1.4 Girls on film

Kali coming home late with the cops worried his parents.  They apologised and offered to give him more freedom.  Then Jared realised what night it was – the night of the twins’ birthday.  Everyone was too tired to celebrate with a party, so they had a quiet night in, drinking plenty of coffee to get them through the transition to the terrible twos.

Lola became the cutest (and most camera-shy) toddler ever.

Alli, meanwhile, was left to grow up alone, because her uncle, Connor, and her father’s best friend, Molly French, had come over to visit.  As the girls were growing up, so another life was ending.  Molly passed away in front of her closest friends.

Alli had no idea that her father had witnessed the most significant event of his life.  He mourned for Molly for days afterwards, but what he was also mourning for was himself – he knew he wouldn’t see his children grow up, nor was he likely to achieve his ambitions.  Jared decided to be as hands-on with his daughters as he could be.  He potty trained both of them…

…although he wasn’t so hot on cleaning.

The family built Kali an upstairs room so he could chill out, and Molly popped by most nights to check her Facebook whilst he was sleeping.

Lianndra and Jared kept working on their careers, as well as gardening and fishing, but the family finally came first.  Lianndra was so busy with all she had on that she forgot it was her birthday.  One day, after work, she simply aged up on the pavement.

She wasn’t particularly impressed by the fashion that old age brought with it, and she vowed not to let it slow her down yet.  After all, she had three children to raise, and she had captained the local team into finally winning some matches.  This wasn’t the time to get creaky and retire.

Kali, meanwhile, finally met someone at school that he brought home: Stacey Steel.  His family were relieved.  It was the first time he’d ever shown any interest in making friends.

The new found love of family life had drawbacks.  Jared left a pan on the stove whilst playing with the girls, and the kitchen set on fire!  Stacey seemed to find it strangely fascinating…

Things were all getting a bit too much for Jared, though.  He started to wonder if he’d achieved anything with his life, if he really mattered.  He had a daughter he was estranged from, a son who seemed to be a real loner, and two young girls he might not have much more time with.  He hadn’t reached the pinnacle of his career, hadn’t maxed out any skills, hadn’t done much that would leave any sort of impression on the world.

Whilst he was out contemplating the deeper things of life, the family  held a small ceremony to celebrate the girls’ birthdays.  With Jared so depressed at the moment, Lianndra and Kali didn’t want to make a fuss.

Lola became a cute, but sombre looking child.  It was almost as if she knew things weren’t going to be smooth from now onwards.

Alli found the transition rather painful, but hoped this time she’d be as cute as her sister for once.

Unfortunately, fate wasn’t that kind.  She gave it a slow handclap to show her displeasure.

Alli refused to sleep in the same bed as Lola.  Lola was really sad – she’d hoped she’d grow up to be close to her twin, but it wasn’t looking like it would be that way.

Jared, meanwhile, maxed out his gardening skill and made sure the bills were paid on time.  He wanted his family’s future to be secure.

He encouraged his kids to develop hobbies. Alli took a shine to fishing……even if her preferred place to do it was the graveyard.

Both girls seemed to have a fascination with death, often wanting to visit the graveyard to collect bugs and rocks.

Molly often stopped by to talk to them, reassuring them that things weren’t so bad on the other side.

Jared, meanwhile, remained one elusive stage away from that life-fulfilling promotion, but he decided that spending the rest of his time with his family and restoring his old friendships was just as important.  He wanted everything to be in order before he passed on.

Kali still struggled with friendships, but a few girls were starting to show interest in his guitar-playing.  He continued to find solace in music and encouraged his sisters to work hard at school and find hobbies they loved, too.

Alli became very handy with the blocks, something that would serve her well in later life.  However, the distance between the two sisters remained.

Lianndra maxed out her athletic skill and achieved her lifetime wish of becoming a Superstar athlete.  She went on to gain the top sporting job available, before retiring to take up painting (whilst still signing the occasional autograph).

Kali became a young adult, and Jared gave him his old leather jacket to wear on special occasions.

It was soon the girls’ turn to age up, too.  They didn’t really have a party, though.  Their dad had gone missing after work, and they weren’t in the mood to celebrate.

Alli inherited Jared’s hair colour and Lianndra’s style.

Lola did too, but they didn’t really care, because at the precise moment she blew out the candles, they could hear a  bell toll, and they knew that somewhere, their father had passed on.  Although his body was never found, the girls knew it was over.

1.3 Baby baby

Kali turned into a teenager with very little fanfare, because his parents had got something else to focus on: twin girls.  Alli was born with a love of the outdoors and being easily impressed.  Lola was born good and friendly.

One night, Lianndra took Kali aside.  She told him that now was the time for him to step up to the plate.  He was the oldest, and he would one day be her heir and inherit all that she had.  But for now, he had to help raise his sisters.  She knew she and Jared hadn’t been the greatest parents when he was younger, but Jared was getting older and time was running out.  They wanted to develop their careers and their farming in order to provide a secure future for Kali, his sisters, and the generations to come.

Kali wasn’t impressed.  He wanted to be out swigging cider in the park with all the other teenagers.  Kali wondered when anyone would pay attention to him.

He found his only solace in the thing he’d loved since he was small: music.

His parents were still very busy, and although they tried their hardest to help with the babies, Kali often found he was left home alone to care for them.  Whenever he could, he would sneak out to play guitar in the park.  Unfortunately, he got caught staying up past his curfew.

Lianndra and Jared stayed up all night worrying.  They knew they’d placed too much responsibility on Kali’s young shoulders.  He didn’t even have any friends yet.  What kind of parents had they become?

1.2 Oh boy!

Sure enough, that new bed had done the trick.  Lianndra was pregnant: the legacy was about to start.  Of course, she still had serious business to attend to, like gardening.  The family were eating well and starting to make a nice profit from their wares.

Then one day, when tending the orchard, Lianndra got a stomach cramp…

Baby Kali arrived, with the traits of clumsy and friendly, but he had to sleep on the floor…

So Jared rushed out to buy him a crib, which made Lianndra very happy.   She wondered how his life would turn out, and as the oldest child, and therefore the heir to her legacy, if he would resent her for giving him this responsibility.

Jared and Lianndra were both progressing well in their careers and making a tasty profit from their sideline of fishing and gardening.  They soon even had their own proper bathroom and kitchen.

Kali grew to be a cute toddler, but kitchens don’t build themselves, and Lianndra and Jared threw themselves into their careers.  They loved Kali, but often had to leave him in the hands of babysitters, some of whom were less than capable of the job.  Eventually, the family were able to live inside – although Lianndra and Jared spent so much time working or building up their skills that they didn’t use the inside that much.

Lianndra and Jared tried to compensate for being absentee parents by buying Kali all the toys he wanted.  He was a lonely little boy, though, but he turned to the xylophone often, finding music helped relieve his stress.

Kali would often cry at night.  He was in the same room as his parents, yet barely saw them.  Jared was stressed with his job.  He knew it wouldn’t be long before he became an elder, and he was still several rungs away from promotion.  He remembered the days when he was a bachelor, able to sow wild oats, and didn’t have a toddler keeping him up all night.  In frustration, he got so angry that he kicked down Kali’s doll’s house.

It was the wake-up call he needed.  He realised he’d been focussing so much on providing for his family, he’d forgotten to be part of it.  He already had a daughter he was estranged from, he didn’t want the same relationship with his son.  Jared helped Kali learn some vital life skills, and when it was his birthday, he threw him a party to show his son how much he cared.

Family life started to improve.  Jared took Kali fishing, and whilst Jared did all the cooking, Lianndra took on the job of doing all the maintenance.  But they both sensed something was missing.  Kali was worried: she had an heir, but what if some misfortune befell Kali?  She needed a spare.  Jared, too, wanted more children.  He wanted the chance to atone for missing Alison and Kali’s younger years.

Jared bought Kali a new doll’s house, and he and Lianndra decided to add another little Kyoti to the fold.

Soon it was time for Jared’s birthday.  The family threw a party, but began to question the type of company they were keeping.  Several guests turned up without showering…

…whilst others thought that eating food off the bathroom floor was acceptable.

Whilst Lianndra bloomed, and Kali grew into a shy but intelligent child, Jared was now getting a lot older… time was running out to raise his children and fulfil his ambitions…

1.1 A new Sim in town

Lianndra Kyoti was new to Sunset Valley. She arrived with little more than a phone, a few simoleans and an ambition: to establish a legacy that would impact the community and last for ten generations.

On her first day in town, she headed straight for the centre to catch herself a man all the gossip.  She struck up a conversation with a likely looking fella, Ethan Bunch.  Unfortunately, it soon transpired that he was a teenager, and therefore not the best candidate for a potential mate, but she firgured it was worth getting to know him anyway.  After all, he’d age up sooner or later, right?  As she was chatting to Ethan, a suitable young adult, Jared Frio, happened by.  She immediately turned her attentions to him.  She started flirting with Jared.  Ethan was gutted by this turn of events and left town very shortly afterwards.

Lianndra was satisfied with her progress.  She spent the rest of the day bagging herself a job in the athletics career and paying to take an athletics class.  This didn’t leave her with much money, but a single bed and a chair would do for now.  After all, she could take care of most things in town for now.  Lianndra spent her time reading the paper, to catch up on all the gossip in town and attending the gym to keep her great figure trim and take advantage of the free food, toilets and showers.

In between hanging out at the pool and gym, and making herself popular with the rest of the sporty crowd, Lianndra focussed on her other goal: carrying on her legacy – and she wasn’t going to do this without a man….

It turned out that bagging a man wasn’t so difficult.  All it took was upgrading her single bed to a double and Jared agreed to move in.  Unfortunately he didn’t bring any much needed simoleans with him, just a crappy ghetto blaster circa 1987 that was stolen a few days later.  Jared was a heavy sleeper, a natural cook, mean spirited, inappropriate and a party animal.  He wanted to be a star chef one day.  He might not have come with much physical baggage, but there was some emotional stuff: a brother, Connor (who was soon to become a single father), and a bitter break-up with his ex, Claire Ursine.  Jared didn’t realise it for a long time, but he was also about to become a father…

Jared’s daughter, Alison Ursine, was born to little fanfare, but he was too busy building a life with Lianndra to pay her any attention (he hadn’t raised the thorny issue of his past with Lianndra yet).  He and Lianndra began to make a life for themselves, starting a  vegetable garden to help sustain them.  Because they lived on such a beautiful plot of land, neither was too bothered about the absence of walls.  In time, though, they began to start making some money from their vegetable patch and their jobs, and they could afford a crappy sofa and a three-walled bathroom.

Jared loved to fish, and although she wasn’t as keen, Lianndra would often accompany him on his trips in order to spend more time with him and encourage him to be part of establishing her legacy.

They both enjoyed this life of living off the land, but Jared began to hanker after an oven…

…and Lianndra wondered if her pillow talk would ever consist of anything other than sharing gardening tips…

Lianndra wondered if the reason Jared hadn’t woo-hooed with her yet was due to their bed.  So she bought a new one, and that night…