jothirteen

Welcome back to "Hark(er)! An OWBC"! A quick recap before we move on: in the first chapter, founder Nisha Harker met her near-perfect match, a townie named Cody Crichton. They got married after a very short courtship, with Nisha getting pregnant shortly before the wedding. She eventually gave birth to twins Börje and Bruna (Bruna being this generation's Bad Apple), and was pregnant again by the end of the chapter.

Yes, like I mentioned in the last chapter, poor Nisha had horrible pregnancies. It does suck when Family sims get those. (Especially in challenges where they need to have a certain number of pregnancies and/or children.)

Meanwhile, poor Cody was finally able to get a job in the Education career track (his LTW). There will certainly be a lot of career changes in the future for the Harkers, with the Workaholics Anonymous mini-challenge and all, so let's hope he does get to achieve permaplatinum status.

He did get the career reward for the Slacker career already, though. One down, nineteen to go (eek!).

And as the challenge goes on, I begin to realize that being able to repair things at any time in legacies is something you take for granted.
(See, and this is me playing an OWBC, trying the Apocalypse Challenge would probably end up in a literal ball of fire.)

My simself does not help one bit - every time she visits the Harker lot, she ends up stealing Glycogen. Not cool at all, sim Jo.

"Say, Jo, me and Cody are throwing a birthday party for the twins tonight, don't you want to come inside and have some cake?"
"Thank you, Nisha, I'd love to! Oh, and I think Cyd Roseland just walked by and stole your gnome, I tried to stop him, but he ran away. You might want to do something about that."
"Aww, not again! I'll tell Cody to bring Glycogen back later."
Sneaky little simself...

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Börje and Bruna, happy birthday to you! Wheee!"
Jo continues to act innocent by being overly excited about the twins' birthday. Lovely.

After having his birthday cake's candles blown by his mother and being attacked by sparkles...

...Börje becomes a sweet little toddler, who looks very much like Cody (only the hair colour and skin tone are different, really). He's a Libra 2/6/3/7/10.

Now it's Bruna's turn to age, as sim Jo carries on with the absurd level of enthusiasm.

A sparkly twirl later...

...and we have a toddler! Not a bad choice of hair, quite a relief since I can't change it (at least for now). She looks more like Nisha than Börje does, but that's Cody eye shape and colour in there (and his red hair, of course).

Cody starts getting suspicious of Jo's overly excited act. He probably knows about Glycogen, here's to hoping he gets it back soon.

The twins entertain themselves...for now. I have a feeling that a miserable, pregnant Nisha looking after two toddlers (one of which is uncontrollable) on her own while Cody is at work won't be pleasant.

But she remains blissfully unaware of that for now.

At least until Jo ruins the mood by pointing out her outfit doesn't have a pregnancy mesh. The life of the party, that simself.

Having her steal Glycogen again after Cody had just brought him back was the last straw, though, and she was promptly sent on her merry way.

Then everyone went to sleep, some looking more adorable than others while doing so.

Shortly afterwards, the toddler training from hell began. Oh joy.

But I can't stay mad at Börje and Bruna, really, look at how adorable they are. (And yes, there will be some more toddler spam in the future, I tend to do that in my stories.)

At least Cody was able to help Nisha out due to some of his days off falling on the twins' toddler days.

Still, she didn't have it easy at all - just like during her previous pregnancy, she kept falling asleep, with her hunger and comfort bars being dangerously in the red, etc. Leaving Cody in charge of the toddlers during the remainder of the pregnancy, pretty much.

Cody kept proving his worth as a challenge spouse by not only doing a great job as a parent and bringing back Glycogen, but bringing back a second gnome. Which was promptly named Starch. (Sadly, he was eventually stolen and was never brought back again, unlike Glycogen.)

Everything going on with the toddlers and the gnomes eventually started taking its toll on poor Cody too.

At least I was able to get Nisha to stay awake for more than a couple of sim hours so that she could help her husband with Börje and Bruna. The poor kids did not get to learn many of their toddler skills, though, I think all they got was Börje learning to talk.

After what seemed like an extremely long time, Nisha (finally!) went into labour.

The Triplets&Quads hack decided to be nasty, though, with the "random" option resulting in a second set of twins. *sigh*
For this second pregnancy, the naming theme that was randomly selected was "Line-of-Sight Name". After looking around for a while trying to find words starting with "O", I finally glimpsed "olive oil" as the keywords in an article I had been reading for something I was doing for class at the time. (That came in handy when the hack decided to throw me twins.)
So, yes, babies #3 and #4, who have the same colouring, are Olive and Oil Harker. (Don't feel too bad for poor Oil because of her name- I had sims named Fish and House Random in my legacy, so she's not alone.)

In classic OWBC fashion, we had six more flamingos added to Glycogen's army in celebration of the new arrivals.

Now that she was no longer pregnant, Nisha was able to go to work again...but that did not mean she and Cody were no longer feeling miserable - two sets of twins were quite the handful.

The rest of the "B" twins' toddlerhood was pretty much like this - crawling around with their parents being way too exhausted to even stay awake, let alone pay attention to them or, you know, teaching them to walk.

Two Family sims, with four children, and with their aspiration in the red. Yup, I suck at this challenge.

To add insult to injury, Nisha was demoted, so we're nowhere near getting a second career reward. (I'm beginning to think that picking that mini-challenge was a mistake given how much I seem to fail at playing an OWBC.)

Börje and Bruna's birthday finally rolled around, meaning things would hopefully get a bit easier for Cody and Nisha (and me)...

...and then this happened when Börje transitioned. O_o WTF, indeed. Thankfully, that glitch resolved itself a short while later, but I was getting quite worried there for a while. Börje was not the only one on the verge of losing his head, let me tell you.

At least he grew up well, that's sort of a silver lining, I suppose.

He also got a mini-makeover - I decided to give him glasses to match his father, they suit him. (Sometimes I feel I don't give enough of my sims glasses, so I'm planning on changing that in this household, and maybe in this neighbourhood too.)

Nisha's aspiration reaches the gold level after having her son grow up well, so she can go and use the energizer to lift her spirits a bit.

Bruna, meanwhile, wandered around with no apparent intention of growing up for hours. She eventually gave up trying to stay young forever and transitioned next to the flamingos.

Fortunately, there were no scary glitches this time. And she also grew up well, always a plus, with the whole "not learning any skills" thing. (I might be going on and on about it, but that usually doesn't happen with my toddlers, even the ones in the first generations of legacies. It's a big deal for folks with the Knowledge aspiration, you know, especially those who are annoying perfectionists like me. :P)

I had Nisha try to find a treasure chest or two, or at least something I could sell so that the kids could have some new clothes, but no luck on this front (she only found some dog toys and rocks).

I also had Cody stargaze every time he had some hours to spare during the night. No luck here either, as the universe, or at least the hypothetical deity in charge of OWBCs, hates me.

It seems like our Bad Apple has quite a few neat points. Awesome, at least she helps make up for the lack of a maid.

Poor Börje, being a garden variety controllable OWBC child, has to actually skill instead of going around doing whatever he wants. You unlucky boy, just wait until you have to do your sister's homework, too, then you'll really be bitter.

But I'm not that hard on my sim kids, see, I don't make them skill until they pass out.

And the trouble with the Bad Apple begins, as Bruna apparently needs to sleep on that very same bed, despite having two other good beds available.

Eventually, she did realize that, but only after a lot of walking around the house complaining.

Ah, good old OWBC life: energizer, work and digging for treasure. We only need some toddler training or diaper changing in this picture, then it'd be a perfect portrait of Nisha and Cody's adult years so far.

Nisha found enough cheap items to afford a semi-decent nursery for the younger twins, in a lovely tone of purple (yes, with the exception of the changing table, for financial reasons).

And we had an old friend drop by again. Börje took quite a liking to her.
"You must be Yvonne, my parents told me about you! About that flower of yours, doesn't it-"

"Kid, if you want to be my friend, just refrain from mentioning my flower. Okay?"

"I'm so glad you and Yvonne were able to come, Cyd. See, you were way too pessimistic about challenge life! It hasn't been so bad, I mean, taking care of four children is hard, but that's to be expected, it's not like we're in one of those legacies with people dying left and right."
"Good for you and your family, Nisha...but I have the feeling you haven't reached the difficult times yet."

"I mean, you do know there will eventually be some people dying here as well, right? Not to mention-"
"Cyd! This is a birthday party for toddlers! Quit it with the doom and gloom talk already! Seriously, I don't know why Cody and Nisha keep inviting you to their parties, I know I wouldn't."

"Huh. I have a strange feeling...and why is Oil still a baby?"

"Cody? Could you help me out here?"
"Um... Cody? Nisha? There's something wrong with your kid, definitely. I mean, she's floating in mid air."
"Oh, great...I have no idea how to get this to stop."

"This was the greatest party ever, Bruna! I met that really cool lady, Yvonne, who put gloomy old Cyd in his place, and now Oil has superpowers! So awesome! And you're just missing all the fun, and the cake, to clean everything!"
"Someone needs to do it, Börje, if you haven't noticed, we don't have a maid. Also, I don't think Oil floating is that great, she has been there for hours and Mom and Dad can't get her down!"
"Oh, you just sound like Cyd now. Don't worry, I'm sure she'll stop doing that eventually."

"Bruna, sweetie, you should go to bed already, it's getting late. I'll look after your sister."
"I'll go in a minute, Dad, there are still toilets to clean."
"You girls...I don't know what to do with you... Oil, baby, you think you could grow up now? Please?"

"It worked! Oh, what a relief! Now let's just hope your sister doesn't decide to do the same, huh, Oil?"

"Perfect. Now I can finally get some sleep..."

"Oh no, the flamingos are on fire! What if Cyd really was right about the OWBC gods not liking us that much?"
Thankfully, the fire stopped after a while, and the flamingos are safe...I really don't know about the OWBC gods, though. Maybe Cyd was on to something with his pessimistic comments.

So, the younger twins: here is Oil with the messy hair and pink shirt. She's a Leo 10/10/2/7/3, the only mean Harker so far. I mean, I have no idea what Bruna's personality is, but she doesn't act like a mean sim.

Olive, the older twin, with short hair and a purple-green dress. They do look a lot alike at this age, don't they? She's a Libra 8/10/1/3/10.

And we have the return of the toddler training from hell! No rest for Cody and Nisha, really.

Bruna adds to the general chaos by starting to misbehave...

...when she's not cleaning everything obsessively, that is.

Noon rolls around, and Nisha's in for a shock. They really have no luck, poor Harkers.

At least the older children can entertain themselves now, always a plus.

But to prove that there is still some sunshine and rainbows, have some more toddler spam.

Börje and Bruna are off to their first day of school (they grew up on a Friday or Saturday night, I think, that's why it took a while), along with a particularly knowledgeable skunk.

Börje is not in a very good mood when they return, despite having made a new friend. I think he's realized what it means to have a twin sister who's a Bad Apple and can't do her own homework. That, or the skunk beat him to the answer to every question in class.

Here's the friend I mentioned, Slade Alvarez, another one of the custom townies I have in this neighbourhood. Now hearing all about Börje's awful life as an OWBC child.

Börje regretting being friends with his sister, as well as his 10 nice points, seems like a good place to leave you.

Tune in next time for a new OWBC installment, in which we'll see Nisha going through the third mandatory pregnancy, more toddler spam, and definitely more complaints from all the Harkers, especially Börje. Happy simming to you all, and have a great day.

***

But, before you go, here's a look at the 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
-Have a gnome to guard the flamingos [our good friend Glycogen]

Nightlife Bonuses:
-The heir(ess) for every generation must go on a date via gypsy matchmaker and see it through to completion
-Every heir(ess) is turned into a Grilled Cheese sim
-A sim must be turned into a vampire

Seasons Bonuses:
-Throw a party once per season [so far: Nisha and Cody's wedding party for spring, Börje & Bruna's toddler birthday party for summer, Olive & Oil's toddler birthday party for autumn]
-Earn a wishing well
-A sim must be turned into a plantsim

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 [so far: Börje & Bruna, Olive & Oil]
-Second generation: children resulting from the 3 mandatory pregnancies must have names starting with L, P and R respectively
-Third generation: children resulting from the 3 mandatory pregnancies must have names starting with O, P and C respectively

"One Bad Apple" Mini-Challenge:
-Every generation, one child (chosen at birth) must be uncontrollable (they get 8 commands at day if they go to college) [Bruna, for the 1st generation]

"Cowforbrains' Ghost Hunt" Mini-Challenge:
-Three sims must die every generation (so a total of 9 sims during the whole challenge), and every cause of death must be different

"Family Scrapbook" Mini-Challenge:
-Every member of the family must have their picture taken or their portrait painted and hung somewhere around the house
-The founder and each one of the 3 heirs/heiresses must write a novel

"Workaholics Anonymous" Super Mini-Challenge:
-Earn all the career rewards available - each specific sim can only earn a maximum of 3 career rewards [so far: 1 out of 20, earned by Cody]