Chapter 49: Stupid and Slow

Kieran was a little nervous about starting high school right after returning from China. Being out of town for much of his childhood has made it difficult for him to make friends. But on his first day of school, Jasmine Hobble Parrot asks for his help with her French homework.

After homework is done, Kieran invites her to play with him, but she says she's not into games, and she'd rather watch. But she doesn't pay much attention to the game at all, instead talking to him about her family.

"I never had my dad around much either," she says, "And when he was around...well, my parents never got along well. I was surprised they kept trying to get back together, after breaking up so many times. You're lucky your parents' divorce was so friendly, and your step-dad seems really nice. And your mom is so cool, traveling al over the world like you do."

Kieran may be a genius, but it took him long enough to figure out that Jasmine might have had other reasons for coming home with him other than help with homework. He puts his controller down and sits next to her on the couch.

He makes a bold move, putting his arm around her shoulder. He would have been mortified if she rejected him, but she leans against him and smiles. High school isn't going to be so bad after all.

Aftr school on Friday, they have their first date at the arcade. This time, Jasmine actually plays instead of just watching.

Before the date is over, they share their first kiss, and Kieran asks her to go steady with him. Jasmine reminds him of their upcoming prom.

On Saturday, Kieran meets Jasmine's mother Deidra at the library. She's quite impressed with his plans to pursue a career in medicine when he graduates.

Kaiden becomes a child.

With their youngest now old enough to travel, Sage and Joffrey plan a trip to Al Simhara. While their vacation house there would be sufficient for all four of them, Sage decides she can afford something more grand.

For herself, Sage is perfectly fine with a sleeping bag on the floor of tomb for accommodations while she's out exploring.

But she wants her boys to have the best. They have a pool back in Appaloosa Plains, but nothing as magnificent as this pool.

Joffrey takes the boys out fishing while their mother is plundering the pyramids.

In the evenings, they have the game room.

Kieran is responsible enough to take care of his brother alone for a few days they decide, and Joffrey accompanies Sage to Abu Simbel.

"I'll find a way to get you in," Sage promises when a fire trap gets between them.

One dive well and a floor switch later, Sage has found a way for Joffrey to get in.

Abu Simbel hides some of the greatets treasures to be found in Al Simhara. And it protects its treasures with fire.

Her looting awakens the Red Priest's mummy.

According to Wane McMottder, mummies are notoriously stupid and slow, and Sage has no problems getting past this one. Although she had to struggle to reopen the hidden door that closed behind her when she entered this chamber, the mummy still doesn't get to her in time to attack. Joffrey even manages to get a few pictures of the shambling creature before the couple moves on to loot other poorly guarded chambers.

They return home late at night to find the boys safely asleep, so they take the opportunity to enjoy their hot tub undisturbed.

Back in Appaloosa Plains, Logan brings his son Terrence to visit Kelsey.

Logan has been very successful in his journalism career. He's also written several novels, which Sage almost feels bad about not reading.

Kieran drops by his father's house after school. While they were away in Egypt, Jeremy and his girlfriend Leigh Sutherland got married.

So Kieran finally gets to meet his new step-mother and and his youngest half-brother, Sean.

Jeremy helps his son with his homework. Kieran tells him of his plans to pursue a medical career, and Jeremy is very proud. Any steady career would have pleased him really, since he was so afraid his son would adopt his mother's more carefree attitude toward work.

Rowley passes on. This makes Scout very sad.

Family game night.

Kaiden plays at the public pool with Becky Hennessy-Massey.

After getting good and wet on the water slide, they play in the sand.

Jasmine waited for Kieran while his family was away. On Saturday afternoon, they engaged in a make out session on a public bench, ignoring the disapproving (or envious) stares of the elders sitting across from them.

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Challenge Notes:
The traveling is really drawing out this generation. Sage and Joffrey are still YA, with something like 7 days until they turn Adult.
Sage has now completed every tomb in all 3 locations. I did have to cheat to gain access to Hatshepsut's tomb, because Sage was unable to deliver the required photo to continue that quest chain. I had to enter build mode on that lot and change the key shape from a named key to a generic crescent (Sage had a few spare crescent keys on her) to get in.
The weird thing about the Adventurer career is that it can only be pursued while traveling. So Sage has nothing to do while at home. I'm not worried about money. Although the bills are high, the family is quite rich, and if push came to shove we own three vacation homes that could be sold for cash.
The problem is I'm getting very bored with playing this generation. Joffrey paints when in AP (he's got his LTW to max painting and photography, and he's in level 9 of the Artist career), and I sometimes send Kelsey out to round up minor pets to sell, especially when she rolls a wish to catch something. Sage and Chayton are pretty much just unemployed, they've achieved their LTWs and have not much to do.
I love my vacation homes and would like to travel some more (Sage can reloot old tombs and dig at excavation sites), but I feel this generation has gone on long enough, and I'd like to just move on to the next. So, I don't know what I'm going to do.

When Rowley died, I had a small glitch with Grim. He didn't do the whole routine with Rowley. He appeared in the kitchen, then instead of going to pick up Rowley and do the ascension to kitty heaven they normally do, he just popped out of existence and left an urn behind. I think it might have been a routing issue. Anyway, not a huge deal, I'm just explaining why the only pic I have of the event is of Scout mourning for Rowley.

Jasmine Hobble-Parrot's father was Davis Bird, a son of Oriole Bird and Benjamin Schmidtt. Davis and Deidra Hobble-Parrot had an on again off again thing since they were teens. They even lived together briefly, and had two children together, Jasmine and her older brother Elvis, who seems to be following his father's pattern of dating everyone and fathering multiple kids on one woman he keeps dating and breaking up with. I secretly hoped he would marry into the Pressley family, because I would have loved having an Elvis Pressley in my town. This is why I keep all story notifications on my town, btw. I love knowing everything that goes on, so I know all the details of the Sims my own Sims get involved with.