Overlord Legacy - Chapter Thirty-Three - The World Gets A Little Bit Older

It's five o'clock in the morning. Two voices ring through the air, screeching and screaming and bawling. Soren has already decided to get up for the day. As cool as he thinks little brothers are, he's not that happy about sharing a bedroom with the babies. However, despite living in a castle, the building is too small to place the cribs elsewhere.

Amaranth stumbles out of bed to take care of them. Still half-asleep, she just grabs the first baby she gets to and takes him downstairs to warm his formula. The stench of dirty dishes fills her senses - she hasn't had the time to wash them in two days. A rotted juice cup sits on the counter, attracting swarms of ants.

Amaranth tries not to gag at the site of autumn salad left on the table from last night. She must've gotten it out and been so tired that she'd forgotten to eat it. She wishes she had - she's absolutely starving. Her stomach cries out almost as loudly as the babies, pleading for sustenance. Amaranth opens the fridge to see if there's any salad left. Of course there isn't. Looks like she'll have to cook something from scratch, after she finds the time to breathe.

Tobie is finally quieted, but Severin screams all the louder. Amaranth fetches him, nearly stumbling on the stairs from her exhaustion and hunger. All she wants to do is go back to bed, but she's just woken up. The stench of excrement smacks Amaranth in the face as she picks up Severin. In fact, it somehow smeared up his back, staining his blanket. Which reminds her. She also has laundry to do.

Severin, ever hating diaper changes, wails and thrashes as Amaranth tries to get him clean. As soon as she gets the diaper off, she forgets to cover him up and gets nailed in the face with a long stream of urine. Trying desperately to take big breaths in and out and count to a hundred in her mind, Amaranth concentrates on changing Severin's diaper as quickly as possible. Then she quickly rushes him back to his crib before she gets any angrier with him. She feels like the most horrible mom in the world. She can't keep up with any of her kids, she feels like she's doing nothing right, so many chores still have to be done, and there are moments when she just wants to throw her infants through a window. She can't believe such violent thoughts ever cross her mind. Is she going insane? Is she literally going insane?

After washing off her face, Amaranth practically smashes her phone buttons to dial Gator.

Gator: "Hello? Amaranth?"
Amaranth: "I need you over here. Right now."
Gator: "...What? Okay, hang on. I just got up. Can you give me about an hour?"
Amaranth: "YOU NEED TO GET OVER HERE NOW!!!"
Gator: "Whoa. Amaranth, are you okay?"
Amaranth: "Gator, if I have to repeat myself one more time, I'm taking a f**king newspaper to your f**king nose. I'm not even kidding right now."
Gator: "...I'm coming."

Hanging up, Amaranth throws her phone across the room, causing it to shatter against the wall. She doesn't care. She can always get a new one. Money isn't the problem right now. Sanity is.

Soren hears his mother's screams and the crash of the phone against the wall. His heart beats a little bit faster. His mother's been a little bit scary ever since Severin and Tobie became a part of the family. It seems she gets angry at the smallest things, even when Soren tries to be careful around her.

Seeing the smelly dishes on the table and the counter, Soren decides to clean them up. It's not his chore for today, but he would feel bad if his mom had to do it, knowing how she's feeling today.

The school bus honks outside his house. Quickly Soren scrubs the dishes and puts them away. It causes him to be a little late, so he has to run to catch up with the bus. But he still feels good. That's one less thing his mom has to deal with now. Even if she never thanks him for it, he knows he did the right thing.

Amaranth definitely notices when she gets downstairs. She wipes the tears off her face and says a silent prayer of thanks for her son. She's certainly alone in terms of being without a mate or an adult helper, but precious little Soren does what he can. He's almost a teenager now. He'll be capable of doing much more to help.

Suddenly Amaranth can understand better why Gator is reluctant to leave his family, even for her. With his brother disowned and his father old, Gator is the only one who can assist his mother and look after her. Otherwise she's all alone. Of course, Erika Wolff doesn't have two infants to look after by herself, but Amaranth understands the amazing relief of having even the smallest bit of help. Amaranth's not sure what she'd do without Soren.

Amaranth takes out the trash and pays the bills (they're even higher than ever, thanks to corruption in politics, partially fueled by Zack's stupid campaign donations), then feels a presence behind her. Gator's arrived pretty quickly.

Amaranth: "...sigh. Thank you for coming, Gator."
Gator: "If I had a tail, it'd be tucked between my legs right now, Am. I don't know why you're angry with me, but I'm here to talk it out...without getting swatted on the nose, I hope."
Amaranth: "...I just needed you here. I think I'm about to go insane."
Gator: "I...notice your belly is gone. Nobody told me the baby was born."
Amaranth: "I've been too busy to call you. If you'd read the paper occasionally, you might pick up on stuff like this."
Gator: "...Alright, Am, what did I do to make you this pissed at me?"
Amaranth: "I'm just pissed at everything right now, Gator! I just need you to be here for me like you always promised you would be! Is that too much to ask?!"

Amaranth spins around to glare at her boyfriend. A tiny part of her mind feels a bit sorry for him. He's the only one around that she can pour her wrath into. She feels bad that everything within her hates him with a burning passion right now. Ignoring the look of confusion on Gator's face, she rears back her hand to smack him a good one. Startled, Gator grabs her hands before they can come down on him, trying to be as gentle as possible.

All of Amaranth's burning anger melts into choking sobs. She collapses into his arms and begins to cry and cry and cry.

Amaranth: "...I hate what life has done to me...I hate Zack...I hate my kids...I hate myself..."
Gator: "You're shaky right now, Amaranth. Your kids don't deserve to be hated and you don't deserve to be hated. You need to get this out of your system. Don't let this consume you."
Amaranth: "It already has, Gator..."
Gator: "No. I know you better than that, Am. You're as strong as you are beautiful. You're overwhelmed and exhausted right now, but you have friends and family who can help you."

Amaranth: "...Then why won't you marry me?...."
Gator: "Amaranth. You know I want to. You know I want us to be together for life, and you know I want to be around to help with the kids as much as I can."
Amaranth: "Have you even talked to your family yet? Have you even attempted it?"
Gator: "...I was going to last night, Amaranth. I promise I was going to start bringing it up. I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about this, the way to get the best response."
Amaranth: "But you didn't. You didn't bring it up last night."
Gator: "...My dad tripped while at the top of the stairs. He landed on his head at the bottom. Mom and I rushed him to the hospital, but...it was too late. And I...I couldn't...I couldn't bring it up to my mom. Not after my father died."

Any anger that was building up against Gator fades away as Gator mentions his father's passing. Slowly she picks up the newspaper from off the ground. Gator watches her closely, preparing to flinch. Instead Amaranth flips to the obituaries. Sure enough, there's Dwayne Wolff. He and Pappy died so close together...

Deciding not to push it any further, Amaranth brings Gator inside the castle. He might as well meet his son while he's here.

Gator: "Aww...we have a son?"

Amaranth: "Yes, we do. He has your eyes. His name's Severin."

Gator: "Goes well with Soren's name. He's a cute little guy."

Amaranth lets Gator hold and play with his son for a little while, while she sits on the couch and calms herself down. Gator didn't deserve her freaking out on him, especially after losing his father and his grandfather within the last week. He's right. She is strong, and she can get through this. She's not alone. Gator's really trying his best.

After some time, Gator checks his watch and realizes he's been at the castle longer than he thought. He has work soon. He gently hands Severin back to Amaranth.

Gator: "Are you going to be okay, Amaranth? I have work, but you know there are other people you can call if you need help. I don't know everybody, but I've met Oliver. I know he cares about you a lot."

Amaranth: "Yeah...I just keep trying to do it all myself, to try to be strong."

Gator: "And that's when you end up completely weak. Let others help you, and you'll keep your strength. You already raised one infant up. The days fly by fast. Soon Severin will be a teenager."

Amaranth: "Yeah...Severin and Tobie."

Gator: "Tobie?"

Amaranth: "Yeah, I forgot to tell you...Tobie's upstairs taking a nap. Apparently Zack slept with some other girl, she got pregnant, and neither of them wanted the baby so Zack just dropped him off on my doorstep. I have two infants to take care of."

Gator: "...That's....You should go to court for that, Am. That's not your responsibility."

Amaranth: "I would, but Zack controls the politics! All he has to do is wave a bunch of simoleons at the judge and the case will be dropped. Corruption is rampant at city hall."

Gator: "...sigh. Your hands are really full, aren't they?"

Amaranth: "When the chores pile up and you have two babies screaming their heads off, that's when the insanity starts."

Gator: "Please ask for help when you need it, Amaranth. I promise I want to do what I can. But at times when I can't physically be here, you have family that can help you, and even babysitters. Don't do this all yourself."

Amaranth: "...I promise I'll ask for help. I'm sorry I treated you like I did, Gator. I was so angry and about to lose my sanity, but you didn't deserve that. Please don't take it personally."

Gator: "It's alright. I'll try not to. I'm trying to get used to it. My mom's been on edge and flipping out at me lately too."

Now Amaranth feels even worse about screaming at him and trying to hit him.

Gator uses Amaranth's bathroom to change into his work clothes, then glances at Amaranth before he leaves.

Gator: "...I'll start talking to my mom as soon as I can, Am. I'm not going to keep pushing it back. I have to start softly and slowly, and maybe after she thinks about it, she'll reconsider."

Amaranth: "Thank you, Gator."

Before he leaves, Amaranth gives him a small peck on the lips. It probably doesn't make up for her freakout on him earlier, but she wants to end the discussion on a semi-good note. Gator gently smiles at her, then takes off for work. Amaranth watches after him from the window. She's noticed that about Gator recently - he's a forgiver. He doesn't hold grudges and he doesn't get angry for long. In fact, she's never seen him really angry. 

Her concentration is broken by a loud fart coming from Severin. Amaranth has to laugh. She starts playing with him.

Amaranth: "Oh, look at you, you little farter. First you pooped all over your blanket, then you peed on my face, now you're farting on me? You'll probably write bathroom joke books when you grow up. And--ouch!"

Amaranth's finger had gotten a little too close to Severin's mouth, and he chomped down on it. Amaranth looks at her finger and is surprised to see a tiny drop of blood. Curiously Amaranth looks into Severin's mouth and notices his teeth coming in. They're not human teeth though - they're sharp and pointy.

Amaranth: "...You're a werewolf, Sev. You inherited your father's lycanthropy." 

The discovery is a little startling. Amaranth's never seen a werewolf as a baby before. Are there things she needs to know about? Does she need to treat him a little differently than his human siblings?

She doesn't think about it for long. Severin starts yawning, then sputtering. Amaranth puts him in his crib for his nap, then notices Tobie getting ready to fall asleep as well. Before he closes his eyes, Amaranth picks him up and smiles at him.

Is it hard taking care of two infants? Yes. Insanely so. But even though Tobie isn't technically her child, she's the one that has to take care of him. Amaranth decides she's going to give him all the love she can give, as if he actually were one of hers. There's no sense confusing him as he grows up, wondering who his parents are (Amaranth doesn't even know who the mother is). She might as well raise him as her own. 

--

After calling a babysitter, Amaranth heads out to the playground with her son Soren. She loves all three of her children (she's definitely feeling much better than she was this morning, when she wanted to scream at them all), but it's good to spend some time away from the babies and focus on her older son. It's all too easy to make him feel left out as she tries to tend to the infants.

Amaranth smiles as she watches Soren play on the playground equipment, then decides she might as well do something useful while she's watching him and pulls out the magic bushes. There's a lot of people at the playground today. Everything seems pretty calm. That is, until she hears quiet crying. Normally she wouldn't be concerned...except that she glances over and sees it's her own son. Walking quickly away from the playground, away from Soren...is Zack. 

So help her, if Zack's the reason her son is upset, she's not going to stand by and let him get away with it anymore.

Amaranth: "Honey, what's wrong?"

Soren: "Sniff...th-that guy...I d-don't even know who he is, b-but he told me I would n-never amount to anything, and th-that I shouldn't have even b-been born...and he c-called you a whore, and I don't even know what a whore is, but it sounds b-bad..."

Amaranth: "...Which guy?"

Soren: "Th-that guy...getting into the c-car over there..."

It's Zack.

Amaranth wants a shotgun right now. Really, really badly.

Amaranth: "Mommy's going to take care of it."

Soren: "Sniff sniff...you are?"

Amaranth: "Yes. He'll never talk to you that way again. In fact, he'll never talk to you again. And Soren, don't believe anything he told you. He's a mean-spirited man whose purpose in life is to make other people upset. You are a good and talented young man, and the world is a thousand times better because you were born. Not to mention you're going to be an all-star archaeologist someday."

Soren: "Aww...sniff...thanks, mom!"

Amaranth: "You believe that, Soren."
Soren: "...Hey, mom, what's a whore?"

Amaranth: "That's...not a word you should be saying at your age. It's a bad word."

Soren: "Oh..."

Amaranth: "Now, why don't you go play? Mommy's going to do a stakeout."

Soren: "Are you using the magic bushes?"
Amaranth: "I'm using the magic bushes."

Amaranth plops on the ground and starts looking for mischief while Soren, feeling much better, runs off to play.

Amaranth has a plan to repay Zack for all the harm he's brought upon her family. Two of Amaranth's three children are his (and one of them is from a different mother entirely!) and yet he not only refuses to pay child support, but now he insults his own son and tells him he shouldn't have been born? Soren's pinky toenail has more virtue and value than all of Zack's being. And he thinks he can keep getting away with tormenting and abusing Amaranth's family. He thinks he can dump any responsibility for his foolish decisions on her. Not anymore. She's going to ruin his life and she's going to do it slowly and completely, starting with this stakeout.

She notices some fishy behavior going on...mostly with Peanut Ivy making sinister plans with himself (definitely insane). But it's all Amaranth needs. She tells Soren to be good (and promises he can stay to play on the playground until it gets dark, then he needs to come home), then heads to the library across the yard to write her report. And this isn't just a report for police eyes only. This is going to the newspaper.

Meanwhile, Soren continues to enjoy himself.

He's an adorable little sucker. 

--

 Amaranth's fingers type furiously away at the computer. Meanwhile there are sinks in the background. Do you know why? The Sim Deity left the walls down. And why is that? Say it with me now: She's Absent-Minded.

Amaranth finishes her report and immediately emails it to the newspaper editors. They'll be quick to pick it up and publish it in the next day's newspaper. Her reputation is such that whenever she submits anything to the newspaper, the whole town wants to know. It surprises her how quickly she's gained the trust and affection of the townspeople. Controlling them won't be hard to do. In fact, what she's doing now could definitely be considered controlling the masses.

She writes: "Parents, please be aware of your child's safety at all times. At the local playground this afternoon, Detective Overlord noticed a man, named Zack Durwood, scheming and arguing with himself, indicating extreme emotional instability. She also witnessed this man verbally abuse a child, cussing in front of the child and telling him that he should never have been born. Though he currently presents no physical danger, he is a threat to your child's emotional and mental health. Zack Durwood is a slim man with shoulder-length strawberry-blond hair. If you see Zack Durwood, especially around areas heavily populated with children such as the playground, carefully supervise your child and immediately report any suspicious activity to the Moonlight Falls police. Thank you. - Detective Overlord."

Satisfied, Amaranth logs off. This is the beginning of repayment. She sits for a moment to think, then notices a couple of very familiar faces walk through the door. She tries not to smile. It would only get him in trouble.

 Erika: "....Grr. Seems like she's everywhere."

Gator: "I'm sure she's just writing a report, mom. She's the town's P.I. It's part of her job."

Erika: "I know her job, Gator. I've seen her in action."

Gator: "Yeah. She's good at what she does. Here, let's go find some books."

As much as she's absolutely dying inside to hear their conversation that's sure to come, Amaranth decides it'd be best if she left Gator and his mom to talk things out. As she heads for the door, she walks past Haley. Haley was the girl Zack was dating when he'd impregnated Amaranth. To Amaranth's surprise, Haley has a child of her own. She looks exhausted. She places the baby girl on the floor and immediately the girl begins to scream. 

Haley: "...Curse you, Zack...curse you for leaving me...curse you for not taking responsibility for your child. I'm not ready to be a mom...and yet I am, and because you left me, I'm all alone..."

Amaranth gives a sympathetic look to Haley. Justice will be served soon. It starts with tomorrow's newspaper. As Haley tries to quiet her child, Amaranth heads home.

Gator, meanwhile, decides to make his first attempt to talk with his mom about Amaranth.

Gator: "...I really think you're too hard on Amaranth, mom."

Erika: "She's an Overlord, Gator. You're blind to that."

Gator: "I'm not blind to that. I know her family's legacy. But that doesn't automatically mean she's horribly wicked. She's a lot different when you get to know her."

Erika: "...I knew I never should've let you hang out with that girl growing up. I knew it and your father always said it was a phase and you would grow out of it."

Gator: "If she were as bad as you make her out to be, I wouldn't have stayed friends with her, mom. But she's not. She's a lot different. I think you should give her a chance. Once you meet her..."

Erika: "I've met her, Gator. Don't treat me like I'm a bigoted idiot."

Gator: "I'm not. I'm just saying I think you have some preconceived notions about her based on her last name, and--"
Erika: "Gator. She's furthering her family's legacy. The world is one step closer to being dominated and ruled by a tyrannical leader. Freedom and peace will be gone."

Gator: "Amaranth isn't like that. She's even helping people with her career!"

Erika: "You're absolutely blind to what she's doing. She's earning the trust of the town and she's doing it marvelously. Everybody coos over how she keeps the peace, and how she solves cases so quickly and professionally. Papers sell like crazy when she's written an article for them. She's won the hearts and minds of the foolish citizens of Moonlight Falls, and it won't be long before she uses that to her advantage. Mark my words."

Gator: "...I'm close to her, mom. She's my...she's my best friend. I know her well, and I don't think that assessment of her is right."

Erika: "Keep your mind guarded, Gator. I get the feeling she's trying to seduce you."

Gator: "Seduce me? As in make me fall in love with her?"

Erika: "Don't let her trap you, Gator. Please, for once in your life, listen to your mother. Do not...do not break my heart..."

--

Amaranth gets inside the door and suddenly realizes it's her birthday. My goodness. Already? Is she already an adult?

 She pastes on a brave smile and waits for the magic sparkles.

She looks in the mirror and is immediately disgusted by how old she looks. What? She's not even an elder yet! And yet wrinkles are appearing on her face. Has all the stress made her look so much older than she actually is?

Although, then again, she definitely feels old.

Not wanting to think about it anymore, Amaranth heads to bed. She's asleep long before Alien Dog knocks on the door.

Alien Dog: "...It's morning now, and I've been waiting here all night. Surely that Overlord can spare a bone for a poor alien dog."

--

Amaranth's newspaper ad immediately gets the response she wants. The police department has already gotten many calls from Zack's "suspicious activity," as well as frightened calls to the local radio station voicing concerns about the children around such a "verbally abusive monster." In fact, one of Amaranth's cases leads her straight to Zack's door to investigate a robbery. 

She steps inside to greet him. It appears Zack has had his birthday as well.

Zack: "...Tsk. Time hasn't been kind on your features, Amaranth."

Amaranth: "Time's been even less friendly on yours, Zack. Now down to business..."
Zack: "Yes, down to business indeed. I just got fired from my job today from those lies you posted in the newspaper today. I've tried telling everyone they're not true, but everyone is enamored by dear Detective Overlord that they won't listen to me."

Amaranth: "I beg your pardon. I may have...embellished on some things, but you most certainly did say some very horrible things to my son, things that made him cry. You really think I'm going to stand by and let you be a complete a**hole, constantly making my life more difficult? You think I'm not going to repay you at some point?"

Zack: "Stay out of my life, Amaranth."

Amaranth: "Well, that's rather hard to do, Captain A**hole, considering you just dropped another child in my lap. When the mother doesn't want the child and you're too much of a blithering irresponsible fool to grow some balls and man up, you give the child to Social Services. You do not put the child in your ex-girlfriend's kitchen. See, I would think you'd be smarter than that, seeing as you're a doctor."

Zack: "You take back what you wrote about me in the newspaper, or I promise, Am, you're really going to hurt. And I mean really."

Amaranth cocks her head, smiles, and asks calmly, "Oh really?" before rearing her hand back and smashing Zack's face as hard as she possibly can.

The force of the blow is so hard that it sends Zack into the bookcase, breaking his nose and sending blood gushing everywhere. Zack grabs his nose, trying to stop the blood. Amaranth grins triumphantly at him.

Amaranth: "How bad am I going to hurt? That bad, Zack? I'd like to see you try. Try and hurt me. See where that gets you. Be thankful I'm satisfied only breaking your nose this time. Next time I might not be so merciful."

Completely satisfied, Amaranth marches out of the house and heads to the local park. She means business, and hopefully Zack knows that now. As she arrives at the park, she notices stuck-up Zoe Durwood by the fountain. Might as well go two-for-two. 

Amaranth: "Mrs. Durwood. This is Detective Overlord."
Zoe: "I know who you are, and I know the lies you wrote about my brother."

Amaranth: "I know, you're in cahoots with him because you're his sister. Understandable. But I'm here to talk about a burglary. Heard anything about it?"

Zoe: "No, and if I did, why would I ever help you? You're ruining Zack's life. Not to mention my own life's been ruined by your idiot father. I hate that baby--"

Amaranth: "The only thing 'idiotic' about my father is that he fell for a prissy selfish corrupt ugly whore."
Zoe: "What?? How could you--"

Amaranth: "What, you expect me to stand around and smile politely at you while you insult my dad? Doesn't work that way, hun. I would suggest getting your lazy butt in action and actually start being a halfway decent mom, since you selfishly insisted on full custody."

Zoe: "I'm...I'm not even ready to be a mom."

Amaranth: "Yeah, neither was I. But it happened, so I had to own up and take the responsibility for it. You can start owning up yourself after you quit sucking faces and no doubt much more with Peanut Ivy and actually start taking care of your own kid."

Humiliated, Zoe walks away. Amaranth is sure Keri is around here somewhere, probably left in the middle of nowhere and neglected. Instead, to her delight, she finds Keri being taken care of and played with.

Gator: "Hey sweetie! Look at you. You're all giggles today."

Amaranth: "Hmm. I had a feeling you were seeing someone else."

Gator: "Ha! Sorry, Am. You're beautiful and all, but Keri? She's just too adorable."

Amaranth: "She is a beautiful girl."
Gator: "Yeah...heh..."
Amaranth: "What are you smirking about?"

Gator: "Just watching your exchange with Zoe. She's needed that for a long time."

Amaranth: "Meh. What else do you expect me to do? I just got done punching Zack in the face and breaking his nose anyway."
Gator: "Are you serious?"
Amaranth: "Quite serious. He threatened that he would hurt me if I kept damaging his reputation. So I broke his nose."

Gator: "...If he ever tries to make good on that threat, Am...you let me know..."

Amaranth: "I will. And I might let it slip to my dad too. And maybe to Oliver. And perhaps even Phantom too."
Gator: "You've also got the military at your disposal. Your mother officially put that under her name."
Amaranth: "Haha! Oh my goodness, I'd nearly forgotten. I have a whole artillery at my disposal. Well...I really want to hang around, Gator, but...I do have babies at home and I'm sure the sitter's waiting for me to get back."
Gator: "Mm. I'll let you go then. But...I just wanted to say that I've started talking to my mom. I've just began mentioning that her perceptions of you could be wrong, and...I mean, I haven't gotten to our actual relationship part yet, but...hopefully...sigh. She's still adamantly against me even talking to you. But I'm working on it."

Amaranth: "Oh Gator..."

Suddenly Amaranth steps close to Gator's body and gently runs her fingers through his hair. Shivers run down his spine. He loves it when she takes him by surprise like this.

Amaranth: "I'm proud of you, Gator. I know this has to be hard. But I'm so glad that you're trying."

Gator: "...I love you, Am. I'm going to keep trying until my mom finally approves. Then nobody has to have hard feelings, and we can have a public wedding. And everything will just be..."

...Perfect...

--

Shortly before Soren runs home from a day of playing at the playground (one of his favorite things to do), he runs into his fairy friend from school.

Soren: "Hey! Bet I can beat you in a thumb war!"

Eva: "...Total dominance."
Soren: "How...?"

Eva: "My dad's a Pixie. He teaches me all the tricks he knows."

Soren: "...Well, I bet I can beat you at Rock Paper Scissors."

Soren: "See? Total pwnage."

Eva: "...Whatever. I still know more tricks than you."

Soren: "Do you think your dad can teach me any tricks?"

Eva: "Maybe, if he gives you pixie dust."

Eva: "...But my mom won't let him teach me anything unless I get my homework done."

Soren: "Sigh...homework..."

After his homework is finished, Soren runs home. Good thing too - there are three birthdays going on tonight. First the magic sparkles envelope Tobie...

 ...then it's Severin's turn...

...and finally Soren.

Soren turns into a handsome young man and gains the Family-Oriented trait. The Sim Deity can't wait to see the future of this perfect gentleman.

And he's like baby, baby, baby, nooooo, like, baby...(Sorry, I had to.)

Tobie has a big mop of blond curls on his head. Quite a cutie.

He's, uh..also a nose-picker evidently.

And Severin?

HE IS WEREWOLF. AND HE WILL BE FEARED.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's notes: So many birthdays. Hence the title.

I love toddlers. But I'm almost excited to get Tobie and Severin to their childhood stages. It almost gets ME stressed out trying to take care of two wailing baby Sims who each need to be fed, played with, and have their diaper changed with only one parent. At least Gator is trying though. Also, though you cannot see it terribly well from the picture, much like Soren has almost all of Amaranth's features, Severin has almost all of Gator's. He has Amaranth's hair color, but his nose, his eyes, everything else appears to be Gator's.

Chapter is quite long but I didn't want to split it. Anyway, Amaranth starts to get her vengeance on Zack. And it feels good.