fergus, Lethe, Peridot, Phlox, Pomp and Power, Ruthenium, Alani, Darryl, Jessica, Vernon, ...]
-The founder and each one of the 3 heirs/heiresses must write a novel [Nisha, Olive, ...]

"Workaholics Anonymous" Super Mini-Challenge:
-Earn all the career rewards available [17 out of 20: 2 earned by Cody, 2 earned by Reese, 2 earned by Börje, 2 earned by Bruna, 1 earned by Donna, 3 earned by Fergus, 2 earned by Olive, 2 earned by Oil, 1 earned by Vernon]