Gen 5 Ch 12: Geezers and Geeks

Rémy had anticipated this day for a very long time. Finally all the children were old enough to justify taking them along on a scuba diving trip.

It almost felt like their first vacation to Isla Paradiso, Evelyn mused as she was preparing breakfast.

Except that now, in addition to Rémy, there were five wonderful children to enjoy her cooking!

For the first few days, Rémy steered the houseboat they had rented towards a new harbor every morning. He had missed his life of discovery and adventure and was trying to make up for lost time.

Out of all the children, Francis had been looking forward to this trip the most. His sea exploration themed bedroom, along with his love for adventure novels and his father's exciting tales had stirred his imagination. However, he soon found out that real boats weren't nearly as much fun as his bed back home...

For Francis' sake, they decided it would be best to keep the houseboat docked from now on.

So while Rémy explored the depths of the ocean...

Evelyn took the children to the beach.

Building sand castles was more Francis' speed. When Félix built one as well, much larger than his own and using sticks to strategically fortify the walls, it didn't take long until their two sand kingdoms declared an all-out war.

Seeing his brothers using little shells and rocks to form impressive armies, Freddie begged to join their game. However, their seemingly arbitrary rules for what was and what was not allowed were soon too much for him. Who ever said that his starfish spaceship could not flatten their castles with its laser beams?!

He then tried sunbathing like his sisters, but that got boring even more quickly!

Fred decided that their daddy was probably having the most fun right now and spent the rest of the day snorkeling in the shallow water.

Days of digging in the sand and splashing in the ocean flew by. Rémy even discovered a few uncharted islands and proudly showed the off to his family.

But all too soon for him, it was time to return to Starlight Shores. The children had to go back to school, and Evelyn had her gigs and social obligations. When she wasn't throwing parties, she visited the extended family to catch up.

As much as his daughter's unplanned pregnancy had worried him at first, Esteban now chatted excitedly about his delightful granddaughter Cora. His recent campaign had been successful and he was now the Vice President of Sim Nation! Yet, he remained living in his small bungalow in the suburbs with his wife, their daughter Rosalind and little Cora.

Evelyn, in turn, told her brother about what his nieces and nephews were up to. "Well, of course you know the girls are doing great - you probably see the huge billboard for their new movie right outside city hall every day. Twins Through Time? I'm sure you've heard of it," she bragged. "Francis joined the school newspaper as soon as he was old enough. I think they'll make him editor in chief when the current one graduates! And Félix... his teachers say he's a genius!" She paused for emphasis. "He loves science and is always conducting these little experiments. I don't know where he gets it from, but we're so very proud of him!"

There was considerably less to tell about the youngest of the bunch. All of his older siblings were so enthusiastic and serious about their particular passions, yet Freddie couldn't seem to keep his attention on anything for too long. For a day or two at a time he would be completely engrossed in something - he even tried snorkeling once more at home after the vacation - but he always lost his interest again as quickly as it had come.

Ah well, he is the youngest after all, Evelyn thought. Still almost a baby, really. There was plenty of time for him to decide what he wanted to do with his life.

Rémy had promised to take the kids to the new arcade if they finished their homework for the weekend immediately, so they all sat at the dining table together one Saturday morning.

"I don't even know if I want to go to the arcade," Fleur mumbled, scratching her head. "Faye and I have so little free time as it is... we really need to go shopping and -- didn't you want to work on your dorky new book, Frankie?"

"Stop calling me that, Fleur," Francis replied stony-faced. "I take the time to pronounce your name correctly, so please do me the same courtesy. Besides, it's the same amount of syllables anyway, so I don't know why you insist on--"

"Okay, dork," Fleur interrupted. "I'm just trying to help you out here, you know? Frank sounds so much..."

"... manlier than Francis," Faye finished her sister's thought.

"Will you guys stop it with that creepy twins-finishing-each-other's-sentence thing?" Francis' voice was raised to an agitated tone now. "It might be cute in your dumb chick flicks but--"

"Yay, the arcade!" Freddie piped up, effectively silencing his bickering siblings. He was a little slow on the uptake sometimes.

It did serve to calm the teenagers' raging tempers, however, and they resolved to finish their homework quickly.

A very business-savvy sim had bought up the resort right next to the Gooder Public School and built an arcade in its place. The construction site in the historic town center had been an eyesore for a while, but now that it was finished, people flocked there to check it out.

The place was HUGE and had everything the boys could have asked for! Félix tried his luck at the claw machine, while Francis worked out some frustrations with the Whack-A-Gnome.

Rémy and Freddie had a shoot-out at the arcade hoops. Seeing his son's focused expression, Rémy's heart gave a small leap. Maybe he had finally discovered something that little Freddie could excel at! Evelyn would be delighted!

Rémy immediately took his son to the real basketball court out back.

However, basketball turned out to be a lot less exciting for Freddie without the blinking lights and beeping scoreboard.

Sighing in disappointment, Rémy agreed go back inside and play skee ball instead.

The twins were considerably less impressed with the arcade and grabbed some low-fat Quadruple Choco Whippacchinos at the adjoining coffee shop. There weren't any cute boys here at all!

"Only geezers and geeks," Fleur complained, including their father and brothers in that statement.

As had become family tradition, Félix had been allowed to redecorate a room for himself when he became a child. His chosen theme was 'dinosaur jungle'.

When Freddie had grown too old to sleep in the nursery, he had insisted that he wanted to share a room with one of his brothers, just like his sisters shared their own room. Félix had been the one to give in and happily let his younger brother join his jungle exploration games.

However, when Freddie saw a car shaped bed on TV one day and declared it "AWESOME!", the little bamboo bunk beds had lost their appeal.

At his insistence, the new theme for the room soon became "race through the jungle, escaping the dinosaurs". Félix quietly capitulated. At least he had been allowed to choose a color for his new car shaped bed.

Félix was an agreeable little boy, overall.

Predictably, Freddie didn't do particularly well in any school subjects. One thing he was good at though was making friends! On his first day of school he met Todd Moltisanti, who had recently moved to Starlight Shores.

They bonded over a shared appreciation for beanie hats and were inseparable from there on.

Larissa Lack, a bold and spirited little girl, followed Fred home from school one day and they too became fast friends.

Both of Freddie's new companions were soon permanent fixtures around the Dutiel household.

They often stuck around overnight, usually uninvited. Todd took a particular interest in playing in the twins' room while they were out or sleeping...

Luckily for him, the twins were generally too preoccupied with other things to notice.

It turned out that school was a far better place to meet boys than the arcade. Shelton came home with Fleur one day, under the pretext of helping with her homework. The trampoline was so much more fun though!

Francis hadn't bothered to redecorate his room when reaching his teen years, even though his parents had offered it. He really didn't care too much about what his room looked like, as long as he had plenty of space to store his books. Besides, his Simlish teacher had said that keeping in touch with one's inner child helped make one's writing more personal and imaginative...

These days, he could spend hours on end holed up in his room, reading books cover to cover. It felt like only yesterday when his sisters would barge into his room every five minutes, demanding he play with them.

Francis wondered what they were up to right now...

Shutting his book, he decided to go and check.

When he found Fleur on the trampoline, giggling with one of those dumb jocks from school, Francis let his pent up teenage hormones get the better of him.

"What do you think you're doing groping my sister, you scumbag!" He accused.

"Dude, what the heck?!" Stepping off the trampoline, Fleur let out a breath that was still half a laugh. But when she saw her brother's indignant face, her giddiness subsided.

Instantly, Faye was by Fleur's side. The two of them were never far apart.

"Does Mom know you're messing around with this douche up here?" Francis taunted. "Maybe someone should go and tell her!"

 "Francis," Faye hissed, stepping in to defend her sister. "What the hell is wrong with you?! You're acting like a moron!" She glanced at Fleur, who was busy smoothing things over with Shelton. "Just leave us alone, okay?"

"What are you going to do?! Share the doofus?"

"Ew! No!" Faye crinkled her nose in disgust. "And that's none of your business anyway! So shove off and get a book or whatever. Or better yet, get a girlfriend. Maybe that's why you're being such a jerk lately!"
 

Rémy and Evelyn were blissfully oblivious to the teenagers' squabbling. They had picked a particularly romantic ballad on the karaoke machine and were singing their hearts out, gazing deeply into each other's eyes.

Larissa, ever a silent red shadow around the house, stood watching them, unnoticed.

They really got into it!

Larissa thought they sucked.

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Notes:
Todd Moltisanti is a paper boy I saved from a life of servitude. I saw his little beanie and had to make him Fred's BFF! I had renamed him though. His face sort of reminded me of the character Christopher Moltisanti (played by Michael Imperioli) in The Sopranos. The first name Todd is in honor of Todd Chavez from Bojack Horseman, who also loves beanies. :)

Larissa Lack is Becky Lack's daughter. I did not put her in that outfit. Head to (almost) toe in eye killing red, she came home from school with Freddie one day. I knew I liked her right away.

I hope it's still not too obvious who the heir is. I do want to give all the kids some attention.

Do not play on a houseboat with celebrities, btw. For the entire vacation there were two paparazzi camping out on the already cramped thing. I reset them but they kept coming back. Ugh.

Gen 5 Ch 11: Wig Wig Wag

All the pregnancies had kept Evelyn from performing for a very long time. She had been itching to get on stage again, and enjoyed basking in the limelight.

She had not been idle during her maternity leave, however - inspiration had struck while trying to teach the twins to talk, and the resulting song Wig Wig Wag was a huge success. Admittedly, the lyrics weren't all that much, but it was catchy nevertheless. Fippiny, hippiny, wig wig wag! The crowd loved it.

Rémy usually stayed at home and watched the children. The term 'watching' was to be taken loosely though, because it was a rare occurrence to not see his eyes glued to a book. He took his responsibilities as a father seriously enough to not rush off whenever he felt the urge, but he stilled his thirst for adventure by devouring novel after novel.

Luckily, the boys were easy enough to care for.

On the rare afternoons when the twins weren't at the studio, they could usually be found splashing and swimming in the ocean.

Since that meant they stayed within sight of the house, Rémy saw little cause for concern, so the girls were allowed to spend their time unsupervised.

Soon, little Freddie became a toddler as well. Just like his older brother Francis, Fréderic was diagnosed with the genetic mutation that was so common in the family by now.

Well, as long as they're healthy, Evelyn thought, as she stroked her youngest son's red hair.

With all the children being so close together in age, the birthday parties never seemed to cease. Evelyn didn't mind. It was a great excuse to invite family and friends after all!

Both Eric and Bridgette had grown into Elders, and thanks to the newly acquired wisdom of age, they had decided to bury the hatchet. They would never become lovers again - there had been too much bad blood between them - but for the sake of their children, they now stayed in the same room without fleeing or fighting.

Eric had taken to wearing the strangest outfits in his old age. If his sons Richie and Ben were to be believed, he was some sort of International Super Spy now. People knew to take the boys' wild tales with a grain of salt though - they had shown some very unusual behavior and it was rumored that both of them had the Insane trait.

Francis grew into a child and decided that parties really weren't his thing.

 He had a new room all for himself after all, as well as an overflowing bookshelf!

He crawled into bed and read under his covers until late into the night, before finally dozing off.

 With Evelyn's once again busy schedule and Rémy's latest obsession with the Inappropriate Manor mystery novel series, there wasn't always an adult around to ensure the children ate a healthy breakfast. The kids approved!

 Faye and Fleur also approved of their brother's age-up - to them it meant a malleable extra they could include in their elaborate play-pretend stories and games.

 "No, Francis, you're doing it all wrong! You have to sing with feeling, like Mom does! Like this, see?"

Francis' new room was also the perfect place to dump the grimy, old, dusty lamp that the girls had picked up on the recent field trip to the mausoleum. Boys' rooms were full of icky things after all - their brother shouldn't mind one more.

Sometimes the twins even allowed Francis to play in the new treehouse with them, but usually they just dumped buckets of water on him.

 Another day, another party!

Esteban might have gotten old, but his political career was going as smoothly as ever. Soon he would be running for Vice President, but his brow was furrowed in concern over the success of his campaign. Right after her graduation, his daughter Rosalind had been knocked up and immediately dumped by her high school sweetheart. She wasn't showing yet, but still, this would certainly not go down well with Esteban's more conservative voters!

Emily's older twin daughters had grown into young adults, but only Rashida showed up for the party.

Nobody invited the young lady in purple, but she stayed to dance the night away regardless.

 This time around the birthday party was for Evelyn herself. Rémy had aged up just a few days prior, quietly and with no big fuss. But that wouldn't do for a famous Vocal Legend!

After blowing out the candles, she tried to put on a brave face - she was still young, right? Right?!

 Sensing her worrying, Rémy told his wife he still found her as enchanting as ever. And when all the kids were finally asleep, he made sure he showed her, too!

With him by her side, she would always feel young.

These days, Evelyn's performances were usually only at the biggest venues, but she made an exception one afternoon so her children could come and watch.

Faye and Fleur were so proud of their Mommy!

Rémy knew that Evelyn had meant to please him with her latest stage props, and while he appreciated the gesture, he couldn't keep his mind from wandering. There was still so much for him to explore in the depths of the ocean!

The two battle princesses were all dressed up and ready to go. But where was the big bad monster they were supposed to slay?

With his demanding sisters distracted picking out costumes, Francis had quietly stolen away to bury his nose in a book. He wasn't technically hiding from them, but a part of him hoped that they would forget about him and find something else to occupy themselves with.

 He was in luck - the twins could not be bothered to look for him and decided to play on their new trampoline instead.

"I can jump waaaaay higher than you, look!" Fleur boasted, launching herself up into the air.

"You're not wearing green, Fleur. That's bad for brand awareness! I'll tell the director!"

"Then I'll tell Mom that it was you who booby trapped the sink!"

"No fair!" Faye whined.

Félix was very excited to finally be old enough to go to school with his siblings. The boy had always loved learning and showed great talent, as his teachers were happy to report.

Now there was only one more toddler left in the house, and Evelyn lavished him with attention whenever she could. Freddie was her last little baby after all!

Evelyn still made sure to take good care of her social life and met up with her old bestie Karen Kerman. The former party girl was a mother too now. She raised her daughter Nikki, who was about the same age as the twins, by herself.

But clubbing just didn't feel the same anymore if you had a husband and five children back home.

Besides, as much as she hated to admit it, her stamina wasn't quite what it had used to be anymore. Staying up later than normal one night meant risking dark circles under her eyes the next day.

In old age, Emily gained some swagger that she had never known in her youth.

The twins' birthday party was a big affair.

After growing into teenagers, they became even more serious about their acting careers.

 When it was Fréderic's turn to age up, Evelyn couldn't help feeling a little wistful.

There he was, her little baby, now a big boy and ready for school!





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Notes:
Still trying to catch up to where I am in game, but I love sim toddlers and children, so I take way too many pictures. And I like keeping up with the extended family and recording what they're up to. Sorry if it was boring! I need to make them live forever by documenting their lives °__°;

Shamelessly showing off more of the kids' rooms again! I had a lot of fun decorating those. There's so much adorable stuff for children, and what better time to use it than a five-children-roll!

Since Francis kept the greenish brown, Fred got stuck with red. It looks weird with his skin, but redheads are neat, so I don't mind keeping those genes around. Weird how I'm okay with dumb mutation hair, while I've started slightly shrinking the kids' eyes with every age-up. Those ginormous Bridgeport eyes were starting to bother me.

You might be wondering why Evelyn is only just becoming an adult when her siblings are Elders already. Well, I messed up a bit. See, Rémy and his parents had secretly been living in Hidden Springs ever since their 'visit' back during Evelyn's childhood. I wanted him to live a proper life before moving him into the legacy family! However, when Evelyn moved to Starlight Shores, I didn't bring the Dutiels along right away, so he ended up being a lot younger than her. But instead of cheating poor Rémy out of some precious days, I decided to buy Evelyn a Young Again potion with her truckloads of LTH points after their first vacation together. She'd wasted so much time dating and there were five children to be had after all!

Ah well, I guess it just goes along with Evelyn's thing about always being too young for her siblings to include her. :)

Emily was kept younger than her brothers by a well-timed pregnancy at the end of her YA stage btw. You sneaky girl, you!

I'll take your guesses now for who the heir is going to be. It might start becoming obvious in the next chapters...