We're All Mad Here

Mom, Gideon, and I returned home to celebrate our graduation with a cutthroat game of dominoes while Helen worked on that ice blast spell of hers. Gideon made sure he was sitting as far away from her as possible.

Mom shared the latest family gossip.

Aunt Deanne could comfort herself about growing older by becoming a grandmother. My cousin Rosie had her baby!

Things were kind of rough with Aunt Caitlin.

Mom took a laid-back approach to Uncle Peanut’s death. She didn’t like him for reasons I’ve never understood.

Aunt Caitlin took some time for herself.

And found a new, young guy. I guess she didn’t waste much time grieving either.

Imogen avoided the family prattle by hanging out in the hot tub.

Justin bounced.

After Mom trounced us at dominoes, she and Gideon started a witches duel that ran all over the house.

I couldn’t tell who was winning, but it involved a lot of booms and pops.

I think Gideon finally got the best of Mom, which is no small feat.

I’m not sure it really matters, since they were both in pretty bad shape by the time it was over.

Justin learned about some minerals that the Cure All Collective wanted for science experiments and went there after school to sell them.

He earned an impressive amount for a grade schooler.

Hearing about Justin’s success made me realize that I forgot to go rock-hunting! That’s pretty much the only thing that’s keeping a roof over our heads these days. Mom hasn’t shown much interest in detective work since she won that big award.

I decided to go looking someplace that few people in Aurora Skies ever go, way up in the caldera of the extinct volcano.

And got lost.

Why did I decide to do this in the daytime anyway? I’m sure I had a reason. I always have a reason. But right now, I was burning in the sunlight and getting really, really thirsty.

Really thirsty.

I finally found my way back down the mountain at dusk.

I dragged my smoldering, desperately thirsty butt into the pizzeria next to the consignment shop, shoved past the cashier, and went digging in their refrigerator.

“Hey!” the cashier shouted at me.

I ignored her, found a blood pack, and ripped into it, snarling with joy as a tasted the blood.

She left me alone after that.

I think I just barely avoided a sudden end to my adventures.

[Author’s note: That 4 hours is actually 4 minutes, and I mean sim-minutes.]

I took a bit of time to recover, consigned my gems and minerals, and headed home.

Gideon hurried out to meet me, looking a bit the worse for wear.

“I wanted you to be the first to know. I’m taking my inheritance from Dad and getting a place for myself. I think it’s time I got out of your shadow and made my own mark on the world.

“That’s fabulous, man!” I said.

Inside, I was thinking, Inheritance from Dad? What?

“I’m going to miss you.”

We said a tender goodbye. We’re not the sort of men who are afraid to express our emotions.

We had a little impromptu goodbye party, where everyone cast a good luck spell on Gideon.

Except Mom, who stayed out of it. I’m not sure if she was trying to give Gideon space or if she was mad at him for moving out.

Then he stuck around to celebrate Mikhail’s birthday.

We were all ready for him to finish up this long goodbye thing and get going, but I’m sure Mikhail appreciated the extra attention.

The gray around his eyes is quite dignified, I think.

At last, Gideon called a car.

And headed bravely out to the unknown.

I would have taken a bath first, but he has his own sense of style.

I guess I leave a pretty long shadow…. in the middle of the night… because Gideon seems to have done very well for himself since moving out.

---

Still no fails!

AAAAAAND a spare LTW! I didn’t expect that. Gideon had Swimming in Cash available on his list, so I gave it to him. Apparently Franklin managed to make so much money on his last ill-considered rock consignment that it pushed him over the edge.

So that’s a hefty +40 points! Since Erin hasn’t made her LTW (still hoping), and William died short of his, this finally puts some positive points on the board.

I figured out what killed William. Apparently, or at least according to various Sims forums, if your vampire has a moodlet for being out in the sun, it speeds up his thirst motive — but the time reported on the thirst moodlet doesn’t change. When I sent Franklin out to go rock hunting, he was fully rested in the middle of the day with nothing to do, so I figured it wasn’t a big deal. More the fool I. I even dragged the Motive Mobile into his inventory so he could refill his motives on the drive to the shopping center, but NO, that didn’t even help. That kind of seems like a bug, but it sure made the game more interesting. He was literally 4 real-time seconds from expiring due to Thirst. That would have made Gideon the TH, since he was YA? Or the challenge would have been over? Let’s not think about such things, my friend….

Oh, and all the idiots are constantly casting spells on each other due to a broken mod I installed to make motive spells autonomous. I pulled it out, but nobody had any interest in showering, so you will be seeing burned up sims for many posts in the future.