One day Sierra announced that she had gotten a job as a wedding photographer and asked Delaney if she could use her old camera. Delaney dragged the large contraption down from the attic and gave it to Sierra, who nearly danced with excitement.
“Mom!†she called out to Mia. “Let me practice on you!â€
Mia was tired, but she shuffled out to the patio at the back of the house and posed for Sierra. After several minutes of monkeying with the equipment and making adjustments, Sierra finally snapped a few pictures.
“OK, Mom…say ‘platinum’!â€
Sierra urged her mom to move to the left a little so she could take another shot, but the air grew suddenly balmy, and the sound of ukuleles faintly strumming could be heard in the distance…
A strange mixture of odors – fresh flowers and a musty old basement – filled Sierra’s nostrils as she glanced around the patio. To her horror, her old adversary the Grim Reaper appeared and drifted right towards Mia, his hula dancers taking place on either side.
Juan shambled out to survey the scene but showed little emotion. Everyone else was either gone or in the house, unaware of what was happening.
Mia displayed no hesitation or fear as she took up her suitcase and followed the Reaper into the sunny, flower-scented afterlife, but Sierra broke down in tears, unable to watch.
“All right, Grimmy – race ya to the tiki bar!â€
Just like that, the founder of Niadon II and the last of the old guard of the Shanley family was gone. When the rest of the family found out what had happened, they gathered around her urn to mourn. Sierra developed the pictures of her mother and hung the best one in the living room. Every time she walked past it, she started crying.
“I’m sorry, Mom…your picture is so off-center!â€
Eventually life went back to normal (or at least a reasonable facsimile), and Sierra dug out the camera again to practice, this time with her father as the subject. Marcel put on his best suit for the occasion.
“Well, it’s not really my BEST suit, but I can’t fit into the llama costume anymore.â€
That night he seemed to forget he had ever been married and invited his old friend Christy Stratton over for a soak in the hot tub. He splashed her and flirted shamelessly for awhile before she finally rebuffed him.
“Sorry, Marcel, but I’m just not into llamas.â€
The next night while Marcel was heading towards the guitar in the music room, the Reaper materialized out of nowhere and offered him a tiki drink. His time had come.
“Hey, do you think you could summon up a basket of mozzarella sticks?â€
The passing of Marcel seemed to push Thomas into overdrive. He worked on nothing but skill-building day and night, pausing only to refresh himself with one of the energizer machines. He finally maxed all of his skills one evening while racing on the treadmill.
“So this is what permaplat feels like! Whoooo-eee!â€
It was just in time, too, for the next day he had his own meeting with the Grim Reaper. Thomas faced his fate with a stoic smile, knowing that he was only beginning the next stage of a great adventure.
“Ready to face the unknown, Professor?â€
The family mourned Thomas’s passing as they had the others, with much sobbing and sniffling and reminiscing. Little Ginger cried for the loss of her dad every night, and even Juan seemed a little glum, though he and the professor had always been at odds. Sierra didn’t seem to notice Juan’s glumness, however – whenever she looked at him, one thought and one thought only ran through her head:
Three good people gone, and we’re stuck with HIM?
Jen, what a wonderful update! I can’t believe that so many sims passed away! And Niadon II is so beautiful! I especially love the picture of Sierra and Thomas’ wedding. It’s brilliant! I look forward to your future updates, for sure! Great work!
Woooooooo! :D Suspense! Drama! Thrilling action! ZOMBIES!
And romance. The ‘First Kiss’ thing made me squeal. ;)
(I wrote this comment in notepad as I read the entry, so, er, if anything seems a little out of place in comparison to what happened later… just blame something.)
“Apparently one of the Goobis had been possessed by the spirit of Godzilla and was rampaging through the village”
XD Oh, man. The spirit… of Godzilla. That’d be kind of cool! Just like *RAAWR. IMMA EATCHOO. And save the environment!* Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Godzilla movie from start to finish, but I have watched a Mothra movie. I wonder… is he in a suit of himself?
I never thought about how Sims just “happen” to be wearing their swimsuits when they visit. I say they /know/ about the stuff, and are just trying to take advantage of the water.
Water-taker-advantagers-of-…ers…
The “I should marry a Shanley someday” line is foreboding, if you ask me. >_>
But the shot of Sierra doing a little dance with her ex being all sad is funny. In a sad way. But, spork, that doesn’t stop me. >_>;
The wedding looks like it was lovely, though. Man, I love that fountain. I need to find one to put in my Sims’ backyards. *makes a note to go through Modthesims2* Furnitureeee.
Mia’s move-busting face looks silly. XD It was odd, though. I read that line when I was turning on a song from a Bust-a-Move game. (Not the Bubble Bobble one, the one with dancing. And Kitty-N. Woo.) But the Grammanator (she’ll always be the Grammanator in our hearts. *teartear*) is kickin’ it, yo! :D
XD I do wonder how the teams feel about having a zombie mascot. I guess it’s like saying “our spirit lasts even in the afterlife!”?
Wow. How odd. I’ve had a sim who WooHoo’d before he had his first kiss, before (he didn’t have a Want for it by the time he got a girlfriend *shrug*), but… it’s really odd, that he forgot that. Man. I hope he doesn’t have SimAlzheimers. >_<
It’s always kind of sad (for me, anyway) when a Legacy founder dies. But, man, I don’t know how I could take three sims dying all at once. (Marcel and the mozzerela sticks did make me hungry, though. >_>)
Man. I wonder if Sierra’s ever going to like Juan, anyway? Probably not. Ah, well. Do Zombies live forever, though? Unless they die by fire, or something. Just curious.
Yay, a new update on the Shanleys! Juan is hilarious if you ask me, Ive never had a zombie in my game before.
So many deaths and widows, but then, if you marry an old NPC, that’s what you get I guess :D lol
Hope to see more soon, and maybe a Brayton update too? :P
~kath
I love the humor of the shanley updates. I’m sad to see three of them go so swiftly. Did anyone in the house have a breakdown because of all the death? Also, I can’t get over how Juan looks in a thought bubble. My kids and I laughed for sometime upon seeing that again. Thanks!
So Ruby ended up as a fortune sim! I think that Thomas and Marcel were knowledge and Mia was family but I can’t remember Juan, Delaney or Sierra. Are they popularity? That’s what they seem like to me. The blonde streak is over! At least for this generation. So which line is going to continue the legacy? Will it be Ruby or Ginger? And who is the current legacy holder? Delaney or Sierra? That’s all.
Nevermind! Delaney and Sierra are both Sierra but I still can’t think of Juan’s aspiration!
Wow. Great update Jen. So many deaths but atleast they all died in platnum good work with that. The kids seem to be doing well too. :)
Hehe, I liked the update, though I must say Juan is beginning to annoy me. Zombies. hmph. But that’s just me…otherwise, keep up the awesome work! I was just wondering if you’re planning to do a Brayton update soon?
The poor Shanleys! The loss of 3 important people….almost makes me want to cry! Great job Jen!
Hey guys, thanks for the comments! (Or in the case of Blu, thanks for the novel! ;-))
Blu – Your comments made me laugh out loud a few times. :-) As for zombies, apparently they do live forever — that is, they don’t age — but they can be killed by electrocution, starvation, drowning, etc. And yeah, Sierra hates Juan, but only in my story — in the game they’re friends. Mia really did hate Juan, though — when she passed on, her relationship with him was in the negative. He picked on her a lot.
lil – I’m surprised no one in the house had a breakdown with all of the deaths — no one had fears of their loved ones dying! It was weird.
Nita – Yep, Delaney and Sierra are both Family. Juan is Popularity. Ruby will probably be the one to carry on the Legacy — her stats are better than Ginger’s (though both have a Niceness of 9, which is…nice!). That would make Delaney the 2nd gen Legacy heir. Or 11th gen, if you include the original Shanley Legacy.
For those of you who are wondering about the next Brayton update, I’m going to write a blog entry addressing that very question.
Yeah in my last comment I said “Delaney and Sierra are both Sierra” but I meant to say family. I hate it when I mess up like that. Sorry to distract you from your blogging!