Atlas ISBI 4: The Plague Strikes Again

Hello, hello, hello! Last chapter, Asia ran away (and returned) but unfortunately Miko did not. But that's okay, because she somehow behaved herself enough for us to have A POSTIVE SCORE at the end of the chapter. Amazing! Let's see if we can continue it with the newly aged-up kidlets and, as always, Roman doing his best to manage the chaos...

We start with Olympia waking up Austin in the middle of the night just for the hell of it, being fussy and all. I just laughed and laughed. I'm not even mad at her. How does it feel to know you'll be dead tired at the end of school because you're unwillingly awake at 3 a.m. and too stupid to go back to bed on your own, you little shit my beloved Austin?

Georgia, however, had a fantastic night's sleep and when Olympia (and Asia) finally crashes from being up doing random stuff all night, Georgia watches over her baby sis with her extra credit in hand. Can't let that 107% in advanced calculus slip, after all!

Breakfast sees most of the family gathered at the table. Roman is still sleeping. Miko has put Olympia in the high chair, and, to top it off, given her yogurt parfait, which will trigger a sugar crash. Probably just because she hates me.

Roman woke up on the wrong side of the bed and is very upset that he baked a poor cake for his beloved firstborn, Georgia, to grow up with, but I'm not waiting any longer. Teen! Teen! Teen! This much closer to a new torchbearer potentially! Teen! (Also, everyone actually gathered for a birthday for once! Amazing!)

She's stunning. Definitely Miko's child, but I love her red hair and green eyes that she got from her dad. However, that's apparently all she got, because she now wants to be a Serial Romantic just like Mom, and her new trait (on top of neat) is geek, giving her 2/3 of Miko's traits as well. How she got all those genes but not the stupid gene I'll never know, but I'm grateful for it.

Laundry Day had just come out at this point, so she got a 100% Laundry Day outfit. Looks good on her, though.

Miko: "I'm so proud that you've decided to follow my path in life, Janie."
Georgia: "Name's Georgia, Mom."
Miko: "Right, just a little joke. Anyway, I'm going to take a nap. Let me know when you first pee yourself. Oh, I'm just so proud!"
Georgia: "Yeah, no offense, but I'm getting my life path advice from Dad from now on, okay?"
Miko: "Sorry, I was already thinking about that nap I'm going to take mere minutes before work. What did you say?"
Georgia: "Nothing. Nothing at all."

Promotion!

And another birthday with a new cake, because I just know these dimbulbs would be eating the nasty cake all the time and complaining about the quality if I even thought about keeping it around for one extra second.

Olympia's going through a bit of an awkward phase with her curly hair, but she's a little cutie! Definitely lost her lower jaw somewhere, though. Good luck finding that, Olympia.

Olympia: "You forgot to tell them I'm a geek just like Mom and Sis!"
Oh yeah, she is. Very heritable traits in this family line. Better, sweetie?

Olympia: =D

With the family growing older and the kids needing more space, I gave the house a bit of a makeover again. It's expanded considerably from the old box-design.

Here's a bird's-eye view. Up top is the kitchen and it's semi-open plan with the living room because there's only a half-wall between them. There's a laundry room down and to the right of the kitchen, then two grey bathrooms. Moving clockwise, we have the girls' bedroom, a playroom that could also be a nursery later, the boys' bedroom, the master bedroom, a teeny half bath, Roman's studio, and a future focus room with a few things. And there's a hallway in the middle of course. I also bought a few nicer things to upgrade their belongings like a new loveseat.

Awww, Roman just became best friends with Nanny Gandhi because he won't leave us alone! How cute!

Asia got a collar finally. Maybe now she'll feel like she belongs despite the lack of recognition that she exists from everyone but Roman and stop running away.

The whole family at the table? Be still my heart. Is this really happening?

And a sweet hug! What good little children.

Austin: "I haven't forgotten that you have designs on my heirship. Let's see you get it now, nerd."
Olympia: "Oh, poor simple brother of mine, do you not know that gaining heirship is all about playing the long game? We'll see whose designs work out in the end."

Ah, yes, clearly this tiny bathroom where Roman is practicing his charisma is the best place for everybody to hang out.

Nanny Gandhi: "You're a strange, needy creature with dreams of being a true part of the family. Like me. I respect that."
Asia: "Mrowr?"
Roomba: "rrrrrrr"

What's going on here?
Austin: "I invited Hugo over after school, apparently."
Did you know he's destroying Olympia's school project?
Austin: "Oh, is he? Gosh, what a shame. Can't be helped, really. Sure will be hard for her to sway the readers with no A in elementary school, I bet."

Speaking of A's, Georgia's doing her homework with a smile because a B simply will not do for her for any length of time. She's the most studious sim I've ever had, and the fact that it's 100% on freewill is amazing to me.

Sigh, Miko. We were doing so well, too.

-5

Nanny Gandhi came over in a bad mood and wrecked our dollhouse. Rude.

For the kids to cheer up, they played everyone's favorite game: Giant Mutant Kitty Farm.

Olympia: "Daddy, I think I have The Acne from being so mature and grown up, surely ready to tackle an heir poll with my teenage ways.
Roman: "Good try, doll, but not yet. You've just got the plague, and a dose of medicine would clear that right up if you were controllable. Unfortunately you'll just have to suffer. Sorry, sweetie. You know I only want the best for my children."

Olympia: "Fine. If I can't be heir yet, I'll just work on my skills so I can get an A like Georgia."

She's a determined one, isn't she? Meanwhile:

Miko: "Hmm, what did I come out here to do? I'll just stand here in my panties with my cat wand and wonder."

Asia: "I have defeated the cat wand and now I must get busy to celebrate."
Luckily, she's a homebody for the most part, and if she doesn't go outside, she can't get pregnant.

Why do we keep inviting Hugo over?! He's a gigantic ass to our school projects!

Georgia's still cranking away at that A, so Roman gives her a spot of help to encourage her, not that she needs it.

Once Georgia becomes a YA, it'll be time for the heir poll and potentially the end of Roman's reign, so he's tying up loose ends. One is to upgrade all of the electronics in the house fully so the next heir will have fewer things to fix. Also had to finally get a thermostat as it's winter now.

Georgia got her high school A! Way to go, perfect angel baby! Olympia also got hers! So proud of my girls!
Austin: "Hey, wait a sec. I also have an A and you never mentioned it!"

*checks past chapter* You're right, I didn't. That's because I don't care. But I will take the points.

+15

Austin: "Fine. Guess I'll just go eat worms shovel snow."

Okay, whatever. But look at Olympia working on your school project! What a good child!

Austin: *frustrated groaning*

Gosh, Miko. Looks cold. I can see your breath.
Miko: "Yeah! It is pretty cold."
And you don't have your cold weather outfit on.
Miko: "What do you know? I sure don't!"
And you're probably close to freezing and you've been out here for hours after work. Want to go inside?
Miko: "I'll think about it. For a few more hours."

me: *frustrated groaning*

Georgia got her skills for her high school A from gaming, and she's developed a bit of an interest in it. Her dad is instantly there to take her on! These two are such good friends and I love it.

Meanwhile, Austin is still snow shoveling. Should I be worried?

Oh, please don't take a nap at 9 p.m. You could probably sleep til morning if only you'd actually go to bed. Geez, where are you learning these bad habits?

Oh. I should have known.

And then all the doofuses in the house are having dance parties and whatnot in the middle of the night. Roman and Georgia are the only two sims with any kind of circadian rhythm.

Roman: "No, no. That was not good. I did not enjoy that. Ugh. Bad leftover."

Okay, who snuck clam chowder into the fridge? Miko, was that you? No, actually it was me. I'm stupid and I forgot clams are meat. Poor Roman.

He's so upset that he goes and shovels snow through the wall onto our game mat, probably shorting it out or something. Is that really a healthy way to cope with stress?

Austin: "I'm not sure sims really know healthy ways to cope with stress."

What makes you say that?

Austin: "Just a feeling."

Roman: "I don't know about this..."

Miko: "Oh, I can't watch!"

(Side note: Dammit, Miko, we've had such a good run of everyone using their own beds up til now. Don't screw it up!)

In case the cake and the hesitance didn't clue you in, Austin is becoming a teenager today. Olympia is there to supervise his transition and see if he has any chance at heirship.

Olympia: "Excellent, excellent. This I can throw confetti for. Hurray! You're a loser!"

Austin grows up in a mohawk, which some sims (Luke Gregory) can rock, but not him, and he is mean in addition to neat now. He was kind of mean as a toddler so I'm not surprised, but I am annoyed. He wants to be a Master Mixologist, which is...I mean, whatever. I don't care really. Happy birthday, Austin.

He's pretty cute too, despite how much I dislike him, and he's a better mixture of his parents than Georgia. I think he wants to be a mixologist in really trendy clubs but he's not actually cool, so I dressed him like a wannabe-hip douchebag.

See? It's really quite the aesthetic.

I even gave him a full mismatched all-camo outfit for cold weather wear because I hate him so much! You're welcome!

Georgia's gaming again. She's getting pretty into this. Maybe a Tech Guru in our future if she's chosen? I could use the reward objects for our mostly-bare focus room.

Olympia: "It's so *shiver* cold *shiver* in here."

I don't remember turning off the thermostat.

Then, since a zombie cake is a terrible thing to waste and it is actually her birthday, Miko steps up to the cake later that night.

She looks almost exactly the same!

That's also New Year's Eve. How did we miss Winterfest? I must have installed Seasons with winter starting in this save. I hate how it cuts through a lot of the season you choose to start in. That seems counterintuitive to me. Anyway, we're celebrating as best we can with only one controllable sim.

Georgia: "Oh, I am so ashamed! No one look at me!"

Mood swing?

Georgia: "No, I answered a question wrong and only got a 101.5% on my latest test."

Mood swing.

I got really excited thinking Olympia was going to draw some (I don't remember whose drawing that is, but the kids have generally completely ignored this table), but she just sat down to chat with her brother, who is trolling teh forums. Sigh.

He's beauty, he's grace, he's Mr. Townie Face.

Back inside, Roman is able to convince everyone except Austin (of course) to celebrate New Year's with him. Here's to a great New Year!

Aww, and then this was autonomous. How adorable! They are a very happy, loving family despite how much I rag on them. Now that Austin's mean he's starting to run down his relationships a bit with mean socials, but until now, they've all been the best of friends.

Miko celebrates the New Year by resolving to take more naps at 1 a.m. even when her bed is free. *facepalm*

And Austin proceeds to be a total jerkwad. Of all the things you could learn from Nanny Gandhi's generally soothing presence, this is what you picked up? You were literally crying about the broken dollhouse earlier this chapter. Where's your empathy?

Austin: "In the toilet already. Just take a look!"

Eek, he is on track for a negative trait if I can't have Roman discipline him some more! He spends all his time being a jerk or trolling teh forums, and it's hell on his empathy.

Austin: "MeH, iM gOiNG to BE tHe HEir."
Olympia: "Dude."

And the plague strikes again.

And again.

Austin's handiwork gets poor ailing Olympia upset.

Olympia: "I'm just crying tears of joy because it's going to be so easy to beat him in the heir poll."

You seem awfully focused on Austin, when he's not your real competition.

Olympia: "Eh, Georgia's got her own problems. Like being boring. And also frequent mood swings. That girl is unstable, I tell you."

So she is. She has a new mood swing pretty much every day. I rarely see her angry, though. Usually she's embarrassed. She does have the courtesy to only destroy an old project of Austin's from elementary that he can no longer complete, though.

And then she works on Olympia's to cheer herself up. Bless you.

I don't really have new things to say about the plague? They're just really getting sick a lot this winter? How caption?

Ha ha, mood swing. Karma.

Miko's using her neat powers for useless tasks yet again. Outdoor puddles are her real weakness. Well, that and sleeping at normal times. And urinary continence. Girl's a piece of work.

She then cooks herself a hearty group meal breakfast that I have to throw the rest away because it has bacon in it and Roman will undoubtedly eat it when I'm not looking.

The Plague: 2 Plaguey 2 Annoying

Roman has also been chipping away at his Bestselling Author aspiration, and I believe this picture commemorates his first Bestseller. The royalties sure aren't hurting, either. I know I'm missing correctly documenting his aspiration stage completions, so I'll just give myself the points all at once when he finishes the aspiration or becomes uncontrollable, whichever happens first.

The Plague: Tokyo Drift

Miko: "Well, it's 4 a.m. and I have work in five hours. Probably time to turn in."

Will she never learn? Also, I think we are getting real close to needing to retire those panties. Actual adulthood and birthing three children is starting to catch up with Miko, even though she has a small frame.

Anyway, that's the end of the chapter! Next chapter will be the big one: both the big event happening and the heir poll will be at the end. I'm really excited for the heir poll, so I'm going to try to get it out semi-soon. Check back for more Atlas adventures soon, and visit me at Boolprop in the meantime! Thanks for reading!


Current Score:  25
Self Wetting/Dirty Diaper : -5 (x3)   -15
Pass Out : -5 (x3)   -15
Failing School : -5
Negative Traits Earned by NTHs : -5
Accidental Deaths : -10
Fires : -10 (x1)   -10
Social Worker Visit : -15

Single Birth : +5 (x3)   +15
Twins : +10
Triplets : +15
Any sim in the household completing Any Aspiration Milestones (Child and Adult): +5 (x4)   +20
Any sim in the household completing Aspirations (Child and Adult) : +10 (x1)  +10
Toddler Skills maxed by NTH toddlers : +5
Skills (Child and Adult) maxed by NTH family members : +10
NTH children (Child and Teen) earning an A in school : +5 (x4)   +20
Positive Traits Earned by NTHs : +5
NTH sims reaching the top of a career (Teen and YA/A/E) : +10
Randomizing every trait and aspiration for an entire generation : +10
Not using spares' Satisfaction Reward points for an entire generation : +10
Every 100,000 simoleons earned : +20
Immortalizing the Torch-Holder : +5