Not So Berry Complex

Chapter 2-Penny Starts the Mint Challenge

Change of plans. I decided that, instead of having neighbors with absolutely no skills starting on the ground floor in their careers, I should create neighbors with the My Story tool. I moved the Abdullahs out, letting them take their fair share of the family funds. I then created a new couple. Elyse Clement is starting at level three of the astronaut career, which is perfect since the Yellow house was designed for an astronaut. Her husband Jessie is a secret agent.


Did I say husband? Apparently I forgot to designate them as husband and wife in CAS. Poor Jessie is sleeping in the Gray nursery because the game won't let him share a bed with Elyse.


It's Friday afternoon and Penny is hard at work. I'm thinking of redecorating the science lab. Does anybody have aesthetic ideas?



Saturday is Penny's day off and she's focused on completing level one of the Mischief aspiration. Since she has to dislike two people she's headed to the alien nightclub in hopes of meeting Salvatore the evil alien. Should be an easy person to dislike.



On Sunday Penny invited her co-worker Jaxon over for card games, hoping this would develop their friendship and help her career advancement. This random gym rat named Fetu showed up, so she invited him in too.



It's time to pay the bills. Over $10K? Yikes! Luckily their starting funds will cover this for now.



I want to get the baby show on the road to keep the challenge moving at a good clip. Between the lack of solid leads for a spouse and the fact that Penny's a scientist, I thought this would be the time to add a science baby to the legacy. Penny asked Jaxon to be the donor.

Chapter 3-Rose Generation is Here

Penny brought the Rose heir home from the baby lab. His name is Austin after David Austin. Penny's overflowing with affection for her bundle of joy. For my part, I'm still processing the fact that babies now look like Coma Doof Warrior.


In the blink of an eye, Austin ages up to an infant. I was hoping he would have a mix of his parents characteristics, but it looks like he's a clone of Jaxon.


With an infant keeping her up at night, Penny has been dragging through the work day.


Why is it that, when Penny comes home, Austin is at large, prowling the neighborhood? Shouldn't he be in his nursery? Or at least somewhere on the property?


Austin is asleep! Time for Penny to work on her mischief. She goes to a bar, but Alfonso and Kacie here don't find her antics amusing.


Luckily Penny finds some kindred spirits in Sargent Gauthier and Leo the spy.


When she get's home, Austin is stuck in the wall. Doesn't seem to bother him much.

Chapter 4-A Business Appointment . . . or is it?

They have a perfectly functional chess table in their own home, but it seems the Clements love playing chess on Penny's front porch.

Austin is a toddler now. I have him building skills in the Rose nursery. Hopefully he'll achieve the Happy Toddler trait.

Penny approaches Victor Feng, the politician, in hopes of getting government funding for research. He appears to be impressed with her in more ways than one. ;) They're both materialistic, and, as a Genius, he appreciates her scientific mind.
Several times now, Penny has returned home to find that Austin has spawned in the Gray nursery in the Clements' house. Honestly, this doesn't bother me nearly as much as the whole infant at large thing. The game doesn't know what challenge I'm playing. I can understand why it thinks a toddler belongs in a room with toddler paraphernalia. Luckily his motor skills are strong enough at this point that he can wiggle out of the Yellow house and toddle home.
Elyse is headed out for her first day as a low-orbit specialist. Since she and Jamie are on level 5 of their careers, and Penny is on level 4, the community is managing financially, although they're not thriving.

Victor wants to see more of Penny, but Austin wants to be a third wheel with his tofu dog.

Chapter 5-Austin the Social Butterfly

It's Saturday and Austin is a child now. He's working on the Social Butterfly aspiration. This will help him build charisma quickly. It also virtually guarantees that he'll have the Good Manners value. He spends the morning bonding with Penny so they can become BFFs.

Victor and Penny are official now. They spend the afternoon taking Austin to the Desert Blooms Park to meet other kids his age. Patronizing public works is good for Victor's image.
On Sunday, Austin invites his friends over to the Complex. He's becoming especially close to Annie, Choukri and Krishna. I'm debating if I should age them up with him at his next birthday.

A case of the Mondays + the Hot-Headed trait has Austin looking like he's in a blood feud with the table centerpiece.

Penny took a survey of her co-workers likes and dislikes and renovated the main break room to (hopefully) please everyone.

Now that she's in a relationship, Penny's Jealous nature is kicking in. She's getting stressed out at work wondering what Victor could be up to.

Elyse has the day off. Since there are four hours between Austin coming home from school and Penny coming home from work, I remotely designated Austin and Elyse to socialize with each other. By the time Penny came home, they had become friends. Red heads have to stick together.

Chapter 6-Alien Invasion Day

Wouldn't you know, Penny's first day as Laboratory Leader is alien invasion day at work. Salvatore is here trying to cause chaos. You think you can rifle through Penny's files? Say hello to her little friend.

Penny talked Salvatore into trying her new "miracle drug." She was expecting it to make him tired or nauseous. Instead, it made him spontaneously combust. She rushed to save him with the fire extinguisher. Penny's a prankster, not a monster.

Later that same week, Penny and Victor get married in a starlight ceremony at the Chalet Gardens in Windenberg.

As a self-serving politician, Victor is wined, dined and courted by wealthy and influential people. Note: in this save, Lilith Vatore left Forgotten Hollow to become a power player in the entertainment industry.
It's a glamorous lifestyle and Austin takes notice.

After spending the day collectible shopping and sampling the food stalls at the flea market, Penny had a quiet birthday party with her family.

Austin's birthday party was the very next day. I aged up Annie and Krisha at the party, too. Jaxon was a welcome guest. I'm trying to figure out how long I should give Austin before he ages up to a young adult. On the one hand, the rules say normal life span. On the other hand, when the rules were written, the teen years weren't so ridiculously long.

Jamie's last assignment ended with his jumping out of a third-story window into a dumpster. It was worth it, because he's been promoted to Spy Captain. I've decided both of the Clements are going to take the hero branch of their careers. I'm starting to wonder when I should move them out, though. I want them to stick around at least until Austin moves into the Rose house, because having more than one home occupied at a time makes it feel more like a community.

Chapter 7-Prank Day, the Perfect Time to have a Baby

Since Elyse and Austin became friends, I've given Elyse access to the Mint House living room and half bath. Now she's over all the time watching cooking shows on the big screen TV.

Victor and Penny have decided to try for a baby. This is Penny's second go-round with motherhood, but it's her first time being pregnant.

Austin met some other teens at school. He invited Tobi and Perla to the bowling bar, along with his old friend Annie. None of them know what Annie's talking about.

Penny spotted Victor talking to another woman. It was just his usual politicking, but Penny can't stand it. "Would you like some of my new miracle drug?"

Elyse has reached the point in her career where she's supposed to have a space ship at home. I already have a space ship on the roof of the Yellow House, but it feels kind of cheaty to have Elyse build it instead of the Yellow Heir.

It's go time and Victor is in a panic. Allow me to introduce you to Nicola Feng, the newest addition to our minty household.

Austin's a romantic and is eager to start dating. He invites Tobi and Perla to hang out at a coffee shop. While they're waiting for Perla to show up, Austin tries a little flirting with Tobi, but Tobi lets him know that he's not his type. Tobi nonchalantly goes back to taking selfies of his muscles(?), no harm done. Later Austin meets Perla outside and tries to give her a rose, but no such luck (I forgot to take a screenshot). Being aromantic, his advances make her uncomfortable. At the end of the evening he went home, wondering if he'll ever find someone.

The next day was New Year and Austin was moping when Annie comes over. Screwball Annie? . . . Maybe. They end up going on a date to Rattlesnake Juice and Austin had his first kiss at midnight.

Prank Day is the perfect opportunity for Penny to work on her mischief. Nothing says Prank Day like telling a depressed vampire about the impending alien invasion. Of course, talk of aliens brings the conspiracy theorists over. No, I don't know when or why Arun Bheeda starting where a Strangerville hat.

Austin is hanging out by the pool when he notices a girl he's seen at school walking by. Kaori is quite charming.


Progress Update for the Mint Generation:
-Career-Pioneer of New Technologies, Level 8
-Aspiration-Chief of Mischief, Level 4
-Skills-Logic 9, Mischief 8
-Collection-13/16 elements

Chapter 8-Romantic Rivalry

At first, I was shocked to find Elyse breaking into the Rose nursery to play with the baby, then I realized I had the wrong access settings.

Austin takes Kaori on a date to a karaoke bar. They develop an Opposites Attract moodlet because her Cheerful perkiness ought to conflict with his Hot-headed temper, but somehow it just seems to work. Towards the end of the date, Kiyoshi Ito shows up, clearly not amused. He thought that he and Kaori had something special.

The next day, Penny is at work, pranking the new lab tech with her freeze ray. She also makes contact with an alien comm station on Sixam.

Later that week, Austin takes Kaori to the park and asks her to be his girlfriend. This is my first time seeing the new interaction for asking someone to be a significant other. Definitely an improvement, less childish.

Kaori notices a familiar figure standing just beyond the park. Is Kiyoshi stalking them? "Get a life, Kiyoshi!"

As a toddler, Nicola is a bundle of energy. This might be why she follows in her brother's tradition of breaking into the Clements' house.

Austin forgot (because I did) that there was a teen living next door. Compared to Annie and Kaori, Bo is more quiet and bookish, but Austin finds her charming in her own way.


Progress Update for the Mint Generation:
-Career-Mad Scientist, Level 9
-Aspiration-Chief of Mischief, Level 4
-Skills-Logic 9, Mischief 9
-Collection-15/16 elements

Chapter 9-Extraterrestrial Explorer
Since Nicola randomized to the kleptomaniac trait, I decided she would want to be a Rambunctious Scamp in preparation for becoming a cat burglar some day.

Penny has avoided introducing herself to the Cortes family across the street because she's pretty sure Bo's mother Mae is a vampire. At Austin's urging, however, she decides to open up communication. Penny starts the conversation with Mae by mentioning that her blood is a bad vintage. Meanwhile, Austin finds Bo in her room, which clearly hasn't been updated since she was eight. After a bit of flirting, he has his third first kiss with Bo, completing level 2 of the Serial Romantic aspiration.

Penny is now an Extraterrestrial Explorer, the top of the Scientist career! All of the work examining materials on her analyzer has also allowed her to master the Logic skill.

Of course, she hasn't forgotten to work on her Mischief at work too, from freezing visiting aliens to turning the receptionist into a ghost. She finally masters the Mischief skill while visiting the Moonwood Mill Library. Kristopher Volkov did not appreciate the fake bad news.

Austin invited Kaori to his birthday party and they aged up together. It turns out they're both snobs now (for Kaori this happened randomly). As a young adult, he's taken ownership of the Rose house. This is definitely an upgrade from sharing a bunk bed with his little sister.

Victor gets Austin a job as a social justice worker. One of his first assignments is to start a protest in the Art District. Nobody paid any attention to him.

When the work day is done, Austin has time to make some new friends ;). His first guest at the Rose house is an alien named Lacey that he met wandering around his neighborhood, confused. Another day he meets Wolfgang Munch at the Bath de Rille. Something about his bad boy mystique attracts Austin.

Friday is Love Day. Austin invites Kaori over, but he suddenly develops an angry mood. Am I the only one who didn't know that angry kissing was a thing in the Sims? Penny and Victor spend the evening dancing at a cafe.

Late at night, Jamie is abducted by aliens outside of his house.



Progress Update for the Mint Generation:
-Career-Extraterrestrial Explorer, Level 10
-Aspiration-Chief of Mischief, Level 4
-Skills-Logic 10, Mischief 10
-Collection-15/16 elements

Chapter 10-Shot Gun Wedding and the End of an Era

The lights in the Yellow House have gone dark, and the door is firmly locked. Since Jamie's abduction, the Clements have decided that this isn't a safe neighborhood, so they moved to Parched Prospect. So far I've found that having a vacant structure on an occupied lot works pretty well. When the Rose house was "vacant" I didn't have a problem with sims breaking in or spawning there. I'm still tinkering with the access settings between the Mint House and Rose House. Only people who are supposed to live in a given house are allowed access to the kitchen or upstairs rooms in it. That still leaves an issue of Austin randomly bringing his meals over to the Mint house to eat with his family, and Penny and Victor coming over to the Rose House just to use the half bath.

In the morning, Austin boots up his computer and tries to increase his online footprint. So far, he only has about 200 followers. One of his assignments is to network with his neighbors. He introduces himself to Nina Caliente, and finds her passionate nature attractive. Then he goes over to the Cortes house. After talking politics with Mae for a bit, he finds Bo, who's still a teen, and has the "Let's be friends" conversation with her. The last thing his career needs is an underage dating scandal.

Penny's co-worker Jaylah gives her a metal, completing her metal collection. Unfortunately, that's not the collection she's actually trying to complete. None of the metals in her inventory contain the final missing element, Crytacoo, so she has to go digging. If she never sees another My Sims trophy it'll be too soon.

When Austin mentioned his Uptown field assignment to Penny, she pressed him into taking Nicola and her friends along with him, so they could play basketball. Nobody pays any attention to his protest, not even his little sister. After he comes home he calls Kaori over and they forget about their troubles in his balcony hot tub.

Penny has finally found a nugget of Crytunium. She retreats to her basement laboratory and replicates the metal several times. Then, she sends most of them to the Geo Council. The next day, she finds a sample of Crytacoo in the mail. Her collection is complete and the Mint generation objectives are finished. We are now officially in the Rose generation.

The next day, Victor is coming over to the Rose house to talk shop with Austin, when he overhears him talking to Kaori. "You're pregnant?" After the call is finished, Victor gives Austin a stern lecture. "You have to marry her! Abandoning your pregnant girlfriend won't look good on your resume, young man."

Austin has misgivings. He likes Kaori a lot, but he wasn't thinking about marriage. Even so, Victor was very persuasive, so Austin invites Kaori on a date to the museum. It's a snob's paradise and Kaori is very comfortable there with so many things to critique. Toward the end of the date, Austin takes Kaori out to the museum lawn and proposes. Kaori is completely blindsided. She would never have thought this would be his reaction. Her feelings for Austin are complicated. Her feelings about having a baby are complicated. Some how, in the moonlight, after a perfect evening, her impulses get the better of her and she accepts.

The wedding is planned in a hurry. Austin invites his family, the Clements, some of his political contacts and some of his high school friends. Penny's mischievous side comes out and she decides to dance in the fountain. After a while, everyone has gathered around the bar. The guests are getting tipsier by the minute, but where's the bride? After searching around, Austin finds her upstairs, reminiscing about old times with some of their mutual high school friends.

The moment has come and everybody's watching, but Austin just can't go through with it. For some reason, leaving Kaori at the altar doesn't damage their friendship or their romance. I could have sworn it used to obliterate the romance bar. I guess they nerfed that for some reason?


Progress Update for the Rose Generation:
Standing Rule- Only have one child.
Career- Fundraising Specialist, Level 6
Aspiration- Romance Juggler, Level 3
Skills- Charisma 8
Other- Leave someone at the altar (Complete), Get married for the first time as an elder.

Chapter 11-Diapers and a Pharmaceutical Empire
Penny and Victor take Nicola to the Snow Festival for some family time.

Kaori brings her newborn son, Cyrus, to meet Austin. After the introductions she says she needs to talk to him, so they have a seat. "I'm tired of this emotional roller coaster. I never seem to know where we stand. I can't be your girlfriend anymore." Austin is shocked. Kaori was his first official girlfriend. There had been others, but she was always his favorite. "I have something else to tell you. Remember that conversation we had when we were engaged? About how I should pursue my dream job? I was just offered a job with SpaceY. They're sending me to the simternational space station and I won't be able to take Cyrus with me, so you'll have to take over."
Side note: neighborhood stories actually randomized her to astronaut, I didn't do that.

Austin asked his mother to help out because of his political engagements, but it seems like his engagements never stop. Months go by and Cyrus is still staying in the Mint House. Penny feels like, where Cyrus is concerned, she's a single mother again. She thought she would have more help, between the fact that Austin is the child's actual father and Victor having a strong track record as a father figure. Victor was a supportive step-father to Austin from the time he moved in and he was a doting father to Nicola from day one. Maybe it's because he's not as young as he once was, or maybe he's just not interested in children this young if they aren't his own.

Nicola has something to say about the situation. "Ma, you spend so much time at work. But you get home, and you spend all your time with Cyrus. It's not fair." Penny thought about this and decided to make a career change. She bought a small, run-down convenience store with hopes of turning it into a pharmacy for selling her serums. It would be a way to continue her scientific pursuits while having the freedom to decide her own hours.

Meanwhile, Austin is networking. He meets divorcee Eliza Pancakes for coffee and politics. Her materialism appeals to his snobbish side.

Soon Cyrus is a toddler. I gave him the independent trait because the symbol's yellow and it kind of ties in to his being a Loner later. He wants to explore things by himself. Even so, Penny is helping him develop his skills so that he can be a top-notch toddler. Yellow gen is one of the most demanding in terms of the number and diversity of skills.

After stopping by the pharmacy, Victor thinks Penny might be on to something. Who knew that making pharmaceuticals could be profitable? For some reason, Ghost Goo seems to be their hot seller. Victor decides to call the Concerned Citizens of San Myshuno and retire from his career as a statesman. From now on he's going to focus on helping Penny build her pharma empire.

Nicola is a teen now. She randomized to the foodie trait, so I decide to give her the Master Chef Aspiration. She is more and more annoyed with having to share a bedroom with Cyrus. It was different when she was younger and spent all of her spare time running around outside, but now she'd really like the space to herself. At one point, she even kicks him out of the room. Cyrus cried by himself on the balcony.


Progress Update for the Rose Generation:
Standing Rule- Only have one child.
Career- Charity Organizer, Level 7
Aspiration- Romance Juggler, Level 3
Skills- Charisma 10
Other- Leave someone at the altar (Complete), Get married for the first time as an elder.