Masterpiece chapter 2 2

Welcome again to Falling to Masterpieces, an artistic alphabet legacy. Looks like the elders finally finished Anjolie and Corwin’s portraits, so here’s the portrait wall in all its colorful glory. With that out of the way, let’s get started!

We left off with the not-so-exciting cliffhanger of whether or not the girls would grow up. Surprisingly, they did! Amazing, right?

What’s not a surprise is that the girls grow up adorable. Bazille and Bellini here continue to be little cutie-pies.

The girls, after enjoying their birthday cake, immediately set to skilling with the one other person in the house that still needs to skill build. Corwin, like his wife, is still working to become a Hall of Famer, but there are a lot of skill points needed to get there that Anjolie already has but Corwin doesn’t.

The wolves have begun coming to the back door, still hoping for admittance to the venue. Why else would they be coming? Even the LotP doesn’t rate entrance, however, so they continue to keep watch from outside the house night after night.

Anjolie goes into labor with her third child the night after her older children age up. A beautiful little boy named Bassano is born.

Jacopo Bassano, originally named Jacopo dal Ponte, took his name from the region called Bassano del Grappa near Venice. An Italian painter in the 16th century, Bassano is considered the first modern landscape painter. Two of his sons were also famous painters.

Bassano has a fun mix of genetics. Besides Anjolie’s brown hair and Corwin’s brown skin, he also has Hiery’s eyes.

In the days following their birthday, the girls continue skilling and begin maxing stats. Normally I try to only skill to eight, so that if the kids turn out to be knowledge sims they can enjoy maxing their skills, but both girls keep rolling wants to max certain skills, so I let them.

“Mr. Masterpiece! I see you in there smustling by yourself in the middle of the night! Let me in! I just want to party with the rest of you crazy sims!”

Having a home venue has its ups and downs. One plus is that everyone – including friends brought home from work or school – pays to hang out, increasing the net worth of the Masterpieces by leaps and bounds. The downside is that, for some reason, my game thinks visitors can sleep on lots, so we are always having to chase customers, like Avery here, out of the fancy master bed.

“Why am I teaching homework? I’m the only one in the house without a primary or secondary family aspiration and thus, the only one who doesn’t really care about these things. What’s up with that, controller?”

Oh, Corwin, you whiny thing, you. Because Anjolie and Hiery are working. We’ve been over this before. You do something useful, you get to relax later. You come home from work before everyone else, you get put to work at home. Simple.

While I was having Anjolie switch careers to pick up reward objects, she rolled the want to top the Education career. Not one to miss out on want points, I signed her up and sent her to work. A few days later, she was Education Minister and racked up a sweet 15,000 points. Now she can concentrate on becoming Hall of Famer, her third LTW.

Turns out that Anjolie needs a few skill points for that to happen! Unlike her kids, Anjolie’s generation was rushed through the house and didn’t pick up a lot of skill points. She was too busy woohooing everything in sight in college to study much then either, so she needs a few points to reach the top of the Athletic career.

Birthday time has come for Bassano, and with townies, grandparents and an uncle in attendance, the party gets underway.

Hiery instantly rolls up some wants for Bassano, despite never rolling any for the girls when they were this age. What’s up with that Hiery? You’re not discriminating based on gender, are you?

“No, worse. Bassano’s my favorite based purely on eye color.”

Besides Hiery, Bassano is pretty well loved by everyone. Even mean Bellini wants to play with him. Bassano’s personality is 5/10/4/8/7. It’s nice to see a little playfulness returning to the Masterpieces. He’s also different from his sisters in being extremely outgoing.

Bassano’s birthday isn’t far behind when Anjolie discovers she’s pregnant with her fourth – and final – child. At first I was going to have just three kids in this generation, but I had one more name that I really wanted to use, so we’re going for four. Still nowhere near as crazy as ten.

“Hello? Is anyone there? It’s dark inside! Are you guys sleeping or something? Hello?”

Bellini and Bazille just adore their younger brother. They both play with him all the time, when they’re not hanging out together at the play table, that is. Bazille taught Bassano a nursery rhyme as well.

“I’m home! I’m a family sim! I’m wonderful! I got demoted! Yay!”

Sigh. I picked a wrong choice on a chance card and Hiery got demoted for it. After being Captain Hero for years and years and years, you’d think he’d deserve a little leeway, but apparently not.

When Anjolie and Corwin moved home, I did a little renovation on the house, including planting several trees around the lot. Too bad I forgot that, come autumn, that would mean plenty of raking for the sims. Sorry guys! For once, Corwin is working while everyone else is home, so Anjolie, Hiery, and simRoxy got to share raking duties.

“Mmm . . . pottytraining.”

“Uh oh. Grandma’s going senile, isn’t she?”

Oh no, honey. She’s been that way since she was a young sim. Carry on.

“So here I am, pregnant as I can be, throwing out old bottles, and my husband is discussing befriending rats with our teenage niece?”

What can I say, Anjolie? Corwin’s a slacker like that.

Yay! Corwin finally reached the top of the Athletic career. All the adults in the house are now perma-plat. His new LTW is to become Mayor, which he found on the computer and reached very shortly. His third LTW is to be a Media Magnate.

“Incoming!”

Welcome to little Botticelli, also known as baby Botti around these parts. She has all of Corwin’s genetics so far.

Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter during the early Renaissance. He is best known for his paintings Primavera and The Birth of Venus. His work was influenced by the school of Gothic Realism.

While Corwin cheers for baby Botti, everyone else in the room wonders where that guy in the hat went and who this clown is supposed to be. Corwin inspires selective amnesia in people near him. Or he’s just so remarkable that everyone’s attention is drawn to him. I’m going with the first one.

Bellini and Bazille awake early every morning and play together. Today that means taking turns with the brick and telling secrets in the crisp autumn air.

Anjolie! You are setting a very bad example letting your daughter play catch in the house, let alone playing with her.

“But the hallway is so long! We must!”

Corwin is caught hanging out with teenagers again.

“Hey, Mr. Masterpiece, my dad – your brother-in-law – is not going to be happy you’re taking all my money.”

“Be quiet and deal, Katara. Now, what’s going on at high school, guys?”

While his older sisters are at school and his younger sister sleeps in the nursery, Bassano has plenty of time on his own. He draws the same picture over and over until the table is full of them. Hmm.

“I hate the bed!”

“Me too.”

My expression is pretty similar to Hiery’s here. Um, you liked the bed well enough to sleep in it, as evidenced by your pjs, you two. So what’s the problem? Oh, right, you’re stupid. The bed is the number one complaint amongst customers and I still don’t know why.

“Yay! I got promoted to Captain Hero! I’m awesome!”

Again.

“What?”

You got promoted to Captain Hero again. Now you’re just back to where you were before the bad chance card.

“Whatevs! I’m still celebrating!”

“Look closely into my eyes. That’s it. You feel yourself getting sleepy. Your head gets heavy. You want to let me in the house where the tasty baby is sleeping. You want to let me in the house where the poker table is. You want to let me in . . .”

Not working. Good try, though.

Bassano’s birthday comes around again. Let’s see the kid!

But first –

“Who’s that guy in the hat?”

With that out of the way, we can get back to Bassano, who continues to be very cute. He also has a lot of features from Corwin, who appears to have some pretty dominant genetics.

“Mom, we’re trying to study. Could you watch TV some other time?”

“But it’s my favorite show! They’re making lobster!”

“They always make lobster. Please just turn the TV off, Mom.”

“What if I play a videogame instead?”

“Mom!”

“What? I’m even sitting all the way back here! Isn’t that better?”

“Mom!”

“You kids are no fun.”

When everyone wakes up at 6, before they split off for school and work, the parents like spending time with their offspring. However, Bellini and Bassano still aren’t sure who that guy dancing with Bazille is. He looks so familiar though . . .

Aww. Sad. It’s time for Pastel to go to that great cat condo in the sky. Charcoal followed a day later but I missed taking a picture of it, so I thought I’d just mention that now. The cats spent more time together than they did with the family, but the loss is still felt keenly.

Hiery and simRoxy have found a good outlet for their dirty jokes. Since neither of them wants to hear the other one tell a joke, they’re more than happy to tell them to Anjolie, who listens eagerly. I don’t how happy I would be if my parents constantly told me dirty jokes, but Anjolie doesn’t seem to mind.

She does mind them kissing though. Now that’s just gross!

Later that night, after Pastel passed away, Hiery’s time came. He was surrounded by family, even if some of that family was smustling and thinking of Corwin . . . ahem, Bazille. Even Andy, Hiery’s mini-me, was there to witness his death.

Hieronymus Masterpiece lived a full life after creating a large family. He was crazy about his wife and also loved his ten kids very much and his life insurance benefited many of them. Hiery was a crazy sim and set the tone for this legacy with his antics. From a simple-minded man obsessed with kissing to an aging patriarch of a large family, he brought me many laughs. He will be missed, but hopefully his legacy will carry on for many generations.

Andy realized a fear by witnessing Hiery’s death. Anjolie was there to grieve her father, but then afterwards returned to pick up Botti from where she had dropped her. Even baby Botti knows something has happened.

I was expecting simRoxy to die too since she and Hiery both had full bars, but hers actually lengthened after Hiery died. Is that how the ‘random’ extra days works and I’ve just forgotten that, or is it a weird glitch? Either way, simRoxy is unexpectedly hanging around for an unknown number of days.

That same night, it’s also time for the twins to age up. Once again there’s another awkward kitchen pic. At least the guy from the science club was there to witness it.

Bellini and Bazille have very different faces, but they’re each pretty in their own way. Bazille rolled romance/knowledge with the LTW to become a Rock God. Bellini is family/romance (the opposite of her mother) and her LTW is to graduate 3 children from college (the same as Hiery’s).

Baby Botti also grew up that night but I apparently totally forgot to take a picture of it. How’s that for scatterbrained? No great loss though, those perfunctory birthday pics can get a bit boring after a while. Anyway, here’s adorable little Botti. Her personality is 6/3/7/3/7. Except for one extra nice point, that’s the same as Bazille.

“I can’t get in the house! There’s something in the way!”

Yeah, it’s called a door. We have it to keep you wolves out.

“Well screw that.”

“I’ll go through the house if I wanna. I’ll just use my magic wolf powers to open the doors and stroll right though. What do you think of that, huh?”

No need to be so stuck up about it, oh magic wolf.

“I am the world’s stupidest cat.”

Yes, like I mentioned earlier, Charcoal passed the next day after Pastel and Hiery. Amazingly, his death was not due to starvation, but instead was just old age catching up.

With no pets in the house, the wolves start zeroing in on the humans.

“Need any new animals, Ms. Masterpiece? No? Okay.”

“Hey girls, want to play fetch? I’d make a good pet. Just sayin’.”

Baby Botti is definitely Anjolie’s favorite. She autonomously snuggled her all the time as an infant, and now that she’s a toddler, Anjolie just keeps rolling wants for her, besides the usual ones.

Those cuddly little days of snuggling are behind them now, because it’s time for Botti to grow up.

Besides their different skin colors, she looks a lot like Bellini. Definitely has the same nose.

“Who was that guy in the hat who attended my party? Huh, I just can’t place him.”

“Young Masterpieces, please let me in. Unlike the Leader of the Pack, doors are an insurmountable obstacle to me. Please. Just one game of poker! You don’t even have any scrumptious babies any more. C’mon!”

The wolves may not get to play poker, but pretty much everyone else does. The games are often mini-family reunions as well, such as the one including simRoxy, Anjolie, Andy and Andrea here.

The girls go out for a night on the town and they’re greeted by a not-so-friendly face.

“I remember your parents from their vacation. Do you have any idea what it was like cleaning that changing booth afterwards? Disgusting.”

Back at home, the girls have some trouble relating to each other due to frequent noogies. Bellini’s really a little stinker in this regard. If I can just keep her from doing this, they get along famously, but Bazille is none too happy when she finds herself in Bellini’s arms once again.

To keep her happy and out of trouble, I decide to give in to some of Bellini’s wants. Since she’s family/romance, all she really wants to do is go on a date and fall in love. Matchmaker, matchmaker, make us a match . . .

Oh. Oh my. Well, he’s something. Dateable, I guess. Good thing she’ll leave him far behind when she goes to college. Well sir, what do you think of dating Bellini?

“Oh, that’s fine. But who’s that guy?”

Regardless of his looks, Bellini and Steven hit it off immediately. They actually had three bolts. It doesn’t hurt that Bellini likes blonds. With her first kiss under her belt, Bellini is platinum. This guy, being a vacation townie, ended up hanging around the house several days, which provided plenty more opportunities for interaction.

Meanwhile, the void in the house has been filled by two new kittens. On the left is Oil and on the right is Acrylic. Acrylic is actually Pastel’s brother, since they were bred by a neighbor, so I have no illusions this time that Acrylic will stay orange. The kittens are adored by family and customers alike, and they rarely have time to touch their feet to the floor between all the holding, playing, and cuddling they get.

Of course, they can be excused for not knowing who that funny guy in the hat is, but I doubt this will be the last time they think of Corwin. He’s just a thought-bubble magnet.

With all the children finally school-age, we call over the Headmaster. A lot of the rooms in the Masterpiece household are fairly large, open areas, so the tour was a bit longer than it usually is in my game due to rooms not scoring as highly. Still, he was satisfied with everything and let the kids in.

Soon it’s time for simRoxy to go. Although her life bar initially indicated differently, she ended up living almost five days longer than Hiery.

Roxanne Masterpiece was a lot of fun to play, not just because she was my simself. She was a baby-crazy lady who had ten of them, and delighted in caring for the next generation too. Despite being the World’s Worst Pregnant Sim, she loved being pregnant and was a good mother. Goodbye, simRoxy.

Bellini is hit the hardest and cries a lot over the next few days. All the kids were best friends with simRoxy, but Bellini seemed to take it especially hard.

Here’s an example of Bellini’s customer service. For once, the sim that just woke up in the master bed isn’t complaining about the bed itself, but instead about Anjolie for some reason. Bellini listens carefully, considers her responses for a moment, and then throws a water balloon at the offended customer. Well done, Bellini, A+ customer care there. Luckily he finds it hilarious and no stars are lost.

Dude, you are being super creepy. Bellini’s boyfriend, Steven, loves to do tai chi in the middle of the night in the bedroom that Bellini and Bazille share. He just hangs out in the bedroom all night, doing tai chi or worse, just standing around watching them sleep, waiting for Bellini to wake up. When Bazille wakes up first she gives him a little reminder of his place in the world and for once I am pleased by a noogie session.

“I know I’ve seen that guy around here before. But who is he?”

Anjolie finally reaches the top of the Athletic career and completes her third LTW. Her next one is to be a Professional Party Guest. Assuming she can find it on the computer, I have no doubt she’ll finish that one too.

Hiery and simRoxy’s graves (as well as Pastel and Charcoal’s) are moved to the Masterpiece Memorial Cemetary, a lovely little park-like cemetary that will one day be full to the brim of many generations of Masterpieces and pets.

“Ahhh . . . yawn. What the? Steven, stop being creepy. Do you need another noogie?”

And, finally, my two running gags collide.

“Who’s that guy? Oh never mind, I’m gonna see if I can finally get in on that sweet poker game.”

That’s it for now. Next chapter, see the kids continue to grow and move on to college. What aspirations will Bassano and Botti get? Will anyone remember Corwin ever? Thanks for reading!