Chapter 75: Chaos

Fischer becomes a teen.

Tristan is not the sharpest cheese curl in the bag, but he can handle fifth grade math... maybe.

Leona admires her grave while Sacha meditates. Fiona wishes the nectar bottle on her grave wasn't empty.

There's a lot of stuff to be scared of in the Archer house. Luke is justified in his fits.

Fischer is just as neurotic as his brother, but tends to express his nervousness with checking sinks and cleaning, rather than with total meltdowns.

 On a weekend Tristan is busy, the Archer kids pile into the Tofunda Wagon to visit their cousins and test Fischer's new driving ability. Being family-oriented, Rio loves it when his sister's kids visit.

Felicia has Rio's hair and Pablo's blue eyes, but strongly resembles her mother.

Felicia loves to paint, and is lucky to belong to a family that supports the arts.

Kipp and Felicia compare styles.

Is it better to show off those ear piercings, or to have fluffy hair covering one's ears?

Kipp and Javier enjoy the pool.

Luke and Fischer take a lazier approach to pool enjoyment.

Rio teaches Fischer some moves.

Fischer is sure to impress the ladies now.

When the kids get home, Pablo kicks the bucket.

Nol misses Pablo terribly, and sits up every night, hoping to catch his ghost.

Ghosts appear as always, but no Pablo.

Ashby turns to Rex for comfort. She's impressed with the muscles he has cultivated.

Rex keeps a close eye on the children while the family is in mourning. He makes sure Fischer's paintings are depression-free.

Rex can do anything Tristan can do.

"Why are we bothering with this?" Fischer complains. "When I'm you're age, I won't remember geometry."

Kipp holds a bake sale. During the day.

It's much more successful than Fischer's nighttime bake sale.

After cake, Javier and Luke discuss high drama.

And mourn their grandfather.

Everything Javier knows about sneaking, he learned from Pablo.

Pauline stays the night to make use of the sim-fu training dummy.

Kipp dreads the day when she will have to give up childhood.

INCOMING.

Meanwhile, Rex becomes angry when a client blames missing apples on a half human, half fish monster.

Nol reads to forget about her life.

Fischer heads to The Saloon after school to play darts and impress girls.

He's very good at darts. Unfortunately, not a single teen enters the place to watch him.

The gnome Rex brought back from France does a lot of cowering.

Luke checks the fireplace while Rex discusses proper dating etiquette with Fischer.

Ashby knows Luke has been talking to girls on the Internet in hopes of meeting them at conventions. She goes to question him on the wisdom of such things, only to be shouted at.

"I'm not listening to dating advice from YOU of all people!" Luke yells.

Ashby recoils. It actually takes her a moment to understand what he means. Luke has kept any anger or confusion over the issue bottled up inside for years, and he's not going to open up now, either. He storms up to his bedroom and locks the door before his mother can say another word.

Kipp gets a cake and a party for her birthday.

There are a lot of guests.

Janet feels a little crowded in.

And... Donovan?

Rex tries to keep smiling and behave himself, rather than lash out at Donovan for daring to show up.

Kipp just wishes her dad could be here. But since Ashby is here, Tristan is off putting out fires across town!

Kipp is a teen.

Having missed half of the party due to the unfair hours of his part time job, Fischer decides to make a scene about it and pretend to faint.

Luke's hours aren't fantastic either. While he fights to remain awake for real, Pauline cries over the loss of a boyfriend and Janet just hopes no one here takes her picture.

Luke and Fischer go on about conspiracies. Strangely enough, their cousins respond positively.

Sifton takes any opportunity to remind everyone that she is now a Department Head. Since Luke is the oldest, she approaches him to let him know she can get him a job in the business center. Largely thanks to Nol, Luke's family is sitting on the most massive fortune in Riverview, and it would be a shame if that fortune were underutilized.

Luke shows no interest in the responsibilities of being one of the heirs to a fortune. He's only interested in his head hitting a pillow.

Governor Iago reminds his sister that he loves her.

Rex can't hold in the comments anymore, and picks a fight with Donovan while his wife is distracted.

"You've been caught stealing from family before!" Rex reminds the man.

Janet takes this opportunity to talk to her favorite author.

And follows up with some dancing with Fischer. He's eccentric, neurotic, and a fantastic dancer, and on a rich boy those qualities are nothing but sexy. Too bad he already shares her last name.

Fischer finds it hard to keep his eyes off of his intelligent and mildly charming cousins. He's lonely, he thinks. Most of Fischer's female schoolmates would love to be his girlfriend, but he's oblivious to it, since they all already have boyfriends, having assumed the rich boy to be too far out of their league.

Janet is the last guest to leave the party. Ghosts are too much for her to handle.
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Etc.: Pablo lived longer than most elders I guess, but only marginally. He didn't live as long as some. I'm not sure how the fitness life-extension reward works or if it works at all.

I wanted Lorenzo and Tristan at the party, but Lorenzo didn't show up and of course Tristan couldn't because of the firehouse glitch. I would have had to force him to quit his job, and I just forgot to do that.

For some reason I keep mixing up Luke and Fischer's names, so forgive any typos. Fischer is the heir and is blond. Luke is the older boy.

Chapter 74: Still Busy

Rex's detective work again runs into his wife's family. The mad scientist Hawk (who wasn't very mad until age took its toll on his brain) is arrested for wrongfully using government funds to build killer robots.

Nol is pissed off about her brother's arrest. She firmly believes he would have never unleashed those robots.

What's next? Is Rex going to go after Pablo?

Rex receives an award for his sharp detective work. The mayor wears a special hat to be funny.

Dax's genetics - or rather, his mother's - remain strong in this town.

Pablo recently discovered that his grandfather, Jason, was the half-brother of his wife's grandfather, Dax. Jason disowned Dax way back before Chapter 52.

An X-Ray machine gets out of hand at the hospital.

What have you done, Arthur?

As soon as Ashby is done taking care of a malfunctioning hospital, she has to run to a house fire.

"Save my home!" Rusty Cantina cries. The teen's resemblance to Dante is unmistakable, and he also wears the foreign-looking crap most of the other town vampires have chosen to wear. He's Pablo's half-brother, but he's younger than Pablo's daughter and will outlive Pablo's great-grandchildren.

If he doesn't catch on fire, anyway.

Ashby finds Kerry near the blaze. This is suspicious, but suspicious is her husband's line of work, not hers.

Ashby hears screaming from inside the house, but can't get in until the fire is somewhat under control. It's very bad.

Once a path is cleared, she breaks down a door with her axe.

"You saved me," Dante murmurs, in a daze.

Ashby shrugs. "It's my job, Grandpa."

Fischer pretends the red triangle pieces are pizza. Luke has more important concerns.

Nol tries to spend more time connecting with her grandchildren.

And it's none to soon, because Luke is getting older.

"Why does Kipp have to go away on Saturday?" Fischer whines. "I wanted to play."

"Because she does," Luke says. Luke has already figured out the reason, but can't bring himself to ask his parents about it. Their mistakes don't matter to him; Luke has a strong conscience and will not go astray himself, he thinks. Now if only he could find a girl.

Ashby and Rex spend their mornings at the firehouse, climbing up the poles for exercise.

A fire breaks out across the street from the school. Pauline and Javier panic.

So do Fischer, Kipp, Stacey, Carol, and... Amos Grisby, that one kid who faints.

Instead of using this opportunity to scout for boys, Kipp plays tag with Janet, allowing little Rena Newbie to put the moves on one of the only boys in town who isn't distantly or closely related to the Archer kids.

Yay tag.

Luke gets up before dawn to do his homework. His father insisted he should get a job to learn responsibility, so Luke has a part time job at the book store. He loves being around books, but it really does eat up his time, making it difficult to balance sleep, school, eating, homework, showering, and job-work. He also wants to write a science fiction novel.

Iago never ceases to amuse.

Rex stares. "You want me to find out who's sending you junk mail?"

"And destroy them," Iago nods. "Why? Is that a problem?"

Rex follows an investigative lead to France. His in-laws tag along, promising not to bother him. They're old and spend most of the time curled up in bed, viewing the beautiful countryside through the window.

Nol makes a trip to the shops.

Sometimes being an ex-thief is hard.

Secret... A-a-a-a-agent Maaaan.

Rex looks out, to see what he can see.

Someone doesn't take kindly to Rex's prying.

After washing up, Rex quietly reads with Nol.

Until she interrupts. "Most people would despise their in-laws. And most men would have broken up with my daughter, after what she did."

Rex shrugs. "We patched things up. We have a lovely family."

Nol presses on. "Pablo and I want you to know we didn't raise her that way."

Rex has his doubts about his wife's family's moral character and sanity, but he keeps them to himself. Half of the things he knows, most people wouldn't. Thanks to things he uncovers in his line of work Rex knows about a history of insanity, criminals, and eccentricity. But Nol and Pablo have always been kind.

"Some people get the best parents and role models, but because of their good fortune, those are also the people who can't appreciate them," Rex says.

Ashby's not having fun.

The scientists panic because someone set loose a herd of llamas in their building.

Back in France!

"Son," Pablo stares. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Undead bear," Rex rasps. "But I got a gnome out of it!"

And with that, it's time to go home.

 Since he's such a natural at this cooking thing, Fischer holds a bake sale. At night. Odd kid.

Ashby deals with a huge house fire. Lydia here nearly suffocated, but she'll be fine.

Pauline will be fine too.

Rex plays chess with Iago while he worries about his wife.

What was this, a party none of Ashby's kids were invited to?

Am encounter with Zephram's ghost gives Luke's wild imagination more fuel.

To the invention bench!

Rex sits down with a copy of Luke's first novel, a sci-fi thriller about psychics.

"Are you proud of me, Dad?" Luke asks. "I did a lot of research, talking to vampires about their psychic abilities."

"Of course," Rex responds, finding it an odd and insecure question. "You've always made me proud, Luke."

Rex releases deadly spores.

Kipp understands Luke's fear of gnomes. He's kept quiet about it since he turned teenager, but the gnomes are the reason Luke wants to move out of the house as soon as he turns adult.

 Brilliance at breakfast.

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Etc.: Perfect Children is kicking my tail this generation. Luke actually didn't achieve it, because I thought he had all 3 points on the oven, but he only had 2. I noticed when he ran to make waffles as a teen, and jumped to skill level 2 instead of 3. I do not count this as failure, personally, because I'm a very absent-minded person and I would have completed the requirement if I had remembered. Childhood is one of the easiest stages.

I want more time for the kids to spend with family, but it's just impossible, micro-managing the needs of three kids. As well as their parents, who both have Ambitions jobs. It's annoying. When I don't have perfect children, they tend to be making A's without my notice or care. When I roll perfect children, my child sims start plotting to flunk school.