jothirteen

Once more, welcome back to "Hark(er)! An OWBC"!. In chapter 2, founder Nisha and husband Cody welcomed children #3 and #4, twins Olive and Oil. Kids #1 and #2, Börje and Bruna (Bad Apple), became children. She's proved to be a bit of a neatfreak, whose challenge status is slowly starting to get to her, while he's curious and eager to make some new friends, but upset by the realization he's essentially his sister's caretaker. Adding to the chaos in the house, the younger twins became toddlers close to the end of the chapter.
And that said, we can carry on with our scheduled OWBC misadventures.

We start our chapter with Bruna welcoming her father home with delight - and no demotions or anything this time! Nice job avoiding nasty chance cards, Cody.

But the general mood isn't sunny for long.
"Listen, Bruna, we need to talk - this Bad Apple thing, is is always going to be this way? Having to do my own homework is bad enough, and now I have to do yours as well? Every time?"

"Well, what do you want me to do about it? There's nothing I can do! You know someone has to do my homework for me. I'd have to do yours if you were the Bad Apple too! It's the challenge, Börje, not my fault!"
"But...it's too much work, Olive and Oil aren't even old enough to help yet! Can't I just do mine tonight and yours tomorrow or later? I need to take a break sometimes..."

"No! Mom and Dad said you have to do my homework while we're still kids! Every day! Or else the Social Worker will come, and take all of us away! But maybe you want that to happen, if you can't even make an effort...some twin you are, Börje!"
"Bruna, wait...oh, it's no use. Challenge life really does suck."

"You shouldn't be so hard on your brother, sweetheart, you know he's tired and cranky now, but he will help you out later, as he always does. No one is going to let any of you get taken away, trust me."
"I know, Dad, I shouldn't have yelled at him like that...but sometimes it seems he thinks I like being the Bad Apple. As if it was my choice! I hope Olive and Oil don't turn out like that either."
"Oh, I'm sure they'll all understand eventually. It'll be alright, Bruna. I promise."

Meanwhile, in a more drama-free corner of the Harker house, Olive is successfully taught a skill. Maybe she and Oil will end up being luckier than the "B" twins in this aspect.

Aaaand Glycogen is stolen by a simself. Again. *sigh* (That's lhop228 aka Lisa from the old Boolprop forums and TS2 Exchange, by the way.)

"Your father told me what happened. Don't you worry, I'm sure your brother will come around like he said. Even if you feel that being a Bad Apple is too hard sometimes, don't forget we're here for you, okay? Now, do you want some grilled cheese to take your mind off these things?"

"Alright, I guess...I'm so glad I don't have to eat this every day, though. It'd be too much. I really hope I'm not the heiress, I'd hate having to change my aspiration and eat hundreds of grilled cheese sandwiches. And I heard being a Bad Apple and the heir is horrible."
"I guess it'd certainly be difficult...but you never know, you could end up loving it if you were chosen. You never know what the future will bring."

A few hours later, more toddler skills are taught...

...and just in the nick of time.

It seems like Oil also has quite a few neat points. Maybe she and Bruna can bond over cleaning toilets, showers and kitchen counters.

"So...school tomorrow. Bad Apple sister. I guess we're going to miss our toddler years soon enough."
"Don't doubt it."

Sometimes, being the Bad Apple isn't so bad - here she is staying up late stargazing, while her siblings have all been sent to bed already.

Oh, wait, not all of them - Oil decided to go and bring Glycogen back before going to sleep. Thanks, Oil!

The next day, however, Oil has no reasons to be happy...
"This is ridiculous! I mean, it makes sense that you have to do Bruna's homework, but why do I have to do Olive's? She can do it herself! Complaining about not having enough fun is a stupid excuse. Worst twin sisters ever!"
"Couldn't agree more."

*facepalm*
Those chance cards are seriously starting to get on my nerves. I want that Education career reward and Cody wants to become a Minister of Education, damn it!

And, in case you thought I had forgotten, child #5 (please, let it be just #5) is on the way. Poor Nisha, I hope this third pregnancy is easier on her.

"It's snowing! Winter already? We really need to throw that party soon..."
This particular third of the Seasons bonus can get a little annoying too. Playing this house and making sure someone has thrown a party for that season already makes me feel like this is the sim equivalent of Bender in that one Futurama episode where he had to party 24/7 or he'd explode.

"Ow! Why did you have to throw the ball right at my face?"
"Because you still owe me one for having to do your homework! That, and I'm not that nice."
"Oil, just calm down! Tomorrow I'll do yours and Bruna's too, if Börje wants me to, but quit it with the ball already! Eek! I said stop it!"

That night, Cody's luck improves slightly, as he's able to find a job in the Education career track. You know, again.

There's also a new addition to the Harker household, a new car! Cheap one, as that's all they can afford for now. It wouldn't kill them to find a treasure chest or two while digging in the garden, just saying.

As for the kids, things are still pretty much the same the next day. The life of a challenge child really is awful sometimes.

"Cody told me you were probably the one who stole Glycogen last time...for shame, Jo! Try to behave today, alright? I want this party to go well, and it would be good to have Glycogen still around by the end of the night, too."
"Steal Glycogen? Me? Why would Cody even think such a thing? That silly man. No harm will come to your gnome from my part, Nisha, I swear it. Though I'd keep an eye on Yvonne if I were you."

Jo, of course, is bluffing. Yvonne is a much better guest than she's ever proved to be, see how quickly she and Börje have become friends already.

"Oh! How exciting, to think there will be a new baby in the house soon. I will love to have a little one around again, the twins are growing up so fast..."

"Excuse me, you're the one in charge of our challenge, right miss Jo? I was wondering if we could maybe get a TV? We get really bored after school sometimes."

"No."
"But-"
"Absolutely not, and that's final! Now leave me alone, Olive Harker, and go inside to do your homework like the good little challenge child you are. Come on, run along!"

"Hehe, perfect timing! No witnesses this time, not even that nosy Cody."

"And what are you growling at? I'm in charge of this challenge! And this neighbourhood! That means I can do whatever I want! Now go away, you stupid wolf."

Let's take a break from sim Jo's cartoon villain levels of evil, so that we can play "Guess the Bad Apple's personality"!
Bruna swings on the fridge door, so she must be very playful (in addition to the neatness). She doesn't act mean either, so I'm guessing her nice points are between 5 and 7. No idea as for outgoing and active yet, but I'd guess she's at least at medium levels for both.
Stay tuned for the adult years to see if I was right!

Like I feared it would happen, Nisha is having an awful pregnancy again. Cheer up, Nisha, at least this is the last one!

Oddly, Bruna doesn't look all that annoyed when complaining. She's got some interesting facial expressions.

Börje has finally been given some help with his homework, poor boy. Too bad that'll have to use his newfound skills to do Bruna's homework right after this.

A few hours later... *drumroll* ...we have our first OWBC teen! Börje did manage to grow up well. He rolled Family and randomized (via ACR) as being attracted to females. His turn-ons are cologne and creativity, and his turn-off is underwear.

"Börje, you're a Family sim just like me and your father! That's great news! Say, what do you think of having 6 grandchildren as your ultimate goal in life, just like myself?"
"Wow, that sounds like an awesome idea, Mom! Thanks!"
(Yes, he might favour his father more in looks, but he's very much like his mother in personality and other aspects, down to the very same LTW.)

Just like she did on her last birthday, Bruna decides to wait as long as possible before growing up.

Amazingly, she manages to hold on until morning.

And becomes quite the pretty teen.

Sadly, her Bad Apple status has cemented itself by now, and she grows up badly. Poor Bruna.
By the way, she rolled Fortune, and since I don't need to control her to select her gender preference via ACR, I've done that too. She's attracted to male sims. And I stupidly forgot to write down her turn ons, so that's it for stats.

The Harkers (except for Bruna) have some family bonding time at breakfast that morning, and it seems that Olive and Oil have become friends after their whole homework argument.

You probably thought Bruna wasn't in the previous picture because she had gone to sleep. No, that would actually make sense. She absolutely had to go and look at her own reflection. I can see this is going to become a habit.

Cody puts the only career reward they have so far to good use, and starts growing some suspicious plants. They might need those in the future.

Börje is on skilling duty again, while Bruna pretends she's working by reading the newspaper. It really can't be easy to be the twin sibling of a Bad Apple.

Later that day, Nisha goes into labour, meaning this is it for children this generation (barring any ACR-related surprises, but she's not that young anymore, so I'm hopeful there won't be any). I'm sure she'll be relieved to not have to go through another pregnancy, Family aspiration or not.

The baby (just one, thankfully) turns out to be a girl, with the exact same colouring as Olive and Oil. Not a clone, though, as you'll see later on.
The randomly selected naming theme for this pregnancy was "favourite fictional characters". So I named her Olenna, after Olenna Tyrell (née Redwyne) from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, who's very much a cool old lady.

Bruna has certainly started acting out since she became a teenager - that, or she really disapproves of Olenna's purple crib and nursery.

Glycogen's flamingo army grows by three to celebrate the new addition to the household.

And look, Bruna isn't as much of a rebellious teenager as she seems. She's really fond of little Olenna, which is sweet.

Life goes on at the Harker household, and the homework drama apparently continues, even if the kids no longer argue about it.

Bruna keeps her own schedule, and has missed school a couple of times already. Not much of a problem anymore, since she's already too old to be taken away by the Social Worker. (Börje probably appreciates the decrease in workload, too.) And it seems Bruna is very much of a night owl.
Since I'm about a generation ahead in gameplay (high levels of procrastination here, guys), I'm wondering if all Bad Apples eventually tend to be nocturnal. (You'll see what I mean in future chapters.)

Cody is still doing well at his job, so here's to hoping he'll get that career reward soon. *knocks on wood*
He also brings Danielle (

simmie_girl09's simself) from work.

Poor Danielle is in for a bad time, because the moment Cody stops talking to her to go do something else, Bruna starts picking on her. Sorry, Danielle! Bad Apple, not much I can do about it.

Danielle eventually gets tired of putting up with Bruna shoving her for no reason, and fights back.

The second Cody returns, however, she starts acting all sweet and innocent, holding Olenna and everything. That girl's going to be trouble, I can feel it.

Yup, trouble. Even the random dog is worrying about it.

"For some reason, I can't seem to get that many friends. I think I only have a couple of best friends. I wonder why that is?"
"Uhhh...no idea, Bruna. It's a complete mystery to me too."

Cody gets another promotion, but still no Education career reward. How disappointing.

And since Jo is at the Harker house again, that means it's party time.
"Look, Börje, I have no reasons to complain about you, good job doing your sister's homework and all that. But I'm warning you, tell your sister Olive - and the same goes for Oil too - that she has to stop asking me for things. Or else, she'll find out that challenge life can get even worse."
Sim Jo, everyone, charming as always.

"Go, Olenna, it's your birthday!"
"Wheee!"

*crickets chirping*
Huh. It seems like Olenna is taking after Olive. Glitch party 2: the revenge.

Poor Cody couldn't take the glitching for very long, he was so exhausted from work he promptly fell asleep right there.

It was up to Nisha to save the day, but only a few hours later. I'm beginning to wonder if we have a glitch problem here.

Olenna is none of the worse for wear even with all the glitches, thankfully. See, I told you she wasn't a clone. Like Börje, she favours Cody a great deal. She's a Cancer 9/4/9/5/8.

Bruna's misfortunes continue as she decides going to the bathroom is too much work (and they have four bathrooms, I'm 100% sure at least one was available at this time). So she has an accident in her sister's room.

Eventually, she manages to take a shower and go to sleep...only to keep waking up because of nightmares. Her aspiration must be really low.

The next day, Börje brings home a new friend (and potential girlfriend?), a townie with the very alliterative name of Jacqueline Jackson, who has seriously creepy eyes. (Black sclera and yellow iris, yes, tell me that's not a little unnerving.)

Determined not to be ignored by my simself (and maybe by me as well), Olive explodes into adolescence.

She keeps her short hair, which suits her. And the reason she's smiling? She rolled Romance. So yes, Olive, you have my attention now. She randomized as being attracted to males, her turn-ons are logic and cleaning, and her turn-off is fitness.

Not to be outdone by her sister, Oil ages up inside at the same time. And in true twin fashion, she also rolls Romance. She's attracted to female sims, preferably those who are unemployed and charismatic, and she's turned off by high body skill.

Nisha's feeling a little nostalgic, as her four oldest are now teenagers, so she delights in spending some time with the one child that's still young enough not to rebel in new and inventive ways.

In other news, Olive's "it's raining" face is seriously adorable, and probably my favourite expression of hers.

The rain gives way to a lightning storm, however, and the poor flamingos are once again threatened by the forces of nature, making Olive freak out. (But they were fine afterwards.)

Olenna is the first of the Harker children to get new clothes and hair as a toddler (I might have neglected them a bit on that aspect, also, money was tight during the two sets of twins' toddlerhood). She looks very cute with the candy in her hair.

I feel sorry for her siblings, and so Börje gets new clothes as well. It might be more of a "Knowledge sim" look, but it suits him.

And Olenna keeps doing better than her siblings as skills go, too. One down, two to go. Let's see if she can be the first Harker toddler to learn all skills, or else I'll know I really suck at this challenge.

More good news, as Nisha has finally found a treasure chest (along with dozens more dog toys, rocks, etc.). Now I can remodel the house a bit (and buy the "O" twins some new clothes as well).

Nisha starts writing the first of the four novels needed for the Family Scrapbook mini-challenge. No doubt she'll have plenty to write about.

The younger twins finally get makeovers. If this was a legacy, I might be a bit mad at them for the 20 lovers (Oil) and 20 woohoos (Olive) LTWs, but whoever becomes the heir(ess) has to become a Grilled Cheese sim anyway, so their current aspirations and LTWs are a moot point.

Oil is an amusing sim. She might be the meanest of the Harkers, with 3 nice points (Nisha, Börje and Olive have 10, Cody has 6, Olenna has 8, Bruna is probably fairly nice as well), but she's so upbeat, always smiling and finger-gunning. That's clearly not enough to get Bruna to cheer up, though.

She also likes to swing on the fridge door. She definitely has potential as a Romance sim, I almost feel bad for Cheesing her if she's heiress. But we'll see about that.

In Olenna's little corner of the world, she is taught to walk by Nisha. Two down, one to go.

Outside, we have the first roach infestation of the challenge. Oil bravely fights it, but I'm afraid this is a job for more than one sim.

And of course Bruna has to go walk around to see the roaches despite being tired, in need of a shower and all that. Of course she ends up not feeling well at all, and has a little breakdown, as she starts laughing for no apparent reason.

Finally, to end the chapter in a more positive note, Olenna does become the first Harker toddler to be fully trained. (Hurray!)

The next installment will probably arrive soon to a LJ near you, featuring poor Bruna's further breakdown, more complaints about school and work, sim Jo being horrible to all the Harkers, gnome stealing, bad chance cards, and the continued realization that I'm not good at playing OWBCs at all.
Until then, goodbye and happy simming to all of you.

[One last note to any readers: you might want to check out the "Download a Harker" entry I set up a while back. Nisha and Cody are the only ones available for now, but I'll update that entry as the kids become adults (or YAs) in the story. (Non-Maxis) spouses will be added as they marry, too.]

***

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 [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 [spring: Nisha and Cody's wedding party, Olenna's toddler birthday party; summer: Börje & Bruna's toddler birthday party; autumn: Olive & Oil's toddler birthday party; winter: house party]
-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 [Börje & Bruna, Olive & Oil, Olenna]
-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) [1st generation: Bruna]

"Cowforbrains' Ghost Hunt" Mini-Challenge:
-Three sims must die every generation, 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 [Nisha, Cody, Börje, Bruna, ...]*
-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 [1 out of 20: 1 earned by Cody]

(*yes, I know I haven't shown any portraits/pictures, but they are there, trust me; I'm planning on showing them all at the end of the challenge instead of during chapters)