Gen 3 Chapter 41: Choosing an heir and other life events

I worry about Nemo. Everyone forgets about him. I'm honestly not even sure if he's been doing his homework or not! What does he do in his spare time? Does he have any friends? No one knows.



So I suppose he probably wasn't surprised that we all forgot his birthday. Even with everything that has been going on, you'd think we could have gotten him a cake or something!



Since I've managed to make it to Creature-Robot Crossbreeder and Nemo is officially a teen, I suppose it's time to actually pick an heir. Who should carry on my family legacy? Nemo, who looks so much like me and has the same life goals?



Sebastian, who's always so serious and is well on his way to becoming the Surgeon he dreams of being?



Or Ariel... She marches to the beat of her own drummer, that's for sure. But is she responsible enough to take on this challenge?



I knew it was time to decide and Gwyn had been bugging me about it for ages, but it was such a tough decision! In the end, though, I went with my heart... my girl is going to live an interesting life and that can only add excitement to our family's story! Ariel may not have any solid ambitions just yet, but she's got a great head on her shoulders.



And she won't be easily swayed by anything or anyone! That girl knows how to be herself without caring what anyone else thinks!



So. This is my last entry as voice of the Hodgins family. Ariel will be taking over and we'll all be starting a new adventure! It's time. I just hope the new place has a hot tub for me to enjoy in my leisure years.



It's time to pass the torch!




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A/N: So we finally come to the end of Zeke's journey as heir. He had a good run but I can't wait to move on! (Though part of that is probably due to the glitches making game play ridiculous.) Ariel really is the most interesting child to pass the torch to, so how could I resist? She's a crazy cat lady in the making!

Oh! And Nemo had been going to school, but he's too lazy to do any homework. He was "punished" at his birthday by getting the "handy" trait forced on him. Like that's a negative!


Outtakes!

Awww, look, half of the family actually got up for Nemo's birthday! Poor Nemo.


Again with the wrong side of the bed Sebastian? Really? It's not like the furniture has moved.


Sad, empty house. At least Zeke can get some sleep with his trusty sleeping bag. I'm not sure why everyone changed into their bathing suits for the move, though.

Gen 3 Chapter 40: Finally

You know, sometimes I wonder if it's all worth it. I've been working so hard, but lately it seems like everything is moving in slow motion. There are never enough hours in the day to eat, sleep, and work on my promotion.



I wonder if it's just old age catching up with me! I remember back when I was young and unsuccessfully fighting for my promotions at work. It didn't wear me out like this!



And then there's the cat. Dink has gotten more adventurous as he gets older and he just will not leave anything alone! When I'm home, that cat is always begging for something or attacking something. It's like everything in life is an uphill battle right now!



Ariel took pity on me the other night, though. She took Dink out to the local cat park, whatever that is. Maybe some of the cats there will teach him some manners!



Then again, maybe not.



To top it all off, Ariel and Gwyn adopted another cat! They thought that maybe Dink was lonely. At least Baxter is an older cat and much more quiet. He might be my kind of cat.



So everyday, I'd go to work. And every day, I'd go home without that promotion. It was starting to feel very hopeless!



Until, one day... Finally! I'm a Creature-Robot Crossbreeder! After years and years of hard work, stalled out promotions, missing out on family time, and hour after hour of skill building. I'm almost not sure what to do with myself now!



Gwyn was thrilled when I told her, of course. I thought we should celebrate with a trip to the spa, like we did after Sebastian was born. She wanted to go fishing, though, because she knows how much that relaxes me. She's such a good woman.



Now we can start the next phase of our lives! Now that I've made Crossbreeder, I can accept the exciting new opportunity I've been considering. Ariel and Sebastian have agreed to make the move with us, too! I know Gwyn was concerned about leaving her babies behind, so it's good that they'll be coming along. I'm happy that we'll get to watch them build their own lives rather than just hearing about it over email. There's just one more order of business... picking my heir. My mom had it easy, I still don't know what I'm going to do!





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A/N: So Zeke finally made is LTW! After 40 chapters of trying. The glitches and lag were getting pretty ridiculous and I was starting to worry that it would slow everything down so much that he'd die before he got there! Next chapter will be the move and the heir decision and then we'll finally get to start Generation 4. Finally!

Outtakes!

I'm so hungry! It's too bad there's no food here on the table. That I got myself. And sat down to eat.


VJ doesn't approve of cats sleeping on the counter.


I was so worried about Zeke's promotion that I didn't notice that Sebastian didn't make it to work one day. Because he got up on the wrong side of the bed! He was trapped there, starving and peeing, all day! In all of his "years" he's never gotten up on that side of the bed. Why now?


Poor, forgotten Nemo passed out in the yard. The lag made it impossible to get anyone to eat, pee, or sleep in a timely manner.

Gen 3 Chapter 39: Thinking about a change

Sometimes I worry that Sebastian is too serious for his own good. At Ariel's birthday/graduation party, he actually sneaked away to read a book assigned to him by his boss! He's so focused on impressing the boss and getting his promotion. But is he forgetting to have fun and enjoy life?



Maybe a change of scenery would help. There's an opportunity coming up at work that includes a relocation, but I'm just not sure if it would be the right move. Gwyn and I aren't young anymore and both Sebastian and Ariel are adults with their own lives to start. Can I really uproot everyone and make them follow me? It's a really intriguing opportunity, though.



Gwyn and I have been discussing it ever since the chance came up, but we haven't really talked to the kids about it yet. We thought that we should decide what we wanted to do first. Gwyn tells me to follow my heart and she'll follow me anywhere. She's the best, really.



Ariel has shown as much ambition about getting a job as she did about going to school. I just don't know what to do with her. Maybe a change of scenery would be good for her, too?



We finally decided to bring the older kids into the conversation. Ariel even joined us in the hot tub, though she didn't really seem to enjoy it. (She used to always be in the hot tub or at the pool, so this is quite a change!) We didn't ask them to make any decisions yet, but told them that we're thinking about moving away. As adults, they have the choice of staying here or relocating with us. It's a big decision for everyone.



They promised to give it some serious thought and not make any rash decisions. I trust Sebastian to actually do that, but Ariel is much more flighty. I made her agree to sleep on it and she took me very literally. Really, she could have got to bed! She didn't have to sleep there in the yard immediately!



Both kids considered their options carefully. Sebastian turned to cooking, something he always does when he needs to quiet his mind.



Meanwhile, Ariel worked out. I guess the physical exertion along with the amazing view of the ocean helps her focus. (A/N- I have no idea what Zeke is doing out in the yard in his bathrobe.)



I'm anxious to hear what they think, but I'm trying to be patient. Gwyn says that I need to give them space and time (hmmm... space and time) to make up their own minds. I decided that fishing would give me something productive to do while I was waiting.



Oh! And Dink is now a grown up cat! He turned out quite handsome, but I can't believe that Sebastian has been out of school that long.



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A/N: Not a very exciting chapter, but I'm setting up the move. Poor Nemo doesn't get any say in the decision and I didn't realize that it meant that he wasn't even in the chapter aside from the background of one picture! Poor, forgotten Nemo. I'll be so glad to get rid of the lag and glitchy, though. It messes everything up so much!



Outtakes

The lag makes it hard to get to bed on time.


Ariel loves cats.


Glitch in action- Gwyn peed on the floor three times trying to make it to the toilet!


Fishing with an invisible pole looks like... something else.


Dink grows up!


Zeke doesn't actually go to bed these days, he just sleeps wherever he happens to be. I guess that's one way of dealing with the laggy glitch!

Gen 3 Chapter 38: Two Down, One to go!

Things are getting interesting at work. I'm very close to reaching my career goal of becoming a Robot-Creature Crossbreeder! I still have a few more tasks to complete and my hours have been cut due to my age, but I'm beginning to think that I might actually make it before I die!

Unfortunately, it means less time with the family on my days off as I try to finish out those last few skills. I hope I have time after I make it so I can actually enjoy my family. It feels like I've been working toward this goal forever!



The decision of who should become the family heir has also been on my mind lately. I think my mom had it easy since I was so obviously the best choice. My kids are all such interesting and amazing individuals that it's a tough decision. Gwyn has started subtly questioning the kids about their life goals and dreams for the future in order to help me out.



Ariel still hasn't decided what to do with her life, but Nemo has! He's decided to become a Robot-Creature Crossbreeder like his old man! That boy is the spitting image of me at his age... though I was a little more active, I must say. At least he goes to school.



Ariel is officially failing out of school. I've tried punishing her and I've tried leaving her be and nothing made any difference one way or another. Maybe she's just a free spirit? Either way, I did my parental duty and scolded her for her grades. Not that it will make any difference.



That girl is just exhausting.



Sebastian is such a stable influence on the younger kids. He has really been after both of them about attending school and thinking about the future. Too much, maybe, as it tends to turn into a lecture.



All of my worry about Ariel is about to get so much worse. She's graduating and starting out into the real world! I hope the world is ready for her!



Her graduation party was well attended and everyone had a great time. I love having everyone over to the house and I'm going to miss it if... well, it's too early to talk about that.



Ready or not, world!




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A/N: So Nemo has chosen an LTW on his own, but Ariel never did! It was forced on her on her birthday and all of the suggested choices had to do with animals. So I picked Animal Rescuer for her since that went along with her personality. I considered Cat Herder, but 15 is a lot of cats to befriend and I wanted to give her a chance to spend some time interacting with humans too! I didn't get to pick her trait since she was failing school, of course. She got hydrophobic forced on her. It's not too bad, but I bet she won't be wishing to go to the pool anymore! There will be three more chapters before Zeke makes his LTW, the heir is chosen, and the family moves...


Outtakes!

Zeke is going to scold Ariel, but first he needs to walk all over her!


They never did really right themselves, which is why they're standing so close together in the picture up in the chapter.


Gwyn gardens while Zeke naps in the yard. I don't know why he's suddenly decided to sleep around the lot in a sleeping bag.


Locke hates Jagger! Everyone hates Jagger and Jagger doesn't care.


Glitchy cake.