A Sharebear Legacy/Gen5, Kirsten Sharebear
Week 16/Saturday (Spring 7)
Liv: I hope you don’t mind if I narrate this update.
It’s going to center around our trip to Granite Falls, so Kirsten’s asked me to do it.
She works this weekend and won’t be able to stay with us there the whole time.
The twins have been in a great mood since morning, thanks to the sunny weather.
To everyone’s surprise, Takuya earns a promotion to Level 8 Patron of the Arts in a single work day.
Apparently, Akito used his Public Relations perk to “represent” Takuya and give him a performance boost.
Of course, Takuya had also negotiated for a bonus that morning but still.
I’m not sure what Matthias’s problem is.
He’s had a permanent “Loss in the Family” (Sad +3) moodlet since he aged up to a toddler.
Thing is, the only ghost among his contacts is Grandma Edamame (who he’s never met).
Our watcher is developing a mild dislike for Matthias and his constant moping.
Soon after Kirsten leaves for work at 8 pm, the rest of us leave for Granite Falls.
We arrive at our luxury lodging, but I drag everyone with me to the National Park.
I’m hoping to harvest a morel mushroom in the Deep Woods tonight.
That way, I simply need to harvest two plants–Chamomile and Toxic Chamomile–in the Campground Area tomorrow.
I can’t help but feel that I’ve been supremely unlucky in Granite Falls.
Exactly two seasons have passed since my last visit here.
I’d been hoping that the weather might be a little more pleasant this time.
Is that too much to ask?
After summoning the others to the Deep Woods, I make a beeline to the hermit’s rock garden.
There, an unexpected sight greets me.
Though summer starts tomorrow, the spring herbs aren’t growing yet. AT.ALL.
You mean to say that even in-season plants won’t sprout without our presence?
The hermit’s garden planters greet me with the same pathetic plight.
The only plant thriving is the sage, since it blooms year-round.
Okay, so I need to wait out the 24-hour growth cycle of the morel and false morel mushrooms.
I can do that. That is, we can do that.
Negi: Grandpa, isn’t “a vacation” when we go somewhere nice to have fun and relax?
Omu: Yeah, why did we come to this miserably wet and gloomy place?
Negi: We’d have a better time in sunny Brindleton Bay!
Omu: Or we could go fishing in Willow Creek or Oasis Springs instead, Grandpa!
Jaga: Sorry, boys, but your Auntie Liz needs to be here.
Liv: We have utterly and totally taken over the hermit’s home, since the rain forces us indoors.
Negi: It’s past 11 pm, Grandpa. Are you sure it’s okay for us to eat on the hermit’s bed?
Jaga: Well, the hermit isn’t here right now.
Negi: Maybe he’s sleepy but he can’t come home because there’s nowhere to sit or sleep anymore…
Liv: Kirsten had asked me to snap a photo of brother Matthias for our museum.
As usual, he is feeling sorry for himself. Moreover, he’s feeling homesick to boot.
I still remember the morning of our first trip to Granite Falls on the last day of spring.
That was when Matthias aged up to a toddler with his Sad +3 moodlet which turned out to be permanent.
I’m so upset about having to wait 24 hours to harvest those mushrooms in this bad weather.
Will I need the repeat the same thing for the Chamomile and Toxic Chamomile plants?
I trudge off to a tent to sleep till tomorrow. *sighs
Week 17/Sunday (Summer 1)
Hermit: Hmmph, what’s with all the sadness and tragic sighs?
This is my home and yet I can’t even go to bed until 4 am because…tourists!
Liv: After waking up, I’m feeling more optimistic about being here.
Jaga: I should hope so. You’re the only one of us with the Loves the Outdoors trait!
Liv: I feel so bad that Kirsten and Takuya, who work weekends, are missing promotions because they can’t prepare for work properly.
Jaga: Everybody know this isn’t your fault, Liv.
But please stay alert and harvest what you need as soon as they’re available.
Monday
It’s past 1 a.m., roughly 28 hours since we arrived at the Deep Woods Saturday night.
But I’m still not getting the option to harvest those dang mushrooms.
I’m going to give them until 5 am, then I need to take the family home…
At this point, we send Matthias home because, frankly, he’s being a pain in the plumbob.
Oh right! With the new gardening system, all harvestables spawn at 5 a.m.! Doh!
And yes, it’s another rainy day.
From a garden planter, I harvest and identify a Chamomile plant. Yay!
The only plant to I need to identify now is Toxic Chamomile.
My heart bursts with hope as I return with the family to the Campground Area.
Nope.
At least now I have a better idea about how to harvest that last herb most efficiently.
I should arrive for a 24-hour (growth) period that ends before 5 a.m.
After that horrid weather in Granite Falls, we return to rain and thunderstorms in the Bay.
I don’t mean to sound pessimistic, but it’s like the foul weather followed us home.
Before work, I catch Uncle Ikura in the greenhouse talking to the plants.
I tell Kirsten immediately, worried that he might harvest our garden.
But he’s only doing research. I guess?
Negi: Maaan, that was THE worst weekend, evah!
Omu: I hear you, bro. There went two days of our childhood that we can never get back!
Negi: At least we earned our Outdoor Adventurers badge for scouting.
Omu: Eh, we could have done that at our nearby beach.
Negi: The best news is that we got A’s today, so we’re done with Whiz Kid!
Omu: Yep, yep. And we’re never going back to grade school!
Matthias (from the foyer): Why is Mama making so much noise in the other room?
Liv: Matthias, quick! You need to remove Mama from your club so she can go home!
Matthias: Done, but why?
Kirsten: Wow, I didn’t even know Mama was pregnant again. When did that happen, Papa?
Jaga: Um, I’m blaming Love Day!
This evening, I earn a promotion to Level 9 Bouquet Biologist.
I’m so close to maxing my Botanist career yet still so far from finishing Outdoor Enthusiast.
Matthias and twins are A students who all have birthdays in three days (on Thursday).
I’m pretty sure I have a fail-proof plan for harvesting that last herb.
“Fail-proof? Hah, that’s rich! It’s going to take me an entire year to complete my aspiration!
Chapter Notes
*Future Sharebears who roll Outdoor Enthusiast will be moved out on their teen birthday.
*Matthias and his permanent Loss of Family moodlet must be a glitch.
*I hope all my mistakes with Outdoor Enthusiast will profit other Sharebears.
I’ve surely made every mistake possible with this aspiration. Grrrr!
*Useful Tip:
Before identifying an unidentified herb, move all but one of them to another sim’s inventory.
You want to move them to someone who’s never identified those herbs, like a toddler or a child.
Back home, you can move the kid’s unidentified herbs to a storage chest where they’ll remain
“unidentified” for a future Outdoor Enthusiast.
*I don’t know about other simmers, but my sims’ post-Season days are invariably bad weather.
My next multi-gen challenge, my sims might have to live in Oasis Springs or Windenburg…
*At Granite Falls, my sims stay at “Bear Cabin,” a Gallery creation by LadyMartita.
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