See you later, alligator: Benedict

We knew our time grew short. Perhaps not in the physical sense, but in the metaphysical. Our story was coming to a close. Our part in the story was complete, and it remained now only to guide the cubs as best we might.

But we did not take such a responsibility lightly. It seemed only hours after the twins first day of school that their sister Deirdre was ready to join them.

So, we have Bleys and Brand as children, Deirdre just about to join them, and Fiona a few days behind. Benedict is their primary caretaker (and now has the 10 Athletics he needs to leave the lot, if necessary). Taylor is going to have to try and get her Athletics skill up, if necessary at a higher priority even than Writing.

Deidre transitions and gets Unlucky. Great, so no killing her then.

We spent our time making sure we knew our cubs well. There is a trick of both scent and skill to determine personality - we had mastered it after long years of practice.

Benedict, in the meantime, gets the first skill challenge of this attempt: Personable, which is kind of a gimme if you have a large family and Charisma.

And Fiona was soon in school as well; we were very proud of our studious cubs. The twins, especially, were able to defeat us at chess, and they found time to play hopscotch to stretch their still forming muscles. It was with great sadness that we had to hand over any of the paintings that the cubs completed - for "analysis", apparently, though we suspected they were sold as curiosities created by "freaks". We have been called much worse, but we wish our cubs had been spared it. Even Bleys faces such taunts, though he completely lacks the changing power.

The full moon brought the change to the girls, Brand, and us. A particularly brave thief attempted to use this moment to rob us, but we protect our pack.

Unfortunately, Taylor's boss apparently quit, died, or whatever, making her war dialling the previous day useless. She did get the promotion to Freelance Writer, which brings in the stories and reviews metric. All during a Snow Day so I have the kids at home. During the rest of the week I managed only one promotion to Professional Blogger, but I intended to use the weekend to get a few reports written to help with that.

I managed to get one done on Saturday, a negative report (as I believe the deal is negative gives you better metrics, positive gives you a bonus to your relationship - and I don't care about the relationship). Early Sunday morning, the stupidest burglar in the world decides to try and rob a house with 4 werewolves in it.

Our cubs were model students. Up until Bleys became a teenager, and we were informed that he would no longer be welcome in the schooling system.

Just in case, I cleared the bookcase into various inventories as soon as I heard the sound, but I needn't have bothered.

This was unfortunate, and we may have mistakenly taken this out on Bleys. We had thought it was because he failed to change, but it turned out that there were just no facilities for teenagers. So Bleys stayed home, and helped us look after his siblings.

Though a twin, Brand's own aging had been slightly retarded by frequent changes. Along with his sisters, they seemed to change far more often than we had - in part because they were desperately sleep deprived, a necessary condition for Taylor to keep up her physicals. She was aging rapidly, and without a clean bill of health would be denied further employment in a few years, so her exercise routines took precedence over everything else. We hope our children can forgive us; Taylor worked for their own benefit.

Brand's birthday was delayed. I suspect it has to do with the fact he was forced into werewolf form due to mood. That's happening a lot; I have to keep the kids angry in order for Mum to work out before they go to bed. Taylor was an Anonymous Source Handler (Journalist 5) with 7 days to go before becoming an Elder; even though she had only Writing 4 it was important to get her Athletics to 10 as the highest possible priority, so it was a lot of Push Self every day. Foolishly I chose Cardio, which needs 75 hours rather than 60 to no longer fatigue. On Tuesday of Week 6 she had Athletics 7.5.

But it wasn't all bad, she did manage to complete the Celebrity Charisma challenge.

Taylor, in her new role of , was really starting to struggle. Our insistence on her workout routine took its toll on her duties at work, but we were convinced it was the correct course. Every day, we saw more wrinkles on her once smooth skin.

We had decided that since Taylor needed to concentrate on her job and health, it would be best for our romantic relationship to end. She could see we were unhappy, and gave her blessing for us to seek out other, casual mates.

Bleys ended up a Coward, Loner, Rebellious, Virtuoso (far from ideal), whereas Brand was a Family-Oriented, Grumpy, Kleptomaniac, Loner. Bleys has Athletics 2 (from hopscotch), Logic 7, Painting 2; Brand has Athletics 3 (more hopscotch), Logic 6, and Painting 3.

About this time, Benedict decided to accuse Taylor of cheating, and then break up with her. This is one of the more annoying Sims 3 things; Taylor hadn't cheated at all - she simply had had previous lovers. However, there was an upside to this - with the marriage over, I was now free to pursue Heartbreaker. He was 76 days old, but I believe that the werewolf life extension should count.

With even Deirdre now grown into a teenager, our presence was less necessary. We still prepared food for the cubs, but they were becoming ever more independent, and with our relationship with Taylor now merely one of close friendship, she did not really need us much either. We could feel our time growing short.

Interesting. Werewolves don't have birthdays while changed, but it does count the time. Deirdre, immediately after her birthday, only has 12 days left as a teen. I had better make sure I change them back more often. She got Couch Potato, Excitable, Hot-Headed, and Unlucky - easily the most terrible set of traits this generation. She does have Athletics 3, Logic 7, and Painting 2 though.

We had a few mates. We wanted more. It seemed to us that if we could have as many as ten mates, it would be enough - our cubs could talk of their heart breaker father, and perhaps even Taylor would remember us with amusement more than anger.

Sometimes we worried we were setting a bad example for our cubs, but they have their tasks, regardless of what their father's reputation is.

At last. Now she can use Quick Burst to build the last two points of Athletic; she has 3 days until she is an elder. The main hassle is mood; Benedict's break up tanked it for everyone except him.

It is going to be touch and go with Taylor. It is by no means certain I can make it to Athletics 10 in time. But Benedict managed to do the Plumbers challenge for Handiness.

We added some inner walls to our house so that the cubs could sleep while Taylor worked out in the adjoining room. Her health was improving but so was her age, and we didn't know whether she would pass the physical on her 50th birthday or not.

Fiona ended up with Easily Impressed, Loves the Outdoors, Never Nude, and Rebellious. She has Athletics 3, Logic 6, and Painting 2 - and not that great a school record due to lots of Snow Days.

But then she impressed us all, passing with flying colours. We chose our mate well, even if we could not stay as alphas.

Years before her time, Taylor began to show all the signs of old age - except senility. We had achieved that, at least.

This was close. It happened on the day she was due to become an elder, but effectively she had an extra day because it was a day off (Tuesday, because apparently Investigate Reporters have Tuesdays off). It's still by no means certain that I can make the lift, but it is at least now possible.

Taylor passed her physical with flying colours, and continued as a journalist. She was now investigating the strange weather that we seemed to have - constant winter, near-constant snowfall.

The same day as she becomes an elder, she also became a Weather Woman. Just 3 promotions to go, but I really need to improve my Writing (still at only 5).

With his mother's advice, Brand led the pack in his own physicality. We are proud of him; he is far stronger than us, and he has shown his sisters and twin what to work for.

This came in at Athletics 9, but it's still decent. The same day (thanks to Quick Burst) he got to 10. Deirdre got there the next day, with Fiona getting it the day after.

On Monday, week 8, Taylor got her promotion to Lead Reporter. She's 67 days old; it's going to be tight.

The first of our cubs has grown to adulthood. Though Bleys cannot change, we love him no less - his role, while less than that of his brother, is still important. We feel, though, that his upbringing amongst us has caused a certain amount of trauma. We should perhaps have spent more time with him. We hope he forgave us in the end.

He took up the guitar - a battered instrument, but serviceable - and told us of his hope to sing the spirit song. We could not help but hear the notes he sung were likely to draw demons as well as helpful spirits - but it was not our place to criticise, and he did not listen when we did.

Bleys has an unappealing set of traits: Coward, Evil, Longer, Rebellious, Virtuoso. At young adult, he has Athletics 7 (but has Body Builder), Handiness 2 (from fixing the toilet), Logic 8, and Painting 2. I chose Super Popular as his LTW. Normally I'd wait until Journalism is lifted here, but Bleys is not a werewolf, and hence has a truncated lifespan - so I got him a job immediately: Music. I guess that's about the best of a bad lot. He'll go for Symphonic.

I finished the Comedian challenge with Benedict while pursuing Heartbreaker - one of the things about NRAAS Story Progression is you rarely find unattached Sims, so you have to get their trust before you get seriously romantic. At the point where Brand ages up, Benedict has 6/10 for Heartbreaker.

Our heir became an adult. We wanted him to take to over our record, but he cautioned patience. He became a coffee courier, but he said that eventually he would buy many of the cities institutions - it was not, he admitted, necessarily the most direct way for him to assist, but he could help fund his siblings and - if necessary - his own children.

We wished we could wait. But it was our time.

Brand is Family-Oriented, Grumpy, Kleptomaniac, Loner, and Unlucky - a terrible selection of traits. I selected Chess Legend for his LTW; he currently has Athletics 10, Logic 7, Painting 5, and Writing 2. He ends up in the Business career.

Snowflake Day arrives, giving Brand and Bleys time to war dial their bosses. Benedict gets the 7th notch in his belt - 3 to go , and anyone's guess whether he'll make it.

While working on number 8, though, at age 89: