Chapter 115: As Silly as You Want

Acheron wonders if he was ever this small. It seems impossible.

Ceth is happy to find she's still relevant to children.

This kid hates crowds, but braves a packed autograph signing session to talk to her.

The teenage boys still squeal over the chance to get her autograph as well.

Ceth took pride in her youthful and fashionable appearance, but now she's withered and old, and realizes it was always more about the music than about looking good. But looking good helped.

When not making public appearances, Ceth is at home, mourning Floyd.

She does feel more at home here than at the place she and Floyd lived.

Once he was gone, there was no point in staying away, and part of her is much happier to reside again in her childhood home. The circumstances, of course, make her feel a bit guilty to be happy.

Claire sells an album to a ghost, not realizing there's anything strange about a ghost having 25 simoleons.

Ceth reminds us she was a ballerina.

She writes to Sofia about missing Floyd and being unable to turn it into a song.

She also informs her of their elder cousin Pepper's death.

Ceth does not have to mourn Floyd or Pepper for long.

Grim comes to collect her while she's sorting the recyclables.

Nigel freaks out. He lost Susan earlier today. His generation is dropping left and right.

"You can't take me yet!" Ceth pleads. "I have a grandchild to spoil!"

Grim does not waste his time arguing with Archers today.

Harcourt's birthday arrives. Only his parents are here to help him celebrate.

Acheron remembers all too well aging up to a huge party each birthday, and how small it really made him feel. He was always just one in a huge crowd, and yet somehow the focus of attention. Now all grown up, he does not want to subject his own son to a lot potentially traumatizing fanfare.

Harcourt greatly resembles his father. He has Susan's eye color.

Acheron and Claire comfort each other, each having lost their mother.

Claire can't cry for her mother like Acheron cries for his. Susan spent most of the time away, barely registered that Claire had lost her memories, and when she did acknowledge it, she'd blame it on aliens and run away to "stop them". Claire does cry sometimes, but it's for something she did not have, not something she lost.

Claire worries about her career. She took a short break from it to have a child, and now that that child is walking and potty trained, she sees just how long the "short" break has really been.

She needs to remind people she's still alive. But has her body recovered?

Is the dress too tight now, or is it her imagination?

Claire gets herself back out there in the world, using her undersea theme again for old times' sake. 

If there's a tourist in the crowd, he or she is just going to eat this up.

Over time, Claire will have many fans. Many more than this pathetic smattering.

But whenever Acheron is in the audience, she's really singing just for him.

Acheron and Claire are loving, attentive parents.

Claire can be as silly as she wants, around Harcourt.

Acheron doesn't like this baby swing. On the one occasion he and Claire were forced to hire a sitter, the lazy girl left Harcourt in it all day long. Acheron thinks children should be free to move around, explore, run and play.

Acheron finds his toddler is easily entertained.

The babysitter's job would have been a piece of cake, but she just plopped down and watched TV.

Totally not hiring that girl again.

Claire has an unconventional solution to their babysitter gripes.

She brings the kid to work with her.

Her act is now associated with bubbles, an undersea backdrop, and giant seahorses.

When she suggests trying new things, the people who seemed eager to give her a gig before she mentioned it suddenly seem unsure and awkward. They're unwilling to pay for an untested act.

So the best Claire can do is improve the special effects and add more props.

Harcourt plays with his toys in the corner, not interrupting this performance of Don't Say 'Not Now'.

Later, Claire and Acheron spend some time in the hot tub.

Though they are tired from the day's work, this setting puts the couple in a more romantic mood than expected.

Harcourt lacks the musically-inclined mind of his father and grandmother, and would rather chew on his xylophone than make noises with it.

Harcourt becomes a child.

Learning to read is painful, slow and difficult, since he'd rather be playing all the time, but once Harcourt masters how simlish is put together he is almost never again seen without a book in his hands. They help him learn about the world and sometimes show him entirely new ones. The lessons taught in school are too few for this young inquiring mind.

The room Ceth used for her bubble bar has its own attached bathroom, so it was a shame to leave unused. Acheron and Claire turn it into Harcourt's new bedroom.

Claire loved her toddler son, but she loves him even more when he becomes a child.

His innocent views of the world match her own, and neither is ashamed to play a game of tag.

 He's also more than happy to watch tear-jerking kids' films with her, and then have a pillow fight.

 And when he's in school, Claire and Acheron have the house to themselves again, for a few hours.

After spending so much time in her loud showtime outfits, Claire is beginning to leave her more drab outfits behind at home, too, and sewed this dress up herself, using only eco-friendly materials.




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Etc.: Harcourt aged up with some stupid mutation hair, so I changed it to the Lilly-Bo hair Chervil had. 

I was looking forward to some scenes of Ceth spoiling Harcourt. It wasn't to be. She didn't even make it to his toddler stage. Bummer.

I must say, I am really enjoying Claire's career. Just watching her is a lot of fun. It's very time consuming though, and takes my attention away from other sims. Unfortunately, like everything else in my game now, the singing career suffers from a lot of glitches. Every time Claire lands a steady gig I have to cancel it, because the game never lets her perform the second gig. So I just have to cancel and re-audition every time she lands a steady gig (what happens is you audition, you perform, and if you were good enough they call back the next day and say you've got a steady gig). It seems like on gig days, it's impossible to get sing-o-gram jobs, so you can just imagine how frustrating it was to wait all day for gig-time, then not be able to perform. It was a wasted day of work. (Though she could perform for tips while waiting for gig-time, the job experience and tips one gets from this is hit and miss.)

Setbacks aside, Claire and Acheron are both level 8 in their respective careers. Acheron has maxed guitar, and we're looking very good for perfect careers.

I've decided virtuoso+Live Your Trait is gross, and now ignore any wishes to jam with total strangers. Come on, seriously. Acheron has the shy trait. He wouldn't want to jam with total strangers. ...I also ignore the idea to complete all wishes on a same-day basis. I get to them "as soon as possible". Acheron can't go from level 4 in a career to level 6 in one day. And he couldn't max guitar skill as soon as he rolled that wish.