A DESPRET

TALE

CHAPTER 1: A

SECOND CHANCE

In every universe there are certain premade sims. In each universe these premade sims lives play out in different ways. While some of these sims can have their life play out in a unique way no matter what universe you look into ; some sims’ lives seem to remain constant in all the universes. But nothing is ever exactly the same in all the universes. In one such universe, the life of one premade sim turns out in a way you’ve likely never seen before. In that universe, Calista Despret was given the chance to found her very own legacy.

It all began in a universe overseen by a simmer known as Mystery. She was the creator of the Goldweaver family whose family resided in a neighborhood known as Lorian.

The Goldweaver family soon needed the services of the dreaded nannies. Like all sim players, Mystery was well aware of the havoc a nanny could inflict upon a family. In a failed legacy, the nanny Karen Gast, was responsible for three children being taken away by the social worker. So she was quite unhappy that she had no choice but to hire a nanny to take care of young Allill.

Calista Despret was the nanny her game had generated to come and serve as the Goldweaver nanny. Mystery watched with an open mouth as Calista not only took care of Allill, but also cleaned everything in the house. She watched in further amazement as Calista never once started a single fire , steal a single simolean from the money trees, or ever once leave any of the four children in any kind of motive desperation. She watched as this sim became best friends with everyone in the house.

Mystery ended up falling in love with Calista and therefore moved her into the home of one of her legacy spares during generation two. It was here that she discovered Calista was a family sim with the life long desire to see 3 kids graduate from college.

Mystery couldn’t give Calista the three children she wanted, however she did what she could and allowed Calista to adopt a baby girl. But this did not seem like enough for such a wonderful sim.

Calista died unexpectedly and therefore was not platinum. For a long time after that Mystery was quite dissatisfied by how Calista’s story had ended. She had wanted to give her as happy an ending as she possibly could, and she felt as if she’d failed.

Her desire to give Calista the happy ending she was denied in the Goldweaver legacy only increased as time and time again Calista proved herself to be just as wonderful as she was in the Goldweaver house. No matter what house she was in she took excellent care of the children and in many cases became friends with the family she worked for.

Then one day her computer crashed. Mystery had to recreate her Goldweaver family on her laptop. Recreating the family was time consuming and exhausting. To give herself a break she created a second neighborhood that she named Oasis Valley. It was here that she placed her simself.

It was here that another unexpected event occurred. Her simself yet again was attracted to Kennedy Cox, a resident townie who was known for causing trouble in her neighborhoods. This was not the unexpected occurrence. The unexpected occurrence was that in Oasis Valley Kennedy was actually nice! On a whim, she allowed the two to fall in love and get married.

The main reason she’d given in was for a genetic experiment. Together Mystery and Kennedy had two children. Seeing that she had children and being in the middle of recreating the Goldweavers made her think of Calista. So she hired a nanny and was pleased to discover that Calista was sent to her house. After a few days, she moved Calista into the house where her simself was living.

And then she got the most wonderful idea. She used the powers of boolprop to de-age Calista back to her adult life stage and decided to give her a legacy of her very own.

So Calista Despret was moved into a lot of her very own and given a small shack in which to start her life. Could Mystery give Calista the happy ending she deserved the second time around? Only time would tell.

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Calista scanned the paper her first day living in Oasis Valley. She’d met an ambassador several months ago, who had been visiting her hometown of Pleasantview searching for an intern. The young woman had always loved to travel and the thought of adventure ;so she had applied for the position immediately. She’d easily impressed Mr. Wallace despite coming from a rather lowly background, and had been hired on the spot. He gave his new intern the name of a very good realtor and Calista was able to purchase with savings and money from a few friends a small fixer upper on the east side of the valley.

Calista settled into life in her new home with ease. Besides travelling the world, Calista enjoyed a good home cooked meal. She enjoyed experimenting with ingredient mixtures to see what great tastes she could invent.

Her neighbors seemed to enjoy Calista’s cooking as well and it wasn’t uncommon to see one of them over sharing a meal with the newcomer. Calista had always had an easy time making friends, and in no time at all she and Christy Stratton had developed a close bond.

“So you’re exploring the ocean now? That must be exciting!”Calista had a small smile on her face and her eyes were glazed over with wonder, “Oh it’s been marvelous, Christy.”Christy teased, “Maybe you’ll find the lost city of Atlantis.”Both women shared a laugh at the prospect of finding a lost underwater city, although secretly Calista thought that finding such a thing would be quite exhilarating.

Her days were either spent working or else she spent time with friends like Christy. If her friends weren't around then Calista spent her days alone in her house. But she was just as comfortable alone as she was in a crowd. Most often when she was alone she could be found reading romance novels. As time went on, Calista found that she dreamed of finding a special someone like the men in her books. She wasn’t interested in giving up her exciting life as an adventurer, but wanted a handsome prince charming to come along and perhaps take her on a whirlwind of an adventure greater than any she’d ever known. She had her eyes out for Mr. Right, but so far no-one could live up to her very high standards.

She did have her fair share of suitors though. The first man to take interest was the local mailman Pao Mellon. Although Calista liked Pao as a friend, she had no romantic feelings for the man. She’d also had a pizza man take an interest, but quite honestly he was anything but handsome.

One evening after work, Calista had headed down to the local coffee shop to celebrate another promotion. She’d planned on celebrating with Christy, but her best friend had called and had to cancel due to a family emergency. Calista had not let that stop her from trying to enjoy the evening. She’d gotten a drink from the bar tender, Berjes, and then headed inside.

Calista couldn’t help but notice the cute black haired man at the side of the shop. She’d introduced herself and had hoped that maybe he’d ask her out. “My name’s Calista, mind if I join you?”The dark haired man snorted, “Look lady I didn’t come out here to get hit on by my grandmother, so just get out of my way.”That had not gone well at all. She wasn’t old was she?

As she headed back outside she was stopped by the bartender,“Hey, don’t let Abe bother you. He’s a jerk to everybody. Besides, I think your hair makes you look distinguished.”Calista gave the bartender a raised eyebrow. He was by far the most odd looking man she’d ever seen. But he seemed like a nice guy and she always liked making new friends. “Thanks, uh what was your name again?”

Time continued to march onward and still Calista hadn’t found the perfect man. It’s not really any wonder this sim ended up a lonely old woman in so many universes. She was doing well in her career, but her social life was slowly becoming more an more neglected as time went on.“Oh sorry Christy, but I can’t come over I’m off on a huge expedition tomorrow and I need a good night’s sleep.”….“Oh definitely. When I get back we’ll hit the town for sure.”

But she and Christy didn’t hit the town when she finally returned home almost a week later. Calista found she was much too tired and really didn’t want to go out. She’d much rather just pay her pills, maybe cook herself a nice meal and then head off to bed.

Thankfully some of her friends did their part to keep Calista from turning into an old maid. The very next day, Berjes surprised her with a visit. “Hey you, long time no see.”Calista returned the friendly hug , “Hey.”

The two friends spent the morning hanging around together catching up. The time she spent that Wednesday with Berjes was honestly the longest she spent in the company of one of her friends in a very long time. She’d almost forgotten how good it felt to laugh and goof off with another sim.

After lunch things took a bad turn. “What on earth has gotten into you?” Calista growled as she yanked her hand away from Berjes. “I…I was just trying to kiss your hand.” He’d always thought she was pretty, and he’d thought she was finally warming up to him. Apparently he’d really misread those signals. Kiss her? Was he nuts? Berjes was a nice guy and all, but well he wasn’t her type. I mean sure he had black hair, but otherwise he’d been smacked one too many times with an ugly stick not to mention he didn’t do anything exciting for a living. “Look, you’re a nice guy, but you’re not my type.” She’d done her best not to sound too harsh, he was her friend after all, and she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “Hey, it’s no big deal. “ He’d winked playfully at her and then the two had burst into laughter. But Berjes wasn’t about to let one little rejection get him down.

Berjes easily allowed things to go back to the way they’d been before. He made up his mind that he would take Calista anyway he could get her. After all, he couldn’t see his life without her in it.

For her part, whenever Calista got home with another promotion or home from an exciting adventure, she found she couldn’t wait to head down to the Café and tell Berjes. For his part, Berjes was always right there to listen and offer a congratulations and occasionally a drink on him. Secretly though, he was always keeping his eyes open for that one perfect opportunity to ask her out again. And one day he finally got his wish.

She really should have seen it coming, but his invitation to dinner still took her by surprise. “You want to take me out to dinner?”“Well sure, I mean it’s not everyday one’s best friend is promoted to Hand of Poseidon. Come on it’ll be fun!”Berjes laughed nervously from his end of the line.“Well, I guess you’re right it is a pretty big promotion.” she giggled from her end. Gosh he had the nicest laugh. Wait what was she thinking?

After a bit more begging she’d finally caved in. She replied with a laugh, “Okay you’ve convinced me. I’ll see you at seven.”“Seven it is.” As she hung up the phone she couldn’t help feeling excited about the upcoming dinner and was surprised to find she also felt nervous. What on earth had gotten into her lately? She wasn’t falling for Berjes was she? After all this was Berjes, the dorky bar-tender that always made her laugh, with his sweet smile and those bright green eyes…oh god.. what was she going to wear?

At seven o’clock sharp Berjes arrived. Calista had never seen him outside of hi work uniform and was completely shocked. She leapt straight into his arms, “Berjes, you cut your hair!”“Yeah,” he laughed, “I take it that you like it then?”

Once he’d set her down on the ground she took a deep breath, “Yes, I had no idea.” The new haircut really showed of his bright smile and eyes. She had to admit it, Berjes cleaned up rather well.“Well, I had to make myself look presentable if I was going to be taking a woman as beautiful as you to dinner. So are you ready to go?”She took his arm not trusting her voice right at that moment, and together they headed out to the car.

Berjes had made reservations at the new Crypt Night Club. Calista couldn’t have been happier with the choice. She was glad he’d picked some place where they could have fun as well as dine out in style. “So, I hope you don’t mind if I eat an omelet. I’m in the mood for breakfast at dinner.”Calista just laughed. Leave it to Berjes to order breakfast. “Do you think it will be as good as mine.”“I doubt it.”

The food was fantastic, and Calista had to admit she’d never had such a good time as she was having with Berjes. When he placed his hand on top of hers she didn’t pull away. Taking that as a clear message the woman next to him was having a good time he grinned. “So what do you want to do once we’re done eating? I was thinking we could hit the dance floor.”

When he pulled his hand away, Calista found she was sad the touch was suddenly gone. She’d never dreamed she’d feel like this about anyone, but she was happier than she’d been in her entire life. She was sure she’d finally found Mr. Right, big nose and all. “Lead the way.”

Even though the couple never made it to the actual dance floor, they had a good time dancing the night away next to the bathrooms. Neither wanted the night to end, but eventually they both admitted they were exhausted and Berjes drove Calista home. It was close to three in the morning before she finally went to bed and she had work in the morning, but she found she really didn’t care.

Over the next few months the two went out as much as both their busy schedules allowed. They had their pictures made together.

And one evening they went stargazing at one of the most romantic parks in town. It was here that the couple shared their life long dreams with each other. Calista secretly had always wanted to see her children graduate from college, while Berjes longed to own 5 businesses of his very own.

And they spent their fair share of time at the Crypt where they shared not only their first date, but also their first kiss.

Winter came to the valley, and one morning after dancing beneath the willow tree in her yard, Berjes pulled back. “Calista, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”“What’s that?”

Berjes dropped to one knee and pulled out a box. “Calista Despret, will you make me the happiest man in the world by becoming my wife?”

She flung herself into his arms, causing him to drop the box upon the grass. “Yes!”

Berjes had set his fiancé on the ground and slipped the engagement ring on her slender finger. Then the two danced beneath the willow tree until it began to snow.

Neither could think of a more perfect place for their wedding than beneath that old tree. The couple even managed to pick a day with no snow on the ground. And even though it was freezing cold, both found that they barely noticed at all.

After exchanging their vows and sharing a kiss, Calista Despret had officially become Calista Landchild.

With the money that Berjes brought to the house, the couple as able to extend the house into a two bedroom home. And neither minded that they couldn’t yet afford windows, especially since all the rooms had paint and flooring.

Calista and Berjes wasted no time in starting their family.

Berjes often found himself home alone while Calista was off on her quests . He often spent it reading up on how to run your own business.

Calista began to feel tired and seemed to have the flu. A visit to the doctor’s told the couple they were expecting their first child. Both were thrilled, but after discussing the matter it was decided that Calista would take quite a deal of time off from work. Berjes then took up a temporary job as a mailroom clerk at a local business to save up money for the new baby and for the businesses he wanted to one day own. In the evenings he’d read his help books, while Calista meditated.

She was bored out of her mind just sitting around the house all day. She was used to adventure or at the very least some kind of activity. Well, maybe she could invite Christy over. At least then she’d have someone to talk to.

Christy was thankfully not busy and more than happy to spend the day with Calista. “Girl! It’s been so long. Come on you have to tell me how you’ve been.”

The two women settled into the newly constructed living room. “You’ve certainly made a lot of changes since the last time I was here. So I’m taking it you and Berjes are getting on well. But why aren’t you off on some crazy adventure?”“Yes, we are getting on quite well. As to why I’m not working, well I’m pregnant.”Christy squealed with delight, “Congratulations! I hope maybe one day I’ll have kids of my own.”

“But you don’t seem that excited?” Christy commented. “Why not? I thought you wanted kids.”Calista sighed, “I do, it’s just I’m bored stiff sitting around the house all day.”Christy waved her hand dismissively, “Well that’s easy Calista. Why don’t you spend all this extra free time cooking. “ Seeing her friend raise her eyebrow Christy added, “ Besides, it wouldn’t be hard for you to find willing people to consume all the extra food.”

Calista took Christy’s advice and spent her free time baking up a storm and trying her had at new recipes. Although she consumed a great portion of the food herself, she had no trouble getting others to eat what she didn’t.

In the mornings, she took to making Berjes his favorite omelets for breakfast . As he entered the kitchen on a cold Tuesday morning Calista greeted him with a strained smile and a hint of aggravation in her tone, “Berjes, you look like you slept well.” It wasn’t like she asked him to do much when it came to housecleaning, but would it kill him to put his dirty dishes in the dishwasher every now and then?

“Good morning Cali. I uh must have forgotten to put the dinner dishes in the dishwasher before I went to bed.” Berjes was a bit of a slob which was the exact opposite of his wife. He did feel badly about not cleaning up especially since he knew just how tired the pregnancy was making Calista. He made a mental note to do better about such things in the future.

It quickly became obvious that Calista was angry with her husband about more than just the dirty dinner dishes. “Obviously. And I suppose you just forgot about repairing the shower too. Although how you could with it spraying water all over the place is beyond me.”

Berjes frowned , “I’m sorry Calista. I’ll call the plumber right after..” seeing her look he stuttered, “I mean I’ll call him right now.” Getting up from the table Berjes quickly dialed the number for a plumber to come to the house later that morning and take care of their broken shower.

He returned sheepishly to the table and started shoveling food in his mouth. He kept his head down as far as possible, so he didn’t have to see that angry look that was probably still on his wife’s face.

Calista shook her head in complete amusement at her husband’s antics. She could never stay mad at Berjes for very long. She only wished that he would be more attentive to the problems around their home. “Berjes, honey could you slow down, you’re going to choke.” Could he even taste his food?

I guess not.

After seeing that the plumber did a decent job, Calista took a short nap. It was interrupted by pounding on her front door. When she opened it Christy practically burst into the house and drug her into the living room. “Christy what…”After pushing her friend into one of the chairs, Christy took a seat on the couch next to Amin Cetowski that had apparently come over as well. Her friend exclaimed excitedly as she took Amin in her arms, “We’re getting married!”

That evening Berjes and Calista were watching television. “So Christy and Amin are getting married in the spring?”Calista cringed as two players collided violently on the screen. Why did Berjes like this game? She honestly did understand what he saw in it. “Yes, and of course I’m to be her matron of honor. “

As the Llamas scored, Berjes let out a cheer. “That’s great!”Calista shook her head, “Which part? The fact that the Llamas scored or the wedding.”Berjes raised an eyebrow, “Can’t it be both?”Calista just smiled and headed into the kitchen to make dinner.

Later that evening Berjes stroked his wife tenderly on the cheek. “So Mrs. Landchild tomorrow’s the big day. Are you excited?”“Of course, are you?”“Of course.”

The next morning found Calista up early scrubbing everything in the kitchen. The disadvantage to all the cooking she’d recently been doing was that everything needed to be cleaned on a more regular basis. From the living room she heard Berjes calling.

“Yes, dear?”“Listen, I just got a call that they need me down at the office. Some fool lost some important files and I have to go run another copy because none of the other idiots can get the machine to work.”Calista laughed and teased as she impersonated the secretary at her husband’s office, “Mr. Landchild I know your beautiful wife is about to have a baby, but could you please, please come and save us from the copy machine!” “Shut-up.”

A bout two hours later Berjes walked in the kitchen door and headed into the living room of his home having averted the world ending disaster at the office. Hard to believe how easy a copy machine works when you put ink in it. He snorted to himself. Marisa was such a blonde sometimes. “Calista, I’m home.”

Calista was doubled over in pain as the second contraction hit. She managed to grunt out between deep breaths, “Perfect timing! Now get me..” huff huff, “to the hospital.”

Berjes did get Calista to the hospital in time to welcome their first born child. A few days later found Berjes in the kitchen feeding his new son Matthew a bottle. He called out into the living room, “Hey Cali, he’s got your eyes.”

Calista fiddled with the old grandfather clock at the entrance to the kitchen. She replied popping her head briefly into the other room, "That's great dear.”

She then turned her attention back to the old clock. This clock was always needing to be wound, it was almost more trouble than it was worth. Seeing the carpool coming down the street out of the corner of her eye she called, “Berjes, Marisa’s here!”

“There you go Matthew. You have a good day with mommy. I’ll see you later little man.”After putting his son in his cot, Matthew headed out to take the long commute to the office. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So this seems like a good place to stop. So I’ll leave you this time with a picture of my simself’s kids with Kennedy as children. I actually think Joshua and Alison turned out pretty cute considering their father. I hope you’ve enjoyed the first chapter of my newest legacy attempt. The next few slides are stats on the family members for those readers that are interested.

Name: Calista Despret LandchildTitle: Founder of the Despret LegacyLTW: Graduate 3 kids from college Turn-ons: Black hair and fitness (this is after a dose of medicine provided by the gypsy. Before this she and Berjes had negative chemistry. And even with the change, they only have one bolt. But really she had negative chemistry with everyone she met. I’ve never had such a hard time finding a mate for a sim before. )Interesting Facts: She really does love to cook and she really is a neat freak. And she still has no problem making friends. I swear she’s a closet Popularity sim with all the wants to make friends that spam up her want panel.

Name: Berjes LandchildTitle: Generation 1 spouseAspiration: PopularityLTW: Own 5 Top Businesses (In the first generation? Is he crazy?)Interesting facts: Berjes really is a complete slob and he really did leave the dirty dishes out and stop fixing the broken shower so he could go to bed. He really did autonomously try to kiss Calista’s hand, and was the first guy to show any interest in her. His turn-ons have not been changed as of yet. They are brown hair and full face make-up. He and Calista now have one bolt of chemistry. And yes he really did order omelets during their first date.

Name: Matthew LandchildTitle: First born of generation two

Pictured above are Christy Stratton and Amin Centowski. They are best friends of the family and are sure to make more appearances in the future. Christy is a Family sim, and for once is acting nice. (What is in the world is going on in this neighborhood?) Amin is a knowledge sim, and this will be my first time playing around with Amin so I have no opinion on him at the moment.

And here’s Mystery and her family. Yes she’s pregnant with Alison, and yes I used the powers of boolprop to age Alison up to the same age as her older brother. What? I was impatient to see the results of my genetic experiment. And Kennedy really is being such a sweetheart.

And so everyone is aware there are other simselves in this neighborhood they just haven’t made appearances yet. Maybe next chapter when the family opens its first business.