Chapter 21: True Dragon

Allyriane and Aymeri are expecting their first child.

"Exactly how old are you?" she asks him.

"Exactly? I couldn't possibly count the years, especially not in human terms. I'm ancirnt, my love. I've been around since before humans walked the lands."

Allyriane takes a deep breath before asking her next question. "Have you had children before?"

"Yes," he nods, his smile turned to a frown.

"Will our children ever meet their brothers and sisters?" Allyriane continues her questions. Now that she's pregnant, she finds herself wanting to know about his life before she met him, before she was even born.

"They are all dead, my love," he says. She doesn't have to ask the next question, he sees it in her eyes and answers before she speaks the words. "I had a son who was a dragon. His fire burned hot, as it does with young dragons, and he was ruled by his appetites. He fed on the wrong human, and paid for the mistake with his life. I had a daughter with a water sprite, and she took after her mother's kind. She fell to  the pollution, became one of the twisted ones, the enemy. It was I who ended her life, in battle."

"That's so sad," is all Allyriane can say.

"Aye, it is," Aymeri agrees, "But those days are over, and our children will not suffer such tragic fates."

Amelia becomes an elder. If not for the time he spent in the fae, Thierry would be an elder now too. But he assures her his love for her has not dimmed in the least.

Allyriane and Aymeri have a daughter, Ryanne.

Now that's she's a mother, Allyriane has begun to take her involvement with the city's politics more seriously. She must do her best to make the world a better place for her children. So, she begins reaching out, seeking support for her campaign for local representative. She receives her first campaign donation from Annette Archer, her uncle Tobin's twin sister.

Anson Pleasant is a little worried about throwing his money toward a third party candidate.

"I'm all for environmentalism," he says, "But you're running a single issue campaign."

"Can you think of any other issues you want you local representative to address?" Allyriane counters.

Anson is stumped on that one, and writes her a check for two thousand simoleons.

Though an elder, Amelia has not retired, and Allyriane spends her day campaigning. The men in the family just kick back and enjoy their unemployed status.

Ryanne becomes a toddler.

And the unemployed men become full time caretakers.

Thierry missed out on raising his own children, so he's making the most of being a grandfather.

Aymeri took over Allyriane's garden as she became too busy to tend to it every day. The plants thrive under his care.

At his wife's suggestion, Aymeri writes a series of books about gardening techniques, sharing his knowledge with the world.

Her political career won't stop Allyriane from having another child. Family is the reason she's running for office, after all.

The child is yet unborn, but Aymeri feels the fire growing in his wife's belly. This child will be of his kind, and this worries him. But he says nothing to Allyriane of his apprehensions.

Allyriane seeks and receives the support of the Firefighter's Union. With such important allies, her victory is almost assured.

Her advisors warned her that campaigning while pregnant would cause unwanted distractions. They were partially right, in that everyone she talks to wants to feel or talk to her belly. Even Susanna Wolff, the Empress of Evil cannot resist the urge to make baby talk with her growing bump. But the effect of the distraction turns out to be all positive, people's wallets open wider when she asks for support.

Thierry's aging was delayed, but he catches up to Amelia soon enough. Over breakfast, he tries to explain human politics to his dragon friend. Aymeri decides to just leave politics to his wife and stick to gardening.

Their second child is another daughter, Tearney.

"Welcome to the world, little dragon," he whispers. He wants to be happy, proud to have fathered one of his kind, as no true dragon has been born in millennia. But there's a reason dragons are so few in number, and he can't help but be anxious about this one's fate.

Tearney becomes a toddler.

Aymeri has kept silent about his concerns, but as Tearney grows, he knows he has to tell Allyriane, to prepare her.

"Tearney is a dragon," he says without preamble, "I can sense her fire."

Allyriane looks at the little girl in her father's arms, and sees nothing out of the ordinary. "What does that mean? Will she...transform? Breather fire?"

"I would have to teach her that, and I won't," Aymeri says, "Despite the inherent power of that form, it makes us too vulnerable to our own appetites, and, being such a big target, it just gets us killed."

"Then what is it that's bothering you?" Allyriane asks, sensing his disquiet.

"Young dragons burn hot, my love. They are unruly and not easily tamed. She may not fly or breathe fire, but she will struggle, rebel, fight us and her society at every turn. She will find trouble wherever she can."

Allyriane smiles, "I think that's a good thing."

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Challenge Notes:
We are in week 3 of Gen 3. As I mentioned in previous notes, Aymeri did the first of his Job Hopper jobs, the music career, outside the story, since he only actually worked two days, because of all the days off you get for a wedding. His second week's job was 'none', so that was easy. Third week is Author, so he's writing non-fiction books about gardening.

Aymeri's LTW is Perfect Garden, so most of his time spent improving plant quality.

Allyriane's LTW is Renaissance Sim (I do that one a lot). She's already maxed gardening and fishing. Since her career requires Charisma, that will probably be the third.
During her second pregnancy, she somehow lost the ability to ask for campaign donations. It just isn't there in her conversation options anymore. (She was able to ask for donations while pregnant at first, I have a pic of her getting donations from the firefighter in the station. But later on, the option just stopped appearing. It hasn't come back)
I don't care that much, I'm not in a hurry for her to progress in the career. Writing a story around this career can be tough when they get promotions too quickly. It's like they have elections every day.

Aymeri is keeping up with the tattoo addict, as well. He's got 3 and it's been three weeks.

Thierry achieved his LTW, maxing guitar and charisma.

Tearney is the heir for gen 4. I didn't roll, because I wanted an heir that takes after Aymeri, and I wanted a girl. It's hard to tell with toddlers, so I hope I didn't jump the gun, but she has his hair and eye color, and the nose looks wide, which would come from him. I still have two children to go, but I kind of needed to choose early so that Aymeri could recognize the dragon child as heir.
The roll for gen 4 is Step Children, 4 children, Ghost Hunter career with Crime-Evil as secondary. The goal is party to remember and the misc fun is Fighter.
I have never actually played the evil branch of the crime career. Sim 'evil' is so Snidely Whiplash cartoony, I tend to avoid it. So, this will be interesting.