Chapter 10: Really Good in Tights

The morning after Heath and Bianca's wedding.

Farrell starts a workout program, because his body should be as fit as his mind. Also, he might someday have to flee from MorcuCorp's black suits, or mummy shock troops, or worse.

Bianca and Heath have a pre-honeymoon celebration in the shower.

It's also the day of Elliot and Rochelle's prom, and their last day before graduation. Shell comes to his house hours before the prom to tell him she's found the perfect house for them, up on the hills above them. Elliot will hate to leave the beach, but he's going to be a man and doesn't want to stay in his father's house forever. 

The next morning, Elliot's family and Rochelle gather for his birthday celebration. Bianca is mostly excited because after cake, she and Heath are leaving for their honeymoon.

"I want you to have this," Heath says, handing the box to his son.

"Dad, I can't take this," Elliot says when he opens the gift; it's the photostrip of Heath and Ashlynn that long hung over Heath's dresser, "This means so much to you."

"It does," Heath says, "But it's all you have of your mother. And, it's not fair to Bianca for me to keep that up in her bedroom."

"If you're sure," Elliot says, reluctantly accepting the gift, not wanting to tell his father that he doesn't need anything from the mother he never knew, that this picture will never carry the meaning for him that it did for Heath. "I'll treasure it," he promises. Though his mother isn't even a memory, it is a picture of his father as well, and that does have meaning.

Shelly decides it's her turn to get some time with her boyfriend.

"Are you ready to go?" she asks, grabbing him in tight hug, like he might get away from her.

"There's no hurry, Shell," Elliot says, "My dad's leaving town, we could chill here for a few days, enjoy the beach..."

Rochelle gets a  frantic look in her eyes, "I want to move into our house now," she insists.

"Okay," Eliot says, "Don't stress over it, sweetheart. We'll go as soon as Dad and Bianca take off."

"You'll be good for your brother?" Heath asks, knowing full well that his youngest son is always well-behaved. He would have been fine to leave the boy alone in the house really, except for his concern that Farrell might wander off in the middle of cooking dinner and burn the place down, or more likely, get so involved in one of his projects at the workbench that he'd forget to eat for a week straight. So Farrell is to be packed off to stay with Elliot until Heath and Bianca return from Sunlit Tides.

After Heath and Bianca drive off to the airport, Elliot and Farrell get into Bianca's waiting car, and head to their new house on the hill above.

Elliot had given her the money for the down payment without having seen the house himself, trusting her judgment, so it is something of a surprise to see her take the dirt roads leading into the farming areas of town.

The surprise fades when she parks by the side of the biggest house Elliot  has ever seen.

"It's not just a house," Shelly says, almost panting in her excitement, "It's an estate."

"It's been vacant for years," Rochelle tells him as she leads him through house. The real estate company had restored the kitchen and modernized the plumbing on the first floor, leaving the second floor and attic completely bare. Shelly's parents had bought them a bedroom set, and that and the simple couch and desk in the living room was all the furniture they had to start with.

"This is the best part," Shell says, grabbing his hand, leading Elliot out to the barn at the back of the house.

"Look," she says, stopping in front of some rusty old machinery, "This came with the house."

"That's, uh, great," Elliot says, trying to share her enthusiasm without a clue as to why it's a good thing there's crap in the barn that needs to be cleaned out.

"It's a nectar press," Shelly explains, "This place used to be a vineyard and nectary. And I'm going to bring it back."

"You're going to grow fruit and make nectar," Elliot says in disbelief.

Shelly nods, excited, picturing the bottles of expensive nectar all bearing the 'Brannon Vineyards' label. "We're going to be the best nectary in this part of the world," she says, picturing wealthy people in upscale restaurants paying a premium for her nectars, collectors hoarding her bottles in their cellars, showing them off to their associates.

It's seems a bit dubious, but Elliot keeps his doubts to himself. His father got him off to a wealthy enough start that he can afford to indulge his future wife's dreams, silly as they might be. He's pretty sure that once she discovers how dirty and back breaking working the soil is, she'll drop it and go back to her painting.

Shelly is just as dubious about Elliot's career choice. "You were the top athlete in our school," she says, "You could easily be captain of the Llamas, or MVP, or whatever."

"I'm done with team sports," Elliot explains, again, "It takes a huge toll on your body, Shell. Never mind the pressure to use steroids and the constant danger of serious, career ending injury."

"But, a street mime?" Shelly asks, "You could own a business. You could be anything."

"I know that, Shell," Elliot says, "I am doing what I want. The street mime thing won't last long, I'll be performing on stage before you know it."

Farrell ate with them in silence, not really comfortable around Shelly, who was always one of the popular girls who gave him funny looks in the hallways at school. While Shelly is in the kitchen clearing her plate, Farrell finally speaks, "I don't want to be a burden on you," he says quietly, "I can go back home..."

"Nonsense, Farrell," Elliot says, "You're my brother. You're staying with me. And you're hardly a burden. I mean, look at this place, we could fit five families in here." A bit of an exaggeration, but it makes his point, one teenage boy is not going to crowd them out.

"There's an attic above the barn," Farrell says, "I want to stay up there, if that's okay."

"Farrell, there's more than enough room for you here," Elliot says, "You can stay in the house."

"Please," Farrell says, "Let me stay in the barn. I like it there."

"If it's what you want," Elliot agrees, knowing his brother and his odd preferences,  "As long as you know you're welcome to stay in the house."

Though they have their doubts about each other's choices for employment, Elliot and Rochelle are in perfect agreement about one thing; they belong together.

It's their first night together in their own bed, so Shelly wants to look perfect.

"Are coming to bed any time soon, Shell?" Elliot asks with a laugh, "I might fall asleep on you."

"Do you love me?" she asks as she joins him in bed.

"You know it, Shell," Elliot answers, "I'm crazy about you."

Rochelle was not happy to see her boyfriend leave the house dressed like this.

Her chosen work will also require specialty clothing; Shelly is not about to get the rest of her wardrobe dirty. So, as soon as the shops are open she goes out to buy a proper farming attire; a cute shirt knotted below the breasts and $500 pre-dirtied designer jeans.

Then it's off to the Greenman Historic Orchards. More of a tourist attraction these days than actual working farm, they let visitors pick their own fruit for a fee. Until she's got her own fruit to harvest, she'll have to rely on them to supply her.

Back at home, she plants some Renoit and Cherimola Bran grapes as well as a couple of apple trees to get her vineyard started.

The rest of her harvest goes to making her first batch of nectar. Eww, icky.

This thing didn't come with a user's manual, so Shelly experiments with the knobs and levers, ultimately producing some rather average nectar. Not what she wanted, but it's a start. She will get better at this, her nectars will be legendary.

Elliot takes off his make up to attend Farrell's high school awards ceremony that afternoon.

"You didn't have to come," Farrell says when it's over, "I know you're busy."

Elliot grabs his brother into  tight hug, "I'm never too busy for you, Farrell, okay? You're my brother."

For his first SimFest performance, Elliot plays with fire. Or, rather, Zephyr Lightfoot, the stage name imposed on him by the show operators.

But he is upstaged by his competition, Plum the Volatile, who wins the award.

While he lost his first competition, Eliott did take inspiration from the winner and designed a new costume to perform in.

"Oh, wow, you're wearing that now," Shelly sighs when she comes out for breakfast in her own work costume. "I guess it's better than the mime get up."

And she has to admit, his ass does look really good in tights.

____________________________________

So, Generation 2 begins. I haven't posted the roll yet on the sidebar, but I'm not going to keep you all guessing. Because I don't want you all to be disappointed or angry that Farrell isn't the heir. Yes, Farrell is not the heir. But, the marital structure for this generation is Couple +1, and Farrell gets to be the +1. While this chapter mostly focused on Elliot and Shelly starting their rolled careers, Farrell's story will likely be the center focus of most of this generation.

I really hated moving out of Heath's house, but it's not suitable for this generation's roll, with the farming/nectar secondary career. I mean, sure, there was a teeny garden I *could* have used for this, but I wanted to fit Shelly into her career, and taking over Heath's little vegetable patch didn't really cut it. Also, this roll is for 5 kids, so, with couple +1, that makes 8. Even if I used an overstuffed house mod, Heath's house can't accommodate that many Sims. And, I rolled Expansionist, and once again, Heath's house doesn't really have the room for that. So, all that together, the heir had to move. At least they have a great view of the ocean up on top of the hill.

After Elliot got to know Rochelle and I learned she had the Dislikes Children trait, I thought, 'No way will she work out as his spouse. He rolled 5 kids." But a quick survey of the town showed there was no one else in the right age stage for him. Still I held out, and only accepted it was going to be her when she took the initiative as a teen to flirt with him first. The fact that she acquired Snob as a teen just made it better (as in more difficult), with her rolled career in Farming. Fitting her personality into his roll has been fun, probably more fun than if Elliot had found a Family-Oriented, Loves the Outdoors type. Her personality is very suited to the goal and Misc. Fun, Expansionist and Luxury. They bought this house almost completely unfurnished, and will 'expand' it by furnishing every bedroom with top of the line 'luxury' furnishings. I'll also upgrade the living room, which right now has one moderate sofa and a desk and chair. And we'll also add a pool and hot tub to the yard before this is over. Farrell's apartment above the barn will be immune from Shelly's touch, he can live how he wants up there, lol.

Heath and Bianca being on honeymoon is the excuse for having teen Farrell move in with his brother. But of course, they are still in town, I'm just pretending they're away. And guess what. She's pregnant. Way to wait one day, Heath, *rolleyes*. So they'll be returning from their 'honeymoon' with a little surprise. Interestingly, during his whole singing career, every SimFest Heath attended had no other performers, leaving the audience clapping at an empty stage. Now that Elliot is out performing, I have both Heath showing up to compete, and I get spawned performers like Plum the Volatile. (Overwatch later ran Plum out of town for being homeless). And while Heath used to win every SimFest, Elliot can't compete with his level 10 father, so Heath still wins. In the story I gave the prize to Plum, as Heath is supposed to be on honeymoon, so I couldn't show him in town performing and upstaging his son. I'll do that later when he's officially back.

Shasta and Brian had a son, Spencer, and then got married. I'll get pics of the kid when he's past the larval stage. I've noticed that Brian has inherited his father's thick black chest hair, despite having Bill's strawberry blonde hair. Marvin and Brad have adopted another little girl. She's got blue skin, so, when I get my SN installed, I may supe her up to go with that.