A Townie Dynasty with Leeway: Gen3/Merri Lee
Big wheel keep on turnin’
Proud Merri keep on burnin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river
(original “Proud Mary” song written by John Fogerty of Credence Clearwater Revival)
Week 13/Thursday
Merri: Masaya doesn’t interact much with his son Garrison.
Since becoming an elder, Masaya tires very quickly and sleeps more.
Thankfully, he retired on our last free day.
While Garrison and I are chatting, he suddenly pulls out his homework.
What can I do but help him with it?
Then, I realize why I can’t influence Garrison like Papa could. I have zero parenting skill!
I’ll need to remedy that before becoming a mother.
Merri: At 11 pm sharp, Garrison suddenly gets up and goes home.
Why? He’s such a mystery!
Friday
Merri: I spend another day at home, reading books on parenting and vampire lore.
At 5 pm, I give up and re-invite Garrison back in my club.
We’re all sitting around toking on the bubble blower for my work-from-home assignment.
Just as I stand up to zap my lovely mother with Mind Control: Clean, it happens!
At precisely 8:21 pm, my boy toy transforms into a man toy!
Merri: And at last, after all the waiting, Garrison and I share our first kiss!
You know, Garrison, if we try for baby right away, we could be parents by Monday night!
Garrison: Why so rushed, Merri? (I haven’t heard the woohoo talk from my father yet!)
Pro Tip: Never experiment with the bubble blower’s flavors before a romantic interlude, lol.
They started out angry (from the Passionfruit Potion flavor) then embarrassed by failed flirty socials.
Luckily, Merri saved the day with Rose Perfume serums she’d cloned beforehand.
She gave one to Garrison then drank the other one herself.
Saturday
Merri: It’s just past midnight when a pregnancy test confirms that I’m eating for two.
Since I became the controlled sim Sunday afternoon, I’ll be giving birth to an heir in time!
Garrison: I’m going to be a father?
Merri: Let’s jet back to my place, Garrison. I need to tie up some loose ends!
Merri: Back home, I harvest the garden one last time then sell off all superfluous items in the house.
In my haste, I lose track of time and summon Papa and Uncle Mot to cake up too late! Sorry!
Cirius: Dang! We aged up while we were standing right in front of our cakes, Mot!
Merri bids farewell to her family, then returns to the Lost Garden of Healing with Garrison
Merri: You aren’t feeling angry or embarrassed anymore, are you?
Garrison: I’m not sure. Are you?
Merri: Good point! If I’ve lost those negative moodlets by now, so have you! *kneels to propose
Merri: Folks say I resemble Grandma Liberty more than I resemble Mama.
Like Grandma, I also propose to and marry my love here in the Lost Garden of Healing.
It’s already light out when I move in with Garrison and his older sister Theresa.
They’re both children that Morgan Fyres had with our pollinator Masaya.
The Fyres’ Dresden House sits on a large plot of land and I can already envision our garden and the children’s playground!
Right away, I phone Masato Ikeda and my brother Nimb to ask them to join my new household.
This is not what it looks like! I’m simply giving Masato some air kisses.
All that time Masato spent meditating in Papa’s club really paid off.
Masato joins the household with maxed Wellness! And his aspiration is so ideal!
I’m forced to return to Yuma Heights because Nimb insists that he’s sleeping.
Of course, I find him video gaming upstairs. He’s such a geek!
Merri: We all get makeovers and I’m wearing Grandma Liberty’s original pigtails now.
They greatly bring out my resemblance to the founder, don’t you agree?
Here’s a brief rundown of everyone. We’ve posted my starting stats at the end of this update.
Merri: Loves the Outdoors, Slob, Snob; Freelance Botanist; Food Critic 5
Garrison: Active, Dance Machine, Dog Lover; Grilled Cheese; (Athlete)
Nimb Lee (left): Outgoing, Geek, Dance Machine; Fabulously Wealthy; Scientist 4
Theresa Fyres (center): Outgoing, Perfectionist, Gloomy; Freelance Botanist; (Painter)
Masato Ikeda (right): Insider, Perfectionist, Cheerful; Serial Romantic; (pollinator/jobless for now)
I’m delighted that our resident pollinator is a Serial Romantic, like Masaya.
And how great that Theresa shares my aspiration! I never want to hire another gardener!
You’re probably looking at this shot and thinking: “Another garden? Does she never learn?”
I’ll have you know that the operatic gardener has not showed up here so far.
As long as we never hire a gardener, we might be safe! *crosses fingers
By the way, I’d accumulated so many harvestables since my teenhood!
I place seeds for planting then sell some of the remainder plus other stuff I crafted before moving.
After extensively remodeling our home’s interior, I sell the remaining harvestables.
The result? Our household funds increase by over $30,000 (2 points).
Did you recognize Herbert Bjergsen? That’s his older sister, Charity Bjergsen,
I’d been hoping my child could marry and move into The Lighthouse, but it can’t happen.
Garrison is half-siblings with all of Masaya’s other children.
Our new pollinator, Masato, needs to find “new blood,” so to speak, as well as keep certain lines alive for later.
Darn!
What? You’re wondering whether I regret choosing Garrison over Herbert Bjergsen?
You’re joking, right? My Garrison is the total package!
In the kitchen, I make some grilled cheese sammies for Garrison, then prepare several gourmet dishes for the household.
I reach level 3 of Gourmet Cooking, which is my designated skill (4 points).
It only takes a few more hours to max my violin skill (6 points).
Becoming good friends with my clubmate Aaradhya earns me another point (7 points).
Just before midnight, I max Gardening (9 points) which completes my Freelance Botanist aspiration (11 points).
For my third (and last) aspiration, I choose Successful Lineage.
Now excuse me while I run off to tell the others that our first free day has started!
Merri Lee’s Starting Stats
Satisfaction: 435 points
New Lot: Dresden House (Windenberg Countryside)
Household funds: $21,862
Designated Skill: Gourmet Cooking (Level 1 at move-in)
Secondary Skills: Handiness 10, Gardening/Violin 9, Painting 8, Writing 7, Cooking 5
Bonus Traits: Happy Toddler, Creatively Gifted, Thrifty, Responsible, Good Manners
Reward Traits: Morning Sim, Night Owl, Marketable, Entrepreneurial, Fertile
Aspiration: Mansion Baron, Freelance Botanist (Tier IV)
Job: Critic/Food Critic 5
Free Day #1 (11 points)
Designated skill (2): Gourmet Cooking 2-3
Maxed skills (4): Merri/Violin, Gardening
Maxed aspiration (2): Merri/Freelance Botanist
Good Friends (1): Aaaradhya Anand
Household funds (2): +$30,000
Author’s Notes
During Liberty Lee’s reign, we inadvertently triggered back-to-back Free Days #2 and #3 which caused some difficulty later on.
During Cirius Lee’s reign, we avoided that mistake but later had to hire a total of 33 NPCs to defer the last free day due to poor time management and erroneous scoring on my part.
Those 33 NPCs forced me to do way more scoring-related math than I ever want to do again in this challenge.
Here’s hoping that Merri’s rule goes smoothly! (Did I just jinx myself?)
oshizu's asylum 
LOL I love the little focus cube .. you taught me that!
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I giggled that you noticed the focusing elements! There’s always a few scattered around every garden and I’m too lazy to move them away for screenshots.
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Lol looks cool and if you don’t know you would not realize it
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