The Crane Legacy: Chapter 3.8- Visited

Its been a little while, I promised I would update, so voila, dear readers! :)

Last we left off, Prof. Karna and Charon had started to provide and teach their young alien sons. Cressida had taken up a fun new hobby, and Winnipeg, the heiress, had sadly passed away. Everyone was devastated, but none more than her dear friends.

Now, lets pick up where we left off...



Currently residing in The Crane House were Prof. Karna, the paranoid nerd, Charon, the mellow nerd, their alien sons, the quiet and shy Xenophilius, called Xeno for short, and the outgoing and gregarious Xander. Also living their, the husband of Charon and Prof. Karna's benefactor, Winnipeg, who had just passed away, and family servant/friend Cressida Crane. This is also an odd bunch, but a bit more like a family than previous combinations.



As the sun began to set, Xenophilius sighed. He was half immersed in the book, or trying to. His brother Xander teased him about his learning all the time. So he liked to learn? What was the big deal? But he was worried. He was, and always had been a perceptive child. He had been hearing Atlas' rumblings about them. "Those children." What was so wrong with them? What was the problem?



At the back of the house, in what had become known as "The Workshop", Cressida was hard at work. She greatly enjoyed making the flower arrangements. Of course she enjoyed their aesthetic appeal, and with enough skill, she would soon become able to create powerful flower arrangements that made people feel better. The house needed the cheer now that mistress Winnie was gone.



Not that there wasn't cheer. The boys, as they were called, had a lot of fun in the big house. But it just wasn't the same. And who knew when next the sounds of children in the house would be heard? Charity, the chosen heiress, had chosen the path of Romance, to spite her parents lackluster marriage. Who knew what she would do.



That night, an apparition appeared. Ghosts weren't rare, they were expected. When a Sim dies, they haunt. No big deal.



The ghost of Prof. Leto floated instantly floated over to her bed. She cheered. Ghosts were usually simple or ominous, depending on the character of the Sim haunting. Good thing Prof. Leto was a simple Sim.



Except for scaring Cressida. Cressida had felt genuine surprise at this. She had been nothing but cordial to Prof. Leto, why would she scare her? "Oh well," thought Cressida, "I will resume my activities now."



There was no doubt that there were many ghosts to come in the future of the Crane family, so work on a mausoleum had begun. Cressida was waiting for a bit more money to come in. It wouldn't be long before Atlas passed, and his death would leave enough money to finish the mausoleum. Karna thought it was morbid, Charon just shrugged it off.



The men had also been busy. Charon and Karna had begun working on their badges as well. They were only planning on staying until their boys left for college, and they needed some real world skills.

(Because building toys are real world skills, *scoff*)



Soon enough, the ghost of Winnipeg appeared. She went right to her bed, but she had more important things. She had to stop them. Once she had crossed over, and spoken with her mother, she *knew*. They had done more to her than she had known. Atlas...



"I KNOW WHAT YOU DID."

Karna was terrified. Not of the ghost, ghosts were nothing. Karna had faced biological parasites, and ALIENS. The ghost of his friend was nothing.

It was the implication of her statement that scared him.



Meanwhile, Cressida had been interrupted from her toymaking by the ghost of Romulus. (No one understood why he chose to haunt in his Llama Mascot costume rather than his actual clothes.)

"YOU MUST STOP THEM."

Cressida was confused. Romulus had never sent her a message before, in life he was casually indifferent towards her.

Why would he try to warn her now?



"I KNOW ABOUT THEM. AND YOU."

Karna had been taking an innocent stroll when Winnie had found him. She had been determined to stop him, them. Her mother... She just couldn't believe it. Of course, as a ghost, she had lost all powers of rationalization, and only had pure, undiluted, raw emotion.

Which can be a dangerous thing.



"DID YOU SPEAK TO HER?"

"YES. HOPEFULLY SHE'LL TAKE THE CRUMBS AND FOLLOW THEM."

The ghosts drifted off into the darkness.



While all of this was going on, Xander had been playing innocently with his toys. He was such a nice child, he didn't notice much of what was going on. He hadn't gotten the alien perceptiveness that his brother claimed to have.



Sadly, like other Crane men, Atlas had begun losing his mind in the final days of his life. He had spent hours talking to a brick about foolishness. He also insisted it could talk.



The crazed expression on his face said it all.

"They said, they said that it wasn't real... she never... love... there was no love... they chose..."

No one listens to the crazy man.



While all of this stuff was happening, Charon had been off instructing others in the ways of ~Ecology.~ He was returning when he spotted Karna standing there.

Charon didn't know much about Karna's job, but if he did, he would be shocked, to say the least.

Karna was a very busy man, and he had little time for everyday activities anymore.



No wonder Xeno had no time for sleeping.

That night, the inevitable happened.



Atlas smiled as he saw The Reaper float towards him.

"Finally! I need to speak to someone on the other side. Is she there?"



Karna had rushed over. His paranoia could cease. Sure Atlas ran KDI for a while, but he was a minor player in the scheme of things. He was a little sad though. Now he just felt like a freeloader.



By the time Atlas faded away, Karna was long gone.



His grave was moved to the newly completed Mausoleum, where he would lay with his wife and her parents.



Other ghosts were visiting from beyond the grave as well. Prof. Dylan emerged, only to begin sobbing.



He then decided to taunt Austin, the cowplant who had killed him. (Nobody told you to grab the cake... Ok, they did, But you shouldn't have listened!)



Xeno had been awoken from his slumber by the spirit of Prof. Leto. She didn't say anything, she just didn't like him sleeping in her bed.



Instead of going back to bed, Xeno decided to play with the newest toy that Cressida had built for him and Xander. Xeno didn't often play, but since he and Xander had completed their "course" (8 skills in each area, along with an A+ in school) they often got chances to play like other kids. Even though they weren't normal, it was nice to see that they did kid things as well.



This didn't mean he ALWAYS played with toys. More often than not he would be inspecting the machines that Cressida and Karna built.



On the other hand, now that he was finished, Xander played with the toys as often as he could.



That night, Karna was completely unphased when Prof. Leto's ghost assaulted him.He had wanted to see the ghost of someone else, Prof. Leto's grubby self did not impress him in the least.{ At least he got aspiration points for it. :P}



Cressida's efforts had finally payed off, she was now a master of toymaking as well as of Flower Arranging. All that was left was Robotics.



The robot collection that Charon was working on was growing as well.



He would often gaze upon his creations, smiling. He had worked hard towards his goal of intelligent life, like Cressida, and enjoyed seeing small stepping stones on the way to his dream.



Soon enough, the boys were teens, and had rolled aspirations catering to their personalities.

Xenophilius had rolled Knowledge, like his father and Charon, and Cressida.

Xander had rolled Family. He reasoned that he longed for the family he never had.



Their looks hadn't changed much, and they still got along wonderfully.





Not only that, they were both Overachievers. Both had Intern jobs at KDI.



In his spare time, Xander enjoyed dancing. Xeno secretly did it as well, the scholarship was important. Not that they didn't have money, but their parents had high standards for them.



Meanwhile, Charon had finally achieved one of his dreams and gotten a gold robotics badge. Now he could finally create the perfect creation- a Servo.



In his own time, Xeno skilled. And skilled. And skilled. He wanted to Maximize all of his skills before leaving for college. His father and "uncle" both approved of this goal.



Eventually Charon finished his greatest project: A Servo. He had waited so long for this moment, he just wanted so desperately to activate it. But then he had a thought- he was already old, and tired. Why not get a young Sim to activate the creation so that the Servo could get a new lease on life?



So he got young Xenophilius to do it. If Xeno did it, the Servo would not only be a Knowledge Sim, he would have a goal in his automated life- to maximize his skills.



Xenophilius stared tentatively at the robot. He was a bit frightened of it. He would have a clone of him walking around! Except it would be metallic, but still. He was a bit worried. His "uncle" assured him it would be alright, so he activated it.



"Greetings Master! I am Camden Lampwick at your service! I hope we shall be very good friends!"

He was nothing like Xeno, and this was a blessing.



That very night, Xenophilius accomplished his goal, and maximized and all of his skills.



Camden did as well shortly afterwards.



Not to be outdone, Cressida caught up to Charon and got her Gold Badge in Robotics as well. Now, if she wanted, she could create Servo's as well.



Now that the boys were older, they hardly played with toys. Their new vice was the pool table, and they played for hours and hours. They had heard a rumor there was a scholarship for pool as well.



Atlas floated by the window, and watched the boys play. He sighed to himself. "Maybe I was wrong about them after all..."





When the time came, the boys applied for their scholarships, and got them all. Since the boys were leaving as well, Karna, Charon and Camden left the house, leaving Cressida alone to await the next generation.

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I know this post was a bit disjointed, I apologize. I don't know, I guess I was rushing a bit. Im also going to apologize in advance, the college chapter is going to be ridiculous, since I hardly took any pictures. (You try putting seven Sims through college at once, SEVEN.) The plot is also going to subside. It appears once again in the college chapter, and the special interlude, but it will resurface, keep your eyes peeled. (I've made hints about it before, and this chapter plus the next basically tell you what I meant.)

I know that the Knowledge Sim Servo thing is a bit "cheaty" but it's not against any rules. Xeno only had his body skill and cleaning skill left. Since Servo's come with maxed Cleaning, I knew that Camden would have no trouble earning me a point. I will never do it again though, it just felt "wrong."

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POINT SUMMARY:

+1/2 a point for Atlas' platinum grave
+1 point for Xenophilius' Impossible Want
+1 point for Camden's Impossible Want
+1/2 a point for Xander earning $9,500 in scholarships
+1/2 a point for Xenophilius earning $9,500 in scholarships

TOTAL: 56 points- Amazing right? :)

Thanks for reading! Any comments, suggestions, questions can be left below or at the boolprop thread. (For whoever actually comes all the way from boolprop to read this!)