Hi! Welcome back to Ruth’s (un)Officially Wacky Boolprop Challenge! I must apologize for the unevenness of the pictures in this chapter. Partway through the rotation, I figured out a shiny new way to take pictures. It’s not that the old pictures are bad, just that the new ones are better. (Although I do still need a little practice in not including a Sim’s queue in the shot. I’ve edited that out where possible.)

I also need to apologize for the language in this chapter. There’s only one bad word, but I make it work triple overtime. Not, however, without reason.

And now, let’s see what’s been happening this time around…

Now, last time, I promised to show you makeovers of Olga and Casilda, and I am a woman of my word. Here we see Olga in full Goth gear… including gloves. The dress is a mesh edit of a TSS outfit -- apparently the original included a tie, for some reason.

I rerolled Olga’s everything, and she is now a Knowledge Sim who likes werewolves and people in their underwear, but not those who are mechanically inclined. I also randomized Olga’s gender preference on the SimBlender, and she prefers males.

I had trouble deciding how to make over Casilda, since The Gondoliers is a period piece, set during the days of powdered wigs and panniers. However, the original Casilda was married in infancy to a king, making her a queen, so I went with some vaguely princess-y type outfits and hair.

Don’t expect this Casilda to play out that exact plot, though. I haven’t got any kings in my game, or any queens either. Although many of the little girls are princesses as far as their daddies are concerned.

Old Adam and Glen have been tag-teaming the childcare responsibilities lately, since Lisa has to work and the girls have to go to school.

Luckily, as an Elder, Old Adam needs very little sleep -- and as a Family Sim, Glen’s aspiration is usually high enough to be able to use the Energizer.

Old Adam generally handles bath time. And this is the perfect opportunity to fit this in: I know that in the past I have sometimes been a bit mysterious about which twin was which, for reasons of Plot. Well, there is no reason to do that with these two munchkins! Deadeye is the one on the left, and Nanki-Poo is the one on the right. You can tell because Deadeye has normal-sized eyes and Nanki-Poo has large eyes.

I can also tell that they have different personalities, even at this early stage. Do you see the fly buzzing around Deadeye, near the middle of Old Adam’s forearm? Only Sims with 0 or 1 Neat point get flies when they stink. Nanki-Poo has no flies, so he must be Neater.

I admit to growing Nanki-Poo and Deadeye up a little sooner than usual, because I wanted to get the family portrait underway. Old Adam really is quite old now, and I want to be sure that he’s in it. Since Lisa was at work, Olga helped Glen do the honors.

On the bright side, it makes the boys easier to tell apart. Nanki-Poo is the one with the rockin’ hairstyle and the layered look.

Gilbert’s Nanki-Poo was the son of the Mikado disguised as a mere strolling minstrel, although apparently his musical abilities left something to be desired. I think that perhaps Nanki-Poo Shankel should be musical as well, don’t you?

Nanki-Poo is fully Neat, Outgoing, and Active, almost completely Serious, and mostly Grouchy.

Deadeye is the one in the sweet sailor suit. (I do try to use as much Eaxis content as I can with this family, but what else is there for a sailor in the Toddler age group? Besides, I’m pretty sure Free Time introduced sailor suits, so this is totally just replacing that.)

Gilbert’s Dick Deadeye was a sailor with an eyepatch who was universally reviled and criticized. I expect that Deadeye’s personality will be closer to Gilbert’s other sailor named “Dick”: Dick Dauntless from Ruddigore, who is handsome and popular.

Deadeye is not at all Neat or Outgoing, thoroughly Active and Nice, and mostly Playful.

Pitti-Sing has been having some challenges with her homework lately, and her grades are hovering around the D/D- range, but Old Adam has taught her to study and helped her do enough homework to fend the Social Worker off for one day.

The following day, Glen taught Casilda how to study and helped Pitti-Sing with her homework. At the same time, which made for an interesting conversation.

GLEN: …and add the one plus the six plus the two E-N-O-R-M-O-U-S for a total of nine really really big, like an elephant or something.

The girls don’t seem to have any problems understanding him, and Day Two was a Friday, giving Pitti-Sing plenty of time to catch up on her homework. I’ll just have to ignore the annoying Social Worker popups for a couple days.

And speaking of homework…

OLGA: Will you stop that?!PITTI-SING: Uh-huh. (keeps jumping)OLGA: Now?PITTI-SING: Sure. (keeps jumping)OLGA: Look, I can’t do my homework while you’re jumping on the bed. Cut it out!PITTI-SING: Okay. (keeps jumping)OLGA: For the love of Iolanthe, stop jumping on the bed right now or I’ll set the Red-Headed League on you!

PITTI-SING: What’s the Red-Headed League?

OLGA: It’s a secret society made up entirely of people with red hair, and they hate all people who aren’t red-heads. They particularly hate people with black hair because black hair is dominant over red. And they really especially hate girls with black hair who don’t shut up when they’re told to!

PITTI-SING (cautiously): What do they do to them?

OLGA: Nobody knows. They come around and their victims are never heard from again.

PITTI-SING: But you can’t make them come and take me. You have black hair too. And you don’t know any red-headed people.

OLGA (V.O.): Oh, don’t I? Then what about Becky that I brought home from school the other day? She’s a member of the League. She told me all about it. And I dye my hair. I’m Goth.PITTI-SING (V.O.): But you only put purple highlights in.OLGA (V.O.): The League doesn’t know that. And if you tell them, I’ll make sure that you disappear myself.PITTI-SING (V.O.) (nervously): …Would Becky really make me disappear?OLGA (V.O.): Did you see how pissed she was when she left? She didn’t know I had relatives with black hair. So, yeah, I’d say she would.PITTI-SING (V.O.) (in a very small voice): I’m sorry. I won’t jump on the bed anymore.OLGA (V.O.): Yeah, you better not.

CASILDA: Does the Red-Headed League really exist?

OLGA: What do you think?

(Casilda ponders)

CASILDA: I don’t think so.

OLGA: Don’t tell Pitti-Sing that. I want to see how long it takes her to figure it out.

CASILDA: Okay.

At the end of Day Two of the rotation, Myrna came out for the very first time. She seemed unhappy about something. Possibly that her urn had been moved, or possibly that Glen is not as good a painter as she is.

I have to admit that I wish she’d picked a different way to express her displeasure.

Fortunately, one of the people I sent to plead made it there in time.

OLD ADAM: Please, Mr. Reaper, please do not take my son-in-law! He is a good man, a good husband, and a good father. His wife and children need him in their lives. Please, please, Mr. Reaper -- on bended knee I beg! Please spare his life!

GRIM REAPER: .e.. .ou ..at: i. .ou ca. gue.. ..ich .an. .is sou. i. i., .ou ca. .av. .i. .ack.

OLD ADAM: Is that not your left hand?

GRIM REAPER: .on’. gue.. .e.. I’. go.ng .o p.. .y .an.s ..hi.. .y .ack .o I ca. .ix ..ings u. w…ou. .ou .ee.ng i. I wa... ..en .ou ca. gue...

OLD ADAM: You are aware, sir, that your robe is all but transparent and both your hands and your back are only bone?

GRIM REAPER: ..en ..i. ..ould .e ea.y .or .ou. .ick . .an..

OLD ADAM: Ah. Hmm. Are you quite sure it is in your hand? You have not secreted it up your sleeve, as in the shell game?

GRIM REAPER: I.’. i. a .an.. P.ck o...

OLD ADAM: HaHA! Yes! Suck it, Mr. Reaper!

GRIM REAPER: ..ere’. .o nee. .or tha. .ind o. .angua...

Which is how Glen was restored to the loving bosom of his family.

Don’t laugh -- it just means “chest,” and the phrase as a whole means that they held him close in a great big hug.

And Myrna found her bed, and is quite happy about it. So all’s well that ends well, right?

Oh, if only! The ghosts were out in more force than I’ve ever seen them, and Ryan didn’t take kindly to Pitti-Sing’s attempt to mourn her grandmother.

Oh, shit. This is bad. This is very very bad. She’s going to die, isn’t she?

Shit.

No, she’s not going to die. This is worse. This is the Social Worker. Shit.

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit!

Woohoo!

I admit it -- at this point I panicked and quit without saving.

When I reloaded the game, I decided to send Glen to man the Tacky Flamingo for the night, and to have him take Pitti-Sing with him. After all, they have food there, and the Social Worker can’t show up to take kids at a community lot, right?

Yes, this is cheater-y. Myrna did not approve.

And when I say that she didn’t approve, I mean that she did not approve at all.

The Social Worker still showed up, and took all the kids away. (Except Olga, who is a Teen.) At that point, Ryan decided that he didn’t approve of cheaterpantses either, and scared Glen in the one place that nobody could get to in order to plead for his life.

Okay, no problem, right? We can work around this. After Lisa, Adam, and Olga made it through the Night From Hell, Lisa resurrected Glen using the Bone Phone -- paying the full amount, of course, cash on the barrelhead -- and calling to adopt her kids back.

Just one leetle problem: This is not one of the kids taken by the Social Worker.

Further investigation showed that neither Lisa nor Glen had any memory of the kids being taken away. Lisa was probably distracted by her husband dying, and Glen probably didn’t notice because he was too busy being dead. But having the memories missing is definitely a Bad Sign, and when the SimBlender couldn’t find the kids, I knew something was bad wrong.

So I restored from backup, and lost all the events of the Night From Hell.

Please note that restoring from backup was not an attempt to sidestep the bad events like death and the Social Worker. I was willing to work around that, even if I wasn’t particularly happy about it. But the missing memories and missing children point to sudden, terrible corruption, and I don’t want to lose the whole ’hood. I simply replayed the previous day-and-a-bit, and with a set up like that, is it any wonder that my Sims resorted to two-fisted drinking the second time around?

When replaying the Night From Hell, I made sure that everyone was involved in activities that are difficult to stop. For instance, for Lisa to be scared to death, she would have to stop teaching Nanki-Poo to talk, and the animation for that takes long enough that being scared might very well drop out of her queue.

Glen taught Deadeye to walk, and Olga gained a lot of skill points that night. She is old enough to die, and I don’t want her to.

Even if I didn’t like her, I need her for Plot.

There was nothing I could do with the littlest ones, except send them to bed. Old Adam I kept mobile so he could run and plead with the Reaper for anyone who needed pleading.

…And after all that, not one ghost made an appearance.

The next morning, Adam decided to Officially pass along the business.

LISA: Are you sure, Poppa?

OLD ADAM: Of course I am! I am certain that you will do a fine job with it.

LISA: But I’m not sure I can get there to open up every day.

OLD ADAM: O, do not trouble yourself about that! As long as I am able, I shall go manage the property for you any time you wish it. It is merely that passing things along now requires less paperwork and fewer legal fees than leaving it as part of my estate.

Adam also tried to Pass Along certain business perks to Olga, who was having none of it.

OLGA: Grandpop, why would I want to perk someone up? If they’re in a gloomy mood, they do not need to be jollied out of it. That’s like saying that their feelings are, like, invalid or something. And if I want to call someone, I’ll look up their phone number online. Esme, you’d think computers didn’t exist!

The business is doing very well, by the way. Here we see proof that Mrs. Crumplebottom approves of throwing strikes. And why shouldn’t she? It’s mostly what she throws herself.

Seriously: get Mrs. Crumplebottom on the bowling alley, and she’ll leave your customers alone.

Come Day Three of the replay rotation, the ghosts were out in force, and they were Not Happy.

And since every single one of them made a beeline for Glen, I had a horrible sense of déja vù.

LISA: Oh, please, Mr. Reaper! Please don’t take my husband! Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease --

GRIM REAPER: I’.. .lay .ou .or .im I. .ou’.. ju.. b. qui...

I don’t think anyone was happier than I when the rotation was over. At this house, anyway.

But let’s go see what’s happening with the other families you know and love, shall we?

Unfortunately, this was not the only house that the Reaper visited this rotation. Adam’s sister Buttercup earned her umbrella drink and hula zombies at the ripe old age of 78. She will be much missed.

The rest of the family is doing well, or at least as well as can be under the circumstances.

In happier news, Leila and Abhijeet had a small yard wedding. The bride wore Sentate and a smile, the groom wore his formal brujo robes and an equally large smile. Abhijeet Fuchs became Abhijeet Shankel even though traditionally, Leila (the younger of the two) would have taken his name. But can you blame him for making the switch?

I can’t.

Rose and Dmitri have had another baby, and here he is: Ivan Dmitrovich Shankel.

This may seem sudden, because it is. Rose was very early pregnant at the end of the last rotation -- so early that I wasn’t sure she was pregnant. (I was in the bathroom at the crucial moment and missed the lullaby.) Ivan was born on the last day of the rotation. However, because I am going to have to rebuild and you can’t make any Sims younger than Toddler in CAS, he had to be aged up in a hurry.

I am sure that you will agree this makes him no less cute.

And lest you think I’ve forgotten about the other child in the house, here is a completely adorable picture of Alexander and Tiger, the family cat.

Both Nicholas and Draupadi have grown into Children. And while I do not have a picture of Draupadi to show you (for which I apologize), here is a picture of Nicholas, who was temporarily overheated from playing an energetic game of Whap! with Grandma Fantine.

I will show you a picture of Draupadi next time, I promise.

Sadly, Old Adam’s brother-in-law Oliver died at the age of 74, and was shortly joined by Old Adam’s brother Oakapple.

We’ll just chalk this one up to a broken heart, shall we?

On which gloomy note I will leave you.

Notes, disclaimers, and other triviaThis chapter’s title is from The Gondoliers, and the song is quite appropriate. For instance, it contains the lines “Death is the only true unraveller!” and “Life’s perhaps the only riddle/That we shrink from giving up.”

Also, yes, I did try and weasel my way out of the negative consequences of the hauntings, but I think that I was more than adequately punished with instant neighborhood corruption. Do you think that we could maybe call it even?

Please?

Now, although I managed to not shred my ’hood beyond all recognition this rotation, I have in the past done some Very Bad Things without meaning to, and the ’hood has been showing mild signs of corruption for a while. Having to restore from backup this time, plus having to restore from backup again less than a week later for an unrelated (but nasty) issue, has convinced me that I need to rebuild anyway. joandsarah77 has agreed to extract my Sims, and you shouldn’t notice a decrease in quality bar a possible delay in chapter posting.

On an unrelated note, the random Teen Olga brought home is wearing my Birth Queen Skin. Deadeye is wearing the normal alien skin. Pretty good match, huh? [/shameless self-promotion]

When I rebuild, I will lose all the levels that the Tacky Flamingo has earned thus far, as well as all business perks and customer stars. I am a bit cross about the business perks, but there’s nothing I can do. I would, however, value my the opinion of my readers: Should I count myself as having completed the requirement to have a Level 10 business, or should I start the scoring for that over again?

Maybe if I start all over again, that would pay for trying to weasel out of negative consequences?

The Grim Reaper’s lines, in order:

Tell you what: if you can guess which hand his soul is in, you can have him back.Don’t guess yet. I’m going to put my hands behind my back so I can mix things up without you seeing if I want. Then you can guess.Then this should be easy for you. Pick a hand.It’s in a hand. Pick one.There’s no need for that kind of language.I’ll play you for him if you’ll just be quiet.

Until next time, Happy Simming!