The Life and Times of Sandi French - Part 9 - Austin's Mysterious Disappearance; The Vampires Steal the Show.

 This episode was intended to focus on Sandi and her family, but as you will soon see, the vampires of the town were determined to upstage them. That being said, most of what occurred in the Butler family was fairly typical, and I forgot to get pictures of a lot of it. 

Bernie accomplished his lifetime wish of being a DNA profiler, and most of the time was focused on Sandi achieving her lifetime wish. She was promoted to Mad Scientist (level 10 of science career) but still needed to master science. It was really slow going, but she has made it up to level 9, and there are signs that she might soon be able to create a plant sim - she may also need to master gardening for that, however - I'm not sure. It looks like she can clone someone, so I might try to do that with her. She has started taking DNA samples from people.

She also has the opportunity to do experiments on appliances, so I had her try that to see what it would do. 

She succeeded in making the fridge more "aesthetically pleasing," but it doesn't seem to affect the moods of those in the room, but rather has a radiating green circle coming out from it constantly, which ISN'T aesthetically pleasing to ME. 

One very nice weekend day, the whole family went to the beach. Austin relaxed, Lucky did some excavating, . . . 

Bernie, who had some mishap either trying to fix something at home or trying to create a potion, went for a swim, . . . 

And the dog, Sadie, had an autonomous fight with her "mother-in-law" according to the relationship panel.

It looks like one of them wants to see the other one's ghost.

Sadie won the fight, but caught flees in the process. 

The mother-in-law (I forgot her name) still wanted to see Sadie's ghost, but in the end, they worked things out and came to have some mutual respect for each other. 

"Maybe Sadie is good enough for my Smokey," the mother-in-law thought. 

As for Sandi, she took off exploring in her boat.

As she sailed around the tip of the island, I noticed there was another smaller island with a lighthouse in the distance. I wondered if she could reach it and explore it by boat. She could. I was so busy having her take pictures with her phone, that I forgot to take some of my own, unfortunately. This island is screaming for a tomb or some other secret, but there wasn't anything of note there. I may have to remedy that. 

Both Sandi and Bernie attended some interesting parties where Terrence the vampire also attended. Sandi was invited to a party at the Ridgeway house, occupied by a "swinging" couple - Kenton and Connie. While Sandi was being offered flowers by Kenton, Bernie was getting a phone call and being asked on a date by Kenton's wife Connie. She must have been very covert about it, because I was observing her cooking up some mac n cheese at the time. 

In the background, Andre Rao is making romantic gestures to Mimi Rojas, who isn't too thrilled at the attention.

Connie was asking this young doctor how much money she earned in her profession while Terrence contemplated raising chickens. Maybe he should ask Sandi about it, as Sandi raises chickens. 

He kept his musing to himself, however, causing the other guests to wonder what it was he was thinking about.

A few days later, Agnes Seabottom invited Bernie to one of her parties. Again, Terrence was present. 

Bernie was thrilled to have a picture taken with him. "Boy, won't the kids be jealous that they weren't here!" he mused.

Everyone knows that Terrence is a vampire, yet he constantly denies it. Here he is telling Jasmine that she must be mistaken in her assumption.

She clearly doesn't believe him.

Despite his contrary attitude, Jasmine thinks Terrence a quite the handsome devil. 

Terrence is still happily married to Kristen, so tried to let Jasmine down easy, asking to just be friends. 

A short while later, it was painfully obvious that Jasmine didn't take him seriously, and he had to get nasty about it.

"Madam, your suggestions are IMPROPER! Why would I fall for an old hag like you when I have a beautiful wife at home?"

If looks could kill . . . . 

Meanwhile, Bernie was getting a picture with the hostess of the party, who seemed to be trying to steal a kiss.

I think she just wants him to cook her up some mac n cheese. 

He did, and she didn't yell at him for being inappropriate. They must be good friends. 

Terrence seems to have no qualms with receiving flowers from Jasmine, but he won't allow her to go any further. 

As for the kids, Lucky has a crush on Holli Darwin, but she doesn't seem the least bit interested in being anything other than friends.

It's a shame, really, since her parents seem to be oblivious to the moves he's making on her. 

Poor Austin had quite the traumatic experience. The whole family was down at the local watering hole, hanging out and playing pool. Then Sandi decided to go home and work on some science skills, and Bernie and Lucky decided to go to the gym. Austin was sitting at a table doing his homework, and I thought nothing about it until I heard the "caught after curfew" music.

I was with Sandi at the time, and suddenly Austin disappeared from the profile panel! Did this so-called police officer abduct him? Was he just impersonating a cop? Was he an alien in disguise? Poor Sandi stood around for a few sim hours waiting for him to be brought home, but he wasn't to be found. 

At this point I used Nraas Master Controller to reset everything, and he appeared at home, with hours missing from his short-term memory and nothing in his personal inventory - not even his homework! 

Is this the REAL Austin, or a clone planted by the aliens? The dog Sadie is suspicious of foul play. 

This Austin seems to have the same skills and personality as the pre-curfew-breaking Austin, so maybe he was just kidnapped, drugged, robbed, and released. At any rate, Austin came up with a new idea for his next novel: The Policeman Who Wasn't.

Sandi and Bernie don't seem all that suspicious. Maybe dogs are just more intuitive. (I'm thinking of adjusting Austin's traits somewhat to show a change in him since the abduction.)

I got a notice that Terrence's vampire daughter Kizzy got married and moved out. I went to check on her and see how things were going.

She married AJ Yamamodo, an up-and-coming musician. 

They moved into a rundown hovel, but never fear. I soon fixed it up to be vampire-worthy. What kind of guy would marry a vampire? An insane, hopeless romantic with a good sense of humor, who's prone to neatness and tends to be lucky. However, he must also be oblivious, because when Kizzy came to him for a little snack, he was shocked and surprised.

"It's okay, baby. You'll feel fine in a few hours."

"What the Hell! I married a vampire?! How could you not tell me this!?! I've been hoodwinked!"

"You've got to be kidding me! Everyone in town knows I'm a vampire! I didn't think I needed to mention it."

"I really would have told you, if I thought you didn't already know."

Luckily Kizzy possesses certain powers of persuasion that can make him forget his hurt feelings.

"I know I should be mad about this, but she's just so darn pretty! That alabaster skin, those glowing amber eyes, those pearly white teeth, oh well."

The next day, Kizzy was on the phone with her mother, explaining what happened. "It was so embarrassing! How could he NOT know I was a vampire? I never tried to keep it a secret." 

"Yes, I'm going in to work today. AJ has a concert tonight, so we'll start the honeymoon at a later time. 

The house was transformed, seemingly overnight.

The exterior looks like any other "little pink house."

Kizzy gets mixed reviews regarding her makeovers. This guy was a dissatisfied customer. I swear I gave him two sets of athletic clothes, but the game only registered one.

Kizzy also tried to drink his blood, but he'd have none of it.

"Sir, with my help, you can say goodbye to that wacky hairstyle and embrace something far more flattering."

Kizzy gave AJ a few days to get used to the fact that she was a vampire before proposing he join her in the vampire lifestyle. After all, he's only a few days from being an elder, and he has the opportunity to maintain his youth this way.  He consented.

Hopefully AJ will complete the transformation before he ages up, but I guess time will tell. I spotted them later at the beach. I was a bit concerned for Kizzy, afraid the sun would burn her up, but maybe the umbrella is sufficient to protect her.

The shade doesn't seem to be covering her though.