Category Archives: Generation 2

Chapter 26: Of course I do

March 25, 2020 chubroska Leave a comment

Seeing her big brother in the cheering crowd made Gaby so happy, she rushes through the crowd to give him a hug as thanks, and a smack as revenge for not visiting soon enough. Lukas receives both with open arms.

“Araceli changed your mind, didn’t she?” Gaby asks as soon as her excitement calms down.

“Actually, it was Kenton’s idea. He offered to babysit his sister again, can you believe that?”

When she saw the teens hanging out behind them, she tries to keep a straight face. “Sure, I can believe that.”

Apparently the reason Kenton willingly went along in the first place was to meet up with Rhian Rivera, a cute freshman who just recently moved into town. He took it upon himself to welcome her today.

Araceli’s supposedly there to stand guard against Lily Maraqueza, who gets her heart broken to see her crush flirting with another girl. Her scary scowl is misunderstood as animosity towards the couple, though.

Rhian appreciates her classmate’s enthusiasm to stay on guard, but hopes that she doesn’t actually, you know, end up fighting someone.

Rocco is spared from all this teenage drama as he spends the majority of his free time hanging out with Brooks and the twins.

They usually hang out together in this tree house, which Gaby had requested her sister to make right after last chapter’s incident. She’d rather not have any kids crawling under fences again.

It’s only Layla at the tower today.

There’s no one for her to compete for it, since Rocco doesn’t like the spot anyway, and her twin is still at some scouting ceremony.

On the other hand, Brooks endures a fishing trip with Aunt Vinca.

With his cousin’s house just across the street, it’s so tempting to just throw the fishing pole away and make a run for it…

When he sees his aunt casually grabbing a jellyfish with her bare hands, Brooks decides against it.

Back at the house, the kids talk about the Mercado’s old home, Constant Springs. The family moved because both of her parents were relocated to Sunset Valley’s military base. They can’t afford to leave their kids behind, but Layla would have preferred that.

“It sounds like a really cool place,” Rocco says after hearing about all the trees, the mountains, the old mines, the dam, and the ruins, over and over again. The twins used to explore by themselves, unsupervised. He wonders if his mom would ever allow that.

“Everything’s cool for you, you know,” Layla rolls her eyes, but her smile shows that she appreciates the comment.

“Sunset Valley’s cool too,” Rocco smiles back as he looks around the place fondly. “We have the beach, the festival grounds, the bistro, more playgrounds, and the haunted mansion!”

Layla leans excitedly at the last part. “We should definitely go there!”

“Definitely not, we’ll get lost easily.” Rocco thinks about his options carefully. “Unless Aunt Ramona comes with us?”

“This town’s not even half the size of Constant Springs,” she grumbles.

Speaking of Ramona, she finally finishes immortalizing her nephew’s cuteness into this painting.

She gets along with the kids so well, it’s no wonder she gets dubbed as the “cool aunt.”

Ramona’s so cool that she lets the kids stay in their swimwear after an intense balloon fight just to tell them a ghost story.

One got spooked from a ringing phone, while the other pretends she’s not.

As Layla’s visit becomes more frequent, her stay also becomes longer. Rocco is excited to have another sleepover again.

Behind them, Gaby prepares breakfast for everyone. She’s also excited at meeting her son’s friends who are not his cousins. Nearly half of the people in this town are related to her somewhat, so the fresh batch of faces is greatly appreciated.

After breakfast, Gaby finally meets the new friend that her son keeps talking about. Layla is surprisingly reserved today, given that she’s normally energetic even with strangers.

It just hits her that an actual celebrity is really Rocco’s mom, and that he really wasn’t joking about getting autographs for the twins. Their family must be stinking rich.

Though not as “cool” as her twin sister, Gaby can be pretty chill (sometimes).

She’d probably won’t relax if she knew that her son was going through freak-outs. Poor kid has these episodes whenever he’s alone, and the unpredictability puts him on edge.

It’s probably one of the few things Rocco doesn’t want to tell anyone, because he thinks no one would believe him.

Everyone knows that he worries about others a lot, and he worries so easily, but it now reaches a point when people start worrying about him.

Ramona becomes concerned about her nephew’s increasingly neurotic behavior behavior, and was lucky enough to find him in the middle of his episodes.

“You can always tell us if something’s bothering you,” his aunt lets him know gently.

He looks up at his aunt nervously, as if he was caught off-guard. “Wouldn’t I be bothering you if I do that?”

She surprises the kid with a big hug. “Oh Rocco, you’re never a bother.”

“Do you really think so, Auntie?” he asks in a whisper.

“Of course I do.”

Brooks finally gets the chance to visit the house again. This time he brings his younger brother Neal to play together.

Rocco gets to know his cousin, who was initially looking forward to playing video games on their impressive set-up, only to remember that his brother is Brooks.

Brooks, who still hates technology, is already making his disgust known.

Rocco’s worrying is put into good use as he already prepared his toy chest to the living room for everyone to play with. The toys are greatly appreciated.

Rocco and Neal are both pretty bad singers, but everyone cheered for them.

The family had pumpkin pie for dinner that night, and Brooks and Neal were welcome to have seconds if they wanted to. Neal happily grabbed the last piece even while he’s still eating another.

If given the chance, Miranda will absolutely spoil each and every single one of her grandchildren with bedtime stories and midnight snacks.

For now, she settles with spoiling only three out of nine grandkids, and tucks Neal into Rocco’s bed with a bedtime story. (Rocco offers to let Neal sleep in his bed, and joined Brooks in the sleeping bag instead)

(Actually Neal stole Rocco’s bed, but Rocco’s too nice to shoo him away from it)

Generation 2

Chapter 25: On and on and on

March 16, 2020 chubroska Leave a comment

Graduation Day pictures reminds Ramona of her potential in what she could have pursued.

As the other genius of the family, Ramona has always focused her intellectual capabilities on more…unpredictable projects. Though the chemistry set that Gaby has loved as a child was left unused for many years, it may still prove to be useful.

Tonight, she is going to test that potential.

With the samples she gathered from the science facility, she plans to create her own mutant batch of plants for her own garden, simply out of boredom. What better way to continue her current lazy lifestyle while also satisfying her urge to delve into a little bit of chaos?

Good thing she listened to Gaby’s nagging to wear protective goggles today!

Gaby and Miranda expect no less from Ramona, and the three laugh it off together while Ramona puts out the small fire, but her nephew expresses great concern.

“Will you be okay, Auntie?” Rocco frets over her burns. He just can’t understand why they’re laughing about it. Even his mom, who usually nags her twin!

“Of course I’ll be okay, kid,” Ramona soothes, then proceeds to the balcony to cool herself down. She didn’t bother to wash herself until much later.

After being satisfied with a few more attempts and some extra explosions, Ramona goes on to the next part of her project: creating an appropriate space to dump her gardening equipment on. Getting some help from her big brother with the construction also gave the siblings an excuse to hang out properly together.

Gaby is just relieved that her twin stopped using her old chemistry equipment just as quickly as she started using it.

While her twin is out there trying to tamper with the laws of nature, Gaby deals with the uncomfortable situation of trying to reject someone as gently as she could.

She recently started to date again when the opportunity arises, but something about her indifference makes her worry that she might not be as emotionally ready as she once thought.

She wonders if her reluctance to start dating again may be because of her fear of how it would affect her son, who pretty much took the news about his father’s death relatively well.

Gaby will not let this affect her, and resolves to give dating another chance next time.

The mother and son duo finally end up visiting the new park, and as predicted, Rocco absolutely loves it.

“Araceli sent me pictures of this place, but it looks even better in person!” Rocco looks around in awe. This is definitely his new favorite spot in town.

He wishes he could visit again together with Araceli and Brooks, the latter who still doesn’t know about the park yet since he strongly refuses to own a phone (much to Araceli and his parents’ frustration).

Rocco sometimes catch his mother looking at him with a wistful smile, and sometimes he asks her about it. She just shakes her head and encourages him to go on.

Life goes on.

With Ramona out visiting Brentley to show her project’s progress and Miranda having dinner with old friends, Gaby and Rocco are left with the daunting task of repairing the sink by themselves. Rocco helpfully offers to run downstairs to grab his Aunt’s toolbox in the garden.

He worries if he could find the toolbox on time before the sink explodes and flood the entire kitchen, only to find two strangers standing between him and the toolbox????

His sudden appearance startle the kids, and himself. It took Rocco a while to realize that they are his new classmates who just recently moved to town.

This realization makes him sheepish, though it didn’t make him any less suspicious of them. “If you guys are here for my mom’s autograph, you could have just asked me at school earlier.”

The girl frowns at him, making him remember that her name was Layla. “What? No, we’re not here for an autograph.”

“I told you this was a stupid idea,” Samuel, her twin brother, whispers in protest. Layla continues, “We’re gonna see the rock star’s ghost.”

Rocco frowns back at her. “My gran-aunt’s not a ghost. She’s just dead.”

“There’s no way she’s not a ghost,” she scoffs, ignoring the fact that Rocco is related to a rock star. She have seen her grandparents as ghosts, so she knows what to look out for. “Me and Sam wanna see it for ourselves if it’s real.”

Behind her, Sam shakes his head furiously in disagreement.

Rocco is pretty sure that there are no ghosts haunting this house, especially not Gran-Aunt Eva, but he’s not comfortable about leaving them alone until they finally leave. So he sticks around, completely forgetting about the toolbox.

Layla is just as guarded as Rocco, but not as nervous. She’s not afraid of the other kids, or ghosts. Sam, on the other hand, would really want to leave before seeing one.

After a while, waiting becomes boring. Suddenly, Rocco remembers the helmets and goggles Araceli and Brooks left behind under the sofa, and begins weighing his options about letting these intruders use it. He decides to take a chance.

He offers it to Sam first, who appears to be easily intimidated (rather than being intimidating like his twin sister).

It turns out to be a good decision. Layla becomes friendlier when she sees that Rocco’s offer was not a threat, and the three kids start to create an elaborate make-believe of hunting down monsters from a helicopter. No ghosts appeared that night.

They stop when they hear Gaby calling out Rocco’s name, and they all look at each other. Layla takes off her helmet slowly, as if disappointed about stopping.

“We live just next door you know,” Sam admits to Rocco, as if trying to make up for trespassing. “Layla really hates our new house and would rather explore the neighborhood than stay there…”

“We’ll visit again,” Layla suddenly says without hesitation, but this time it sounds like she’s asking for permission. Kinda. The twins return Rocco’s stuff and walk over to the fence that separates the two houses. Layla pushes a loose plank aside and lets Sam crawl through first.

“Use the front door next time!” Rocco calls after them. Layla smiles and waves before crawling after her brother and pulling the plank back in place.

Last night’s events left Rocco very excited for school the next morning, he biked past the school bus altogether and got there an hour earlier.

By the end of the day, Rocco finds himself with two new friends. Which is just as well, now that Araceli has aged up to a teen just a few days later.

Now taller and older, Araceli starts to get along better with her older brother these days by pranking him in retaliation instead of arguing with him as usual.

Kenton is not pleased at all to see all of his favorite jackets hidden inside his bed sheets. It took him hours to find it.

Their father is simply pleased of his daughter’s growing teenage rebelliousness and relishes in his son’s frustration, which normally would not be tolerated at all if Lacey isn’t working overtime at the police station tonight.

Miranda starts to question her son’s ability to maintain discipline, and wonders if she should intervene.

While Lukas’ two older kids squabble in the background, Gaby gets to know one of his younger kids who recently had their birthdays. This one’s Jan.

Jan’s hairstyle reminds her auntie that she had the same hairstyle when she was a toddler herself. And they both look so cute in it!

Jan’s twin brother, Clay, prefers to cling to Auntie Ramona while she watches TV. It’s not clear from this angle, but he takes after his father A LOT.

With four kids running around the unit, Lukas and Lacey are definitely the busiest out of all of Miranda’s kids.

Rocco isn’t able to meet his youngest cousins with his family that night, since he’s sleeping over at Aunt Chelsea’s place to work on an assignment together with Brooks.

He would have preferred if Araceli was here to help them keep awake, but right now the boys are forced to fend for themselves. Brooks is already on the brink of giving up on his paper and on staying awake. Poor Rocco doesn’t know what to do first.

Homework becomes less of a chore when he works on it together with the Mercado twins. Contrary to what he assumed, Layla is less spartan compared to Araceli when it comes to working quietly. She mostly just shoots them an annoyed look.

Living just right next door, the twins visit the house more frequently, and just as promised, through the front door this time.

Though they consider each other as friends now, Rocco and Layla don’t always get along.

Layla’s indifference towards rules doesn’t always go well with Rocco’s obsession over following said rules. How can she have (almost) nothing hold her back? The thought of it is beyond him, and it’s frustrating sometimes.

Likewise, Layla sometimes gets annoyed at his rigid nature and his reluctance to make quick decisions. And yet despite these differences, the two become close friends.

Miranda gets to know her grandson’s new friends, especially Layla, whom she finds friendly and likable. She goes along with the child’s explanation as to why fish and chips is her favorite in the world.

Layla has always wanted to be an astronaut, like her grandmother. With Rocco’s handy costume chest, she reenacts the stories she loved from her childhood as best as she can.

Rocco breaks her immersion by pretending to be dinosaur in space.

In the end, Layla gives up on trying to reenact her story when her twin reveals himself dressed as a prince. She figures she’ll just create a new one to accommodate a lost astronaut, a green dinosaur, and a cowardly prince.

Rocco stares at the glitter coming out from the staff. “I don’t remember having that in my costume chest.”

“Oh he brought his own costume,” Layla shrugs. “He used to wear that ALL the time at our old school. The teacher got tired of telling him to stop so she just straight up told everyone that he’s gonna be the male lead in our play.”

“I bet he was great in it.” Rocco gives an applause to Sam, who continues shaking glitter all over the place.

(Author’s note: More kids! Rocco needs new friends, now that his main group is starting to outgrow him. )

Generation 2

Chapter 24: Fooling around

February 16, 2020 chubroska Leave a comment

Rocco is out to visit Araceli at her house to play soccer together, only to find her older brother Kenton watching TV.

Kenton, who has inherited his parents’ genius, is determined to make sure that his younger cousins are performing well in school (since they’re related, and he doesn’t want to be associated with any relative who fails), so he offers to help Rocco with his homework.

Surprisingly, the cousins get along well enough that he even offers to look after the kids so that they could watch one of Gaby’s live shows. (Mostly because Kenton just wants Araceli to stop nagging him about it)

His sister’s opinion of him drastically improves though, so it’s a win-win for both siblings.

Here’s Gaby preparing for one of her live shows.

Her audience is always so small, but they are enthusiastic and supportive, and that’s enough for her to do her best for every performance.

With the way how things turned out so differently from what she expected, Gaby feels like she’s in a pretty good place in her career, being dubbed as the “local favorite”.

Sure, it may not be as grand as her Aunt Eva’s or her mom’s careers, but it’s nice to see that she’s leaving some positive impact on the people around here.

Tonight, Kenton is on another babysitting duty, and leaves the kids alone to do whatever they want while he starts eating the dinner he made for everyone.

Here they are. Fooling around, as kids do.

Their older cousin, Brentley, gets to fool around with eating snowcones whenever he pleases, a pleasure that they can’t obtain (yet).

Talking about science only after eating snowcones. He’s an adult with real priorities.

One of his priorities was to recruit Ramona to the facility and secure her genius talent into the workspace, but her aunt never budges from her refusal, so he gives up.

Ramona agrees to take a tour of the facility though, and so off they go on a bright Saturday morning.

“Our class had a field trip here,” Ramona lets him know, since they were in different classes during high school. “I got in trouble for sneaking inside the greenhouse, but I was able to shift the blame on Shameka Humphries instead.”

Her nephew laughs. “Too bad she didn’t get locked in back then.” He’s not too fond of his first ex-girlfriend, who cheated on him with one of the older employees of the facility. “Now that I’m actually working here, I can give you unlimited access to the greenhouse!”

“That’s awfully generous of you, Brent.”

“I’m just kidding. Ma will kill me if she finds out I’m exposing top-secret experiments.”

“Ooorrr we could shift the blame on Shameka again,” she says thoughtfully.

They waste no time in harvesting some of the genetically-engineered plants that the facility has been working on. Some of the more “dangerous” plants are hidden deep in the greenhouse, and even Brentley doesn’t have enough authority to access those himself.

“Dad’s probably the one providing most of these unknown seeds,” Ramona muses as she gathers some seeds she couldn’t identify. She dumps them all in her pocket.

“What? You mean grandpa? I didn’t know he used to work here.”

Ramona smiles, remembering the times her father ranted about ‘those good-for-nothing-fools-in-labcoats. “He doesn’t.”

All that heavy work in carrying crates of produce got Ramona thinking that she should be buff by now, but is greatly disappointed that she isn’t. She plans to change that.

The old exercise DVDs that have been passed down from mother to daughter to sister for many, many ~~chapters~~ years ago still work, making Miranda realize how old she really is.

Another filler picture of Miranda having karaoke night with Rocco, because she hasn’t showed up much in recent chapters lately. She continues to live quietly, despite the recent attention around her memoir.

Most of these days, she pretty much does whatever she pleases, alternating between playing her guitar, writing a new book, visiting her older children and their families, and goofing around with her grandson and youngest children.

Rocco always tags along with grandma whenever she visits the rest of the family. He’s very fond of his cousins, and doesn’t mind it when Rissa suddenly dumps her youngest brother into his arms before rushing inside the house. She trusts Rocco’s ability to handle toddlers; the kid looks responsible enough.

At least little Neal looks happy to see him too.

As the new president of the art club, Rissa takes her new role very seriously by cramming on a piece she has to show off to her members tonight.

She will not be distracted by visiting cousins or by crying toddlers.

Rocco lets Brooks know what it’s like to see Gaby’s performances. In his eyes, his mother looks like she has always belonged on the stage, and she seems different somehow.

“Mom has the best voice ever, I bet she’s no. 1 singer in the world!” Rocco declares strongly; he has always admired Gaby, and isn’t embarrassed to hide it.

His cousin doesn’t care much for celebrities, but he agrees that his aunt sings really well. Brooks nods absently in response as he focuses on which piece to move first.

While the boys play chess, they exchange curious stares at the other visitor, Irma Vasquez, who Rissa let inside for some reason?

Apparently she’s here to receive the pieces that she commissioned from Rissa, who is pleased that she didn’t have to go to Irma’s house to deliver them. Maybe she isn’t too bad?

A new park was opened right next to the coffee shop just last night. It features a lot of playground equipment, space for kids to run around, a fantastic view of the ocean, and comfy seating for parents to rest on. Gaby knows that Rocco will love it here, and is already making plans about visiting this place with the whole family.

She runs into her sister-in-law Lacey, who’s also making the same plans for her own family. Araceli’s energy is too much to contain even in their big house, which sometimes leads to sibling squabbles, but the new park provides them a new place to ship their kid off to, and a new place to separate the two from each other.

“I’m glad Araceli’s close with her cousins,” Lacey confides. “Lukas and I were worried that she’s too energetic for the other kids.”

“Araceli’s the sweetest though,” Gaby reassures her. “She actually keeps the boys in check whenever things turn too rowdy. It’s cute to see her being the leader in their little group.”

The two women hug after Lacey lets her know about all the new stupid things Lukas has gotten himself into. Gaby appreciates the gossip.

Rocco’s room is cozy enough for one sim, if one doesn’t mind all the green.

It’s a bit cramped for three sims, but these three have been inseparable for a while now. The kids don’t mind having to walk over each other to get to the bathroom, whether intentional or on purpose.

Sometimes only Brooks visits the house, since Rocco is a better playmate compared to a busy older sister or a babbling baby brother.

Rocco’s ghost stories are his 2nd favorites. His no. 1 favorite is actually his sister’s, but that’s a secret.

Sometimes only Araceli visits the house so they could play video games. She doesn’t really understand Brook’s phobia, but knows well enough not to insist him into joining.

But whenever all three of Rocco’s cousins are around, there’s never a dull moment in the house. Sometimes Rocco wishes they can just stay here forever, instead of having to go back to their respective houses and beg their parents for another sleepover.

Araceli briefly holds sympathy for her studious big brother, and wishes her cousins could shut up for a moment.

Araceli glares at them while the boys wave their cardboard sticks. “You all look ridiculous.”

She’s annoyed that she couldn’t find her costume in Rocco’s treasure chest, but she knows that these two idiots are hiding it somewhere. Rocco, on his good conscience, insists that they didn’t do anything, unaware that Brooks is the true culprit.

(Author’s note: Just a chapter featuring ALL the cousins of the Ramos family. I’m really fond of all of them, and I don’t think I can let them go once Rocco finally takes over :(((

I’ve spent a lot of time planning for which cousin should I allow to spawn, since it’d be a shame that their lines would remain empty, though that would require some micromanaging on my part. But I’ll make it work out! I’m pretty far ahead in the actual game, and I hope I could catch up writing the next chapters soon)

Generation 2

Chapter 23: Keep it weird

February 9, 2020 chubroska Leave a comment

Rocco’s favorite color is actually green, and so the ridiculously blue nursery gets renovated into a decently green bedroom.

(This is actually a screenshot from the future, where Rocco has already went to a school trip and the summer festival, hence, the bento souvenir on the bedside table, but shhh)

The other side of the room features new toys from aunts and an uncle, and a bookshelf that contains all of Rocco’s bedtime stories.

Bedtime stories become a routine after Gaby started doing it on his birthday. Rocco values routines and sticking to it, just as much as his mother values the time they spend together.

Today, they’re reading The Name of This Book is Secret, a book that they only bought just because it sounds so tempting to know its actual title. (They’re almost nearing the last pages and they STILL don’t know what the secret is)

To Gaby, it felt like it was only yesterday that he was born, brought into the house as a sleepy infant. Rocco is growing up so fast, she wonders how long will it be before his graduation surprises her.

Now here he is, making his own food on his toy oven right next to her.

This, too, becomes a part of his daily routine. Rocco doesn’t even bake these for him to actually eat (he’ll just leave it in the fridge for everyone in the house), he just wants to make sure he gets to bake something at least once everyday.

Miranda indulges her grandson in letting him do these baking sprees every morning if he allows her to pinch those cute cheeks. She’s so proud that he always cleans up the mess afterwards.

He doesn’t think it’s a fair trade though.

It’s been a while since Gaby visited this park after her first live show. After going through several live shows and experiencing several mishaps every now and then, the memory of her first time doesn’t seem so embarrassing anymore.

Today, she’s on a mission to give Nicole an “indiscreet” romantic invitation from a fellow proprietor across town.

“You don’t have to audition again, you know,” Nicole laughs while taking the bouquet. “You can just ask me! Una the Great Ballad is free to perform here again anytime.”

Gaby is amused with the idea of playing cupid to the two proprietors, whose way of courting is sweet, albeit silly. Ronald Sikes of Mick’s Karaoke Bar is more amused to see that his lover has responded positively to his gifts.

It’s one thing to play cupid between lovesick teens, but these two are basically her tickets to more job opportunities, so she takes these sing-o-grams with more enthusiasm than she could possibly express.

All this romance happening around Gaby makes her wonder what could have happened if Jayson is still here. Marriage would have been probably the most reasonable thing to do, but she does not regret not taking the chance, nor does she think it would change anything.

At the back of her mind though, she wonders if Rocco is yearning for a father figure.

Rocco finishes his baking sprees earlier today and offers to help his aunt with the gardening, but Ramona insists that he plays instead.

There are a lot of bugs and questionable content in the fertilizer she uses, and she’d rather not deal with Gaby discovering mysterious bites or rashes on her son.

And knowing her nephew’s anxious nature, it’s probably the best to not expose him to the notion of it in the first place.

She’s also aware of Rocco’s increasingly neurotic nature, and gently tries to appease the child’s concerns to let him know it’s okay to play or watch TV instead of doing the dishes for every meal.

Rocco chokes in response, and proceeds to stare at his aunt as if her hair turned into something normal-looking, like black or blonde.

The compulsion to make sure that every plate and utensil is washed clean by his own hands remains strong as ever. Miranda and Gaby aren’t really bothered by it, and sees it as the child having initiative.

“He can wash as many dishes as he wants,” Gaby says when her twin pulls her aside to talk about it. “It’s okay to have a little bit of weirdness every now and then. Remember how you were also weird?”

“I haven’t exactly outgrown the weirdness,” Ramona reminds her, a bit hurt. She also remembers the time when people was treating her differently. It still stings. “Maybe he won’t too, but maybe it’ll be different for him as well.”

Luckily for Rocco and Ramona, family is a special type of friend. The weird compulsions and oftentimes unpredictable behavior are tolerated at best, and Gaby is startled to hear her twin bring out the issue. No one has ever really talked about it, and a guilty pang is felt as she imagines how alone and hurt Ramona must have been since these years.

“We’ll figure it out better this time,” she responds softly, as if apologizing.

Rocco’s aware that his mother grew up with a lot of siblings, but though he is an only child himself, the presence of his many cousins helped make the house feel a bit less empty. Out of his six cousins, he forms a close bond with Araceli Su and Brooks Keaton.

Brooks lets them know that his older sister cleans and scrubs the old gravestones at the cemetery to get paid, and he thinks that THEY should do that too. “Think of the stuff we could buy with that extra allowance!” he insists.

Araceli think it’s a horrible idea, and would rather stick with what her mother already gave her. Rocco just recoils at the thought of touching icky and grimy old gravestones.

Pillow fighting to get rid of that post-homework stress.

Rocco discovers that he’s not the only one with strange issues when Brooks lets him know his discomfort about seeing the TV on.

“We can play outside instead if it makes you feel better,” Rocco offers kindly, which his cousin really appreciates. He’s used to not being taken seriously that this surprises him.

Meanwhile, Araceli sneaks inside the art studio to find her artistic aunt on the verge of dropping to sleep.

(Levar Vasquez, head chef of the bistro and fellow fishersim at the beach, commissioned her to make 15 paintings after learning about her noteworthy skill, and poor Ramona hasn’t rested properly in a while)

Ramona gets her rest back soon enough, when she finishes all 15 paintings just in time for Levar’s retirement party. She was even invited to witness the grand reveal to the public, and receives Levar’s hearty thanks over and over. He is pleased to see the bistro decorated with lovely paintings of fishes just before he leaves the establishment.

It’s strange to have her skills acknowledged by the people like this, and even making new friends along the way, but it’s not an unwelcome feeling.

Gaby wants to become more active so that she can run better and faster in heels, and so she joins her mother at the gym for a quick run together.

Gaby’s 2nd time on the treadmill is a fail.

“I’m okay,” she grunts as she ignores her mother’s giggling. Luckily for her, they’re the only ones using the gym this morning.

Across the gym, her twin is having a better time playing soccer with Rocco.

Araceli, Rocco, and Brooks spend their recess running over to the park to play soccer together, barely getting back to their classes right on time before the school bell rings.

He’s definitely getting better at it — and smug about it too.

Eva’s next random visit to the family turns out to be her last.

The sisters were supposed to go out to the karaoke bar together while Gaby, Ramona, and Rocco were at Lukas’ house.

She recalls the memory of Stanley dying in this very room, and sobs even harder. Eva seems to be so immortal, so full of life, Miranda almost forgot that her sister is much older than her or Stanley. It doesn’t make the loss any less painful though.

The loss plunges the family back into grieving again.

All these recent events confused and overwhelmed Rocco, and he’s not sure how he feels about the whole thing. He isn’t close with his rock star of a grand-aunt, who spent the remainder of her life traveling by herself again, but the loss still disturbs him, and he wants to push the discomfort away as far as he can.

By the time Gaby gets home, she finds her son on her bed, as if waiting for answers.

Instead of facing questions about mortality and the afterlife, Rocco surprises her with a different query in mind.

“Gerald was telling me that celebrities are always fighting with their partners and their marriage never last,” he starts. Then a pause. “Is that why I don’t have a dad? Because you didn’t get along and he has to leave?”

Gaby frowns, mostly at herself for not explaining his father’s death any sooner, and at the teen who’s giving her son weird ideas. “No, it’s not like that, hun. Your dad isn’t here because he died from a fire accident,” she says softly. “He was a dedicated acrobat, but a little clumsy at times,” Gaby smiles sadly at the thought.

Rocco’s eyes widened in surprise with this information. Then he looks at her more seriously. “Why didn’t you talk about him before? Why doesn’t anybody talk about it?”

“I think his loss still affects me,” his mother admits. “Dying from accidents feels…different from dying naturally. It would have been better if he’s here to see you grow up,” she adds wistfully. “Do you want to see pictures of him? I can tell you more stories about Jayson.”

Rocco nods in response. He can’t wait to let Gerald know how wrong he was about him being left behind by his own father.

Her sister’s passing made Miranda more aware of her own mortality, and she dedicates this newfound energy to write an autobiography about two of the most important people in her life. She doesn’t want to forget them, ever.

The draft is entitled Stanley’s Garden. It’s a simple story, but she takes her time in writing it.

In an effort to lighten the mood, Rocco surprises his mom and aunt by being the one dragging them to the park this time. To his delight, his efforts are appreciated.

As a reward for his thoughtful initiative, Aunt Ramona offers to buy them food. Rocco is having a hard time choosing between the funnel cake and the chili cheese fries.

Their stay in the park becomes longer because of an all-out water balloon war.

Betrayed by her own son and sister! Too bad Miranda isn’t here to avenge her.

Ramona pilfers from these apple trees while mother and son bond together on the skating rink.

All seems to be forgiven over Rocco’s ‘betrayal’, since we see the pair trying to pull off a spin together. Rocco is impressed to know that his mother actually knows how to roller skate, and completely puts his trust on her skills as she leads!

Gaby’s “sorry” is muffled by the floor this time.

(From a distance, Ramona’s laughter can be heard nonstop.)

(Author’s note: Just a lot of things happening! So many pictures! So many text! I want to flesh out my sims’ narratives more but I’m not sure if this is a good way of doing it? Please let me know!)

Generation 2

Chapter 22: Shake these walls

January 23, 2020 chubroska 2 Comments

A new guitar.

A new routine.

A new smile.

The twins don’t do stuff together as much as they used to since high school, but Ramona occasionally tags along with Gaby whenever she goes on a jog, just as Gaby helps with the garden every once in a while.

Today, they’re joined by Rocco, who always looked forward to these stroller rides with his mother. Whenever he gets to ride on it, he always gets whisked away to a brand new exciting place to do brand new exciting things.

The recent summer heat wave has been harsh on Ramona, who has been keeping up with the rapid change of temperature for her garden’s sake, though she ends up neglecting herself in the process.

With the new automated sprinkler system she just installed, she knows her garden is gonna be fine.

Gaby and Rocco hang out on the shallow waters to play when someone suddenly calls and walks up to them. It was Lukas, and he looks surprised upon seeing his nephew.

“Is something wrong?” Gaby looks at him quizzically.

“Not really, Rocco’s hair color just reminds me of Ramona’s weird hair color inheritance.” He smiles fondly at Rocco before playfully ruffling his hair. His nephew responds positively to the gesture by attempting to grab his hand.

Lukas then looks out for the flock of reddish-yellow hair that stands out from the sea, and he waves enthusiastically at his baby sister. “I’m gonna go visit Mom first before I go home. Is she at the house?”

Gaby giggles, which gives Lukas his turn to look at her quizzically. “Good luck trying to get home early today. Aunt Eva’s visiting Mom too.”

Eva doesn’t need a stupid mic to shake the halls with her voice.

Her visit today is less random or spontaneous than the usual; her husband Stiles has passed away last night, and though his passing was painful, Eva would rather express her grief in the most unconventional of ways.

But after a series of traveling, Eva starts to actively seek the comfort of staying with her younger sister and her sister’s family, and Miranda lets her in with open arms.

Once the sisters start to talk, they show no signs of stopping. Eva is always looking out for her nieces and nephew, and nothing pleases her more than to hear their various accomplishments in their respective fields.

An argument breaks out in front of the city hall right after graduation finishes, all pretense of formality dropped.

Miralia Maraqueza-Lott dares to call Rain Shea a @#$!! to her face after having just recently learned that the woman harassed her eldest daughter Rabina at the grocery store yesterday for supposedly hitting on her ex-boyfriend.

Her other daughter, Lily (the one in the black dress), silently wishes for a divine intervention and take her somewhere far, far away before her crush can see her.

Rabina just hopes that her mother won’t go too far and humiliate the family in public even further, but is too tired to even intervene.

Meanwhile, on the other side of city hall!

A classmate has been wishing to indirectly express their feelings to Kenton, and what better way to do it than through a sing-o-gram from his famous aunt?

Coincidentally, the classmate turns out to be Lily herself, but no one in their class knows that — yet.

After they finish gossiping and trying to figure out who the secret admirer is, Kenton lets Gaby know about all the secrets that he learned while working at the same spa that his dad used to work part-time at during high school.

Like father like son, Gaby looks on fondly as she listens to Kenton complain about the customers, his coworkers, and the cheap tactics they use to gain profit.

Eva’s stay in the Ramos household extends to a few more days.

It’s not that she can’t stand going back to the house that she shared with Stiles, but she’s having the time of her life just spending time with her sister’s family, it seems a bit pointless to go back now.

And besides, she wants to get to know her youngest niece better too while she’s at it. (She discovers that Ramona has a good voice, much like her sister)

“Give it more flair, sweetheart!” Eva pushes her on even as Ramona starts to sing uncertainly. “Everyone’s gonna need to hear you sing on your nephew’s birthday!”

Ramona thinks her singing would be unnecessary, but lets her aunt have her fun anyway, so she sings more loudly this time.

It’s a Friday night, and everyone in the Ramos family tree has been invited (or at least the ones that I’d like to invite; since inviting every single Ramos is impossible) to Rocco’s birthday.

It’s been years since the older twins have last visited their childhood home, and the last time they have gathered was for Lukas’ birthday slash graduation party. They silently hope that this won’t end with someone dying this time.

The dinner table hasn’t been brimming with this much food since Stanley passed away.

The family celebrities provide the necessary entertainment.

The grandkids still think it’s surreal to have a rock star and a hit composer jam together on a balcony, but it’s definitely happening.

At the other side of the house, Gaby tries to dissuade a party-crasher from attending her son’s birthday as Brooks gives his aunt a sympathetic look. He knows that celebrities get a lot of unnecessary attention from people sometimes; he’s sorry that she has to experience it right now, of all times.

The three older Ramos kids waste no time in settling in their childhood home.

Chelsea immediately takes over the family computer to check on her save files. She intends to continue playing it again at some point before she travels back to the military facility the next morning.

Lukas rediscovers his favorite book still tucked in beside Gaby’s notebook (the one that contains all her old songs) and promptly sits down to reread it. He actually lets his kids do whatever they want to do for once, something that only Lacey does most of the time.

Vinca looks irritated about something and doesn’t bother to hide it?

Maybe she’s pissed at her son’s inability to wait for everyone before going off to eat on his own. How rude!

The house is bustling with lots of people at this point, with a lot of them going in and going out, no one even bothers to close the door anymore.

Brooks recoils at the sight of the TV, and hopes that someone turns it off right now. Jebidiah ignores his son’s weirdly specific phobia to judge his brother-in-law of being a dork. Araceli ignores everyone to go straight to the balcony where the real action is happening.

Where’s the birthday boy though?

Here he is, ready to blow out his birthday candles with grandma’s help.

(With these much sims in the house for the first time in a while, I simply decided to sit back and watch the chaos unfold before me)

(That’s the end of the montage!)

Lukas gives the old wind chimes a fond smile as he prepares to leave his childhood house again. His youngest child lags behind, wishing that she could stay here for the night instead.

Right after doing the dishes, Rocco’s asked to sit down with Aunt Ramona to have a talk about the necessary computer restrictions (as requested by Gaby).

“Can’t this wait until tomorrow?” Rocco groans.

“No, because your mother can’t wait that long kid,” Ramona groans along with him before continuing with her Dangers-of-the-Internet spiel.

(Author’s note: Finally, a proper birthday! It’s been a while since I had those.)

Generation 2

Chapter 21: Gravitate towards the weird

January 23, 2020 chubroska Leave a comment

Miranda may be getting older, but her aging body isn’t an indicator of her waning strength, and she proves that by accepting her old friend and former co-worker Michael Su’s request to help him with his training.

Apparently, he wants to challenge Lukas, his son-in-law to his dear daughter Lacey, to a little race all over town.

Miranda decides she won’t stand in the way of whatever little feud that’s going on between her son and Michael. She secretly expects her son to win this thing though.

“You call that running?” Miranda scoffs at him. “There’s no way you can win with that awful footwork!”

Michael finds himself in a position where he can’t really complain, so he simply grits his teeth and lets himself be taunted by the older woman.

After training, Miranda goes home and switches to a more soothing and silly voice while reading to Rocco. He never really sits still whenever he gets very excited, and seems to have an endless amount of energy that can easily tire the adults out (even Ramona).

Curiously, Gaby discovers the one thing that can actually make her kid sit very still: cooking.

She’d love to see if this happens more than once, or if it happens whenever someone’s cooking, but work has taken the entirety of her day lately, as she gains more reputation and popularity among the townsfolk.

Work has also taken her to weird places as well.

She really, really hopes she hasn’t gotten herself pranked right now. The caller’s request was to hunt down this woman named Irma Vasquez. Apparently she made herself a lot of enemies, because she got a lot of calls requesting sing-o-grams specifically for her, as if out of spite.

She’s aware of Irma being the second of Brentley’s failed relationships, and though she’s sorry for the heartbreak her nephew had to deal with, she’s glad that he doesn’t have to deal with her anymore.

Unfortunately, she actually finds the woman here in the cemetery, harassing an older man who just wants to visit his dead wife’s grave in peace.

Gaby tries her best to get over the awkwardness of this situation and hopes that the old man is able to escape. She hopes that Irma doesn’t turn her aggression on her instead.

Irma knows she’s special, thank you very much, and receives the performance with indifference.

Oddly enough, having to perform a sing-o-gram at the cemetery in the night wasn’t the one thing that weirded her out the most.

At first, she doesn’t think about it when this guy named Jovan Maraqueza called her out for a sing-o-gram at 11pm in a secluded area where a lone streetlight stands, but when he starts to grin creepily at the box and mutter something incoherent, Gaby quickly takes her leave.

Another caller lives on the outskirts of the beach, and she has really considered calling this one off before this turns into the start of a horror movie.

But her brave trait kicks in today, and so she runs towards the sandy shores in highly inappropriate footwear.

Thankfully, all the aforementioned sing-o-grams didn’t end in a disaster, so Gaby gets home safely just in time to put all the toys back into the toy chest.

Everyone’s already asleep by the time she usually gets home, so she tries her best to move around as quietly as she could.

Not everyone in the household stays asleep for long.

Ramona gets restless sometimes, and has created a habit out of going out to the sea to greet out the moon long before the sun rises to take its place. Now she continues fishing just to do preoccupy herself.

She catches a minnow, and squirms at the sight of its struggle. She doesn’t really understand how she manages to convince herself to start fishing in the first place.

I probably don’t even miss our pet goldfish that much, she muses. I’m just trying to fill up space with something that might feel familiar. She throws the fish back into the water and watches it swim away.

It took a while before Ramona realizes that she isn’t alone this morning.

Levar Morris-Vasquez casually reels in a large salmon before dumping it on a large container beside him, which is already teeming with freshly-caught fish of various kinds. A dedicated chef at the local bistro, Levar takes his craft very seriously, and sees to it that he provides the high-quality ingredients himself.

He briefly glances at Ramona to see her reeling in another minnow and nods at her before reeling in another fish, this time bigger than the last one. She nods back.

Ramona knows she’ll never match up to that enthusiasm.

All that running and singing makes Gaby crave for an actual break — she keeps putting off about making one — so today she finally takes the day off and visit her favorite brother’s house for a change.

She’s surprised to find out that the lanky teen who invited her in was none other than Kenton, who was last seen in previous chapters playfully spitting saliva at her face as a toddler.

“You’ve grown a lot since then!” Gaby marvels at the family resemblance, ignoring the fact that it has been too long since their last visit. “Soon you’ll be taller than your father in no time.”

Kenton shrugs. “I think that’s a title my sister would want to own.”

Before Gaby could even gasp at the fact that Lukas has not just one, but two children, the door opens with a loud creak behind them, and a little girl strolls inside.

“That’s Araceli, who works out at the gym more than she works on her own homework,” Kenton introduces his sister to Gaby in mock disappointment before Araceli could glare in response.

“You must be very sporty! My older sister works out a lot as a kid too,” Gaby smiles at the girl, whose demeanor suddenly became a bit sheepish.

“I play for the soccer team,” Araceli admits sheepishly, recognizing the woman as her Aunt Gaby from the many photo albums their dad has. Then, rather abruptly, she faces her brother and points at the two people outside. “Your friend is waiting. Aren’t you going to let her in?”

Kenton stares at her as if she’s out of her mind. “Um, no? If Miralia thinks she can leech off my homework this time, then she’s being delusional.” The real reason behind not wanting to invite them in is due to the fact that he doesn’t want to acknowledge that the toddler Miralia is carrying is actually an aunt from their mother’s side, but he doesn’t want her to know that.

The discussion ends with Kenton’s decision being final, so Araceli marches upstairs sulkily to prove her point that this isn’t making everyone happy. Gaby awkwardly follows the kids upstairs to look for either of their parents. She wonders about the teen and the toddler outside the house, but decides not to ask.

“Look, I’m doing you a favor by not inviting drama into this house,” Kenton sighs. His mother’s side of the family is really messy at best, and he’d rather not deal with it right now. “Why not try talking to our actual aunt here?”

Araceli changes her mind about working on her homework while upset, so she tentatively approaches the local singer.

“Are you on TV a lot? Because I really wanna know.” Her older cousin Rissa has been boasting about the famous personalities in their family, but she wants real evidence to show to her friends before they’d believe her.

Gaby raises her eyebrows at the question. “I don’t have any TV coverage, but I’ve been doing live shows all over town, and tonight I’m doing another one at the coffee shop!”

That perks Araceli right up. Seeing it live is soundproof evidence. “Can I attend? Can I invite my friends? Can you tell Dad that I’m going with you?”

(Gaby says yes to all these questions)

Unfortunately, Araceli’s father doesn’t give her permission to go out late on a school night, even if her aunt is there, and so she continues to sulk at home.

Gaby hopes to make it up for it by being better at persuading Lukas next time.

Compared to her first live show, everything else that’s happening right now is a huge improvement: the weather, the audience, the equipment, even the songs that she chose for today. It feels like things are all in the right place.

Today’s audience consists of her whole family (Miranda and Rocco not included in this picture) who actually dressed up nicely for this occasion, this old guy with the radical pigtails…

….VJ Alvi who sports another cool hairstyle, and an ecstatic former high school classmate Sun Mi Yoo, who became Sun Mi Yoo-Street after marrying her girlfriend.

Gaby’s chipper personality quickly rubs off on everyone, and she ends the performance with an enthusiastic crowd.

All that jumping and dancing tires Ramona a bit, so she leaves her mother and sister to tend to their fans while she goes inside to hang out with Rocco, but not before bumping into another high school classmate, Karina Street.

“Gaby’s so cool, you know? I didn’t really think she’d become a singer after graduation,” Karina sighs dreamily before she launches into reminiscing their high school days.

It’s just a small high school crush, she tells herself first when she glances at the ring on Karina’s finger. There’s nothing she can do about it now. “Congrats on getting married,” she says sincerely. Karina beams at her before running off to the arms of Sun Mi, her wife.

When the crowd finally starts to dissipate and the spontaneous autograph session ends, Miranda takes her daughter aside to a secluded spot.

“I’m so proud of you,” she says softly. “Your father would have been proud too.”

Gaby takes her mother’s words to heart as she works the next day.

Another day, another sing-o-gram to deliver. Today’s customer is someone who works at the city hall, and has the audacity to want to receive it right in front of her boss’ office.

Before she goes inside the building, Gaby spots Chelsea and Lukas among the rallying crowd. Something about routing errors, but she decides not to get herself involved with it.

Ella Adams, leader of the protest, briefly lets go of her tough persona to express her utter surprise at receiving a gift from her brother, who has always supported her rallying efforts (even if most of them haven’t brought on any actual changes).

Karina is pleased to see her old classmate again, this time in the comfort of her new garden. The young couple has recently bought this lovely home from its moving owners.

“Oh, thank you Gaby,” she gazes lovingly at the flowers. “Sun Mi really knows my favorites.”

Sure, sing-o-grams are fun (most of the time), but today Gaby aims to take it slowly by recording most of her songs into a flimsy plastic album, and making sure that it sells.

She bumps into her older sister at one of the community pools, and prepares her best pitch.

Chelsea takes it anyway, even without the silly pitch Gaby has prepared.

(Author’s note: I’m trying to get the extended family slightly more involved in the story, since I know what I was getting into the moment I got 5 children as the roll requirement for the 1st generation. It’s fun keeping track of all these kids, but I wish that none of them would have to make more babies. Keeping track of 7 more sims’ descendants is too much for me!

Next chapter, it’ll probably feature Rocco’s birthday, which will be the first proper birthday that I’ve prepared for since….Chelsea and Vinca’s birthday? That long? Yes, it was that long. Honestly, the thought of having to invite all the relatives to the house is a bit daunting, but that would be more fun!)

Generation 2

Chapter 20: Impressionable

January 12, 2020 chubroska Leave a comment

Between a mother who just loves to give attention and a toddler that just loves to receive it, the time they spent together is definitely something that Gaby cherishes.

Miranda and Ramona absolutely do not mind sharing half of the childcare with her, but when Gaby insists, it is final. Or at least now it’s negotiable, seeing how badly her high chair placement has led to in the previous chapter.

Rocco doesn’t mind either way, since it means he gets to be showered with more attention from more people.

His grandmother once caught him sticking his hand inside one of the vases, and she’s trying to be stern with him how it’s not a good thing to do, but Rocco’s not taking her seriously.

Ramona, as the fun-loving aunt, never runs out of little tricks and games that constantly amuses the toddler.

He likes to explore the living room upstairs, but of all the things to explore, he is very fond of this pirate chest. Rocco wants to sleep here now, where he’ll be closer with all his toys (especially the purple dinosaur one), but of course his mother won’t allow that.

He is also fascinated with Ramona’s art studio and occasionally drops in to see what his aunt is preoccupied with for the day. She never seems to notice his presence whenever she’s at the easel.

She calls this “Ninja Disco Raid,” but it’s lacking something.

What if they are scientists who are disguised as ninjas to do a disco raid as a mission? That would be cooler. Ramona just thinks the world needs more scientists.

Thinking of silly backstories for a painting slowly led to more serious thoughts of what she could be doing right now if she pursued a less prioritized passion: the sciences.

She’s not regretting her decision to stay at home, tending to the garden, paint, and more recently, look after her nephew and practice the guitar. No one’s making her look or feel bad for not having a “real” job (then again, she hasn’t heard much approval from her other siblings), but the stories that Brentley tells her from his job at the science facility leaves her wondering for other possibilities.

Ramona idly wonders if her twin has those kinds of doubts, and she scoffs at herself. Gaby has always been sure of what she does.

Up until recently, Gaby has been faithfully handing out sing-o-grams to wherever they need her to be, but now she finally gets the chance to shine on stage and show everyone what’s she capable of!

Too bad the weather isn’t cooperating today, and “everyone” in the vicinity basically consists of Tamara Ursine-Su and Nicole Villalobos, the proprietor.

“Break a leg, dearie!” Nicole shouts over the rain. Whether it was out of pity, a genuine encouragement, or both, Gaby figures she’s gonna take it anyway.

This is normal, right? she wonders, trying to get to the root of her frustration before she sets up the stage with her props.

She’ll be performing out here in the heavy rain, with an audience — if she can call it one — being one measly sim and a disinterested proprietor, and an increased chance of having either of them getting hit by lightning. If she’s feeling extra down today, she might as well expect her future live shows to turn out like this.

She can almost hear Nicole grumbling at the fact that she forgot to bring an umbrella. It almost sounds like she was telling Gaby to hurry up with it.

This is not embarrassing at all. Gaby has never been so unsure of herself until now.

Anyways, the show must go on! Lightning and embarrassment be damned!

She pours her heart out into singing this song for the 2 people who bother to be here today.

Tamara may be soaked and freezing right now, but she thinks that Gaby has a great voice and an even greater performance, considering the circumstances!

After her performance, the weather has finally cleared up, and Gaby thanks her only audience with a cute stuffed toy when she asks for a sing-o-gram.

Tamara appreciates the pink bunny, which makes whole experience worth it.

The next morning greets Sunset Valley with a promise for a better weather, and a better day.

(Also, my first gnome! So this is where it usually hangs out :O)

In any case, today’s Love Day.

Vinca Ramos-Velasco is here to demonstrate how one properly appreciates their wife, not just on a special holiday, but everyday!

(Sadly, Tammi has run off to work before I get to take a picture of these two being lovey-dovey)

At the very far end of the park, her baby sister Ramona is out there catching one of the many butterflies that their father had caught during his lifetime.

Ramona can definitely see the appeal of attracting these beautiful creatures, but she releases it as soon as she is satisfied. They already have several terrariums at home, it’s unnecessary to add even more.

Ramona runs into her oldest sister first, who appears to be surprised to see her in the park. These two have never been close, even when Chelsea still lived at the house.

“I never thought I’d see you here in the park!” Chelsea exclaims. To her, Ramona will always be the weird sibling who tends to stay in the house to play on her computer all day.

Ramona stares at her for a moment, making Chelsea feel awkward for the statement. “Mom and I planned to go outside today, and so here I am.”

Looks like the extended family is here, with Brentley eyeing the lady at the kissing booth who may be not too subtle with her intentions.

The poor guy had just gone through his 2nd break-up since the last few weeks, and he really wants to get his mind off of it.

Oh well. She’s cute, and he’s here, so he might as well go for it.

He stops halfway and quickly excuses himself from the disappointed lady when he sees his relatives going over to the dance floor. Brentley’s feeling too guilty about the possibility bumping into Irma Vasquez here in the park to go through one kiss.

Ramona is oblivious to her nephew’s distress and recent heartbreak, and so she gladly obliges to his request to dance together.

Gaby and Rocco catch up to everyone at the park later in the day.

Before she strolls over to the booths, where they are hanging out at after all that dancing (Vinca was crowned the Spring Dance Queen for her mad dancing skills), Gaby lets Rocco try one of the cute spring riders first.

Gaby definitely thinks that her son is the cutest in the whole world when he shows her this goofy smile. She wants to capture it in her memory and never let it go.

“I should have brought my camera today,” she laments to no one in particular. Her mother and sister would have loved to see this scene themselves.

(Author’s note: I’m really pleased with how well my spares’ love lives have been going on so far! No one’s cheating on anyone or getting into fights with each other, and that really makes me happy. Unlike the tangled mess from the townies that I’ve been keeping track of…oh well.

I’ve been playing more to get more screenshots, which will make me focus more on writing the chapters. I don’t want to worry about not having enough screenshots since I won’t have the time to play much for these first few months due to schoolwork. I’m kinda far off into the game now? I really do hope I get to reach Gen 4 this time around! I’m getting attached to these characters and I want to give them a proper ending for once)

Generation 2

Chapter 19: This is fine

December 19, 2019 chubroska Leave a comment

Tonight, Jayson stays over at the Ramos household to catch up with his reading. He plans to remain vigilant for any incoming babies.

Unfortunately for him, he jinxed himself into actually dealing with an incoming baby right this very moment, and he hasn’t even gotten past the introduction.

While the panicking couple fumbles for the car keys to drive to the hospital at midnight, Ramona goes out of bed to have a midnight snack.

She can’t really go back to sleep after witnessing all that ruckus from the next room. In fact, she would have love to join them to look after Gaby, but their mother called a cab for them and they already left without her.

This is fine, she reassures herself with her sandwich.

(Can you spot a baby with all this blue?!?!)

Several hours later, Gaby and Jayson return home with a healthy baby boy named Rocco. (Jayson had skimmed through a baby name book he bought at the last minute)

She’s tired, and she really wants to sleep right now, but as Gaby gazes at the squirming infant, she is overwhelmed by a wave of affection and an urge to protect this child, and instinctively snuggles him closer before placing him on his crib.

Miranda also renews her motherly affection for her 7th grandchild, Neal Keaton-Ramos, who was born a few months after Rocco.

Gaby and Jayson have more time to go on dates outside again, but the heavy rain forces them to stay inside today instead. Not that they mind, as long as they still get to flirt around each other.

Gaby sighs fondly at this man. Sure, she has been getting subtle hints from her mother to set a future wedding date, but she just doesn’t find it necessary. Neither makes an attempt to push their relationship beyond what it already has.

With no qualms about raising their kid without marrying the father, and with the way that their easygoing relationship has been simply resumed after her pregnancy, she feels content with this overall set-up. Gaby just hopes that things don’t have to change from what they have right now.

With Gaby back on the job, the calls from rich teens asking for sing-o-grams have returned. Today’s rich teen is her very own niece, Rissa, who has aged up into a perpetually bored teenager.

While she may not look like it, she is actually fascinated with her musically-inclined relatives and listens attentively to her aunt’s excited chatter.

She has her own artistic capabilities as well, but leans more towards the visual arts. Gaby thinks that she might get along well with her Aunt Vinca more in that regard.

Though the presence of an actual rock star and a hit composer in the family might get the teen a bit more excited and give her something cooler to brag to her friends about.

Despite being retired for a long time now, Eva Ramos will NEVER not grab the opportunity to play for her unsuspecting fans, and they LOVE it.

On the other hand, the retired hit-movie composer spends most of her time at home shaking her head at the official soundtrack of a recent movie. She wonders if the local cinema is starting to get lenient with quality.

Rocco is still too young to understand his grandmother’s disapproval, and so he simply babbles in response to the TV.

(I was bored at one point so I left the household on their own for several sim hours, and would you look at that! A broken sink, a stressed Ramona, a lonely Miranda, and a starving Gaby, all in mere minutes.)

Having pancakes for dinner, Ramona thought she’d seen the last of her sister’s weird cravings.

After Gaby shrugs her off, she goes on to ask her real question. “What’s a good guitar for a beginner?” She has considered borrowing either her mother’s or sister’s guitars to continue practicing, but she thinks it’s too much of a hassle, especially since both women are particularly fond of their instrument.

Gaby nearly chokes on her pancakes, and slowly recovers, trying not to sound too excited at the prospect of working together with her twin. “A-are you planning to take a job at the cinema?!”

“Nope. That will definitely not happen.” After seeing Gaby explicitly express her disappointment, she rolls her eyes and makes up for it. “Fine, I might jam with you if I get better enough.”

Ramona bought this simple black and white guitar despite Gaby’s insistence for the cooler electric guitar. She just wants to practice, that’s all.

She wakes up one morning to see her mother using her guitar, which completely defeats the purpose of buying her own to stop borrowing other people’s guitars.

And on top of that, Miranda looks cooler with it too.

It’s a bit petty to get back at her elderly mother, who also tends to use her computer even with the family computer sitting upstairs, but she makes sure that this will be the last time.

Miranda gets the message quickly enough, but wishes her youngest could have just talked to her instead.

Speaking of talking, Miranda is determined to get to the bottom of it when she spots her other daughter being uncharacteristically gloomy today.

Her date with Jayson was going well, and it would have ended well too, if only he didn’t decide to indulge one of his fans with his latest trick in fire juggling.

One moment he was still there, laughing and showing off, the next he was consumed by the fire that had suddenly spread from his batons. He had died on the way to the hospital to have his injuries treated, and Gaby has not been the same since then.

It pains her to see her own child, someone who was always with a bright smile and an infectious laugh, deal with such a heavy loss herself.

Gently grabbing her limp arms, Miranda says, “He was a wonderful man, and I’m sorry that he has to go like this. We’re all here for you, Gaby.”

To get her mind off of it, she redecorates the nursery and makes it considerably less blindingly blue with Ramona’s help (though with her own room being blindingly yellow, it’s probably not too good of an idea).

Gaby cries to herself upon acknowledging that Jayson will never get to comment how weirdly out-of-place the throne chair looks.

Nor will he ever get to marvel at how cute their child has aged up into.

Rocco never likes it whenever he gets placed back in the crib; it means play time’s over, and he tries to show his mother that he isn’t as sleepy as she thinks. But she just smiles and kisses him on the forehead instead.

He looks so much like his father, and it still hurts to see that.

Rocco is a joy around the house, and takes simple pleasure in surprising his aunt and grandmother with his little antics.

Aunt Ramona finds him hiding behind the karaoke machine, and is starting to wonder if he takes after his mother’s interest in singing.

Nah, he just wants a hug.

When she’s not singing out her sorrows on the karaoke or singing outside to an unwitting passerby, Gaby does her best to spend time and play with her son, never keeping him out of her sight.

Losing Jayson gave her a new fear: losing Rocco. She can’t bear the thought of that ever happening, and tries hard to make sure that nothing goes wrong again.

As the months pass by, she hopes that she’ll be in a better place when it’s time to explain his father’s death to her son. Rocco’s excited squeals remind her that that time isn’t now, and forces her out of her thoughts.

This new wound, though starting to heal, had reopened an old one. When this loss reminds her of the time they have lost her father not too long ago, Gaby seeks comfort among the garden that he used to tend for.

Today, Ramona finds company among the plants, but doesn’t question it, and lets a comfortable silence hang instead.

With Gaby’s insistence that the high chair stays beside the stove, so that she could look after Rocco properly while she cooks, Ramona takes it upon herself to upgrade the appliance to ensure her nephew’s safety.

Several seconds later, everyone finds out that the fire alarm works just fine!

Ramona REALLY hopes that this incident is enough to convince her sister to revoke her faulty decision to have her child near dangerous kitchen appliances.

Letitia Rains arrives just in time to see that these people aren’t incompetent enough to just panic and let the fire spread this time.

She didn’t know that this is Miranda Ramos’ house though, and is OVER THE MOON when she does find out. This is the best work day ever!

Though she would have preferred to take a selfie with the aging composer instead, she politely listens to the older woman boast about her only grandchild who has inherited her blond hair genetics.

Before Ramona could check on her sister and niece, heck, before she could even say anything, Gaby rushes towards her with the tightest hug she could possibly give. She is half-crying, half-laughing, and half-mumbling apologies and thanks into her twin’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” she says once more after lifting her head off her shoulder. “I would never forgive myself if I lost him too.”

Ramona gives her a reassuring squeeze. “No way in hell you’re gonna lose someone else again.”

Author’s note: 3rd gen is finally born! Rocco has easily impressed and heavy sleeper. I’m really surprised about his brown hair??? Is this one of those mutant hair color incidents???

The fire incident shocked me, but in a good way. I was having second thoughts about the high chair staying next to the oven, but thankfully Ramona somehow triggers a fire AFTER making it fireproof to prove my worst fear? It was really funny. I didn’t give them any time to panic at all, because I don’t want anything to burn after I spent all that time renovating the place.

Generation 2

Chapter 18: Same priorities

December 8, 2019 chubroska Leave a comment

Miranda has been itching to go on a trip with the family lately, oblivious to the fact that Lukas has been planning to set one up himself ever since his father died.

But she knows they’re all busy, and it’ll be difficult to set a date where everyone is free at the same time, so she settles with visiting them for now.

Between the time she spent in hanging out with her family and for herself, Ramona spends most of her alone time either gardening or painting.

Neither produce nor painting is sold off at all, and she prefers giving them away as gifts instead of making money out of it. That gained her quite a notoriety in town, but it’s also giving her unwanted attention in the form of admirers. Ramona would prefer to live her life quietly.

Tonight is movie night at the Ramos-Velasco household.

Miranda has always thought that their house is so lovely, and her daughter-in-law is touched to hear that compliment. Tammi spends a lot of time sprucing the house whenever she knows that her in-laws are visiting.

(Her mother-in-law has also noticed the abrupt career change of both women; Vinca has always been dedicated to her craft in the arts, but has apparently switched to the scientific pursuit at some point, and Tammi looks decidedly less stressed working as a stagehand than as a policewoman.)

Brentley has followed his ma’s choice in the scientific field (he calls Vinca “Ma” and Tammi “Mom”, to keep it distinct), and is really dedicated in making the most out of his gardening skills. He tries to invite his aunt to their facility, but she shrugs it off and changes the subject.

“Wow, did you mess with the facility’s growth experiments, or did you just naturally grow taller than me?” Ramona is not pleased to see that her “young” nephew has outgrown her, even though they are technically the same age.

Brentley huffs proudly. “You’re just naturally shorter, Auntie. Not even an artificial growth spurt can enhance it.”

While aunt and nephew bicker in the background, the adults’ movie night stops when the TV unceremoniously breaks on them.

Vinca shoots a knowing look at her wife, as if the latter had something to do with it (which she may have, with all her attempts to tinker every appliance in the house). Miranda is just disappointed she won’t get to see the movie’s ending.

Ramona is arguably more competent in handling this compared to her sister-in-law despite her skill level, so Tammi and Brentley goes to sleep early while Miranda badgers her second eldest with her growing collection of toddler pictures.

Vinca just smiles as the elderly woman continues to talk about their family; it’s a relief to see her mother doing well these days.

One night, Gaby visits her twin in the studio, which already strikes Ramona as odd, since she only does that when something’s wrong. But she waits for her to speak up first and pretends to continue painting.

“I think I’m pregnant,” Gaby tells her after a pause.

Ramona pauses as well, unsure how to take this information. She’s aware of her sister’s lover, whose existence is someone she simply acknowledges. Looking at her twin, she decides that Gaby is better equipped to judge the father of her child, whoever he may be.

She also decides that kids are cool, and won’t mind having a nephew or niece close by. Ramona breaks the tension by gently placing a hand over Gaby’s stomach, even though there’s barely any bump to feel yet.

“What are you gonna name them?” She gives her stomach a long hard stare. It’s bit surreal to imagine Gaby as a mother already.

Gaby finds herself smiling in spite of the heavy feeling she’s carrying, but she starts to relax as soon as she sees her twin making silly faces at her stomach. “I haven’t really thought about it yet.”

Now that she broke the news to her sister, Gaby wonders if the outcome will be as accepting as with her mother, who cheerfully greets her good morning.

Luckily for her, Miranda is just excited at the prospect of having more grandchildren.

Later that day, they go out to attend the Spring Festival together.

Gaby had already called Jayson to meet her here, but she isn’t too worried compared to when she was trying to break the news to her mother and sister. That was different, she reasons to herself. She couldn’t bear the thought of being seen or treated differently by her own family.

Jayson arrives almost immediately, and surprises his lover with a kiss and a hug. Gaby has to fight through a smile to try and tell him the news as seriously as she can, but fails.

“What should we name them?” Jayson looks expectantly from her belly to her face then back to her belly again. She thinks it’s adorable that both her lover and sister have the same priority in mind.

To say that Jayson is nervous to meet Gaby’s mother is understatement, because he can definitely feel his hands sweating more than usual. The poor guy is almost always nervous; it’s a wonder he stayed working as an acrobat.

He gets invited into the house to have pizza for dinner. Pizza is definitely something he is less nervous about.

Gaby insists on cooking her own meal though, and won’t be convinced to stop.

Ramona raises an eyebrow at her sister, and at the huge serving that she’s preparing. “You know you don’t have to cook tonight,” she reminds her.

Gaby shushes her. “I want autumn salad right now.”

“Okie-dokie.” She reaches over to grab a slice of pizza and joins in her mother as she talks with Jayson. Looks like the cravings start early.

Ever since that night, Jayson has been visiting the house more frequently. He’s starting to become fond of his lover’s family, who are patiently waiting for the couple to officially tie the knot.

Ramona still gets calls from insistent admirers who keep asking her out for dates, and is really starting to consider changing her phone number.

Gaby becomes considerably moodier during her pregnancy. She pouts as she tries to wait for her mother to finish her call so that they can have breakfast together.

Jayson is attentive to her needs, and listens to her patiently as she voices out her concerns about her job after she gives birth.

“I haven’t even landed a steady gig yet,” Gaby frets. “And it’s been so long…”

“It’ll be okay Gab, you can take the time to settle back into it again once your body recovers,” he reassures her.

Her room has considerably changed a lot since the last time Jayson was here.

For starters, it’s smaller now, and there’s a ridiculously blue nursery. Her bed has replaced the spot where her DJ booth used to sit (which she has placed in storage somewhere).

Gaby is extremely grateful for the massages; pregnancy has given her more back pains in addition to the ones she already have from running around for work.

The family goes out to have barbecue on the beach, which is a decision made partially on Gaby’s behalf, since she’s craving for hot dogs this time. (Jayson isn’t here because he’s been asked to perform in front of the kids at school)

In the end, Gaby decides to grill tofu hot dogs on Ramona’s behalf. Her twin has adopted vegetarianism ever since graduation, and she wholeheartedly supports her twin’s new lifestyle.

Behind them, their mother bumps into Rissa’s grandmother, Justine Keaton, and they launch into small talk.

Justine has lost Marty just this morning, and is greatly devastated, having made plans to go to the beach together.

Listening to her experience the same pain that she has suffered from after losing Stanley, Miranda tries her best to offer reassurance.

The twins overheard their conversation, and both become silent as they eat their tofu hot dogs.

Gaby is determined to not finish eating these dogs on a sour note, and starts to talk excitedly about being able to hold her kid’s hand in the future.

Ramona stares at her as she continues to chew. “That’s oddly specific.”

“But it’s a cute idea,” Gaby protests, then continues to gush about her plans concerning her and Jayson’s future.

Gaby had too much tofu hot dogs and she wants to sleep it off in one of these lounging chairs. She hopes Ramona won’t prank her and pretend to leave her behind if she does end up asleep.

Meanwhile, Miranda and Justine have an intense battle of chess as the sun sets behind them.

Ramona wants to learn how to fish to gain more resources for fertilizer, despite her aversion to consuming animals.

A nearby rental shop in the beach allows her to borrow one of their fishing poles for free, seeing that she is one of Miranda Ramos’ kids, and by extension, one of Eva Ramos’ nieces.

She was deep in thought before she realizes that someone is calling out her name.

Ramona squints at the approaching figure and doesn’t attempt to wave back. However, now that she can see their face more clearly, she is embarrassed to see that the pretty girl was Karina Street, one of her old classmates whom she had a huge crush on.

Maybe she still does? She’s not too sure, as she quickly places her clothes and fishing pole aside when Karina asks her to swim with her.

(From a distance, Gaby sees all of this happening, and can’t wait to tease her about it later)

Author’s note: Here’s a chapter that I’ve written mainly so that I can proceed to the next one! Hopefully by the next time I update the 3rd gen heir will be born. (Gaby only needs to have 1 kid, which is a bit of a change from the 1st gen’s rolls)

And since the roll is single parent with help, I don’t think Jayson will stay with the family for too long. I’m still not sure how his exit will make sense in the story, but we’ll see.

Generation 2

Chapter 17: She got those skills

December 8, 2019 chubroska Leave a comment

Miranda tries watching her daughter’s favorite cartoon for a change, and this makes Gaby so excited that she doesn’t stop narrating the story to help her mom catch up with the series.

Just a cute picture.

(A happy Miranda makes the author very happy)

Ramona is recently struck with the realization that she doesn’t want to forget anyone significant in her life, and converts that irrational fear into the urge to paint portraits of her family members.

She pauses and frowns at her latest work in progress, her mother’s portrait. There’s a reason she doesn’t draw people at all, and that’s because it’s hard.

The twins will never outgrow pillow fights.

Both women have formed easy, carefree lives; not bounded to traditional careers — though Ramona isn’t even employed in the first place — they set their schedules with less restrictions as they please.

Ramona likes to make fun of her twin by singing the wrong words on purpose, or in this case, singing off-key.

She is only half-successful; Gaby may be frowning at the screen, but she refuses to let this faze her.

Chelsea and Jebidiah’s kid has aged up to a child just recently, but Miranda is here to attend Rissa’s baby brother’s birthday.

Lisa Bunch couldn’t believe that she’s seeing the well-known composer right in front of her very eyes. The woman doesn’t go out too often since her retirement, unlike her older sister who still goes out for concerts.

Rissa Ramos resembles her father mostly, but she appears to have inherited her mother’s cheekiness.

Her grandmother graces the party with her rad guitar skills.

Jebidiah spares a worried glance towards his daughter and sister-in-law, who wants to chat with her. He worries that Rissa’s aloofness towards her relatives may leave a bad impression on them, and hopes that she attempts to socialize at least.

To his genuine surprise, she responds more positively to her aunt’s attempts to talk.

“Grandma is so cool, do you think she can teach me how to play the guitar?” She’s already thinking of ways to persuade her parents to buy her one.

Ramona smirks. “I don’t think mom will mind, but I can teach you myself.”

Rissa gasps; she didn’t expect this cool mysterious lady with the oddly-colorful hair to be one of her aunts, and spends the entire party talking with her asking about her hair, her guitar-playing skills, and if she has other cool aunts (not necessarily in that order).

Here’s the birthday boy with grandma.

Miranda discovers that Brooks is really fond of tickles, and gladly indulges in giving more.

Meanwhile, Gaby has been out and about, handing out sing-o-grams all over town until she decides she can’t do more for today. Today, she goes to the park for the Spring Festival.

One of the people on the dance floor keeps glancing at her, and before Gaby could decide, he bravely walks over to where she’s dancing.

“Hey, I know you,” Gaby stares hard at the cute guy. Then it hits her, and it makes her laugh. “You’re that guy from the SimFest!”

Jayson grins back at her, almost sheepishly. “It’s the haircut isn’t it? I think the barber took off more than I told him to.”

“No, it looks great!” Gaby clears her throat, and tries to sound not too excited. “I think it suits you.”

Jayson has already planned it out in his head to let Gaby know that he couldn’t leave a cute gal like her dancing alone, but instead he stutters, and she laughs before grabbing his hands gently.

“Is this a date?” Gaby wonders as the other dancers slowly leave the floor to visit other festivities in the lot.

“It could be? If you want it to be?”

Gaby giggles. She laughs more when she’s nervous. “Maybe you could ask me out on a real date for next time.”

And so he did, and he waits for her to get into a cab, and he makes sure that she gets home safely, before he literally skips in joy on the way back to his own house.

Jayson and Gaby become a regular thing, and this time he’s sure that she gets home safely because he’s with her this time. They meet at the park after Gaby finishes with her sing-o-grams, or when Jayson finishes his gig early.

As they sit out on the balcony and pretend to look at the stars, Gaby thinks about her older siblings who got married to their lovers as soon as they graduate. It’s a weird comparison, because she finds she’s not in a rush to settle at all.

She hopes that Jayson feels the same way, but with the way that things were happening very slowly, Gaby can safely assume that he does.

He does feel lucky to have met her, and Jayson hopes that that feeling shows through this kiss.

Gaby has other ways to show that she appreciates his company.

The whole family visits Lukas’ new house, which is this impressive condo unit downtown, to meet his kid who recently had his birthday as well.

Kenton is an abnormally fussy toddler, which bothers his aunts with the concern if they’re doing something wrong.

Gaby asks his brother if she can use their bathroom. She’s not feeling too good since this morning after experimenting with today’s breakfast.

Aunt Gaby makes sure to wash her hands before she snuggles close to her nephew. Behind her, Miranda has taken over the role to entertain her grandchild with her guitar skills.

“You’re like a mini-Lukas, but cuter,” Gaby coos as she studies the toddler’s face.

Kenton starts to make blow raspberries, as if agreeing with his aunt. She doesn’t mind having bits of saliva stuck on her face, and she laughs it off. Maybe having her own kid would be nice too.

Author’s note: I originally had different plans on who would be Gaby’s baby daddy, but oh well! Jayson cleans up nicely after changing his hair from that hideous one, and I hope that their kid will turn out cute too.

I think Kenton has a glitch or something? In the actual gameplay, he aged up to a child a day after he became a toddler. I hope this doesn’t mean he turns older after every single day, or I may be forced to do some drastic measures.

Ramos Sims 3 Random Legacy

Category Archives: Generation 2

Chapter 26: Of course I do

Chapter 25: On and on and on

Chapter 24: Fooling around

Chapter 23: Keep it weird

Chapter 22: Shake these walls

Chapter 21: Gravitate towards the weird

Chapter 20: Impressionable

Chapter 19: This is fine

Chapter 18: Same priorities

Chapter 17: She got those skills

They're gonna live life.