The Phantasma LegendNot a legacy; merely a legendary bloodline.

Last time, a certain Romance Sim by the name of Erik Phantasma got into a spot of trouble around town, and landed himself a rather unexpected family. Go back and read the first one if you’re confused—there are only like a dozen slides.

In this chapter, we explore how Erik and his Popularity wife Faustina adjust to family life with their darling daughter Bindi. Their decorating style is certainly not up to scratch, but with only the base game installed, what do we expect?

Part 2

“Another one?! You’re kidding. Seriously?”Seriously, Erik. Get used to it. I know I don’t like my sister, but Bindi would be totally thrilled to have someone to play with.

Well, this “Try For Baby” thing worked once, right? So of course I clicked it again. The first one came out so well, after all.

Erik, of course, almost immediately rolled a fear of babies. He spent the next two days in and out of the hot tub to try and get over it.

I also came to the realization that I was very fond of the study (which is the room they are standing in) and did not particularly want to have to convert it to a second nursery. Thus did I come to the slightly unsatisfactory conclusion that if there was a boy involved, Bindi’s pinkness would be redecorated to a neutral yellow.

The expected three days of waiting around later (during which small breaks were taken to try and convince Erik of a few things and teach Bindi life skills), Linder was born. Yay, another daughter!

Linder is named after Princess Academy. It’s the neat sort of stone they mine. It sounded cool—now the girls are a rock and a fairy. This appeals to me because I have an insane attraction to rock (which can be seen later, as I start decorating with it all the time).

Erik does as fathers should do (which, by the way, he did not do with Bindi) and held his newest daughter as soon as she was born.

“Happy Birthday, Bindi!”

“Cake!!!”

Linder is put down for her nap, because it is time for Bindi’s birthday. Erik brings her to the cake in the same manner he does most things around the house—in as little clothing as possible. It seems he’s always in his swimsuit or underthings.

There was supposed to be quite a party, but the wedding almost got really dicey, so I had more of a toned-down one (with Faustina’s non-Erik-lusting friends, mostly).

Bindi certainly got all of her toddler skills, and she also spent an outrageous amount of time on the xylophone. I value creativity very highly, as can be seen coming on here shortly.

This picture. This picture, right here, more or less sums up most of Bindi’s childhood. It’s also arguably the most beautiful one ever—and, just like Bindi, I didn’t necessarily mean to get it. I was just cruising through the house, checking up on them, and managed to stop there and snap a shot. I liked it enough that I restaged it and got Erik to paint a still-life of it.

Bindi spent a whole lot of her childhood and teenage years painting. She liked it, I liked it, and everybody was happy. Plus, the paintings I didn’t like went into the household budget, so more bonus there.

*whistling*

“Dad, how long is this going to take?”

Erik developed a habit of painting. This would have been somewhat less disturbing if he had chosen to do it differently—the easel is right in the front windows, and Erik is usually running about in his underwear.

Bindi, strangely, did not seem to mind in particular. She was the subject of several portraits. Faustina had taken to a career as a novelist in the study upstairs, and was oblivious to the whole situation.

Both parents have spent most of their lives unemployed. I put it down to “Erik’s Fortune”, which is also known as “motherlode”.

“Daddy’s little girl!”

Linder made very few appearances, and visited downstairs perhaps twice. Erik taught her to walk in the kitchen just before her birthday. Even though she is a Bindi clone with blue eyes (which I usually prefer over brown) I like Bindi so much better. I’m sort of confused now as to why Linder came along at all.

Bindi, on the other hand, had a wild and wonderful childhood. She was all over the house, from the piano Erik insisted I get, to her easel, to school again, and back. Comparatively, she had the most adventures of anyone.

The moral of the story is that Romance/Popularity pairings make really inattentive parents.

Bindi and Linder were only children together for approximately two days, and got along very well during this time period. With only the base game installed, there was very little children could do with toddlers or teens that I was particularly interested in; I don’t like my sister much, or any children really, so childhood interactions were a bit of a mystery to me.

Nevertheless, Linder got her own easel and quickly began painting, although I got the feeling she never liked it nearly as much as Bindi.

Both girls had formal portraits done and hung by the fireplace. Some of the informal ones made their way upstairs and into the study.

Bindi painting a top-down shot of the pool in daylight. It’s a really cool effect for a still life.

Bindi transitioned into a teenager faster than I could believe, and continued her painting streak. She was the first child I had gotten to be a teenager, and I still thought that aspiration was genetic, and was hoping that my favorite little girl would not become a crazy harlot like her father. I was thrilled to discover that it was my choice; she got Family in a heartbeat. My beautiful girl was going to make lots of beautiful Sim babies.

She rolled really childish wants for the first few days. Just painting, hanging out with Linder, etc. No big deal, right?

The first real thing she wanted was to fall in love. Typical Family Sim, right? Well, the grandspawn certainly needed a full set of grandparents. I wasn’t up for breeding a special boyfriend—Linder was my proof that not every Sim was a perfect Sim. So I did the intelligent thing and popped over to CAS.

Thus was the origination of Zane Hatfield and his family, who promptly moved in right next door to the Phantasmas.

Bindi and Zane hit it off right from the start. He was a Knowledge—the most observant and sociable Knowledge I’ve ever met since, including the multitudes of Sim spawn to follow. During his teen years, he acted above and beyond his stargazing habit and three outgoing points.

Bindi also rolled this random want for a new family member. I’ve never seen it since, but Family teens get on my nerves and usually get sent off to college almost immediately. So, to spoil my baby, even though everyone else in the house could really care less, I had Erik and Faustina go and make another little one. I was going to go for Broke and dump the crib in the hall, since there was literally no physical space for it in the bedroom.

Now, I really had no idea this game could produce twins. The original Sims does not, and until some three weeks previously, that was my Sims experience. My family thought I had gone mad when, out of the blue, I leaped out of my computer chair with a surprised shout of “TWO?!?!”

Well, I couldn’t have three girls and a boy sharing a room, and I was so not giving up my study. I did what any other person would do—I slapped a third floor on the house. Bedrooms for everyone!

Bindi immediately lost interest in Ivy and Gabriel, and went back to filling up her room—now all to herself—with beautiful paintings. I have no idea how the twins lived to see functional adulthood at all; although it might explain a few of their little problems.

I have seen prettier Sims since, but I wasn’t nearly as talented with CAS back in the day. I’m amazed at how well she turned out; none of the others were nearly as fortunate. I love her paintings, as well—I have a “historical society” run by her descendants with a replica of the house and paintings.

“Tea, Mr. Doll?...Why, certainly, Mrs. Doll.”

This is when I realized that Erik was getting old. This was a problem to me—no one in my family ages particularly visibly. I couldn’t stand the though of everyone’s favorite Casanova going silver. I love silver on men, but not Maxis silver…ew.

This is also when I discovered the Magical Elixir.

Erik and Faustina downed great gobs of the stuff. They were not going to get old on my watch. They had eight-year-old twins; no time to be going silver.

I invented the Mystical Time Anomaly, as well; an undiscovered property of Fun Time Island that has habits of screwing around with everyone’s time scale, with the benefit of immortality and the potential problem of overpopulation—nothing my hard drive couldn’t handle.

The inhabitants of Fun Time Island became immortal. A truly never-ending party.

Overall, not much longer than the last one. I didn’t take as many pictures then; pictures per generation increase steadily from here on out, but I don’t want to bore people with all-text slides.

How about a preview of the next chapter?

Bindi started a look-alike Legend line. This is generation five—I took the picture this morning. The black-haired one, not her creepy-looking twin brother.

Picturesque Weddings!

Secret Siblings!

Grandspawn!

Fin