2.2 Slave for you

The very next day, something significant happened. Birdy, the oldest of the five siblings, was aging up into a young adult. Since she wanted to have an amazing last day before starting a job in the local hospital she had applied to during her last school year, she decided to celebrate on the summer festival, which happened to close the day after. Most of the town was present when Birdy became a young adult.

She had gotten tired of her long hair, because it always got in the way, so she decided to cut it and wear it straight. The clear cut gave her a determined look, which was exactly what she needed. 

The next morning, she got up super early and checked her work mails. There was, in fact, already one, from her girlfriend Sandra. She wished her the best of luck and told her she could achieve anything she wanted. 

Birdy had to think about Sandra’s words all day, and couldn’t even concentrate on work properly. Not that it was particularly on her first day, but she had been looking forward to it for years. And now that the big day was here, she could think about nothing but her girlfriend. They hadn’t seen each other for a few weeks now, and she missed her terribly. So she spontaneously called her up as soon as she got home, and invited her over. 

It was as if they had never been apart. Yet, wistfulness filled Birdy’s heart and mind. In a few hours, Sandra would leave again, and who knew when they had the time to meet again. Both were adults now, both had a job and not much free time. Something had to change if they wanted to make it together.

Then she had an idea.

Sandra was more than happy to accept Birdy’s proposal. She loved her girlfriend more than anything in the world, and the thought of being with her forever made her happier than she had ever hoped to be.

Why wait – they got married in the backyard there and then. 

The two girls didn’t want to stay in this house together, instead they planned to look around the neighborhood for a little place, big enough for the two of them. And maybe a third person, someday. 

Sandra knew of one house that was free, and they decided to check it out immediately. Little did they know that this would be the house they would be spending most of their life in. 

There was hardly any time for the family to digest the news – especially Anna was crushed about seeing her oldest daughter leave –, because Billy’s birthday into adulthood was already up. He hadn’t been much younger than Birdy, and had finished high school the same year as his sister.

Looking in the mirror, he nodded approvingly. This was what a future star looked like. Britney had already promised to keep an eye on him, and to publish small articles whenever possible. With the help of his soon-to-be journalist sister, it should be a piece of cake to become famous.

A star needed his own four walls, of course, so he moved out of his home as soon as possible. He would stay with Birdy and Sandra for a few weeks, since it sounded cooler to live in a shared house with two girls than staying with his parents and younger siblings. 

Britney continued expressing her thoughts in abstract pictures. They often had faces on it – human or not – that showed how she was feeling. After all, art was useless if there was no mental access for the people who looked at it. You had to know what the artist was trying to say.

Writing was different. Words were more distinct than colors and strokes of a brush, and they helped dealing with feelings and thoughts in a whole other way.

Feelings like the ones about her relationship with Hanfried. Even though he didn’t seem to be particularly interested in her character, but her body instead, she couldn’t help but feel attracted to him. He could be funny and make her feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. She felt like she would be completely on her own as soon as she sent him away, not having anybody who showed her that she was not worthless. 

What she didn’t know what that she was exchangeable to him. Britney was pretty, but there were plenty of other fish in the sea, or shapely girls on the beach next to the sea. Her mother, her sisters, lots of girls in his classes who were queuing up to go out with him… the list was long, and he was growing tired of her. She had to offer a lot more to him than just a shy kiss every now and then if she wanted to keep him interested.

2.1 I'm stronger than yesterday

Britney spent a lot of her free time with her boyfriend, Hanfried Miller. They had met at chem class, where he had accidentally knocked over her test tube and spilled all of the liquid in there on Britney. Panicking, he had run up and down the classroom, thinking that there was something severely dangerous in it. It had, in fact, only been water, which is why Britney had started laughing at some point. Hanfried had stopped running, looked at her laughing, then went back to her table and nudged her. She had known she could have told him that she wasn’t in pain or anything before, but it had been too funny to watch him panicking. Besides, it had been kind of cute that he was so worried about her. They were dating ever since, but sometimes Britney couldn’t help but think that he was just into her because of her looks. More than one time she caught him staring at her, and when she asked what she had just said, he often couldn’t answer, and didn’t even seem like he cared.

She decided to process her thoughts in a new novel, one that featured a typical male teenager, dealing with girls and trying to get as many of them as possible. Even though she really tried to put herself in his position and not only write him as a two-dimensional, dick-driven guy, she couldn’t help herself. Thoughts and experiences with him kept coming back to her mind.  This was not going to be a complex, insightful ode to the range of male emotions, but much rather some kind of revenge, written for all girls in the world who were feeling like her. 

In addition to her writing projects, she had decided to take up painting. It was a brilliant way to express emotions that couldn’t be expressed with simple words, no matter how fancy. Pictures showed something; they let the observer feel what was on the artist’s mind. While trying different techniques and color combinations, a small thought came to her mind. The most desirable goal in life had to be being capable of writing and painting at the highest stage. This way, she would be able to open up to the entire world.

Not all of her siblings were this sure about what to do in their future, though. Barbra often spent her afternoons alone at school or at the local pool, because nobody seemed to enjoy her company. Sometimes, not even she did. Barbra didn’t quite know where she belonged, and who she wanted to be. The best parts of the day were the ones she spent with a book in her hands, not being disturbed by anybody. The world of books was where she could be brave and adventurous, where nobody looked at her in a funny way and made her feel insecure about herself. 

Family gatherings mostly only happened between Anna, Benjamin, Birdy and Britney. The others were out, doing their own thing and not caring about their siblings. Billy had managed to get himself a fan club, Beth was not exactly what you would call a pleasant company sometimes, and Barbra was…somewhere. 

Whenever Britney was not busy with school, writing or painting, she took up books to broaden her horizon. There were so many things other authors had already written about, and it couldn’t hurt to read about them. By the choice of topics, Britney could already tell a lot about the authors’ minds, which was highly interesting. People were extremely complex, yet there were some tiny little things that could be determined so easily. This was what she wanted to do. Get to know more people, learn all about them – and then write about them. Discovering secrets, connections, scandals, and making them public.

At one of their rare study dates on the school ground after class, the girls talked about their parents, who were their shared interest. Apart from this, they weren’t interested in the same things, but their mom and step-dad were important to all of them. Benjamin had grown so much older recently, and they were scared that he would leave them soon, leaving a devastated family behind. The kids had already lost one father, they couldn’t imagine losing another one. And Anna would probably collapse. Benjamin had picked her up from the ground, and he had made her happy again. Spending more time with them right now seemed like the right thing to do, just in case.

That weekend, they took another trip to the summer festival, which was coming to an end soon. While everybody engaged in their own fun activities, Britney took a book and curled up in a corner. Birdy spent most of the time eating, declaring that she had been extremely hungry for the last few weeks. 

Billy and Anna actually spent the entire afternoon together. It was nice to see them bond again, and it seemed like for a few hours, Billy was able to put down the masquerade of a cool guy. [A/N: can you say “perfect timing when taking the picture”?!]

Later that day, Britney put the book down – she had finished it – and went to the skating rink. A nice guy was making his first steps, looking absolutely stranded, but in an adorable way. Britney decided to help him out.

Needless to say that she had overestimated her own skating skills.

Birdy, however, seemed to a natural on the skating rink. She pirouetted, drove backwards and on one leg, drawing all attention to her. Britney, being challenged, tried to follow her sister’s complex movements, but ended up in some kind of yoga-position instead, not daring to move.

A huge firework ended this perfect afternoon that had brought the family much closer together.

Author's notes: Sorry that it took me so long to post again. As it seems to happen frequently in my family, tragedy has struck again and we're dealing with a lot right now. Between classes, intership, work and household chores there wasn't much space for playing or writing. But since Christmas vacation just started, I have a little free time on my hands now. I hope to get out more chapters within the next days/few weeks; not only here, but on my other legacies, as well. 

Thanks for staying with me/us! :)

2.0 Not a girl, not yet a woman

The choice had been made. Anna had thought about who was going to carry on her family for quite a long time, but she felt like she had made the right choice with Britney. Her second eldest daughter was a really good sim, which meant a lot to Anna, just like her passed on passion for music. Britney hadn’t played the guitar much, but when she did, it was clear that she was a virtuoso, just like her mother. 

Britney had always wanted to write down people’s stories, and to discover what was going on in the world. Anna admired that and decided to give her a good start into her life by making her the family’s heir. When Anna told Britney about her decision, Britney was beyond happy. She had never thought her mother would choose her; instead she had assumed that her older sister Birdy would be the one to carry on the family traditions. But it was her. She had won, and now the family was her responsibility. 

The first thing she initiated was a remodeling of the house. It was pretty, but it didn’t feature enough space for seven sims and a unicorn. With the money she had been handed immediately, she hired a building company and an interior decorator, who she spent hours with, discussing and planning. The result was a house that stunned all of them.

The backyard featured Anna’s little garden, as well as a space for Jo’s tombstone. She still wanted to make some alterations to this area, but that could easily be done, especially with Anna being so gifted in gardening. 

The first floor was still mostly unfurnished, because they had run out of money. Britney wanted to feature a home office and a room to party in, but that still had a little time. She had to finish school first, anyway.

The ground floor was completely furnished, even though the living room looked a little empty at times. Three bathrooms, a kitchen with an integrated dinette, a huge living room and four bedrooms for the seven of them seemed appropriate.

Britney spent most of the first night in the “new” house in the living room, enjoying the silence. Even though everybody had enough space now, they still spent most of the time together, and it was nice to be alone for once. She had to think. The burden her mother had put upon her suddenly hit her, and she was a little afraid of what was to come. She was now responsible for the family, although her parents were still around, of course. This was a huge challenge, but she was going to face it. The world was going to be hers.

Britney Vocis is a good virtuoso who loves to read. People describe her as charismatic, as well. 

Author's notes: we're officially in the middle of Gen 2! This was just a small introduction, the plot will start in the next post.

I will post the objections for the current generation in a minute, so that you know what is going to happen here. The great thing about DITFTs is that there are many choices as to the course of the story :)

1.30 I hope you'll be happy

Jo was a rather frequent visitor from now on. He seemed to make sure that nothing happened without him knowing about it. And even though he never said a single word, Anna knew what he felt. She could see it in his eyes. Nobody noticed him, besides her.

And she sometimes was glad it was this way. They had become a wonderful family, completed by Benjamin, and she wondered what would happen if Jo somehow came back into their lives. It was hard to predict how the children would react, but it definitely would make things much more complicated. And she didn’t want to risk that, which is why she never told anybody about the late visits from the afterworld.

The only one who didn’t seem happy was Beth. Now that she was a teenager, she had hoped to catch up with her older siblings, but she was never fully accepted. Birdy and Britney were an item – at least when Birdy was not around Sandra, which actually happened a lot –, and there was no third person fitting in. Billy had found many friends in school and was quite popular. That left Beth alone, in her room, playing some dull games on the computer or reading a book. Her time would come, she knew that. 

Besides everything that was going on, Anna and Benjamin still made sure they had time for themselves. Of course, Benjamin had noticed that his wife had been tenser within the last few weeks, but when he addressed that problem, she laughed and kissed him.  Everything was fine.

In fact, everything was really fine for her. Even though those visits confused her sometimes, she had a wonderful life and nothing to complain about. Every day was filled with excitement and fun, and she couldn’t believe her children were grown up enough to start their lives, as well, independent from hers. 

Sometimes she still felt like a child, and she just hoped her children would make sure to enjoy life, too. 

The situation between Birdy and Beth got worse in the meantime, which, unfortunately, Anna didn’t notice. Birdy made fun of Beth’s unusual dressing habits, and her little moments of what she called craziness. One night, she told her that there were only two kinds of people – regular people, and Beth.

From now on, Beth was even more alone than before. Her parents finally noticed something was going on, but she assured them that she was fine. Just like her mother, she didn’t want anybody to worry, and she wanted to make it on her own.

Every single day got Anna thinking about her future, and her kids’, as well. Lately, she had been feeling like she was almost done with life – in a sense of having achieved everything she had wanted to.

On a very sunny afternoon, in fact Barbra’s birthday, she did it. When she grabbed the first onion from her plant, which was already covered in weed, it hit her: she had collected, planted and harvested every plant available in this town. The legacy she had felt like carrying was fulfilled. Now it was time to settle back and watch one of her children take over. The only question was who she wanted to burden with this task. She wanted her family to stay together, but inevitably one or the other child was going to move out soon. It was a tough decision, and she wanted to wait after the birthday party to announce what she had been thinking.

First, it was time for Barbra’s big day. She had been waiting to become a teen for what had seemed decades, even though it only had been a few years. 

Anna stood there, celebrating and cheering on her youngest daughter. This was the fifth child aging up to a teenager. She had raised five of them successfully, hopefully preparing them for what waited for them in the world. Her biggest wish had come true, at the same day as officially completing her garden and everything she had worked for. It was over for her now.


Author's notes: And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the end of Generation 1! I made it! :)
Since Anna fulfilled the requirements for the Generation AND her Lifetime Wish (Raise 5 children to teenagers) on the same day, which I found cute, Generation 2 can get started.
But first an evaluation of Anna's generation:

• Date/Marry girl/guy with Loves Outdoors and/or Green Thumb and/or Angler
• No Woohoo before marriage (Oopsie, kind of missed that objection. Moving on.)
• Get Married
• Have BOTH Boy and Girl
• No watermelons/apples to sway the gender of the child
• Master Gardening Skill
• Plant every plant from the grocery story
• obtain all plants/seeds
• if you get call for learning Steak, Egg, Cheese, Omni plant, complete it (didn't get them)

 Not bad for the first generation! :) 

The next post will include an official introduction of our heiress, and some information about Generation 2. Stay posted!