Chapter ten of the Vermachtnis Legacy story by Taube.

2. Welcome back to the Vermachtnis Legacy, a family with many hobbies, some less than wholesome. The gen 6 kids grew up and started establishing their personalities, while their pleasure sim parents continued to be goof-offs. However, youngest child and alien Palmer had begun to keep human captives in the backyard, apparently unnoticed by any authority figures. Let’s see what happens next.

3. Time for Prescott’s birthday! Are you excited? Penelope is! Prescott grows up very nicely, seemingly with a lot of his mother’s facial genes. We’ll get to his aspiration and lifetime want a little later.

4. Child or teen, he still loves animals and goes out of his way to be with his pets.

5. “ Finally! I’m getting out of here.” Oh no! Malcolm escaped! Palmer is not going to be happy. Those two gravestones are from the two captives that did not last as long as Malcolm.

6. Well, Palmer? Did you finally see that what you were doing was wrong and repented? “ What? Of course not. He just wouldn’t die and I got bored.” It’s true, unlike the other two captives Malcolm had apparently never been greeted and was therefore immortal despite being starving and pee-soaked.

7. Let’s check in with the rest of the Fearsome Foursome and see what they think about this development. Parker: “I wish he wasn’t like that. We may be twins and have similar personalities, but there’s something off about Palmer.” Penelope: “I think Palmer’s funny. I’m super excited to see what game he comes up with next!” Penny, he killed people. “ But in a fun way!” Paul: “I couldn’t care less. I just want to play with my toys and get a little peace and quiet. Do you know how hard that is to get in this house?”

8. The kids are absolutely fascinated by Kiki the dog’s first bath. Kiki is, I hate to say, kind of a bad dog. She doesn’t listen, doesn’t accept training, and is often filthy. She is a lot like Max, actually. Penelope, Prescott’s younger clone, spins up wants for a womrat, too, so she gets her own named Quincy.

9. Now that the backyard people zoo is no longer operational, the kids have to find other things to keep their attention. Parker is always having to be instructed to do homework because he sneaks away frequently and doesn’t finish his for days at a time. Ah, childhood.

10. That childhood has come to an end, as the Fearsome Foursome prepare to grow into teenagers, once again en masse. Although all of the kids are loved, Max accidently telegraphs his favorite during the party, much to Palmer’s dismay. “ How can he not love me best? I captured Malcolm Landgraab. I’m like an OFB safari hunter.” He loves all his children, Palmer. “ But he’s deafening Penelope and not me!”

11. “ Not-Mom, I think Dad . . .” “ Don’t call me that, Palmer. I raised you, I’m your Mom.” *under his breath* “But Not-Mom, you’re only human. No one understands me!” Oh great. Now he’s evil *and* melodramatic! Penelope continues to be the focus of the birthday party, for some reason.

12. Time to check out the teenagers and disparage, I mean, encourage, their goals in life. Prescott is a popularity sim with the annoying but unsurprising want to have 20 pet best friends. If anyone can do it, it’d be him. He’s loved the animals ever since they appeared in game, it figures he’d get that want.

13. Penelope is a pleasure sim with the want to have 50 dates of one kind or another – my notes on this are a little vague. Ultimately, it’s not important because she’ll change her aspiration later. I’ve had enough pleasure sims recently, thank you very much.

14. Paul is a romance sim with the wish for 20 lovers. He is a very good-looking sim, especially with the striking combo of red hair and grey eyes, so this shouldn’t be too difficult for him, though it is definitely not one of my favorite lifetime wishes.

15. Palmer is a fortune sim with the wish . . . to have 6 pets top their career. That’s . . . that’s not evil at all, Palmer. “ The evil part is I disrupted the characterization you’ve been working on so hard. Sucks to be you, sim controller!” Grr.

16. The alien skin is once again glitching, so now Parker has neutral eyes. Parker is a popularity sim with the desire to own 5 top businesses. Yawn.

17. Meanwhile, Palmer is expressing his teenage angst by searching for his other parent amongst the stars. In the right panel he’s . . . Hmm, what are you doing, Palmer?” “ Not prank calling the local chapter of the Sims Astronomy Society, that’s for sure. This right here? Is the face of innocence.” Right.

18. With all five kids now teenagers, the house has gotten pretty busy and is starting to feel a little crowded. I try to get in a bit of skilling before sending them off to college, but as you can see, some have other ideas on how to spend their time.

19. When the teens start to gravitate to the juice keg in the empty backyard zoo, I decide it’s past time for them to GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, YOU MISCREANTS! “ Hello, Acadamie Le Tour? I’d like to order a college shuttle, for five. Uh, soon, please. It’s urgent. Yeah, frustrated sim controller. Oh, you get that a lot?”

20. While the teens have been doing all of this and are now heading off to college, what are the adults and elders in the house up to? Not much, really. Max is smustling, Mary and June are canoodling and Maddie is getting scared by a cowplant victim who decided to wear mime makeup in the afterlife. No, I don’t know why either.

21. At college, the kid’s aunt Macy is there to pledge them to the ancestral Vermachtnis Greek House, Urele Ara Hoh. Penelope, perpetually excited about everything, is an easy pledge. She leads the parade of shame from the dorms over to the Greek house while Macy decides to get a laugh on her nieces and nephews by wearing fig leaves for no apparent reason as her outerwear.

22. Once there, Penelope’s terrible affliction, I mean, aspiration, is cured and she becomes my game’s first grilled cheese sim. Older brother Prescott continues to be an easy-going, friendly guy and is always happy to talk cheese with his only sister.

23. Finally, Macy can leave the Greek House and get back to Halcyon River Hills proper. Bye, Macy! Romance sims often end up being my placeholders at Uni because they’re usually the only ones not getting married straight out of college.

24. Besides the five children of this generation, one other student comes over to UAH. She and Prescott became fast friends back at the dorms, so he wanted her to pledge and she got to come along. Her name is Sierra and she is the daughter of generation three’s Jessie, had late in life after Jessie’s wife Gabi had died of old age. Technically, I think this makes her their half-great-aunt. Maybe. Anyway, she’s kinda sorta related, but distantly. Prescott also immediately desires . . . what else? A pet! So here is UAH’s new mascot, Winnipeg.

25. Palmer desires a makeup chair and immediately sets to conducting cosmetic experiments on his siblings, and only Penelope, his favorite, emerges unscathed. Paul was the only one who had the guts to give Palmer a taste of his own medicine.

26. Palmer is an odd guy in a lot of ways, but here’s one of them. He’s on moderately good terms with all of his siblings and is especially good friends with his twin and Penelope, yet he will start arguments at the drop of a hat. However, he also scowls and sneers even when he’s happy, so it’s hard to know whether this was a positive or negative conversation.

27. Paul begins to set about getting a few lovers for his lifetime wish. He’s very easygoing and dates all kinds of people, but he gets along especially well with a cheerleader named Caryl.

28. In fact, like his great-grandfather Jessie before him, Paul is a romance sim who spins up the want to get engaged. Although the game indicates it’s a bad idea, Paul is head over heels in love with Caryl and hardly desires anyone else, which will make his lifetime want difficult to say the least. Although you can’t see Caryl’s face in any of these shots, she is a very nice-looking young lady and would make a good legacy spouse.

29. Paul isn’t the only one finding his other half in college, however. Parker falls in love with a cow mascot named Elle and invites her to move in.

30. Who would fall in love with a sim like this, though? It’s hard to find a match for playfully mean Palmer, especially when he’s scowling all the time.

31. Which is what makes Lexie, our permanently sneering maid, an excellent fit for him. Unsurprisingly, these two meanies hit it off with each other just fine.

32. Prescott, meanwhile, started rolling wants – romantic wants – aimed at his best friend Sierra. It seems incest-y since they share an ancestor, but they are also very separated, by generations as well as degrees of family. I tentatively give them the go ahead, but it turns out that they fall instantly and deeply in love with a first kiss! I’m torn about this. Can your great-aunt be a kissing cousin?

33. Despite my reservations, Prescott and Sierra make a wonderful couple and are deeply in love. They constantly roll wants for one another to the exclusion of all else. Seeing them so in love, I try to put away my hesitations and let them live the lives they obviously want. Both of them are delighted when Prescott proposes.

34. Although it seems like everyone in the house is getting some lovin’, one sim is still left out. Penelope hasn’t found that certain someone, and for now her one and only love continues to be grilled cheese.

35. Meanwhile, things are pretty much the same at home as they were before the kids departed. Max and Maddie, the heads of generation five, continue to work on Maddie’s lifetime want to have 50 dream dates. They want to make sure they’re both plantinum so they’re ready to help with the next generation when the heir/ess comes home after college.

36. My simself drops by to make fun of Max for getting abducted, even while he’s on his way out to the car for a date with his wife. Classy.

37. Another visitor is even worse, however. This woman was once a date of Max’s way back in college, and when she comes home with someone from work, she goes in a bit too close for a hug with Max while Maddie watches.

38. Maddie is, of course, furious with Max, because in sim-land, being the unwilling target of a romantic social is the same as purposeful cheating. They work on their relationship but it isn’t going well. “ Please forgive me, Maddie!” “ Okay!” “ Wait, really? Oh, awesome!”

39. “ Look over there!” “ What?” “ By the way, just kidding about the forgiving part.” *splash* “ I still hate you.” That’s cold, Maddie.

40. “ Look, Maddie, I know you’re still angry, but listen for a moment.” “ Fine. What do you want?” “ I was thinking maybe we could take some time for ourselves, time to relax and patch our relationship up. We’ve been so busy raising kids ever since we graduated college, basically. It’s time we took time for *us*.” “ That does sound good. As pleasure sims, we hardly ever take time for frivolous enjoyment!”

41. And so Max and Maddie leave on the first vacation in my game. (Again, I know Bon Voyage came out forever ago, but it was new when I took these pictures!)

42. They have a great time doing all kinds of things in their tropical vacation locale whose name I forget. They even almost set themselves on fire with lava! Good times!

43. Best of all, Maddie discovers the pirate ship and puts Max to work on her crew immediately. Bossing him around does wonders for the lingering resentment she was still holding on to.

44. After spending her entire adult life playing tub pirate whenever she got a moment, Maddie feels completely ready to take over as captain. In fact, she might be just a little too serious about the whole thing. Her maniacal pirate laugh is coming along nicely at any rate.

45. Max and Maddie finally get on good terms again and Maddie forgives Max. They’ve had a wonderful vacation and spent a lot of enjoyable time together.

46. All vacations must end, and after one final date in the tropics, Max and Maddie prepare to travel back to Halcyon River Hills.

47. Meanwhile, back on campus, the kids are enjoying the benefits of another long-ago Expansion Pack. Installed shortly before they left for school, their first seasons are experienced at school and they celebrate them by . . . what else? Goofing off.

48. Wow! Winter is fun. What are you guys up to? “ I made a new friend!” Aww, for someone with only 3 nice points, Parker, you sure are a sweetie. “ I made an evil snowman near the cowplant!” Of course you did, Palmer.

49. Back at home, Kiki continues to be trouble on four legs, and we get her a new playmate to hopefully help use up some of that destructive energy. The Vermachtnises’ new dog is a little terrier named Rolf.

50. Despite their differences in size, Rolf and Kiki get along great. So great, in fact . . .

51. . . . that they soon have puppies! Their puppies are two boys named Quorn and Captain, and a little girl pup named Zoe. They still haven’t grown up yet in-game, so your guess on their looks is as good as mine.

52. The two couples back at the main house, elders June and Mary, and the constantly-playing adults Max and Maddie, are passing time with the dogs while the children finish their schooling.

53. The elders are getting quite old, however, and June contemplates death as she looks at the portraits of the wife that died so early, and the one she’s lived a long life with.

54. Finally, Mary’s time comes and she passes away, leaving everyone, including Kiki, distraught.

55. Mary Vermachtnis, former gardener, lived a long life. She entered June and Max’s life after the tragic death of June’s first wife, Edith, and proved to be an excellent wife and mother, and went on to have five more children with June besides raising Edith’s three. She was a wonderful sim and well loved by everyone.

56. Sensing that her time is also growing short, June hurries to finish the portrait she was painting of Max while he starts one of his wife.

57. Portraits done! They will now move to hang in honor with the other Vermachtnis heir and spouse portraits.

58. As she expected, June’s time is short. Poor Parker had been jogging by when he realized (somehow) that his grandmother was dying inside the house and he rushed to say goodbye, but was moments too late.

59. June and Mary take their places in a quiet corner of the yard set aside for their graves. June Vermachtnis was the first sim of mine picked in an heir poll, and she won by an overwhelming margin. She was a mother to eight sims, and a loving wife of both Edith and then later Mary. She will be missed by many sims.

60. Max and Maddie are now truly the heads of the family, God help us all. In all the goings-on, at some point Maddie fulfilled her lifetime want by having 50 dream dates with Max. Now they have both started on their second want, and are racing to see who can become Celebrity Chef first.

61. The generation six kids, specifically Parker and Penelope, have decided to start up a venue, transforming Little N’ Local into a hip nightclub with gambling and relaxing activities. It’s a popular spot and gains stars quickly, but seems to be especially well attended by the residents of one vacation spot.

62. While aspiring popular business owner Parker schmoozes the guests and keeps everyone mingling happily, Penelope works on her wants and the consequences thereof. She spends a lot of time on the treadmill, burning off grilled cheese. She also takes time to do the school cheer with Lydia, an Academie Le Tour alumna and Penelope’s aunt. Lydia is a good friend of mine who also goes by hippielayla86, and who is married in my game to Morris, Max’s younger brother. Real-life Lydia writes some wonderful stories and legacies, and is currently working on a very fun apocalypse challenge.

63. Penelope also takes her time to work the tables and keep an eye on some of the more suspicious patrons.

64. She misses these two, however. I wanted to get Parker vamped and for some reason, the first one didn’t take, so luckily a second vampire happened by later on.

65. This one worked correctly and to Penelope’s and my amazement, it even gained us a star. Shortly after this, the business reached 10 stars, and the kids are still freshmen!

66. Penelope also takes time to chat up Daisy, the first child born in the whole Vermachtnis legacy, and her . . . let’s see . . . let’s call her a great-great-great-aunt. In the background is a clone of the founder of the legacy, Asher, who lives in a placeholder’s house.

67. Parker spends a lot of time in the garden and eventually becomes a plant sim. My plan is to get him to be an alien-vampire-plant sim-zombie-werewolf and I guess eventually warlock when I get around to installing Apartment Life. I’m curious how his appearance will turn out because right now he has vampire eyes, a plant sim face, and the plant sim markings on a pale vampire-alien body. Complicated!

68. Oh ho ho! Look who’s stupid enough to try messing around with the Vermachtnises again.

69. Luckily for Mr. Landgraab, Palmer isn’t around and Penelope finds him attractive, no doubt due to her completely healthy exposure to him when she was a child and he was a pet. He doesn’t mind warming up to her but he draws the line at hearing about grilled cheese for the 500 th time.

70. Penelope is persistant, however, and, like her siblings, she finally finds love in her first kiss. And that’s it for the Vermachtnis legacy for now. Let’s take a look at the potential heirs and then I’ll tell you where you can vote.

71. Prescott “The Pet Whisperer” Vermachtnis 6/4/7/7/9 Popularity – Have 20 Sim Best Friends Prescott is a low-key and friendly sim who has always had a great love for animals. He is currently engaged to Sierra but will have to break it off if he is chosen as heir.

72. Penelope “Cheese Diva” Vermachtnis 6/4/7/4/9 Grilled Cheese – whatever that lifetime want is Penelope is a lovely young sim who is perpetually excited for things and loves to socialize. She is currently seeing Malcolm Landgraab but will have to hand him over to Palmer if she is chosen as heiress.

73. Paul “The Quiet One” Vermachtnis 6/5/7/6/3 Romance – Have 20 Lovers With a mostly temperate personality and no real quirks, Paul tends to fade into the background around his tempestuous siblings. He is engaged to cheerleader Caryl.

74. Parker “Simple” Vermachtnis 10/10/1/8/3 Popularity – Have 5 Top Businesses After repeated poisonings as a toddler, Parker has always been a simple but sweet sim, despite what his personality might indicate. He is dating a cow mascot named Elle.

75. Palmer “Evil Yuppie” Vermachtnis 10/8/0/10/0 Fortune – 6 Pets Reach Top of Career Palmer is a devious and twisted sim who kept other sims for pets as a child. He is frequently unfriendly, but found his awful match in the equally mean maid, Lexie.

76. And that’s the end of our story for now! Thank you for tuning in, and extra thank you’s to those of you who were my readers before I left the simming world, and are still with me. Thanks for being great friends! The heir poll will be up at SiMania, a small but friendly forum located at http://s12.invisionfree.com/Sim_Mania