TS4: Mors Certa, Hora Incerta (Part 20)

The Sims 4: Mors Certa, Hora Incerta

Have I talked about the cowplant before? The cowplant, also known by other names throughout the series, such as Laganaphyllis Simnovorii or the mutant plant, is the strange hybrid between what appears to be a Venus flytrap and a cow, as the name implies. It is usually an achievement to grow one, as it usually requires a high skill level to acquire. In TS4, it requires a high gardening skill in order to graft plants together.

I discovered by accident that if you graft a cherry to a snapdragon plant, you can get some dragon fruit. Experimenting further, grafting a dragon fruit to the same snapdragon plant will yield some cowberries, which when planted will grow into a cowplant. Of course, when I found out, I immediately set out to grow one myself.

And after some time, the cowplant grew.

Of course, you don't give the same care to an animal-plant hybrid that you would give to a regular garden vegetable, now. It requires regular feeding to avoid expiring.

Myllenium and Nosco have not done much since last time. They have been enjoying their retirement, relaxing and letting their pension pay for their outings and lavish lifestyle. Lilith on the other hand had to work hard to get a promotion in her career, but she eventually managed to get promoted to the position of Serious Musician.

She also spent her spare time gardening, playing music and working out.

She also became best friends with Isabel, whom I introduced to you earlier. However, over time I noticed that Isabel was becoming sadder and sadder. A little prying revealed that she had been arguing constantly with her family, so I decided to try something out; I would invite her to live with the Sabrukas for a few days, but wouldn't control her at all.

Then it all went horribly wrong.

See, one thing I did not know is that when you forget to feed a cowplant, it will attempt to nourish itself... by luring unsuspecting sims and devouring them.

Since I wasn't controlling Isabel, I wasn't checking to see if she was hungry or not. When I finally found her trying to eat the cake tongue, it was already too late.

The action had begun, and there was no turning back now.

This is the last picture taken of Isabel.

And just like that, she was gone.

The grim reaper showed up to reap her soul.

I felt bad about the whole thing, so I had Nosco move her gravestone from the yard to the local cemetery (although now that I think of it, I could have her interred in the Sabruka graveyard...).

Later, I saw that a new option to milk the cowplant had appeared, and doing so yielded a strange drink labelled Essence of Isabel's Life. I'm not sure what drinking this would do, so out of respect for poor Isabel I had it displayed in the solarium.

Lilith was, of course, devastated by the loss of her friend.

In Isabel's honour, she spent some time playing the violin at her grave, something she did almost every day off she had. Lilith had lost her first, and only, friend.

But I don't think she would remain friendless for long. Lilith invited Isabel's brother and sister (whose names evade me right now) over to extend her condolences, and she ended up befriending Isabel's sister; turns out they were twins, and share the same interests.

Twins they may be, the only physical resemblance seems to be the hair colour.

Well, I won't make the same mistake again. The next person moving in to the Sabruka Cottage will be Lilith's husband or wife.

Oh yeah, I also threw out the cowplant.

Anyways, that's it for now!

TS4: The September of Our Years (Part 19)

The Sims 4: The September of Our Years

There comes a time in every The Sims game where you look at the characters you created and think to yourself "They've come far". From their humblest of beginnings to their most lavish ends, these sims inevitably (if you're nice) become masters of their talents, painting masterpieces or composing beautiful orchestras.

When you start a game, all the sims started at the same time have the same birthday. Due to the way ages work, it would happen that Lilith's birthday for adulthood would occur two days before Nosco and Myllenium would retire.

Two days later, a small celebration was had where Nosco and Myllenium (un-)gracefully aged to their silver years.

At that moment, I've had them call in to their respective jobs and retire; Nosco as a Start-Up Genius, and Myllenium as a Patron of the Arts. One thing I didn't know is how retirement works in TS4; rather than just quit their jobs, they're living off a pension proportional to how much they were making before retirement. The end result is that they can still afford the house. Neat!

Lilith on the other hand decided to try her hand in the entertainment career as a C-Lister (whatever that means). Still, all she needs to do is play music when she's not off to work, so it's a perfect fit! I also noticed that she had started gaining a tiny bit of weight, so I had her work out a little more to make sure she stays healthy!

I also noticed that the household now has over $150'000 in the bank.

Since Lilith would no longer have her social needs met in school, I had her find herself a friend. Meet Isabel Pearson, another music lover. Isabel has a brother and a sister, all three living in the same house.

I'm sure they're going to be friends for life!

Nosco continued taking care of his garden, although looking like a grumpy old man now. When he's not tending his plants, he spends his time dancing in the bar.

Myllenium on the other hand has been working out more and more, taking advantage of all her free time to work out.

Doesn't she look happy?

She also completed her painter aspiration by painting one last Masterpiece-level small painting:

Finally, apparently growing old did not calm down Myllenium and Nosco's loins, as they've been going at it night and day since!

Small update today (I'm on vacation, sue me), but next time will be a slightly longer one. Here's a sneak-peek of what's to come:

TS4: Love Is a Burning Thing (Part 18)

The Sims 4: Love Is a Burning Thing

Apparently I completely misunderstood how dating works, since running up to someone and immediately hitting on them seems to be a sure-fire way to get them to call you back. The obviously-insane man, who goes by the name of Maxwell Quintanilla, asked Lilith on a date to the local nightclub, and she was all too happy to acquiesce. Still, she didn't want to seem desperate, so she made sure to show up at the club all calm and collected.

Okay, maybe not calm and collected, but at least she didn't begin flirting immediately again, right?

Okay, not sure what she's doing there, but apparently she's desperate to get him to fall in love with her, repeatedly attempting to seduce the guy. It seems to be going well, and he slowly begins to reciprocate her feelings. Eventually they move into the nightclub (since they can't very well stay outside) where they dance, talk, and drink (gasp!) the afternoon away. They seem to have a lot in common, so I use my god-like control over Lilith to have her ask Maxwell out, and he says yes!

Nothing says "I love you" like a selfie!

Shortly before going home, Lilith and Maxwell share their first kiss:

Over the next few days, nothing really interesting happened. Lilith and Maxwell hung out every opportunity they have as I increasingly suspect Maxwell to be actually homeless as he's constantly walking back and forth in front of Lilith's place (maybe they go well together because they're both stalkers?). Eventually, she asked him to "stay the night" so they can "fool around" in bed (which is basically the same as "woo-hoo", but they keep their clothes on).

Then their relationship took a turn for the worse. I don't know how Maxwell felt, but Lilith was downright embarrassed from Maxwell's poor "fooling around" performance. It was so bad that she broke up with the bloke the very next morning.

I just noticed that the two portcullises don't match.

Oh boy here we go.

Teenage drama. Great.

That's it with Lilith's adventures for this episode. The other household members kept going about their regular business. Since both were at the top of their respective fields, I spent a little bit of time remodelling certain areas around the house to prepare for their twilight years. The first thing to change was to remove the second-floor bathroom and reading area and replace them with a small private gym.

I don't like the fact that it's kinda claustrophobic and currently lacks windows, but anything else I did felt wrong and awkward. Another thing I did was remodel the master bedroom on the first floor in order to increase the bathroom size.

The walls are a little too barren for my tastes, but I'm sure they'll be cluttered in no time! Anyways, that's it for this update. Next time, on The Sims 4: Friendship! Cake! Musical Talent!

TS4: I Fell in Love Again Last Night (Part 17)

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The Sims 4: I Fell in Love Again Last Night

So after some deliberations, Nosco and Myllenium decided to kick Aidan out of the house. He wasn't doing anything to help around, continuously peed himself, and left his dirty dishes all over the house, so he had to go. Sadly, I did not take pictures of the moment he left (especially since the "moving" menu is uninteresting to look at). However, I did take pictures of the first time he came to visit. Poor Aidan looked dejected.

Seriously, it looks like Nathan is giving him the "don't have to leave but can't stay here" speech!

"See, this is where you are, and over there is where I want you to be."

I almost felt bad for the guy, but my sadness here paled in comparison to the exhilaration I felt when I realized I had a whole room to redecorate and renovate!

I tore down the wall and destroyed the adjoining bathroom in order to make more space. Then I asked myself: what would a couple (getting closer to retirement, might I add) do with a room now unused since the departure of a child? Build a bar, of course! I introduce to you all, the Sabruka Cottage Pink Bunny Bar:

Why the name? Because occasionally, this thing pops-up out of nowhere and starts dancing:

It seriously freaks me out.

The family immediately took a liking to the place, and they sometimes even have their meals there.

Nathan discovers the joy of having two drinks instead of just one.

'Cause your friends don't dance, and if they don't dance, so they're no friends of
mine.

Now, onto a more serious subject. Recently I've been noticing some worrying changes in Lilith. She's been "cooling off" by wearing some revealing pyjamas I've never seen before.

And also cooking in them, apparently.

She's also been reacting to various events differently, appearing lightheaded or dizzy. She's been asking more and more questions about relationships (and "woo-hoo"), and staring at certain paintings makes her, well, strange.

Now, I'm no doctor... but I'm pretty sure she's got progeria*.

Nah, I'm kidding, she's just a horny teenager (is "horny teenager" a tautology?). Since becoming a teenager, Lilith hasn't really had the opportunity to mingle with other teenagers of the opposite gender, or even teenagers of the same gender (we're totally okay with that). It got so bad that the first thing Lilith did when she did meet another teen was flirt with him.

Not even introduce herself, just straight up run to him and hit on the poor guy. He had a good laugh, but when he started walking away she blew kisses at him.

That's it for now! I'll leave you guys with the image I promised last time: the outside view of the new terrarium/indoor garden:

*All joking aside, Hutchinson-Guilford Progeria Syndrome would explain the rapid aging of sims...

Oh shit I am out of backlog posts!!