The Science of a Legacy: Chapter 14

27th January 2008

Look, I changed covers a bit! I was getting a bit bored.. But welcome to The Science of a Legacy
- Chapter Fourteen! Hurray hurray hurray.

When we last left our Team G4, Meloti, Arvicanthis, Allozyme and Menidia had just graduated
La Fiesta Tech and headed home to Strangetown. Their time at uni had not been without
incident, as Allozyme had killed Matthew Hart against his brother's wishes, in order to protect
their sister and vindicate their mother, G3 heiress Saeva. What will happen next? Oh, I don't
know! Arrow go that way please kthnxxx

Meloti and Arvicanthis swiftly moved into a stunning Ranch (courtesy of Bitsy at Boolprop!) and
Arvi wasted no time in asking his long-term sweetheart 'Maid' Mallory around for yet another
dream date. They'd had a rocking end to university (thanks cow mascot..) but one kiss later
everything was smoothed over.

"Ah, that was awesome Shrew-hoo Maid Mallory, as per usual! Say, shall we have our wedding
now? I mean, we have been engaged for quite a while now.."

"Of course my little Shrew! Will there be more Shrew-hoo at the end?"

"But of course."

So the guests were invited and the cake baked, and that very afternoon Arvicanthis and Mallory
were standing under the arch in the garden waiting to say their vows.

"Oh this is so shrew! Is this how they do it in the forest Maid Mallory? I am your Bobbin Pud?"

"sigh* Arvi, for that last time - I'm not that kind of maid."

"'Course you are my little Shrewette, course you are."

"You may have no ears, you may have no tail, but your beautiful whiskers have captured my
heart, Maid Mallory! And I shall be your Shrew forever more, if you shall be my Shrewette."

"You are strange, you are furry, but you give good Shrew-hoo. That'll do for me!"

And with these touching words, the couple were wed. Arvi took Mallory's last name, Turner, as
there are so many Tegenarias running around Strangetown it's ridiculous.

Arvicanthis Turner
Pleasure - 50 Dream Dates
Aries 9/10/6/2/8

Mallory Turner
Romace - Reach top of Athletics career
Taurus 8/9/2/3/2

Arvicanthis' older brother, Meloti, cheered enthusiastically as he watched. He was living with the
couple as he had had no interest in finding romance of his own whist there was learning to be
done at La Fiesta Tech. But he and Arvicanthis had always been inseperable since they were
children, and no one could imagine them being apart, or expected anything else!

Their father, Sean, was also thrilled to see his second oldest son wed. He'd brought them up
well and was so pleased that his bizarre little son had found someone to tolerate him, if he was
honest..

"Hurray! No can we drop the shrew jokes, please?"

Arvi: "NO! Never. I are Shrew."

I watched nervously from round the corner. Mallory was a Romance Sim, and I really hoped she
wouldn't end up hurting our little shrew! I was pretty sure their triple bolty goodness was too
strong, which is why I let them stay together in the first place. There was a time when I was sure
no one would be good enough for everyone's favourite Shrew-Boy! So it was with a slight
sadness that my Simself attended the wedding.

As for the other guests? Pfft. Saeva and Allozyme were busy dropping beats in the basement,
and Menidia and Ocean were off playing darts somewhere.

"Oh my! I seem to have had a large aspiration boost for some reason! I wonder why that could
be?"

"It's because I'm just that good, Mother."

I like oh-so-many other Legacy writers am still trying to fathom the great mysteries of cake
shoving. Arvi's nice, serious and neat - I predicted him not to shove and he didn't, yay! The
hypothesis is getting better.

"Aaarmmg.. Whassis cake madofff?"

"Bettle of course, a shrew's favourite dish!"

"..*gulp*.."

"Awesome, we're married. So Shrew-hoo now? I was promised Shrew-hoo!"

"Of course my furry queen, just let me finish my beetle cake."

"..Beetle cake?"

The rest of the Family was gathered outside, and light chatter filled the air. Despite all their own
worries, they were all so pleased for their brother.

"This cake is delicious! Just like ice cream, don't you think? Not that I actually need your opinion
on anything, Allozyme." Meloti grunted at his brother.

"That's fine with me, dear brother." Allozyme replied, scathingly.

As usual, Menidia worrying - this time about her her wedding;
"Mum, I can't believe I have to go through all this with Ocean! It just seems so much work for
everyone and I'll be fine with just a little ceremony.."

"Nonsense, Menidia! You're a Legacy Heiress, you -must- have a giant wedding!" Saeva told her
daughter definetly, and tried to block out her bickering sons.

Mallory: "..So you mean, I don't have to have lots of screaming babies?"

Gin: "Nope, you're in a Spare House Mallory. Menidia's the Tegenaria Heir, it's her and Ocean
that need to have the 'productive' evenings. Just lots of dating, Shrew-hoo and motherlode round
here instead!"

Arvi: "And beetle cake! Lots of beetle cake!"

Gin: "Yes, and that. Now I've arranged for you to honeymoon in the great Purrwood Forest, so
you can learn all about Bobbin Pud, Arvi!"

Mallory: "Gin, -why- must you encourage him so?"

"BOBIN PUUUUD!"

"*Sigh* Menidia, you're brother's really rather odd.. Will I ever get used to it?"

"Um.. Just about."

With the house to himself for a while, Meloti was happily left to his thoughts and productively
began to write an opera.

"Well, there's been much commenting on the musical stylings of the Tegenarias, and I want to
have something in the works for after our first album launch! This piece is called 'My Brother, My
Murderer'."

Apparently he still holds his grudge against Allozyme for the 'execution' of Matthew.

Meloti worked long into the night, as he always did when he had a project, but luckily he had
retired to bed before the Newlyweds got home from Purrwood Forest.

"Wasn't that so fantastic Maid Mallory? You got to see your old castle home and everything! But
Friar Muck sure could have done with a bath, totally put me out of the mood for Shrew-hoo.."

"Huh? What? Shrew-hoo now?"

"..It's about time, my little Shrew."

"By my leopard flavoured panties, I do love you Maid Mallory!"

"Heh, love you too Arvi."

The next morning, I didn't want Meloti stuck in the depths of tragic opera writing once more while
the others slept, so I got him his own little wedding present - it's dance sphere time!

*fake gasp*

Where on Earth did he go?

And with that, I think it's time we headed over to the main Legacy House.

Generation Three Heiress Saeva (my, that sounds like a royal title) and her perma-plat husband
Sean were living out their elderhood in the general fashion - pillow fights, living room dates and
copious amounts of affection delt on all - be it animal or Sim.

Speaking of animals, you may recall that before Generation Four headed off to uni, dogs
Parsimony and Phylogeny had given birth to two puppies. Well their all grown up now!

This here is Bootstrap, and he's off to live with Meloti, Arvi and Mallory.

And this is Lineage with her father, the great and mighty Parsimony. She'll be staying in the main
household, thought I found it very hard to choose which of the two pups to keep! Can't tell which
one she is? Well, from behind she has a curly tail which her father doesn't have. From the front,
you have three guesses as to which of these two is Parsimony, and the first two don't count.

But puppies aside..

"It's my wedding day!"

..It's time to get our heiress hitched.

Menidia looked at the arch under which she was to be married, and tried to quash the last of her
remaining nerves before their guests arrived.

"I promised Ocean this would be the end to my worrying.. We're getting married and about to
start a family, there's no room for self doubt anymore! .. I hope. Oh, I hope I'm doing the right
thing!"

She didn't have time to ponder for long, because the house was soon full of Sims. And Shrews.
Menidia reaced over to her favourite brother and gave him a huge squeeze.

"Oh Arvi, what if this all goes wrong? Or I say the wrong thing, or.."

"Calm down Meni! You'll be fine, remember - anything I can do, you can do better. You'll be
Shrewtastic."

"*sniff* Thanks Arvi.."

As the guests took their places to watch the ceremony, Mendia smiled and took up her place
next to her fiance and long term love, Ocean. Aka the emo/goth/ninja Downtown kid who's face
explodes, but that I actually really like!

Present in this picture as guests from left to right are Allozyme, Arvicanthis, Saeva, a random
townie, Meloti, Sean, and Mallory at the back. Goat only knows where me and the rest of the
Simselves have got too.. But too late!

"Menidia, you helped me break free of my awful lipstick taste and gave me the confidence to be
more true to my name and break free of my Tricou roots. We light beautiful fires together, and I
want to light more with you for the rest of my life."

But as Menidia started her vows, she couldn't help feeling a slight wobble in her voice..

"Ocean, you have always made me feel special and that I can be anything I want, and what I
want it to be with you. I've known you forever and can't imagine my life without you now. I know
you'll help to wash away all of my insecurities, because.. er.. because.."

"Aww, Meni! That was beautiful.. I'm so pleased we're married!"

"Er, Ocean? We're not married.. You're still a Charvat. Maybe it's a sign that we're rushing into
this.. I don't feel right at all, we can't do this."

"Rushing? But we've been together for 10 years Menidia! How can this be rushing! Don't you
love me? I-"

"Of course I love you Ocean, and I want to be with you so much.."

"Well that's ok then. I really feel married now! Don't you?"

"No Ocean, no I don't. I don't think we're ready for this. Please, we need to stop the wedding.."

"What are you doing Menidia! This is supposed to be the happiest day of my life! Get back under
that arch and try again. Why don't you want to marry him?" Saeva inquired of her daughter, who
had already started to sneak back down the ailse.

"Mum, I do want to marry him. But I just can't. I don't know why, but I just can't.."

But you can never get a good Tegenaria down, and the Family went on with the party none the
less! Menidia felt more relaxed as everyone danced around the living room, and decided to cut
the cake. She, on the other hand to her brother, apparently is a cake shover. She's quite playful,
and intermediatly nice and neat. Mhurm?

But being the little worry-kitten she is, she inevitably sought me out to discuss what had
happened.

"..That's just it Gin, I want to marry him, but for some reason I just can't! Do you think it's fate
trying to tell me something? You don't think it's that Vee woman Allozyme and Mum were talking
about, do you?"

"I don't know Menidia, I really don't. But I don't think this is Vee's doing, the last I heard she was
chasing after Bertie. Plus no one's died, this isn't her style! As to fate? I-I don't know what to
make of that. I have no idea why you can't marry Ocean, but the more pressing issue really is ...
does this cake have any beetle in?"

"When I pictured my wedding with Grandpa Repens when I was little, you know, I was actually
always married at the end of it.. Was that too much to ask?"

Apparently a Wedding Party where is couple don't get married is an automatic dud. No trip to
Purrwood Forest for these two, then.

However, some people thought this was the best party ever! Enjoying yourself, Aunty Nerd?

"This is sweet! Free hot showers, free cake, you don't see that enough around the Simself
House.. And they couldn't even get married, HA! Now I'm a bit busy abusing the hospitality,
leave me be now or I'll take away your Fan Girl tee and offer you up for Finn woohoo."

Dangerous words, let's leave the Nerd to her stolen shower, shall we?

----
DrSupremeNerd and the Vetinari Dualegacy, booyeah!

Later that night when the guests had left and all showers throughly sterilised, Menidia and
Ocean sighed in front of the fire they'd just lit together.

"I'm so sorry.. I tried so hard today, I really did. There's something, somewhere, stopping this. Us
Ocean, something's stopping us."

"Don't worry Meni, I know that you love me and it's not your fault. Plus now we're alone with this
beautiful fire..

.. I really feel like we're married now!"

"*sigh* Ocean.. Please, I need some time. Ok? Let's go upstairs, I'm sure I can think of
something that can take our minds off this. We're still Pleasure-able, after all!"

And they quickly scampered up the stairs, leaving Saeva to answer the ringing phone and the
glowing fire slowly died.

"Matty Hart? Dead? My son? Eh? No, I didn't kn- .. Eh? Who is this?"

*click*

"Hello? HELLO? There really are some weirdos in this Neighbourhood.. I told the boys to teach
him a lesson, they're far too senisble to have murdered him! Sigh, he's far too dreamy for that..
No Seev, gal! Get a grip on yourself.. That's better. Sean, oh Seany! Where are you.."

"*sigh* So we can't woohoo either, Menidia? What is it with this! No marriage, no woohoo, no
babies?! You know, why did we even get engaged in the first place? You don't seem to even
want all this things that marriage is supposed to bring! I can only take so much of this, Men."

"Look, it's not me! Something's holding us back. And since when are you so confident? Earlier
today you needed me by your side etc etc.. You sure it's not you that's holding something back,
Ocean?"

"NO! Look, I didn't mean to snap. Shall we go try the hottub instead? That's always a fun place
for woohoo."

"*Sigh* I guess. I'm sure we'll feel more relaxed and it'll work there."

But before they got a chance to try..

"EEEEEEeeeEEEEEEEeeeeeOWWWW!"

"Aww, you alright there, honey?"

"..Never...better?"

"Wonderful, I'll meet you up in bed shall I? You know, unless I feel the need to go get some
flamming poo first."

"Yes...dear..."

Poetic justice? Maybe. So sweet that it nearly made me fall off my chair? Definately :)

In the end Menidia decided however annoyed she was with her husband for taking out his
frustrations on her, she would rise above his level and give everyone a poo free morning. This
high road also meant that she had called up Arvicanthis' good ol' friend the Matchmaker.

"Yes yes, I know you know my brother, and he's married now - so drop it! But someone told me
that you may be able to help me."

"Indeed I can, though you say young Arvicanthis is married? Why, pray tell, was I not invited?
Bah, whatever. Drink this, and give one to your finace. It'll melt away all your worries about being
together, open the magic gateway and so on.."

"Oh that's perfect, thank you so much! Here, what do I owe you?"

"Can I smell your hair..?"

Menidia gulped down the love potion, and Ocean quickly followed suit. They snuggled up on the
couch and waited for it to take effect, and it didn't take long to kick in.

"I think this was a bad idea Meni, I'm just feeling a bit.. Can we make out?"

"Nope."

"Can we woohoo?"

"Nope."

"Have a baby?!"

"'Fraid not."

"ARAAAGH!"

"But I CAN feed the dogs!"

So much for the love potion idea, she thought as she filled Lineage's bowl. I want to have a
baby, I want to kiss and be near him. So why can't I? Is it me?

If only I had all the answers. If only..

"Why is my Great-Granddaughter infertile?"

I don't know, Atrica.

"Why is my Granddaughter un-married?"

I don't know, Repens!

"Why is my Niece so pathetic about love?"

I don't KNOW, Carapace!

"Why is my Great-Granddaughter a frigid phoney?"

*Sigh*

"Fix it or I'll haunt incessintly!"

I wish I knew how.. Thankfully, I'm not the only one looking for a solution.

Having been returned to his Family, Meloti's mind was immediately drawn away from his trip
away by more urgent matters.

"We've got to help Meni, Arvi!"

"Abso-shrewly!"

"Ahem.

You guys always seem to be 'helping' your sister.. Can't she do -anything- by herself? You're all
grown-ups now. We're married now, Arvi! We've got our own lives to lead. Plus, need I remind
you what happened last time you tried to 'help' her?"

"It'll be fine, we just won't ask Allozyme to help this time. Meloti, any brainwaves?"

"Not yet Arvicanthis. Let's line out the problem. Menidia and Ocean are unable to get married,
woohoo, make out, or otherwise interact when not standing up."

"Dude, let's get them a photobooth! A world without Shrew-hoo must be so bleak and empty.."

"Thanks for that. But no, I fear it's more serious than just that. You and Mallory are fine, and
creepy as it is Mum and Dad are fine, it's something about them as a couple. This is going to
require a great deal of thought, leave it with me."

"There must be some logical explanation!"

Meloti spent all night exploring as many possibilties as he could wrap his mind around, trying to
block out all the shrew-ish cries of Dream Dates from upstairs. This was an unprecidented case
in the Neighbourhood, and he was determined not to have his little sister's life ruined.

He wasn't the only one. Sean stayed up through the night reseraching, trying to find some clue
to help his daughter. He and Meloti would telephone the other the instant a brainwave occured,
but talking it through, they always found everything to be impossible or senseless.

When morning broke, the two of them still had no idea how to help Menidia.

The morning did bring a surprise for Meloti though. Aparently the infertility was not nationwide!

"Oh my stars! Are the rumours really true? Masculine pregnancy? This amazing, oh I'm so
happy! I'll phone Dad and tell him straight away, he'll be so proud.." he gasped, inquisitive eyes
shining brightly.

But he promtly sat down again.

"Oh, but little Meni.. She'll be so sad that I can have children when she can't. But could this help
her. Could it possibley.. No, that's.. But actually.. If the.."

"YES!

This just might work."

And he ran off to the basement, as fast as his waddling legs could carry him.

"If the connections are correct, and the positioning just right.. Oh ahahaha! This has got got to
work, just got to!"

But this time the work was hard. His baby was placing a strain on Meloti's body he wasn't used
to, and he could no longer toil for the long hours he had in the past. But determined to help
Menidia he soldiered on, as Arvicanthis brought him his favourite chilli, specially prepared
without beetles.

When I got wind of what was going on, I quickly called Meloti to my house so we could talk it
over with him. Much as I trust him, I couldn't be putting my heiress in unnecessary danger!

"Aren't you supposed to be pregant? Oh goat, has this got you too?"

"No Gin, you just downloaded the wearanything hack and so it put me in this when I came over."

"Oh, sorry about that. But are you seious? About what you're doing?"

"Yes, and I'm sure it'll work. But I need to talk to you about something else, in connection. I am
sure that this'll allow Menidia and Ocean to have children, but if it doesn't.."

"A ha! You want to be heir instead, am I right? Well, you were second in the poll, and Arvi-"

"No Gin. I don't want to be heir, that's the point. That's what I need to talk to you about. If
Menidia is unable to conceive I know that heirship must pass on to one of us brothers. Arvi and
Mallory have already been motherloded to the rafters, so I know he's out of the running. And
everyone except you doesn't like Allozyme, so I'm the logical choice. But there's a reason that I
can't be heir, which I haven't told you. Or told anyone. But I am ineligible Gin, and I needed you
to know that. Which means that if my experiment fails, Allozyme is the only choice for your heir.
Gin, you cannot give it to him, he's a murderer and a danger!

Gin, if my experiment fails.. I want you to stop the Legacy. End it here."

"Whoa whoa WHOA!

Let me catch my breath there, I thought you just said you wanted me to STOP this Legacy?
Haha, I must have heard wrong, too much bar 'juice'.."

"No, you heard me right. Arvi and I are ineligable, and Allozyme doesn't deserve the honour."

"But why are you ineligable, Meloti? There is no reason as to why-"

"Yes there is, but I can't tell you why just yet."

I flopped back on the couch in shock, at which point Meloti rose.

"This is only if I fail Gin, if I don't then there's nothing to worry about.

This is the Science of a Legacy, right? It's about time we did some Science!"

"I'm right behind you on that one.. Meloti? Just.. Good luck, ok?"

And he swiftly strolled out of my house, with his inquisitve eyes shining. Confused and worried,
not that I don't have faith in him, I thought I should check on my little 'murderer'.

Allozyme had relocated to a small cottage after graduating and promtly moved in his fiancee,
Prof Lisa Bauchman. She had heard of his 'deeds' to protect his Family, and convinced him to
propose to her in a single night. Allozyme was happy to oblige, he'd always felt he had a higher
calling than his siblings and was so pleased that she could see it too.

Lisa struck me as a bit of a strange lady, the first thing she did when she moved in was shirk off
her 'academic' atire and change into something more 'suitable' and 'really giv herself a chance to
let her hair down'. She seems far more interested in herself than the world around her..

"Well, I had to escape that dull university lifestyle! I only became a lecturer in order to meet
some fantastic guy to take me away, I just had no idea it would take so -long-. Now I can really
be myself, and I know Allo's sure to whisk me off to all sort of exotic places with his 'protecting'."

After seeing the debacle that was his little sisters pseudo-wedding, Allozyme opted for a quite
household only affair, with the pot plant as their only witness.

"Lisa, you came out of nowhere and changed my life. You understand how good I am, so think
yourself lucky that I can see how good you are too."

"Eeexactly."

Well, at least other people can still get married, grumble grumble.. Don't let me down, Meloti!

The Newlywed's little ceremony was broken up by a knock on the door, and Allozyme answered
it, and wasn't expecting one of Strangetown's oldest, yet youthful, inhabitants.

----
Allozyme Tegenaria
Family - Become Captain Hero
Gemini 5/9/9/3/1

Prof. Lisa Bauchman
Family - Top Education Career
Cancer 2/6/9/2/6

"Great Uncle Corvus?"

"Ah, so you do know who Corvus is! That's excellent. Hm yes, I can see the Family resemblence
to Corvus.. Let us go into the kitchen, there is much we need to discuss."

"So old timer, what is it you want? The secret of my success? Many do."

"What? No! They say you've seen Corvus' son. That you've seen my Bertie? Do you know
where he is? Corvus is so worried about him.. And Bubbles misses him and Erika cries for him.
We know he's in danger, we heard that terrible woman's cries."

"Well yeah I saw him.. But that was ages ago, and he wanted me to join some stupid cult. So
you're his Father? Good job, man! That guy's more messed up that Shrew-Twit. He left you and
hates you, why should you care where he is?"

"Bertie is blood, and Corvus loves him always. We all love him, and want him to come home
where he's safe. His dinner's getting cold.. You are not safe either, you are not as invincible as
you think you are. Corvus can see that, so make sure you're not alone."

Without warning, Corvus grabbed his Grand-Nephew and dres him close.

"Warg! What are you doing?!"

"Corvus loves you too, you and Bertie both need protecting. You understand how important
Family is, just like Corvus does, so look after your pretty lady as well as yourself. Tell Corvus if
you hear from Bertie, please."

"Ok fine, whatever."

Back at The Nest of Arvicanthis, Meloti was explaining to his brother and going over the final
details of what was going to happen the next day.

"... So you've got all that, Arvi?"

"Yeah.. I mean, they've already tried so much.. But if it's ok, I think me and Mallory may just stay
out the way. She's not a fan of babies as it is! But I'm with ya on this one, bro! You sure it's going
to work?"

"It's got to, more than you know may depend on it."

Bright and early the next morning, Ocean and Menidia arrived at The Nest, and waited
expectantly on the doorstep.

"Oh great, now it's raining! This isn't a good sigh Men, we should just go home.. Who knows
what we're going to have to do!"

"We're not going back now! Besides, what other option do we have?"

Meloti greeted them and took them downstairs, and began to explain the experiment he had
designed.

"It's really quite safe, honest. But I realised after I got pregnant, that your biology is still intact as
it were, but that there is some 'force' blocking you from coming close together. I've never had
any wish for woohoo, but here I have this little baby inside me, so I know that it must be
possible. I'm going to try a expell that barrier force, and mix your genes and implant them inside
you, Meni.. In short, by the time this is over, you'll be pregnant and will be able to touch again."

"Oh no, that doesn't sound dangerous or freaky at all.." retorted Ocean, but he was quickly
hushed by his fiancee.

"That sounds great Meloti, and anything's got to work at ths stage. So, what do we need to do?"

Meloti pointed them in the direction of the room next door.

"What is that?!" Ocean shrieked

"Calm down" Meloti reassured him, "it's just a slightly modified bed. Mostly. It's called the Baby
Blocker Blaster! All you two have to do is lie down, and I'll do the rest. I'll pull the handle on the
left, and the computer will recognise my with child-state, sending a burst or energy to the top of
the bed and then through it, where it'll combine your genes in the baby template at the bottom
and then push out the 'blocker'. Oh, and I put Starfish on the covers because I thought Ocean
would like them."

"I do, thanks!"

"Does that make sense?"

"No, but whatever. Come on Ocean!"

And the three of them nervously walked into the adjacent room, knowing just how much
depended on the outcome.

"Come on honey, it'll be ok! Really, Meloti knows what he's doing."

"I really hope so.. But this is for us, right? I want us to go back to how we used to be, none of this
fighting."

"Me too. So let's do this, for us and our future!"

Gingerly Meloti got hold of the handle.

"Please let this work, for everyone's sakes.. Please." he whispered.
"Are you guys ready? Remember to stay perfectly still." he said with more confidence, and got
some pale nods in return.
"Ok then.. HERE.. WE..

... GO!"

Sparks flew out of both ends of the contraption, and a bolt of energy streaked along towards
Menidia and Ocean, who were thinking that they really should have thought this through before
agreeing, instead of fleeing!

They trembled, but tried to stay as still as possible as sparks flew all around them, until Menidia
started shouting..

"My womb's illuminated! Should my womb be illuminated? This doesn't feel right, heeelp!"

"No, stay still!" Meloti shouted across the room, "It's working!"

When the sparks had subsided, and shaking more than a little, Menidia and Ocean slid off the
bed and stumbled wobblily back upstairs.

"Th-thanks Meloti. Something's different, I can feel it. Or a-at least, I hope I can."

"Me too Meni. Get Mum, Dad and Parsi to look after you well, ok?"

"Will do. Oh, and Meloti? You know you're so hard to take seriously with that t-shirt and silver
trainers.."

After also wishing his sister farewell, Arvicanthis happily curled up on the sofa with Mallory. His
head was spinning with all the baby talk going through the neighbourhood, and was wondered
whether to breach the subject with his Romance wife. But it was almost as if she could read is
mind, and put his worries at ease.

"I know what you're thinking Arvi, about children and all. All the struggles everyone's going
through makes me think that those little balls of shrieks may be more special that I first though..
But we're good as we are! Everyone's had a sign that it's 'time', but not us. Just you and me, ok
Shrew?"

"Totally.

FLYING LOTUS SHREW LEAP OF DOOOOM!"

Mallory giggles as her husband launched himself across the couch at her, my unfortunatly they
weren't going to get all that far..

"Oh my staaaars.. Menidia wanted this WHY?!"

Meloti had at last gone into laobour in the middle of the dining room, and was crying in a typical
man-fashion.

The dating on the couch promtly ceased, and the married couple ran in to see what all the noise
was about.

"Arviii, it huuurts, it huuuurts!"

"Maid Mallory, I agree with your point of five minutes ago even more now - I could NEVER go
through that!"

"Arvi, er, I'll explain later - but go get some hot towles and fluffy water!"

But there was no need for Mallory's panicking, as his little baby girl was born without a hitch. He
took a long hard look at her, unable to believe that she was real. His eyes took in every inch of
her, and a huge smile spread across his face.

"Hello little girl.." he whispered gently

"Call it broccoli! Call it broccoli!" Arvicanthis chanted eagerly, but Meloti had other ideas.

"No Arvi! Her name shall be Winifred."

And so the first of Generation Five has finally arrived! I was worried I wouldn't ever see this
moment, and Fred is my first alien baby ever - in 3 and a half years! Oh, she's named after
Winifred 'Fred' Burkle from Angel, as I feel it would be a favourite show of Meloti if he had the
chance!

While everyone at The Nest was celebrating Fred's birth, across time Allozyme was moaning to
Lisa after hearing of Meloti's experiment on the Tea and Crumpet Time News.

"But why wouldn't they ask me! I did so well last time.. Now I won't get any of the credit. I got you
pregant easily enough, why could I my own sister?!"

"Do you really want me to go into the morals on that one? Our daughter will be born any day
now, so have you bought everything I asked you to? Golden crib? Platinum lined bottles? Gucci
dress for me? This is our first child we're talking about, Allozyme!"

"We haven't been motherloded Lisa, we can't afford that. And we both Family orientated! Just us
all being together is the most important thing, I know you agree."

"I suppose, but now start harping on about your sister and go back to telling me how beautiful I
am."

Golden cribs or not, it was that same night that Lisa went into labour with the couple's child. For
a Family Sim, she didn't seem to pleased about it..

"Because I don't have a crystaline birthing pool! I don't want anyone to see me like this.."

"Oh.

Is that it? I wantd a girl. Whatever."

Well I anyway am pleased to welcome little boy Norris to the ever-growing Tegenaria clan.
Doesn't Lisa give him sweet looks? He's got her skin tone (1 I think), but Allozyme's black hair
and grey eyes. It's nice to see some babies that aren't skintone 3, yay!

His father adores him, without question. He rushed home from work and headed straight for his
son's crib and gave him a huge cuddle.

"Who's Daddy's little boy then? Who's going to grow nice and strong and help Daddy fight
criminals? We can't have them hurting you or your Mummy now, can we?"

Even the day he became perma-plat by finally becoming Captain Hero and being able to protect
more people than he could possibly ever want to; the first thing Allozyme did when he got home
was kiss his wife and feed his son.

However he'd behaved as a child, there's no doubt he's learnt a lot from his Mother over the
years on the ways of Family. He's also the first of Generation Four to become perma-plat, so yay
for Allozyme! And Norris. Why's he called Norris? No idea..

It barely took a day for the news of Fred and Norris's births to reach around the whole
Neighbourhood, and there was an air of happiness and joy around the Legacy House, even
though no one knew yet whether Meloti's experiment had been a success.

"Just to make sure that you're pregnant Men, I think we should just check to make sure.."

"Couldn't think of a better way!"

"WOOHOO!!"

*cries of happiness*

I'd just like to take this slide (even though it's not the end of the chapter!) to thank everyone at
boolprop who worked with me over many many days to fix this scary scary glitch and basically
save my Legacy! You know who you are - and massive props to you. Really. I broke pretty much
every Legacy rule doing it, with hacks and boolprops and errors and household messing, but it
was worth it to see this!

"That was worth waiting for! Say, how about we make it official? Ocean, I'm done with fancy
ceremonies, I just want to be with you."

"After that? I agree more than ever Menidia."

Menidia Tegenaria
Pleasure - Top Slacker Career
Cancer 6/2/6/7/5

Ocean Tegenaria (Charvat)
Pleasure - Top Criminal Career
Sagittarius 2/3/9/7/4

To celebrate their union, Ocean bought a fish tank - I love these things! You may have noticed
the new house, it is indeed sea-themed as I have a Sim named after a fish and of course Ocean,
in charge this generation! And I still love FFS.

"Yes! This is so much better than emo woe!"

Everyone's got different approaches to looking after the fishies.

Ocean wants to eat them.

And Menidia wants to be one of them.

(And so do I.)

Will we be seeing my CRAB! tee soon? I think so. Shall we get some lolcrustaceans in (thanks
Nerd!). I think so.

And in the dead of night, when the rest of her Family was fast asleep - Menidia finally discovered
she was pregnant. The timing meant that Meloti's experiment had worked, but that evening had
shown her that she and Ocean were able to be together and so would be able to conceive in the
future. Generation Five was a go in the main bloodline!

And so the Legacy was saved, yet again - hurray! Remind me to buy Meloti a thank you
aquarium.

Everyone was thrilled with the news, none more so than Saeva.

"Hello little Miracle! Hello! We didn't think we'd ever see you, and your Grandma Saeva loves
you already, yes she does you little wooogoootogogo.."

"Muuum.. I want to go watch the fish now!"

"That's ok dear, I need to work on something I'm making for you and the little bub anyway. And
you just look so cute in your pink pjs, dear! How come I never had anything like that.."

(I would just like to also point out that the pregnancywear hack had nothing whatsoever to do
with my glitch - it's safe!)

When I said everyone was thrilled with Menidia's pregnancy, I forgot to mention someone.. From
the moment her bump appeared Parsimony was agitated. He sensed something was wrong, and
tried to warm his mistress's daughter.

"Grrr..! This is not right. This child was not meant to be! Why did you ignore the warning signs?
You think these things don't happen for a reason! I can feel it, this child will bring no good to the
world. Heed me child, even though you did not heed the warning's given to you!"

"Parsi.. Calm down, boy! This pregnancy is a blessing, everyone's so happy! Wh-what do you
mean it wasn't m-meant to be?"

But Menidia would never get the chance to find out.

"PARSIMONY TEGENARIA! YOUR TIME IS UP! PETS DON'T USUALLY GET THESE
SPEECHES, WHY DO YOU?"

"Because there's never been a dog like me before Grimmy, so hush up. I've protected this
Family as best I can, I can but hope that they heed my warning, and that my daughter's falcor
impression is good enough to please."

No one was expecting Parsimony to pass away, least of all now. Saeva was heartbroken, she'd
adopted him when she was a teenager and they'd always been close. Parsimony had loved
every single Family member, even those that were no long around or living in the house.

And as me? I've never had a pet in this game as great as him, I laughed my head off when he
grew up and flapped his ears for the first, but let's face it - he was darn awesome!

"Baby, meet the Bubbles. You two will be well acquainted in the future."

Everyone has to grieve someway, and I have faith that all that bubbling won't be -too- bad for the
baby. I expect nothing less from my little Pleasure Sims!

There are a few little loose ends that need to be wrapped up, it really is high time!

"Arvicanthis, I know I was a bit quiet at your wedding but I wanted to give you this late present.
Just take it home, close your eyes and open the box and take a deep breathe, ok? I promise, it's
just want you've always wanted!"

"That's un-shrewly vague, but ok Gin.."

"..And then she just gave me this box! So I closed my eyes and opened it and everything, but
nothing happened! What a totally un-shrew gift, Maid Mallory!"

"Give Gin a break, she's has been though a lot trying to sort everything thing out with your
sister."

"Fine, fancy some Shrew-hoo?" he sighed as he headed upstairs to bed.

"What the-? Arvi! ARVICANTHIS!"

"What? You don't want Shrew-hoo?"

"No! LOOK!"

"You're a true Shrew at last!"

"Oh. My. Fish. THIS IS SO SHREW!!!"

"You know what this is Arvi? It's the sign! The sign we've been waiting for!"

"Zomgs Maid Mallory, you're right! We can have an actually litter or Shrewlets now.."

Mallory laughed, "We can Arvicanthis, we can. Just like you've always wanted."

They heard a giggle from the drawing room, and saw Meloti seated - sneakily watching them
over his book.

"I wondered how long it would take you two to figure it out" he grinned, "But you'd better be quick
about it. Shrews are only receptive for two hours each breeding season, you know! Just don't
wake Fred."

"QUICK Maid Mallory, we must fly! Up to our bed chamber in the sky!" and he clattered up the
stairs at full pelt, with his young wife close behind him.

"Mmm, I do like special litter making Shrew-hoo! What was that little jingle though, Arvi?"

"Dunno, I think it's a special treat because that Shrew-hoo was the end of my fiftieth Dream
Date!"

Aye, Arvicanthis is now perma-plat! I know most people can do 50 Dream Dates by the end of
uni, but I needed an extra 6 days, ok? But needless to say, all is now very well indeed at The
Nest.

Even though Mallory's pregnancy was just starting, Menidia's miracle 9 months were coming to
an end in the Legacy House.

"Ooow, Passerine! Why didn't Meloti warn me about this..?"

"Indubitably, rawrk!"

"Oh, you're no help! I miss Parsimony.."

"Oh good goat, did I look like that when I gave birth to you, Menidia? Smile for the album, smiiile!
Quick Seany, get the camera - this is the most special moment in the history of our Family!"

"..Yes dear, coming oh love of my life, Saeva!"

Menidia smiled as she held her tiny daughter as her father clicked away with the camera. She
was indeed a little miracle child, but they named her Ara - which is a family of Parrots. Not in
keeping with the sea theme, but what the hey!

Ara had her father's skintone (1 or 2, I'm useless..), but here mother's black hair and blue eyes
and is the first of Generation Five in the main bloodline, yay!

"Oh my wonderful bride, it's such a joy that all these grandchildren are appearing!"

"Isn't it just? Check my want panel. I Want 20!"

No Seev, no! But I'll leave you here for now. Thanks for reading everyone, even though I know
the loss of Parsimony cuts you like a knife. Tune in next time for.. some things? Probably more
babies, hopefully less glitches. Oh! And Meloti's secret and plot stuff and so on. CC from MTS2,
Parsimonious, All About Style, XM Sims and Nouke. Probably more wonderful places too! This
has been Gin, eating a well nice soya yoghurt!

First there was Man.

Then there were Shrews.

The Science of a Legacy: Chapter 14

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The Science of a Legacy: Chapter 14