LEPacy Challenge - Gen 9 - 10: Life after divorce.

Since Athena divorced Gus, and Gus needed the 5 car garage on the existing property to meet one of his generational goals, I had to find new living quarters for Athena and her soon-to-be son. Gus kept custody of Cooper and Jellybean, while Athena plans to raise the baby she is carrying. I wanted to experiment with apartments above businesses, so I had an idea to build a "post office" next door to the apartments in question and label the lot as an apartment. Athena could move into the post office/apartment, then be directed to the apartment next door.

I also put in some public restrooms and vending machines, and made this lower floor the common area, while I put some beds, cribs, and a fridge in an inaccessible room upstairs, hoping to trick the game into recognizing this as a habitable lot. Making this an apartment lot was problematic. For one, the game provided "roommates" to occupy the building too, and I couldn't control or disable them because they technically weren't paying rent to Athena - she was just living there among them.

The next problem is the apartment was above a bar, which closed and kicked people out in the middle of the night - next time I'll make sure apartments are above an elixir or consignment store or other venue that doesn't close its doors and kick people out. The adjoining lot will be just a residential lot with a mailbox and trashcan. I was tired of fighting with this though, and didn't want to raze the post office, so I re-designated it as a basecamp and put access to the upstairs making it look somewhat like a homeless shelter. However the game dropped the adventure board in an awkward place and wouldn't let me adjust it because it was "in use."

Anyway, Athena went into labor, and I thought, "Maybe I can really use that maternity floor, and Athena can spend the night there . . . ."

Baby Sawyer was born with the Virtuoso and Perceptive traits. His favorites are songwriter music, fruit parfait, and lime green. If he becomes the heir, he will marry and have two kids; join either the criminal or stylist career; both he and his spouse will achieve the top level of their career and master all associated skills; and be an "overachiever" collecting at least 10 earned awards and displaying them together somewhere in the house. Either way, Showtime will be the next pack to add.

Anyway, Athena had the baby and I sent her to the maternity floor, where she put Sawyer in the nursery; then she was hungry, so she went to the break room to try and get something out of the fridge. For some reason it isn't accessible, so I will need to find a plan B. She got a candy bar from the vending machine, but didn't want to stay in the mother's room. I got tired of fighting with her and went to see how Gus was doing.

Gus was contemplating what to do next with his life. Athena left with his Prius, but he still has her police car in the garage. It might come in handy someday. He needs three more cars to meet his goal of owning 5 nice motorized vehicles. He thinks he wants a motorcycle. He's low on funds now, so there's work to do.

Meanwhile, the boys are eating cake for breakfast and discussing the previous night's burglary. Apparently while they were sleeping and Gus was off at work, someone broke in an stole his weightlifting machine.

There's no honor among thieves.

Gus knows something needs to be done - the boys can't stay home all night without an adult. Also, he can't seem to get Beatrice out of his head and can be heard singing French songs from time to time. (He's actually got a pretty nice voice.) He decided to call her and invite her for a visit.

Then, he grew bold: he asked her to dump Francois and move in with him. She agreed, and I gave her a wardrobe that makes her look less like a stereotypical librarian.

The boys seem to be doing okay in school . . .

Jellybean is interested in building his logic skills and sometimes stays after school to study in the library. His favorite food is mac and cheese, but he apparently doesn't like the kind they serve in the lunch room. He keeps ordering it; the "lunch lady" brings it, but he won't eat it.

It just seems to be the mac and cheese that's glitched, Cooper ate his veggie burger just fine. The boys seem to be adjusting well to their new situation.

While I was with Gus's household, I got various messages regarding Athena: She found a house for her and Sawyer, various relatives and hangers-on moved in with her, she got engaged to Regan Cahill, and Sawyer aged up to toddler. It's time to pay her a visit.

It turns out, Heath, whom she saw in cahoots with Elvin Dumbledore, the crooked politician, has assured Athena he is on the straight-and-narrow, and moved in with her, bringing one of his girlfriends with him. (He apparently has several.) Also, half-sister Mitzi, who was also seen a few sim-years back at the Dumbledore house, has moved in.

There were too many people and not enough beds, so I moved Heath and girlfriend to an apartment that had room for them, and moved Regan Cahill, her fiancé from the house where he was staying with friends to her house. I kept Mitzi, as she's a teen, and probably needs some looking after.

The next day, I discovered that Mitzi, while still in high school, is pregnant with Damian Dumbledore's child. She also has a boyfriend named Rafael Slone-Herrington (son of Gus' sister Gina), and one other guy on the line (Jordan Yates, but I think he moved on to another girl.)

Maybe her mother kicked her out when she found out she was pregnant, but their relationship seems to be okay. Maybe there was someone else in the household she wasn't getting along with. Maybe she just wanted to be closer to school. Who knows?

Athena seems to be on board with being an aunt. But right now, she has other things on her mind: she and Regan are getting married. Regan set up the wedding to take place at Hydrangea Park. He got the cake and took off, WALKING over hill and yon, to reach the destination in time for the party, and barely made it on time. Athena set out shortly after he left, with pregnant Mitzi and baby Sawyer in tow, and they WALKED the entire way. It took hours and they were VERY late.

"Come on, Mitzi! Move those feet! You're making us late!"

The party was supposed to be at 5 pm, but it was several hours later and dark by the time the bride arrived. The park didn't have outdoor lighting - something that I need to fix at some point, but to be fair, I wasn't expecting the wedding to be held after dark. There were further complications with routing. Fluffs, who had the best intentions of entertaining the group while they waited for the bride to arrive and change, pulled a drum kit out of his pocket and set it up right in front of the wedding arch!

Most people got hungry and went home before the ceremony took place, but Regan and Athena were finally married.

Regan is thinking he should have served refreshments before the ceremony, so the guests would have stayed, but no matter . . . .

Mitzi was getting tired. "Buck up, sweetie, it's a long walk back!"

The next day, the happy couple left for Salmon Woods for a brief honeymoon. They rented this cabin.

They arrived at 8 am and spent the morning woohooing, sketching, and playing the guitar while we waited for Story Progression to populate the town. Then they decided to go out for pizza at the Irish Democrat.

Next, they went out to the port, where Regan started a painting while Athena read Magnetic Attraction.

That evening, they went to the Red Rose Lounge. I still have a couple packs disabled, and I think substitutions were made that the original builder (from My Sims Realty) didn't intend. For instance, I noticed that the Town Hall rabbithole was way too big for the lot and stretched into the lounge.

Regan was still able to have a drink, and Athena could still jam with the keyboard player in the basement, so all was good. I found a smaller footprint town hall - I think from Supernatural - and fixed this problem for future visits.

The next morning, they went out to the port again and played a game of chess, then Regan went to finish his painting while Athena went across the street to the spa and got a facial.

Of course, a honeymoon wouldn't be a honeymoon without Athena autonomously beating up a random stranger, which she did on the way back to meet up with Regan.

Then she spotted a pile of rubble and decided to remove it.

She found 101 simoeons in a money bag. Not bad! A townie walked up to her and started chatting. She looked like this:

I couldn't stand it, so I made her look more put-together, but allowed her to keep a hat - just not that hat - it's summer for crying out loud!

Graciela Cheatham was the closest thing to a friend that Athena made on the trip.

For lunch, Regan and Athena decided to go to a nearby restaurant and dine al fresco. It must have been an Asian restaurant because Athena came out with vegetarian dim sum, and Regan had apparently ordered the hot sour soup. I was annoyed that they didn't sit at the same table,

then I realized that these tables were right up against the rabbitholes, and while they looked good, the chairs against the wall weren't functional. The same is true of the chess tables in the background. They all needed to be moved away from the walls to be functional.

By the last day, Regan was feeling restless. He's an ambitious workaholic which has enabled him to reach the top of the education field, but it does make him anxious to be away from work too long. He told Athena that he enjoyed taking some time off to create some art, but he was ready to go back home.

Hang in there, Regan. Just one more day left. They spent it at the summer festival, then went to the Flying Weinie for an early dinner.

This place has a bit of a routing issue: if they stand where Athena is, they stamp their feet and say they can't go there, but if you walk them up to be more even with the front door, they go in. I think the problem lies with the side door going to the outdoor space: they seem to want to go through that as the main door and the half-wall fencing is in the way.

They did make it in, and Regan won a robot with the claw machine. He'll take it home and give it to Sawyer.