Chapter 79: Calm

The living room suffers through new wallpaper again.

Fischer decorates his bedroom with items that remind him of world travel.

He hasn't gotten over Sun. They hadn't known each other for very long, so he tells himself he shouldn't be this torn up over a crazy whirlwind relationship, but his neurotic nature tells him that this event in his life was significant, an indicator of how things will go for him in the future.

Fischer feels lonely already.

Kipp doesn't understand her dating troubles, either.

"Look at this, Janet. I'm tough and awesome. The guys should be all over me."

Janet sighs as Kipp follows up by playing with the toy boat that originally belonged to child Sifton.

When Kipp leaves their house to go home, she and Janet find Arthur jamming in the front yard.

"He used to do that, like, in the daytime," Janet says. "Grandpa was practically raised by humans so I think he has some kind of psychological must-spite-sun issue."

Arthur looks more like a grandpa the next time we see him, at Kipp's birthday party.

Make a wish.

Way to almost be late for the whole thing, Ashby.

Kipp's father Tristan is not here, given Rex's reputation for beating the shit out of people.

Instead of joining the cheering, Pavel hangs out in the living room with Lorenzo and Iago. Old age took Pavel completely by surprise. He never had children. Given the incredible number of his brother Martin's descendants running around, he's kind of glad he didn't.

With that haircut, elderly Lorenzo looks almost exactly like his father, Hawk, looked in old age.

Kipp becomes a woman.

Fischer, stop hogging the picture.

That's better.

Iago is horrified to see his sister with gray hair.

Tam is going out with Felicia now. Yesterday that news hit Kipp like the end of the world, but today it seems like teenage nonsense. Who knows how long those two will even be together?

Any length of time is too long for Javier. No one is good enough for Felicia, you know. Who does Tam think he is?

Your incense holders are not safe from the governor.

Rio invites his niece to join him in the music industry, where she could turn her wealth into fame and more wealth if she wanted to. But Kipp wants to be a police officer.

It's Fischer and Sun's daughter's birthday as well.

"Her name is Yasu," Fischer announces. "It's a Japanese name, but I like it. It means calm."

"What, did you find that on the Internet?" Rex criticizes.

"Yes." Fischer is unashamed.

"I think it's a pretty name," Ashby says, glowering at her husband.

The festivities are cut short by the latest Sunder scheme at the criminal warehouse: to steal all the city's clouds.

Unfortunately this backfires horribly and Ashby has to deal with it. She finds criminals drowning like rats in the basement and pulls them out.

And another fire. Why even put on a protective suit for this?

"Move it!" she calls to her cousin, Arron. "Get out, you nit-wit!"

Arron just moved into a starter home with his wife and two children, and now it's up in flames.

Old age descends upon Rex. But at least his hair lives on.

Fischer worries constantly about Yasu. Will she be teased, being of Chinese decent? Feel lonely, as an only child? Rejected, because she has no mother? Fischer doesn't think he can secure a wife to stand in for Yasu's mother any time soon, so he's considering other options.

Like adoption. This social worker carelessly leaves the baby basket in the Archers' foyer and walks away.

Fischer liberates baby Xue from the basket.

She's of Chinese origin as well. Fischer may not be able to give his daughter a mother, but he can give her a sister and a playmate.

Fischer isn't sure what kind of a past Xue had, but she's a happy and lively toddler.

Meeting strangers does not seem to bother her.

Fischer has re-done the nursery a bit, replacing the cribs and rugs and re-painting the walls.

Xue is a toddler virtuoso, if there is such a thing, and goes straight to the toy xylophone.

Fischer longs to be out at clubs being social, but something holds him back, keeping him a loner. He alternates his time between painting...

...and raising his daughters.

He doesn't focus much on his "career," though Rex insists he should try his best at everything he does.

Some aspects of child-rearing are more glamorous than others.

Fischer worries about his father, who won't slow down.

At Fischer's insistence, Rex pursues other hobbies, such as gardening. He reads up on the subject before attempting to tackle the mess in the back yard.

Ashby's hobbies worry Fischer about as much as her job does. A woman of this age shouldn't be straining herself.

Rex visits Kipp. Kipp moved in with Tristan, who was alone and frail in his old age. With her inheritance money she bought them a nicer house in the historic district; when Tristan is gone there will be room for her to start a small family.

She's a cop now. Rex snaps a picture for posterity.

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Etc.: Yasu was the name of an evil sorceress I had in an RPG.

Sims-Yasu naturally inherited Rex's hair and Fischer's blue eyes, if you wondered. I toyed with the idea of changing Fischer's hair to match his father's, and mentioned it on the forums, but the mutation hair grew on me so I decided against changing it.

 I am not trying to make a political statement with Xue, or anything like that. Fischer adopted a toddler, and I went into CAS and changed that toddler to match a random Chinese sim. I have pictures of the adult sim Xue is cloned from somewhere; she was up for consideration to be Yasu's mother, but I discovered she was married so dropped it. Sun and Fischer had more in common anyway.

Then it turned out Sun was married too, but Sun's marriage did not seem to weigh on her conscience in the slightest!

Rex is still working on his LTW to max logic and athletic. He has one athletic point to go, so it's safe for me to give him a new "hobby." Ashby's LTW is to save 30 sims. I don't know if she'll be able to or not. Apparently that's a tough one to complete without cheating. She gets a lot of rabbit hole jobs, which do not count on the saving sims tally even though messages pop up saying she saved people in heroic fashion. Fischer's LTW is to max painting and writing. Kipp's was something in the police field. I had her quit her job at the spa and then moved her out. SP sent her on the path to her LTW automatically.

My roll for generation 10 is couple, two kids, inventor primary career, architect secondary career, awesome, and tattoo addict. I didn't roll for heir. I decided it's Yasu. I love that she'll be an inventor, because many of the Archers have been eccentric inventors. As for architect... well... I've never tried that career. I hope it's cool.

I've gone around town forcing married couples to have male children, ensuring a future mate for Yasu. Hopefully. My town is just so incredibly messed up at this point, I no longer cared about "cheating" and forcing those kids to be male.

Fischer has one kid left to go. Originally I was going to send him to have kids with a French or Egyptian woman, but after what happened with Sun, I will probably let him adopt the third child.

Chapter 78: A Glimpse of the Sun

Every dawn, just before poor neurotic Fischer wakes, Kimberly's ghost winds up the music box and leaves it playing.

How horrible.

Outside the bistro, Fischer runs into a couple of the town vampires - Pavel Archer and Jefferson Burr. Rockin' Pavel really sets the mood of this place.

Gothy-faced Jefferson pulls Fischer aside. "This establishment is truly a centerpiece of the community, is it not?" Jeff is one of Sifton's proteges, so to speak. Always skulking around looking for an opportunity.

"Um," Fischer isn't quite sure how to respond. "It's okay."

"It's worthy of-" Fischer tries to walk away, but the smartly dressed vampire moves to block his path. "-preservation, Mister Archer. But the food poisoning your father reported on set us back quite a bit."

"Us?"

"Ah. Yes, I am manager and owner here, now." This is news to Fischer, but not particularly interesting news. Jefferson continues, "I am searching for new employees, since your father's article forced me to fire all of the old ones. And, mmm, I am also searching for loans perhaps. I think you know what I mean, seeing as you are someone with a lot of wealth and investment in this town."

Fischer can see where this is going. He just wonders if Jefferson thought of begging for the Archer fortune himself, or if Sifton planted the idea in his head. Fischer sneers. "Well then! Hand me an application, I've been looking for a job."

Jefferson's expression is dumbfounded as one of Riverview's most intelligent and wealthy young men signs on to be a lowly kitchen helper. Fischer fills out the paperwork in a flash, then tilts his head, feigning some concern. "Shouldn't you be indoors at this hour, Jeff?"

Feeling in more of a daze than anything else, Fischer wanders into the art museum, hoping for inspiration and calm.

He's only been here once, on a school trip in childhood. Not a single thing has changed. Some of the pieces are nice, but the museum has a lot of empty space, and some very ugly wallpaper. There could be so much more.

Fischer's next stop is city hall, to purchase the art museum.

City Hall is in the process of giving Ashby another award ceremony, but Fischer just walks past his cheering neighbors and family. Rio continues throwing confetti.

Ashby has taken to wearing trench coats like Rex. Turns him on.

Kipp tries to get her first kiss from Tam Cantina.

Tam got his surname through some complicated means; he's not even related to the Cantinas. His hair color comes from his ancestor Carolyn Hill-Archer, Halen's youngest child.

 Tam isn't keen on kissing a girl he barely knows. Kipp takes the rejection hard.

"But Teen TV said I needed to make a move," she pouts.

"Maybe we can hang out after school sometimes first," Tam offers, feeling bad for Kipp apparently.

"We could play video games and stuff... and... ah crud, I'm late!" She takes off like a shot.

Stupid Sunflower Spa job!

Rex finds his son painting things that remind him of Nol. "I heard you got a job. And you're already three hours late for your first day."

Fischer pushes his glasses closer to his nose. "You... heard about that?"

"No son of mine is going to be a slacker!"

"Meaning you don't like me being in food service, or you don't like that I'm three hours late?"

"Meaning get to work!"

A phone call interrupts Rex's tirade. Janine's credit cards were stolen again.

Fischer looks amused as Rex's grumpiness is redirected so easily.

Fischer and Kipp visit China, so Kipp can interview a local. Some insane school extra credit thing.

"I'll go take some pictures for my report, and I expect you to be an awesome big brother and not follow me around like a helicopter policeman," Kipp says.

"I'm not Dad," Fischer chuckles. "I'll just chill."

Kipp and Fischer have long been fascinated by the foreign treasures littering their house, and the half-forgotten tales of a distant ancestor who traveled the world several times over.

Fischer gets lost.

Kipp eats a fortune cookie.

Mmmmmm delicious.

You can keep a secret. Lucky numbers: 4 55 94 2 3 6.

Fischer escapes the deadly underground, and runs into a runner...

Her name is Sun Young Kim-Su, and she quickly drags the cute Sim Nation man home for a chat.

Sun is surprised to find they have much in common. She is passionate about her art, and Fischer recognizes her styles and favorite artists immediately. Within ten minutes, they're excitedly discussing craft.

"I own an art museum back home," Fischer says. Sun is impressed.

Sun becomes Fischer's guide through the city. She shows him how to avoid the common tourist areas and find better markets for pretty trinkets to bring his family. She shows him the library in the scholar's garden and a few sim-fu moves. She brings him to small, less traveled bridges, where the water is closer and laps against the creaking wood they walk on.

"This is my favorite spot to paint," Sun reveals. "I wanted to show this to you, my foreign artist."

The way she places her hands on Fischer's chest suggests this isn't all Sun wants to show him.

Fischer has been walking around in a daze, and Kipp has noticed.

"I think I'm in love," he finally tells her.

"My jaded Fischer? In love? With what?"

"A woman."

"A Chinawoman?" Kipp blinks. "Impossible."

"I know I barely know her, but I feel like I've known her my whole life."

Kipp would like to criticize, but Tam's rejection of her forwardness is still fresh on her mind. 

Another day of innocent sight-seeing turns towards Sun's real interests. Everyone in Shang-Simla knows Sun is like this; they can't help but wonder if it's good or bad that she's set her sights on a rich foreigner rather than any merchant or farm boy who crosses her path.

Disturbingly, Fischer ends up thinking about his cousin Felicia after he and Sun make love.

Sun avoids talking about herself and Fischer knows something their relationship is shallow. Something isn't right, despite her helpfulness, sweetness, sexiness, and their shared passion for painting. He intuitively knows she's holding something back, and figures it's his nationality that stands in the way. That would make perfect sense. Soon he'll be going to his home, far away, without her.

He's only mildly surprised when Sun begs to go to Sim Nation with him to see the art museum.

"It's only a small one... but I can show you the giant ones in Bridgeport," Fischer plans.

Sun leaps into his arms.

On her last day in China, Kipp buys ten shower-in-a-cans. The are so useful.

"You look... exactly like a merchant in a really old picture my family has," Kipp says to the man in red.

He appears nervous and begins to fan himself. "You're creeping me out, small child."

Sun has a few words with some of her other lovers. She reassures them that she's only going to Sim Nation for art; she'll be back.

The flight to Sim Nation is exhausting. Sun isn't sure what she thinks of the Archer mansion, which is huge, but... a cube, lazily gardened, and infested with gnomes.

Fischer's bedroom.

Cozy.

"You should leave those glasses off," Sun purrs.

She finds him painting in the morning.

Then they visit Riverview's art museum, as promised. Fischer has added a modern art section, new wallpaper, and even paintings from his family collection.

They're sitting under one of Randy Archer's pixel paintings when Fischer admits he's a lowly Bistro employee.

"I have no idea what to do with myself," he says. "It's vexing."

"You got a nice car," Sun replies. "You're rich! What's it matter what you do."

"I've thought the same thing. Why work my ass off to make the fortune bigger, only to hand it to my own children and expect them to do the same thing? I have more than enough to live on. I should be more focused on helping out the community."

Sun shrugs. "Right... whatever."

Fischer makes breakfast for Sun on the day of her flight back to China. He's in food service, so he might as well show her his skills.

This is the day Fischer asks Sun to stay with him in Sim Nation, and she refuses.


She's actually married.


Fischer hardly knows what to say! Is this some Chinese cultural thing he doesn't understand?

He barely speaks to her for the rest of the day. She hugs him goodbye, and leaves for her homeland.

Fischer sulks for several days, spending time cooped up in his art museum as if it's an office.

Sun calls Fischer to China, but won't tell him why until he gets there.

Turns out she's pregnant.

"I can't keep the baby," Sun explains. "It would tie me down. You, though, you're rich. You can hire babysitters. I'd never lived as well as I did at your house, Fischer. It was difficult to refuse your offer to stay."

Fischer returns home with his unnamed daughter, unprepared to deal with his family asking questions.

But they will anyway.

A ghost Fischer hasn't met before appears while he's up taking care of his daughter's 3 AM feeding.

"You look a lot like the crazy one," Fischer says, noting the ghost's wide ears and slim nose.

"Zephram's my dad," the ghost replies.

"I wouldn't suppose you're here to give me parenting advice?"

"Did you know that holly is a genus of over six hundred plants in the family Aquifoliaceae? While they have ornamental uses for sims, they have better uses as important factors in the diets of many species of bird."

Fischer smiles awkwardly. "I see."
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Etc.: Sun was the bicycle of China. She was married, but immediately got along with Fischer thanks to their shared artistic trait. I could not get her to move in with Fischer naturally, nor did Try for Baby ever work. So I used MasterController to add her to my household, whereupon I discovered she was in a romantic relationship with half the men in Shang Simla. I kid you not. The pic of her hugging that random guy was autonomous; the guy behind them is another romantic interest who proceeded to get incredibly pissed off.

Fischer impregnated Sun in China, but when they returned to Riverview she wasn't pregnant anymore. =( I fixed that with MC, only to see her age up to elder that night and lose the baby again somehow. Chinese sims are strange, you see, because she was a young adult with an empty age bar, and yet was listed as hundreds of days old, because all of the Chinese sims' lives began when Leona (generation 2) first went to China. So I used Instant Baby to create Sun and Fischer's daughter, and killed off Sun to get rid of her. I didn't know what else to do. There was no apparent way to reset her age, since MC's normal option allows you to set how long they've been in current age state, and... that was fine, it said 0 days.

I love World Adventures, but I shall avoid travel until late in my next legacy, I think.

Property Mogul is the generation goal for Fischer. So far he owns the art museum, as well as the family graveyard, which is just a pretty garden that I never send people to anymore. I am not counting the graveyard towards the total of three properties Fischer has to buy. So he has two more things to own. The family is so rich now I told myself I'd do something fascinating with this roll, but I'm really lazy...