What Goes Around

Every day, Sims have birthdays, die, and get married.

Acacia’s birthday, even though she had a second round through adulthood, came sooner than I’d wanted. It was a mellow party. Since Acacia was the birthday girl, she couldn’t be the caterer, so Kyler catered. Acacia helped out by roasting the chicken, seeing as she’s the only one with with 10 cooking skill points.

Ember, Paris’s friend, invited herself over during the party. And then she died.

“Ember? We’re trying to have a party here.”

Paris, her closest household friend, was unsuccessful in his pleas for her life.

Anya, still strangely drawn to death, made sure that she was there to witness it.

“The wheel of life. It’s so… compelling.”

Acacia was delighted that Grim had remembered her birthday and made his traditional appearance.

“Grim! You remembered! So glad you could take time out of your busy schedule to drop by.”

After his task was done, Grimmy stole a few moments to enjoy the smooth stylings of Mesquite, who really can tickle those ivories.

“We don’t get music like this where I come from.”

Acacia, ever self-assured, is delighted with elderhood.

“Oh, yeah. Silver braid for a silver lining!”

Sadly, this was the last time Baby Babcock came to Cradle Rock. He was in the custom of stopping by every day, but after Manzanita yelled at him during Acacia’s birthday party, he never came back. Now he shows up as a ghost in the relationship panel. Bummer. I was hoping he’d die at Cradle Rock so he could maintain a spiritual connection to the family.

“Hey! What did I ever do to you?” Yeah, evil Sims. They’re born that way.

Manzanita danced her evil dance, trying for her second aspiration of Scamp after successfully completing Artistic Prodigy.

“Getting down with the devil!”

Ember’s ghost provided her with someone new to talk to.

“Hey, you’re blue. You’re really sad, aren’t you? Oh, that makes me so happy!”

As a teen, she joins her brother and father as a foodie. An evil foodie. And her adult aspiration is Soulmate. Figure that one out.

“I just want someone to love! And torture. And kiss! And destroy. Ah, love! So many possibilities for schadenfreude!”

The Bough teens coming home from school. Imagine sharing a school bus with this!

Kyler’s gotten to know the spirits of Cedar and Timothy. They adore him. Cedar talks to him of music and art. While they talked, she kept having thought bubbles of cupcakes with icing–Sim short-hand for sweetness.

“Gee. You really are sweet! Acacia made a good choice.”

And Timothy talks to him about woo-hoo.

“As long as you’re keeping Acacia happy, you’re good by me.” Kyler’s looking a little awkward there.

Cedar’s taken up painting in the after-life. I often find the easels full in the morning.

“Let’s see. A little more purple…”

Here’s what she painted:

Is it an owl? Which is really funny, since her trademark hat is the owl hat!

And with this chess move, Acacia completed her nerd-brain aspiration. Now she can fix things instantly, and do mega-upgrades!

Pawn to B-4

After Acacia completed her nerd-brain aspiration, she chose the renaissance aspiration, which she had a head start on since she’s so highly skilled. She needs a second career for one of the milestones, so she’s become an artist and seems amazingly fulfilled.

“Off to work! Palettes to clean, and so forth…”

Mesquite reached the top of the Astronaut career and built his new rocket.

“This rocket is going to take me places I’ve never even dreamed of.”

They now have two rockets.

“Mine is bigger.” Size doesn’t matter, Mesquite. “I know. Mine’s still bigger.”

Life moves on so quickly, each day holding so many little moments of conversation, projects, caring, and, sometimes, cruelty. If we can look past those rare times of unkindness, the after-taste will be sweet, like a cupcake with icing and rainbow sprinkles.