jothirteen

Once more, welcome back to a new chapter of "Hark(er)! An OWBC"!
Previously: the Grim Reaper came for Cody, leaving the whole family devastated. Olive and Oil earned one more career reward each, Oil being free to move out afterwards. After quitting their current jobs, Fergus and Olive got started on generation 2, soon welcoming a daughter, Lethe, and eventually triplets Peridot (this generation's Bad Apple), Phlox and Pomp and Power. Nisha, permaplat since the second Phlox was born, died shortly after the triplets' birth, once again plunging the family into grief. Near the end of the chapter, Lethe became a child and the "P" triplets toddlers, with Fergus and Olive now having their hands full.
Now...

We open the chapter with some toddler spam, here's Bad Apple Peridot, aka Peri, being very cute.

Not wanting to be outdone by her sister, Phlox starts working on her adorable expressions too.

And it's toddler training time again! Joy. Thankfully, Phlox is a good girl and cooperates (maybe because her father is actually wearing some clothes this time around).

Pomp and Power, not so much. Still unsure about a nickname for him, "Double P" lends itself to "pee" jokes (not that I care a lot) but maybe "Pomp" would be a better fit?

Lethe, meanwhile, feels neglected, since her parents have their hands full with the three toddlers, and complains to her cousins online.

Pomp is a quiet little boy who mostly blends into the background, but he's doing pretty well as skills go, better than both his triplet sisters. Future Knowledge sim?

All this toddler training does not mean the kids don't get to have fun every once in a while. I notice that Peri is much more cheerful and easygoing than Bruna was even at this age, which makes me hopeful.

Even if she does have her moments of rebellion.

Oil pays another visit to the main Harker household, though this time she ignores her sister, brother-in-law, nieces and nephew completely, and amuses herself with the Music career reward.

Lethe starts school, and is not very happy about it...

...especially after her father lets her know she'll be in charge of Peri's homework soon as he teaches her to study. Yes, it's that time of the generation again.

Some more skills are taught to the toddlers, though they don't end up doing as well as Olenna and Lethe. Pomp was the only one to learn all three skills (Peri only learned one or two - I'm not sure about the actual number anymore - and Phlox two out of three).

Pomp toddler spam! I swear I wasn't ignoring him before, this boy does like his quiet time. But he does look happy sometimes, as the first picture proves.

Lethe is put on garden duty, which does not help her current lack of amusement about the whole OWBC situation.

Bad Apple problems: Peri complains about her motives, waking up Phlox in the process. This particular problem is even more frequent when the Bad Apple is part of a set of multiples.

She soon calms down after Fergus tends to her needs and plays with her for a while, the two becoming best friends in the process.

Soon, it's time for the triplets' child birthday, to my immense relief (and Fergus and Olive's as well, no doubt).
Pomp, the youngest of the triplets, is apparently in a hurry to be more independent, and grows up first.

Followed by Phlox in quick succession.

Peri, as Bruna did at her age, is fashionably late, and transitions hours after her siblings. She has an odd sense of timing, too, as she grows up in her parents' bedroom right after they conceive child "R".

She grows up well, and doesn't seem to be scarred for life or anything, though.

We have some tub pirating right after her birthday, meaning our Bad Apple is a very playful little girl.

To everyone's delight, the next day is a snow day, so no school for any of the kids. Phlox cheers outside...

...while her siblings are just grateful for getting to sleep in.

Later that day, Olive calls the Garden Club over, and Lethe doesn't look too pleased about it. She had every right to make that face, as they refused to give the garden a good score yet again because of the flamingos.

The triplets' (except for Peri, of course) days of bliss are now over, and it's skilling time for Pomp and Phlox (not pictured). They didn't seem to mind much, though, lending credit to my opinion that Pomp is destined to become a Knowledge sim. Phlox seems to be going the same way as well.

Around this time, I realize that Peri has, slowly but surely, become my favourite this generation. Like her mother, she makes the most adorable faces, and unlike Bruna, she looks really happy all the time, and doesn't complain all that much. So there can be well-behaved Bad Apples in my game, who'd have though it?

Olive pops into her 2nd trimester when tucking Lethe in. I'd almost forgotten she was pregnant again by this point (oops?).

"Don't you want some grilled cheese, Lethe? It's not bad for your health, I promise, your uncle Börje is wrong about that."
"No, I'm good, I'll have some cookies instead. Why don't you ask Peridot? I'm sure she wouldn't mind eating some of your sandwiches, she spends her days doing nothing, while the rest of us actually have to work."

"Peri, sweetheart, don't listen to your sister, she's just grumpy about having to start doing your homework soon. She'll grow out of this phase after a while, it was the same with me, your aunt Oil and your uncle."
It seems like I'm not the only one playing favourites this generation. Olive is a good mother to all of her children, but she seems to have a soft spot for Peri.

Kat (

katmiesterk8's simself) wanders by the Harker lot just in time for another party.

And look who's here again...Olive and Fergus probably thought they'd seen the last of Jo, but sadly for them, they were mistaken.

"Good job on those three career rewards and saving Olive from death, I really appreciated that. Now, if only you could put your skills to work with the Garden Club...those guys are starting to annoy me. I might end up using Tiffany Zarubin for this generation's Ghost Hunt and make an example of her."

"Olive, you need to stop inviting Jo over for parties, seriously. She's nuts, remember the things she said to us when we were kids? There are plenty of nice simselves in this neighbourhood, invite them instead, or another of our siblings. But trust me, you don't want Jo near your kids. She might be displeased with them for some reason and end up killing them for her demented Ghost Hunt."

"Now that you've been warned, we can carry on with the party...Voooo Gerbits!"

Kat didn't interact with the Harkers much, for some reason. She just sat on that armchair in the purple nursery (which matches her clothes) for a long time.

But later on, she went to the kitchen and did her good action for the day - talk to Olive about Grilled Cheese! Olive's kids are usually too busy doing something else to talk about GC with their mother, and Fergus would not accept it, as he only has 2 nice points. So Olive can finally fulfil that wish of hers. Thank you, Kat!

The children arrive from school while the party's still going on, and Lethe rushes over to her father to brag about her A+.

Doesn't she look smug here? Lethe makes some great expressions as well, even if hers are more along the lines of "this annoys me" and "I do not approve of this" rather than just plain adorable like Olive and Peri's.

Fergus congratulates his wife on yet another great party. Good job, guys, you're doing pretty well as the gen 1 couple so far. Nisha and Cody would be proud.

It's time to play "Guess the Bad Apple's stats" again! We now know that Peri is very playful, and also has a high number of neat points. She's probably quite nice as well, given her constant smiles and the fact that her siblings are all fairly nice. I'm guessing about 8 nice points or higher? She does act nicer than Bruna, who has 6.
Stay tuned for a follow-up on this (not that) exciting game!

Phlox and Pomp, the two quiet little nerds, are also taught how to study, so that Lethe can get some help with Peri's homework later on.

Awww, Olive finally gets one of her kids to join in on eating some grilled cheese. Good for her!

"Learning to talk was probably the highlight of our toddlerhood for me, Peri. All hard work from here on, not that I'm complaining about it, mind you."
"It's funny how you and Pomp seem to like homework and skilling so much, Phlox. Lethe hates it, I can see her glaring at me every time she has to do mine, even if it's not really my fault, I'd do it if I could. But I don't think she knows that."
"Oh, that's just Lethe for you, she's always angry about something."

"Listen, I'm only doing your stupid homework because Mom and Dad asked me to, so that you won't get taken away like aunt Olenna, okay? I hate it, and I hate that I have to skill so much while you just play around and do nothing most of the time!"

"I'm sorry, Lethe...it's not my fault I was chosen to be the Bad Apple. I'd do my homework and skill if I could, but you know I just don't. I can play with you whenever you get a break, though, so that you'll cheer up a bit. So...still friends?"
"Oh, just leave me alone."

Moving on from Lethe and Peri's one-sided sibling rivalry, we have the beginning of a running gag: Fergus ignores his children's A+s. Sure, he cheered for Lethe's, but that was the first and last time. Watch.

Yup. He did the same for Pomp, and this isn't the end of it. You'll see more of it later on.

Olive goes into labour in the greenhouse in the middle of the night, as everyone's obliviously asleep inside.

Okay, almost everyone. Peri is pretty much nocturnal - when she comes home from school during the afternoon, she complains a bit about being tired and goes to sleep. Then I find her wandering around mostly during the night.

Baby number five is yet another girl, with black hair, skin and green eyes. The random naming theme I had for the "R" pregnancy was "Aminoacids/Periodic Table elements" - so say hello to Ruthenium Harker (who'll be called "Ruthie" for short).
After Ruthie's birth, I noticed Olive's children followed the same pattern as Nisha's: four girls and one lone boy; a Bad Apple daughter whose looks are somewhat different from her siblings' (Bruna's red hair, Peri's dark skin tone and grey eyes); multiple births, the Bad Apple and the only son being part of one of them (even the number of multiple births is different); and the youngest child being a girl who's quite a bit younger than her siblings. It's a neat little parallel.

Ruthie is placed in Lethe's old stork crib and in her room. Let's just hope she doesn't wake her up during the night, or Lethe'll act even crankier than usual the next day.

Not that the piles of homework are anything pleasant to wake up to, poor kid. She does look miserable.

We'll pop in at Börje's house for a moment to see how his sons are faring. They've all had their teen birthdays now, with Hector (the one with glasses) rolling Family (LTW to become a Minister of Education) and randomizing as being attracted to both genders, Lorens (lighter skin tone, wearing purple) rolling Fortune (LTW to become Chief of Staff) and randomizing as attracted to females, and Ravi (grey eyes, wearing black and white) rolling Knowledge (LTW to become a Mad Scientist) and randomizing as being attracted to male sims.
They will be going to college at around the same time as their cousins (though they'll be in a different dorm, I'll have my hands full with 5 sims already).

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...Lethe spends the last few moments of her childhood furiously scrubbing the bathtub (she has 10 neat points and three of her family members have 0, we really should give the girl a break here).

We have some short-lived levitation...

...and a teenager. Lethe, like her cousin Hector, rolled Family (LTW to reach her golden anniversary). She randomized as being attracted to male sims, her turn-ons are underwear and creativity, and her turn-off is hats.

As the Harkers are not doing that well as money goes again, I have to give Lethe a random outfit (which will be changed ASAP). To actually get a proper makeover, she has to go and dig for treasure, no doubt cursing her luck all the while.

Peri, meanwhile, tries to befriend a skunk, with predictable results. Poor sweet, innocent Peri, she acted so disappointed after this. It made for an amusing moment, but a bit sad at the same time.

She soon forgot all about it, in typical Peri fashion, and ran off to play with her brother.

Nisha finally decided to haunt the family that night...

...and targeted Peri. I'm starting to think she probably inherited the famous Harker bad luck.

There's yet another party (Ruthie's birthday, this time) and Lethe complains loudly to her aunt Olenna about how embarrassing her family is, and how she wishes she could move to another planet.
Oil ignores her completely and dotes on her youngest niece.

But eventually she has to hand her over to Olive so that we can have an actual birthday take place during this party. Let's cross our fingers and hope for no glitches.

Another great time at the Harker house. Tell your friends.

Here's Ruthie after a makeover, she looks very much like her father. She's a Libra 0/10/6/6/9, so yet another sloppy family member for Lethe to complain about.

Olive immediately gets started with the toddler training, but Ruthie isn't having any of it.

The next day, something amazing happens: Peri gets an A+ at school.

But Fergus, as he'd done before with Phlox and Pomp, doesn't even notice.

At this point, I noticed Peri was actually platinum, which was a thing to be celebrated, at least by my standards. I can't even remember Bruna being platinum before finding a job and being promoted as an adult. Peri rocks.

Even if Lethe clearly doesn't agree with me. Her annoyed expressions crack me up.

Peri bonds with her little sister by cleaning the mess she's currently making. Fun times at the Harker household.

"I'm starting to think that we don't stand a chance of being chosen as the heir, Phlox. Lethe's complaints and Peri's perpetual good mood are far more interesting than our quiet skilling."

"Leave them be, brother, what does it matter if none of us is heir! We get sweet, sweet freedom, and more skill points! Nothing wrong with that!"

Toddler spam, the Ruthenium edition!

There was yet another failed Garden Club inspection around this time, and this old guy actually stuck around after the others left, and sat on the armchair in the kids' bedroom as they slept, which creeped me out a bit.

Peri, being the night owl that she is, eventually woke up and didn't seem too upset by seeing a stranger there. She actually went and had a very enthusiastic chat with him.
I love this kid, she's just so fun to watch.

Definitely fun to watch, she can't even look serious properly while reading the newspaper.

"Dad, I'm starting to think everyone cares about Peri more than me. I hope she doesn't end up being picked as heiress, can you imagine? A Bad Apple as heiress would be a disaster! I'd do a much better job than her."

"Lethe, it will still be a while before one of you is chosen as heir, Ruthie is still a toddler and everything! Relax and enjoy your teen years, in the end, it won't really matter who is chosen. Your uncle and aunts have good lives and none of them regret your mother being chosen as heiress."

And I shall leave you here, as the (still one-sided) sibling rivalry between the Harker sisters grows a bit more.
Until the next chapter, goodbye and happy simming to all of you.

***

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 [1st generation: Olive's date with Fergus; ...]
-Every heir(ess) is turned into a Grilled Cheese sim [1st generation: Olive; ...]
-A sim must be turned into a vampire

Seasons Bonuses:
-Throw a party once per season [spring: Nisha and Cody's wedding, Olenna's toddler birthday, 4 house parties (1 at college), Ruthenium's toddler birthday; summer: Börje & Bruna's toddler birthday, 4 house parties (1 at college); autumn: Olive & Oil's toddler birthday, 5 house parties (2 at college); winter: 3 house parties (2 at college), Olive's graduation, Olive and Fergus' wedding]
-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 [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

"One Bad Apple" Mini-Challenge:
-Every generation, one child (chosen at birth) must be uncontrollable (8 commands at day after reaching young adulthood/adulthood) [1st generation: Bruna; 2nd generation: Peridot; ...]

"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); ...]

"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, ...]
-The founder and each one of the 3 heirs/heiresses must write a novel [Nisha, ...]

"Workaholics Anonymous" Super Mini-Challenge:
-Earn all the career rewards available [16 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]