#Jaxson du Ciel

[msbarrows]

Screenshots from playing my ongoing family. I'm currently on the... 6th generation? I think?

From an earlier post about this particular family line: It started off with Cloud Banks, who had a son, River Banks, with Michael Bell (the Creature Keeper). River eventually met and married Tank Grunt. They adopted a girl, then (cheated - this was pre-science baby) two more girls and a boy (Averie Banks, Cecelia Grunt, Ocean Tank, and West River - gave them different surnames so their descendants would have more of a mix). Ocean Tank had a hookup with Death that led to her son Damiano Tank, after which she married and had two more children (Alfred and Casey Tank). Damiano married a random Mt. Konorebi sim, Etsuko, and they had a son, Sephiroth Tank, and a daughter, Gem. They separated for a while, during which Damiano raised Seph while Etsuko raised Gem, after which they both divorced and remarried, and Etsuko had another child, Kiara Matsudo (autonomous game actions after I'd moved the two of them back in together once Seph was old enough for university).

Sephiroth changed his surname to du Ciel after becoming a vampire. Molly Prescott (his BFF from high school) helped him have a science baby, Jaxson, before she paired up with Ash Miura, while Seph went on to eventually marry a younger man, Benson, who is descended from the MacKay family line I played for a generation in StrangerVille to do the storyline there. Jaxson refers to them as the Dads and the Moms, though Ash is GNC and doesn't use gendered pronouns. (Okay yes, Jaxs is 6th gen.)

I accidentally graduated Jaxson from high school early by accepting a phone call from the high school principal (whoops). It's been long enough since I was last playing TS4 consistently that I was finding running the du Ciel household difficult; two adults, one of whom never sleeps and works from home, a teenager no longer away most of the day, and a baby, Cecelia, needing constant monitoring and help... yeah. So Jaxson took a share of the household funds and moved out to a furnished basement apartment (he could have afforded much better but I wanted to try out the lot I just built).

He got a job in manual labour on the weekends, and also went ahead and enrolled in university as a teen. I had him working on an easy two credits per week, so he had tons of free time for skills building and goofing off in between classes and work. Also had him continue going to events at the high school, so he could meet and socialize with more teens.

It was at a cheerleading rally where he met Leigh River, a football team member, who judging by the last name is a cousin of some degree to him. She seemed a bit dubious about him at first, and they don't have any particular chemistry, but he was crushing hard. They still managed to become solid friends pretty quickly, and then BFFs. They went on outings with other friends, and eventually dated, and shared their first kiss. (She's non-flirty so advancement on the romance front has been slow.)

At the end of their second date she grew up to YA status, with him only about 2/3 of the way through his own teenagehood. Gah.

They continued seeing each other as friends. He spent some time with the moms and the dads and met all six (!!!) of his half-siblings, Seph and Benson having had two more girls since he left home (Evelyn and Emilie du Ciel), and Molly & Ash also being up to three (a girl and two boys - Annabella, Patrick, and Elliot Miura). Finally he reached his own birthday and became a YA, with just a few days left before he'll finish his last semester in University!

He and Leigh went on another date; she was still single, so they're now officially boyfriend and girlfriend. She's moved in with him, and once he graduates university they'll be house hunting for a better place to live than his basement apartment.

And yup, she turned out to be a cousin; her paternal grandfather was West River, so she's 5th gen to Jaxs' 6th. I'll probably have them pick out a new surname when they marry, to differentiate them and their descendants from all the side branches of the family.

[msbarrows]

Some more TS4 playing this evening. Still wasn't sure how I was going to handle their wedding with Jaxson's mother having just died at the end of the previous play session, but then his father called to invite him to attend the Romance Festival, and that's a great place to have a small, simple wedding. Jaxson managed to invite most of his family and some of Leigh's along, and then once they were at the festival they both did additional phone calls to get more family and friends there, and then they had an "impulse wedding" at the venue there. Jaxs' great-grandmother Ocean Tank (who is also Leigh's great-aunt) is actually still alive and kicking (I may have made her immortal, I can't remember now) and was very touched by seeing the two of them get wed. Her great-grandson and her brother West River's granddaughter! How lovely!!

(If I'm reading the relationship charts right, they're each other's 2nd cousin, once removed., which places them seven degrees apart.)

Their wedding hasn't much changed their lives, since they were already living together. The only real change is that I took the wedding as a good point in their lives to change their surname; they've gone with "Creek" as something related to Leigh's surname of River.

Jaxs is still writing lots of poetry towards maxing out the writing aspiration, and also managed to reach the top of the Oracle career. He's probably going to stick with that for at least a little while before finding a different career... something less criminal.

Leigh has been working away at her comedy career and aspiration, and is half a point from maxing the comedy skill and finishing the aspiration. She also had a really lucky card on her last day of work of the play session, and scored a TV opportunity that catapulted her past several job steps and directly to the top of the comedian career track (YAY!). She's about halfway through being a YA, so I think I'll probably have the two of them start thinking about having a kid soon.

Also, I realized during the play session that I'd forgotten something I meant to do before moving Jaxson out of his dads' house; having Sephiroth bite Benson so they can be vampires together. I loaded their household long enough to take care of vamping him out and then made them unplayed again so the game can take care of playing them.

Noticed while doing so that all three of the daughters are also vampires, so I took the time to set up their dark self versions, and do nicer outfits for them since they were in very mismatched random things (as tends to happen when the RNG is making the decisions). Cecelia dresses in yellows, greens, tans, and occasional denim. Of the twins, Emilie is in teals and blues with some black, and Evelyn wears a monochromatic wardrobe of black, grey, and white.

Given how long vampire lives are, and that all five of the du Ciels are pale skinned with pale blond hair, I'm thinking I'm going to be seeing many pale vampires cropping up in the background during future generations of play.

[msbarrows]

More screenshots from playing my TS4 family. Jaxson and Leigh have moved out of his basement rental, and into a small but nice house in Del Sol Valley.

Jaxs has taken a job in the Oracle criminal career path, so he can put his computer science degree to use as a hacker. He also aspires to be an author, so he writes books of poetry in his free time.

Leigh came with an aspiration to be a skilled comedian, so she's working on that skill, plus has gone into the entertainment career and taken the comedian path, so that her career and aspiration mesh nicely.

They've been visiting each other's families when they get chances for it, so that both of them can meet all their assorted parents, step-parents, and siblings of various degree. Leigh's sister turns out to be living with her alien husband in a beach house in Sulani that I built for a previous sim of mine a couple (real life) years ago. Leigh also has a brother who has yet to invite her over to his place.

Jaxson finally got around to actually proposing, and they had a big party at a local hangout with a lot of their family members there so they could start wedding planning and lining up people to fill various roles. Sadly it looks like they're going to have to cancel their plans for a big destination wedding like Jaxs' dads had; Jaxs' mother Molly passed away the next morning. Everyone is now very upset about that, and I think the two of them are probably going to have something much smaller in their own home, if not just quietly eloping.

[msbarrows]

Sephiroth and Benson (and Jaxson) went on vacation together to Tartosa, where they had a seaside wedding. Most of the members of both their families were able to make it, as well as a few more distant relatives and random friends.

Benson’s mother Renee was the person of honour, Molly was the flower pal, Jaxson was of course the ringbearer, and Seph’s father Damiano was the officiant. They said their vows, cut the cake, kicked off some dancing, and partied all night (until the sun started coming up), at which point they walked back up the aisle to end the wedding, and headed back to their rental. They’re now Mr and Mr du Ciel.

In back-at-home news, they’re dating regularly so Seph can get the milestones he needs for his soulmate aspiration. Seph is also spending all his copious free time on creating paintings, while letting Benson be his agent for selling them to collectors and art galleries, so that Benson can work through his wealth-related aspiration faster.

[msbarrows]

Eventful few days in the du Ciel household. Benson progressed through his pregnancy. His mother Renee dropped by, so they had a family movie night together.

Jaxson finished off the last of his childhood aspirations, so I switched to short lifespans until he aged up to teen - which ended up being on the same day as his baby sister Cecelia was born. He had an excellent birthday party once everyone was home from the hospital. On growing up and redoing his outfits, him-in-my-head decided he has a complicated relationship with gender, so most of his outfits are relatively androgynous in style, with a few more feminine or masculine ones. He wears eyeliner a lot, but reserves full makeup for formal outfits. He’s also keeping his current name and pronouns for now, and will revisit his relationship with gender when he turns into a YA. For his first aspiration he’s decided to go with a painting-related one, which fits in well with both his dads spending most of their spare time standing at easels throughout his childhood.

I was amused that he became a one-star celebrity as soon as he aged to teen. I’m guessing because both his dads are celebrities, and more specifically may be related to Sephiroth being a 5 star world famous celebrity (which reminds me Seph still needs to go and oversee his star being added to the walk of fame).

I’m also amused at how bulky Seph has been getting; when he chooses an autonomous way to increase his fun, he tends to either play his violin or hit the treadmill. All that running has definitely been having an effect. And yet he was such a scrawny twig when he was younger!

Elsewhere in the neighbourhood I’ve been editing a few of the lots, doing things like making sure wedding venues include washrooms (their beachfront venue did not, which is what’s inspired the checking). Also that rental properties include at least a few things for kids and/or pets and/or skills (yeah that was lacking also). Along that line, I decided to convert the Straud mansion into a rental property so sims can actually visit it. I’ve given it the mean vibe, on a dark leyline, and vampire nexus traits. Also the spooky and cursed challenge traits. I was tempted to also do gremlins, but decided five negative things was already more than enough. Had fun finding places to tuck in things like a seance table, a couple of mouseholes (only one in a place that the sims will normally encounter it), plus assorted skill & game items, and things for pets and children to enjoy.

[msbarrows]

Sephiroth has met one of the neighbourhood vampires, and the two of them really hit it off and were flirting like crazy. Finally took the time to thoroughly explore the neighbourhood, too, and found a couple plants he didn’t have seeds for yet (plasma fruit and a mosquito-eating flytrap), plus some he already did (nightshade and garlic).

Added a ladder up to the little roof tower, so Seph can use it as a small painting studio. Have done some more work on cleaning up the yard, as well as further renovations to things like the upstairs windows, making the house a bit more Art Deco than Gothic. Have also continued renovations to the interior.

I’ve started running out of goals I want to work on with Sephiroth, so I decided to try out the “science baby” option. His friend Molly provided the other half of the kid’s genetics. He now has a son, Jaxson.

Also, I decided to change Seph’s last name so I’ll be able to more easily pick out his particular descendants in future as opposed to those of all his cousins with the Tank surname - he’s now Sephiroth du Ciel. Because if I do let him become a vampire, he might be generating offspring for many generations to come.