Ramaswami/McDermott Random Legacy ch. 17: Kissing Cousins

She showed up at the Landgraab estate unexpectedly, a between the end of his office hours and the start of her shift at the bistro. Yes, she knows he has a 'date' that evening, but she doesn't care, she wanted to see him.

"You'll make me late," Donovan sighs. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Is she deliberately trying to undermine his schemes against her aunt? No, she isn't thinking clearly enough to be so devious. She just came over because she wanted him,and damn the consequences.

"I'm definitely late now," he says, "Kamala will be pissed. I really have to go now. Can I see you tomorrow?"

"I have to work," she answers, "I have the dinner shift."

"Come to my office, then. A lunch date," he suggests. By 'date' of course, he means sex on his desk, which is perfectly fine with Regan, so she agrees to his plan.

When she gets home, she gets a stern lecture from her father. "You are out at all hours when you should be spending time with your child!" he says, and carries on about her parental responsibilities. Through her whole childhood and teen years, her father has never spoken a harsh word to her, so his angry outburst comes as a total surprise.

His anger spent, Harlan ends with a sad sigh,"Regan, my dear child, I love you more than anything. But you must learn, your mother and I won't be here forever to take care of things for you." It's not a lesson Regan is particularly interested in learning.

She has a new bedroom, a new dresser, but she still keeps her photos of Gustave where she can see them every morning when she wakes. She doesn't have any photos of Donovan, none that she can put on display, anyway.

"I'm so glad you came by, I'm about to burst," Regina greets Regan at the Goth mansion. "I just found out I'm pregnant. I could just about die."

"Wade or Kent?" Regan asks. Regina has recently, finally, broken up with Wade Alto, and started dating Kent Wainwright, so both the former and current boyfriends are likely suspects.

"Neither! Which is probably a good thing. At least, I'm glad it's not Wade. I don't want an evil slob spawn coming out of me," Regina answers. "You won't believe this, but I'm having Donovan Landgraab's baby. God, I hope it doesn't end up all blond and Landgraaby, I'd be shaming my Goth ancestors."

"You slept with Donovan?' Regan tries to only sound surprised and not completely enraged in jealous. The bastard! It was bad enough he's screwing her aunt, but her cousin, too? Regina doesn't know about Regan's affair with Donovan, so the fault lies entirely on his side.

"Well, obviously. I didn't get his baby through osmosis from my mother. Oh, eww, I can't believe I just said that. I have no idea what I'm going to tell her."

"Have you been, uh, seeing him very long?"

"No, we just had sex once. No romance involved," Regina sighs. "He had an 'appointment' with my mother, but before he showed up she got a page from the hospital, she needed to do an emergency appendectomy. This was right after I broke up with Wade, so I was feeling all mushy and maudlin, cried on Donovan's shoulder when he got here. And of course he jumped my bones. He's smooth, I'll give him that, he had me on my back before I knew what I was doing. Oh, God, he probably impregnated me on purpose. He's got to have figured out by now my mother isn't going to marry him and hand over a big chunk of the estate just because he's cute and a good lay. So he came after me. What a skank."

"And you know what else, you won't believe this, or maybe you will," Regina continues, giving Regan a funny look, "He called out your name when he came. Is there something going on between you two?"

Since Regina has figured out Donovan's schemes on her own, Regan sees no point in denying her own relationship with him anymore, "Yeah, we've been lovers for awhile now. Please, don't tell your mother." She tries not to be smug about the fact that he called her name rather than anyone else's.

"As if," Regina rolls her eyes. "I'm going to have a hard enough time explaining this baby to her. And to Kent! I haven't even put out for him yet, and now I'm having some Landgraab baby after a sleazy one night stand. But you have got to be careful with this one, cousin. He's gorgeous, and charming, and one heck of a lay, but he's a snake. That's fine if all you want is sex, but don't get yourself all wrapped up around him."

"Have you told Donovan yet?" Regan asks.

Regina shakes her head, "No, he's not really my priority right now. I'm not expecting or wanting him to be all involved in my life, his kid or no. Though it would be funny as hell to hit him up for child support. Teach him a lesson. But I don't want his money, not that he has any, or his help, or anything to do with his skanky ass. Feel free to tell him yourself. I'm sure you'd like to slap him silly right about now."

Regan wastes no time confronting Donovan. "You slept with Regina! How could you?"

"Just once..."

"Once is more than enough. She's pregnant, you know, you bastard. Lucky for you she's so rich she doesn't want your help with it. But then that's why you slept with her, isn't it? Hoping to knock her up and get her to marry you? Damn it, Donovan, what about us? Do you ever think of me when you're screwing my aunt or seducing my cousin?"

"Yes, I do think of you, Regan," he answers,"I think about you all the time."

And that was all it took for him to get her to back down, get her back in his bed, just one softly spoken sentence. Whatever he's done, whoever he betrays her with, she's in too deep to resist him.

Ramaswami/McDermott Random Legacy ch. 16: A Complicated Relationship

Donovan called Regan and asked to come by his house. "I'd really like to see you," he said. It was a request she couldn't refuse, even though she felt and bit bloated lately and not looking her best, so she put on a loose shirt that she hoped hid her bulging waistline and drove over to the Landgraab mansion. She barely got into the foyer before Donovan had her in a tight embrace, kissing her like they were lovers.

She had fantasized about this kiss so often, she let it happen, responding eagerly. But she couldn't forget that he had been dating her aunt Kamala, and that kind of spoiled the pleasure, and she pulled away from him.

"I'm sorry, I'm taking this too fast," Donovan said, not quite letting her out of his grasp.

"It's not too fast, I've wanted this for a long time now," Regan answered honestly, "But what's going on with you and my aunt Kamala?"

"You heard about that?" he asked, surprised, then continued, "Of course you did. Regina can't keep her mouth shut about anything."

"Don't blame Regina for what you're doing," she answered, shaking herself free of his arms, "If you're with Kamala, what are you trying to do with me?"

Donovan ran a nervous hand through his hair. "My father made a lot of bad investments, lost pretty much the entire Landgraab fortune, what there was of it left to lose, and I inherited a huge debt and an estate I can barely manage to upkeep with my salary. Kamala has been...very generous."

"She pays you to screw her?" Regan gasps.

Donovan winces. "Well, I doubt she'd put it that way, but it's what it amounts to, sure. Ultimately, I'm after a piece of the Goth fortune. Just a tenth of their liquid wealth could save the estate."

What's worse, a prostitute, or a gold digger? Regan has trouble accepting Donovan in either of those roles. "And where do I fit in in all this? I don't have a family fortune, and I'm not quite desperate enough to pay for sex." Not even with Donovan, as much as she wants him.

"Please, don't despise me. You're my best friend, you always have been. I just want to be with you."

What he's doing is wrong, Regan knows. She she should walk out now and go warn her aunt about the gorgeous young predator after her wealth, warn her cousin Regina to protect her inheritance. It's wrong, but she goes up to his room with him, anyway.

She's wanted him for too long to deny herself the pleasure when he's finally offering himself to her. Whatever the consequences to her family, to anyone else, even to herself, she's pleasing herself now.

Though she tried to pass off her growing stomach and persistent nausea as after effects of eating rich French foods, she can no longer deny the truth to herself, she's pregnant. Telling Gustave is out of the question, though it's his child, what could he offer? She hasn't spoke to him since she came home, and isn't interested in trying to maintain a long distance relationship with a man who lives with two women he sleeps with but doesn't take seriously.

Her current lover has only one other woman to contend with, and lives in the same neighborhood. She tells Donovan about her condition when he drops by her house after work.

The fear on his face is almost laughable,"Oh, wow, that's like the last thing I needed right now," he sighs. "I'm in no position to be a father."

"Don't worry, lover, it's not yours," Regan tells him, suppressing a giggle.

"Are you seeing someone else?" he asks, his fear turned to jealousy.

"What if I am?" Regan asks, wanting to know his answer.

"This is grossly unfair of me to say," Donovan replies, "But I want you all to myself. Tell me I'm not going to lose you to someone else."

"I had a fling while I was in France," Regan tells him, unable to hold him over the fire any longer, "And he's no competition for you."

She spoke lightly of Gustave to Donovan, but she isn't as entirely over him as she pretends, especially to herself. She keeps a snapshot of him on her dresser, and sees his face before she goes to bed at night more often than she sees Donovan's.

Her parents are of course entirely supportive, offering to help Regan raise her baby while she pursues her career. Her mother has murmured a few times about the importance of having a father around, and how difficult it was for her growing up with her father as a part time guest in their home, but she can't exactly blame her daughter for getting pregnant by a man who lives too far away to be a proper parent.

They don't know about Regan's relationship with Donovan, no one knows about that. He wouldn't want Kamala to find out about that and ruin his chances at marrying into a big inheritance. On the plus side, Kamala isn't talking about her doings with him, either, apparently seeing him as more of a dirty secret than a relationship you'd display in public. How is it her parents have such a wholesome, loving relationship, but Regan only gets involved with guys like Gustave and Donovan?

Regan has a daughter she names Lauren. The bedroom she grew up in once again becomes a nursery, and Regan takes over the second floor for herself, tearing down walls to create one large master out of two narrow single bedrooms. Regan wonders about Gustave's other child, back in France. Is it a son or daughter? Is he still with Capucine? And what about Jolene, are they all living together? She could find out if she called him, but she's consistently avoided doing so. What will she tell Lauren about her father when she's older? Regan can't answer that question, and tries to put it out of her mind.

(Challenge Notes: My roll for Generation 5 is Single Parent, 2 kids (again), Farmer career, Party to Remember, and Runs in the Family trait. That trait hasn't been selected yet; when Lauren transitions to child, I'll roll a random trait for her and that trait will be given to the second child as well. We're still early in Gen. 4, one out of two multi-cultural children has been born. Luckily I will have Saranya and Harlan around to help make the perfect child thing happen for Lauren. I haven't even decided what culture child two will come from. Too bad it can't be from the Landgraab culture.)

Ramaswami/McDermott Random Legacy ch. 15: Menage a Trois

Max died not long after his marriage, leaving poor Marsha Landgraab a widow again. Saranya had her father buried beside her mother in their family plot.

Saranya retires as soon as she reaches elder status. She's put out enough fires for one lifetime.

Regan has many friends in high school, but has never gone on a date. Her crush on Donovan Landgraab is so strong, she has no interest in anyone else. Unfortunately, Donovan has been going steady with Louise McIrish since freshman year and can't be more than best friends with Regan.

After graduation, Regan decides to put off getting a job and taking time to travel. France is renowned for its arts, culture and fine cuisine, so it's off to Champs les Sims.

She first visits the nectary, to taste the fine nectars made from locally grown grapes, and to try her hand at nectar making herself. While she's there she meets a handsome Frenchman named Gustave Delven. For the first time, Regan finds herself attracted to someone other than Donovan Landgraab, and it is with great reluctance that she bids him adieu and returns to the hostel for the evening.

Regan runs into Gustave the next day in the market square. At the nectary, he was mildly flirtatious, today his attentions are more direct.

This time she's not saying adieu so easily, and invites him on her sightseeing tour of the museum.

And then he invites her back to his house to spend the night.

Regan wakes early in the morning, alone in Gustave's bed. She hears a woman's angry voice, and Gustave's, but her French is not good enough to understand what they are saying. After she hears the front door slam and the ensuing silence, Regan creeps out of the room.

"What was that about?" Regan asks Gustave as he takes her in his arms.

"My roommate, Jolene," Gustave sighs, "She didn't like that I have a girl with me."

"That sounds like more than a roommate to me," Regan answers.

"Well, we sleep together sometimes, but it's nothing serious."

It sounds to Regan like Jolene takes it very seriously, and is glad she won't be in town long enough to be in the middle of it. The thought of leaving Gustave behind and returning to Sunset Valley makes her wistful, and she kisses him long and hard before heading out for another day of sightseeing.

Regan doesn't see Gustave for the next few days while she travels about town visiting and photographing all the sights. As the time for her to return home nears, she runs into Gustave again walking by the river, looking very dejected. She doesn't for an instant believe he's heartbroken over her, so she asks him why he's so sad.

"I have a big problem," he sighs, "My girlfriend is pregnant."

"Jolene?"

"No," he shakes his head sadly, "Her name is Capucine. She lives not too far from here. And now she's coming to live here. With me."

"With you and Jolene?" Regan tries not to laugh.

"Oui," he answers,"It will be the worst menage a trois ever."

Though she had a wonderful time and had her first romance, Regan was happy to return home. As soon as she arrived to her parents' house, she was on her cell phone, asking her friends what had gone on in town while she was gone. The big news was that Donovan Landgraab and Louise McIrish had broken up. This was a huge bit of gossip, because everyone assumed they were destined to marry as soon as they graduated. Hearing this, Regan rushed over to the Landgraab mansion to talk to her old friend Donovan, and snap him up off the market before anyone else got to him.

He was out in front of his house as she pulled up, prepared to go out somewhere, but he stopped to give Regan a long hug, more affectionate than she expected.

"How was France?" he asks, but didn't wait for her to answer, "It's so great to see you. I really missed you."

Regan is pleasantly surprised, she was sure she was going to have to work her way to this point slowly.

"I'm kind of late, so we'll have to catch up later," he says, caressing her face, "But I"m really glad you came by, I'm really happy to see you. I want to see you again, soon."

Regan promises to see him soon, and lets him go off wherever he was headed, and goes back to her own house, where she can barely sleep, being kept awake by the promise of her greatest dream coming true at last, and fantasies of what it will be like to make love to Donovan Landgraab.

Though she would have loved to run straight up to the Landgraab estate the next morning, Regan knew Donovan would be at work and she wouldn't be able to see him until later in the day, so after stopping by the bistro to apply for a job, she dropped by the pool, where she found her cousin Regina Goth having yet another fight with her on again, off again boyfriend, Wade Alto.

After greeting Regan, Wade took off to let the cousins chat. Regan talked about her trip to France and her brief but passionate affair with Gustave.

"Maybe I should go to France and find a lover," Regina quipped, "I could use a vacation from Wade."

"How are things with you and Wade?" Regan asks, pretending she didn't just witness their little fight.

"We fight all the time. Sometimes I want to give up on it, but I just know we'll end up married and fighting with each other forever, like my parents." After she spoke, she got quiet. Her father, Vernon Goth, had recently passed away. "My mother barely waited until his funeral was over before she turned cougar," she added, disgust evident in her voice, "You won't believe who she's seeing. Donovan Landgraab!"

Regan's jaw dropped, "But he's..."

"Half her age? Just out of high school? It's disgusting. I came home last night and they were going at it on the couch. I nearly hurled."

Did she imagine the affection when he greeted her yesterday? Were his caresses just a fantasy? Regan feels like her head is about to explode. "I can't believe it," she gasped, "It's so..."

"Totally unfair? The hottest guy in town goes back on the market and my mother pounces him. I'd throw Wade out a window for Donovan Landgraab. So would half the girls in this town. But, no, he goes for my mother."

Regan doesn't have the heart to visit Donovan that evening, she doesn't know what she'd say to him, or how to handle the disappointment of being so close to having him, or at least imagining it was close, only to have it ripped away. As she returns home, her stomach churns and heaves violently. Like Regina said, the image of Donovan with her aunt Kamala was just that disgusting.

(Challenge Notes: Generation 3 passed all requirements, Generation 4 is now begun. That's single parent, 2 children, multi-cultural, Culinary career, perfect children.

I have to thank Twallan's story progression mod for two major plot points this update. One day after I did my scenes with Gustave, I got pop up notices saying that Gustave Delven had been 'canoodling' with some girl named Capucine, and then, pop, she's pregnant and moving in with him. I laughed and laughed, and made it part of the story.

Then, at home, story progression broke up Donovan Landgraab and Louise McIrish, only to pair him up with recently widowed Kamala Goth. I'd be hugely bummed about this if Regan weren't forbidden to marry or breed with anyone but foreigners. As it is, it plays nicely into my story for this generation.)

Ramaswami/McDermott Random Legacy ch. 14: Daddy's Girl

As a toddler, Regan shows astrong resemblance to her father, except for the nose which is distinctly Wolff.

Even before she's off the bottle, she's discussing fine cuisine with Harlan.

Rukmini doesn't live to see her grandchildren grow up, she passes away not long after becoming an elder. Saranya has her buried in their family plot. Max is devastated at the loss of his wife, but is comforted to have their daughter Sundari living with him, with her husband and two children, Melissa and Mario.

As a child, Regan spends a lot of time playing with her toy oven. Today, muffins and brownies, tomorrow, crepes and lobster thermidor.

Regan is also passsionate about the arts. She loves painting, and Harlan gave her his cheap plastic camera to practice photography with, promising to give her his expensive Hikon when she's older, if she's still interested. Regan is quite sure she will be interested, in fact she's decided her goal in life will be to master painting and photography.

Saranya spends a lot of time training in the martial arts. The discipline and meditation has made her more focused and less reckless. While she still loves her job as a firefighter, she finds she's less excited by fires than she was when she was younger.

Time passes and Regan becomes a teen. Her eyes, mouth and face shape all come from her father, but she has her mother's nose, a trait passed through the Wolff genes.

Harlan hovers nervously as Regan prepares her first meal on the grown up stove, his stove. He's pretending to be focused on cleaning the counter, but he's watching her from the corner of his eyes. He didn't need to worry, she made her pancakes without burning the house down, and while they weren't as perfect as his pancakes, they were still quite good. With practice she will become as good a chef as her father.

As much as he hates crowds, Harlan attends the community grill-a-thon when Regan wishes to participate. Her hotdogs are better than any other hotdogs offered. He won't even mention the burnt grilled salmon cooked up by Megan Steel.

Max visits to tell his daughter he's remarrying. Marsha Landgraab, like him, has been widowed for some time, and they've been spending a lot of time together. "I'm leaving Wolff Manor to Sundari," he tells Saranya, "As much as love being around her and her kids, it's time for her to have her own life. Saranya sincerely congratulates her father. He loved her mother far more than, in Saranya's estimation, she deserved, and she's glad he's found someone new rather than spending the rest of his days grieving and alone.

Regan spends some time with her grandfather, her only living grandparent. Harlan's parents had passed on before she was born.

Regan meets a tourist from France outside the theater in town, and learns about Champs les Sims. Someday, Regan will visit there herself. She'd like to try her hand a nectar making, visit the art museum and take lots of photos.

That evening, shortly before curfew, she runs into two of her cousins, Regina Goth, her aunt Kamal's daughter, and Melissa Wolff, daughter of her aunt Sundari.

With perseverance comes success, Saranya achieves the top level of the martial arts skill. It will not be long now before she and Harlan are elders, and she will be able to retire.

(Challenge Notes: Saranya's original LTW was to rescue 30 Sims from death in fires. The problem was, for two Sim weeks straight, she only got small fires and rabbit hole emergencies to deal with, and was stuck at 16/30 rescues. Though achieving LTW is not a requirement for her generation, I've never not achieved a Sim's LTW, and began to worry about this one, since it wasn't dependent on anything I could do for her, really, it was up to the game to give the large houses fires that have Sims to rescue. So, I used Saranya's reward points to buy her a new LTW. First, I had to spend 20k to get the change traits reward, dropping her 'daredevil' for 'disciplined', so that when I changed her LTW, for 10k, she'd have available the LTW to max athletic and martial arts skill. LOL, so I spent 30k to buy a LTW that pays out 27,500 when achieved. But I have the satisfaction of fulfilling the LTW. I reach a point where I stop buying perks anyway, most I feel are too cheaty and avoid them, and end up with elders with 100ks of points and not wanting to spend, so, whatever.

As for generation goals, Perfect careers is met. Saranya is a level 10 firefighter (I can't wait to retire, the ambitions professions get boring after awhile, since you have to babysit the Sim that is in one), with maxed Athletic and Handiness. Harlan reached level 3 of his part time job, and he's maxed Gardening and Cooking, as part of his 'house-husband' career.

No Strangers was very easy, my game play style is already mostly No Strangers, I've never once hired a maid or ordered pizza in Sims 3, and rarely call for repairs, preferring to have a handy Sim around for that. The only NPCs I do ever use are babysitters, but that wasn't a problem to avoid this generation with Harlan around and only one child to raise.

Regan has a few days left before becoming YA and her generation taking over. Harlan turned elder yesterday, but I had a crash shortly after his birthday and will have to live through his birthday again when next I play. Saranya will become elder 2 days after he does.

Liam died some time ago, and Bridgette Wolff, his wife and Max's half-sister died recently, making Max the only one of his generation still around. There are too many Wolff cousins around now for me to count.

Kamala has had two girls, Regina and Alison. Sundari has a girl, Melissa, and a boy, Mario.)