With gen 7, we start to think of continuity: this generation, for me, forms the bridge between the height of the legacy at gen 5 through the end with the birth of the gen 10 child. It’s not likely that Tam and Doug will live to see the final child born, but Tam’s children, Redbud and Alder, likely will, and they’ll be able to tell their grandchildren stories of generation seven.
Tamarind Bough
Gen 7 heir
Art lover. Snob. Mean.
Aspiration: Chief of Mischief
Tamarind is one of those Sims whose basic personality and style of interaction changed when she rolled her adult trait. Before rolling “mean,” Tam was perhaps the most loving Sim I’d known. She had a soft energy and was always there to support her siblings. That changed when she became a young adult. With the addition of the mean trait, Tam seemed to gain a spine of steel. She became so strong; she also developed a taste for yelling at and insulting her siblings and mother. She rarely yells at family friends, and she never yells at Aunt Sugar, but she often yells at her sister and her brother. Her mom, Salix, who grew up best friends with mean Aunt Poplar, let Tam’s outbursts roll right off her back without experiencing a decrease in relationship. But even with my interventions of canceling mean actions and directing smooth apologies, Tam’s relationship bars with her brother and sister are a mere one quarter green. This doesn’t seem to bother her–or them, either. Though they may not all be best friends anymore, it’s evident they love each other. Tam’s highest relationship is with her husband Nathanael, who will set boundaries when she is harsh with him and who loves her unconditionally.
Skills, Aspiration, and Career: Tam’s aspiration is Chief of Mischief. She’d enjoy completing it, though I wouldn’t enjoy having her do so. She’s stuck on the first milestone because she doesn’t have two Sims who dislike her. It would be fine with her if they did, but I refuse to reinforce the mean behavior required to get her relationship with other Sims to this point. As an art lover and a snob, she has high skill in art, which is where her career is. She’s recently reached Level 7 in her career. I don’t expect that she’ll reach the top, but she is enjoying the progress she’s made. She also has high video game, logic, cooking, wellness, and mischief skills.
Greatest Strength/Greatest Challenge: I notice with most of my Sims that the strengths and challenges are flip-sides of the same quality. Tam is a strong Sim who can withstand anything–she has a steel core. That’s both her strength and her challenge, for this quality stems from her mean trait. Perhaps her meanness is really only a challenge for me, for she finds joy in it, her family members love her regardless, and I seem to be the main one who feels uncomfortable from her mean actions to others. I never felt comfortable with harsh words.
Favorite activities: Tam loves to paint, dance, and do yoga. Her best paintings are landscapes, perhaps in tribute to her outdoor enthusiast father and botanist husband.
Share a secret: Tam has remained the most popular member of the household, with most family members (except for Sugar) rolling whims to interact with her.
Nathanael Sells
Gen 7 spouse
Glutton. Creative. Loner.
Aspiration: Freelance Botanist
Nathanael’s become a favorite of mine. I love having a loner back on the lot. He’s a happy and independent Sim. It takes someone like Nathanael, who has a glutton’s zest and a loner’s independence, to be able to handle Tam’s intensity. They are a solid couple, spending lots of time apart–often even choosing to sleep in separate beds and separate casitas–but always coming back together for intense conversation, romance, and dancing. This is the type of relationship that feels comfortable to me, for it contains the independence needed by women who have plenty of their own interests.
Skills, Aspiration, and Career: Nathanael completed his Freelance Botanist aspiration around the time of his adult birthday, and he’s been working on the painter aspiration since then, which he’s making good progress on. Like most the members of this artistic generation, he loves to paint. He has maxed the gardening skill, and has high wellness, logic, and painting skills.
Greatest Strength/Greatest Challenge: His greatest strength is his independence. He’s happy to spend hours alone in the garden, painting, or doing yoga. And the solace he gains from this time helps him to feel comfortable during time with the extended family and neighbors, too. His greatest challenge is probably Tam, who, when they are feeling closest, will often insult him or yell at him. But he will establish boundaries and stop her harshness. Then the two will spend time in friendly conversation, rebuilding their friendship bar. I think that Tam enjoys a dynamic relationship, and Nathanael is strong enough in his independence to be able to handle that.
Favorite activities: Nathanael loves to garden and paint. He’s one of those rare Sims whose fun meter doesn’t decrease during gardening. It’s fallen to Nathanael to feed the cowplant, and he enjoys that, too.
Share a secret: Nathanael’s favorite person at Cradle Rock is onezero. He will often seek her out for conversation. I think he likes her unusual perspectives.
Doug Fir Bough
Gen 7 spare
Lazy. Snob. Materialistic.
Aspiration: Renaissance Sim
Doug, who discovered during the family vacation at Granite Falls that he hates the wilderness, is the first in the legacy line to change his name so it’s not the name of a tree. He dropped the “Fir,” and now he’s just known as Doug.
I always thought that Doug would meet a beautiful woman, get married, have a baby, and move into the spare’s mansion across the street. But he decided to stay at Cradle Rock.
Perhaps because Tam became mean, Doug has taken over as the emotional center for this generation. He seems to want to be there to care for onezero and to provide the nurturing that the family members need. He is a good and caring brother and uncle.
Skills, Aspiration, and Career: Doug completed the Renaissance Sim aspiration, and he’s now working on the painter one. He’s maxed logic and has high fitness, wellness, painting, and handiness skills. Though he inherited his dad’s narrow shoulders, yoga has proved an effective means of putting on upper body strength and bulk.
Greatest Strength/Greatest Challenge: Again, two sides of the same coin: though Doug is in the position of spare, he’s been able to make this work for him. He has taken his love of his siblings (onezero, in particular) and used that to fuel his life dedication, which is to provide a nurturing home for all the family members, who know that they can always count on Doug for a hug.
Favorite activities: Doug loves to use the giant microscope and the observatory. He also loves to paint.
Share a secret: Doug is currently his aunt Sugar’s favorite person. Most of the time, she has a whim for a friendly interaction with him.
onezero Adam
Gen 7 sister
Glutton. Insane. Perfectionist.
Aspiration: Public Enemy
onezero has become a little bit famous. In an alternate time stream, as a child she had adventures at Summer Camp, and now she’s off with Penelope Periwinkle at Raerei’s Fortress. When she was a child at Cradle Rock, onezero was perpetually spouting Wittgenstein and helping us to see the connections between everything. Now that she’s a young adult, her perfectionism is expressing itself as self-containment. She keeps most of her insights to herself or her friends the lamp, table, and kitchen counter, while she quietly goes about her life here at Cradle Rock. Like her aunt Sugar, onezero is an autonomous youth potion drinker. She’s chosen, so far, to stay in the young adult lifestage.
Skills, Aspiration, and Career: onezero’s aspiration of Public Enemy doesn’t seem to fit her. We’ve made no progress on it, save the complete of mischievous acts, which is something that onezero loves. She has high mischief skill. She has also maxed wellness and logic and has high painting and video game skills. She’s an excellent cook and gourmet chef. We just bought a cupcake factory, and she loves to make cupcakes.
Greatest Strength/Greatest Challenge: onezero’s greatest strength is her autonomy–she’s a self-directed Sim who feels empowered to make choices regarding her life. Her greatest challenge is her random aspiration of Public Enemy. But she has come to feel freedom in not working towards an aspiration, and simply being as she chooses to be.
Favorite activities: onezero loves to play with clay, practice yoga, meditate, observe the universe, run on the treadmill, and paint. She also loves to cook and to eat the cakes that her aunt Sugar makes.
Share a secret: Don’t tell, but I think her altnernative universe child self is going to stay with Penelope on Rae’s hard-drive! She’s just so happy there.
Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology 