Hello and welcome to Aurora's Guide to Dating: Episode One- Making An Impression. Now for most people the starting point of any relationship is the first meeting, so obviously it's important to make sure it goes well, and this is how you do it Aurora-style.
Step One: Walk right up to the target and call him a name. It doesn't have to be clever or overly-fancy, it just has to hurt. This gets the person's self-confidence down enough so that you can make a move.
Step Two: Make your move. Don't mess, just get right in there and try to flirt with your man. Ignore the look of disgust on his face- he's just playing hard to get.
Step Three: Go on the attack. Once again it's important to hit the target where it hurts- to push his self-esteem down so far he'll only find it in the bottom of his shoe. When he starts to cry then you know it's working.
Step Four: Repeat ad nauseam on any other men nearby.
Mm, considering her Grumpy Bear disposition it's wholly unsurprising that Aurora doesn't have that much success when it comes to the opposite sex, but there was a little sunshine on the horizon (despite her miserable face in this picture).
This here is Ricky Hemlock- one of the few people who can actually stand to be around Aurora, which is surprising cause he's actually a really nice guy.
Aurora never spent much time with family anyways, but now with Ricky to take her interest she withdrew from family life even more. Consequently, when the household gathered for Angelius' birthday Aurora was noticeably absent, though Eli made up for this a bit by pissing on the celebration all on his own. Grr, we can never just have a nice little party can we?
Nevermind though- Bailey and Angelius managed to ignore Eli as they blew out the birthday candles.
And then it was time for Angelius to grow up.
Aww, he looks so happy, bless him.
The following day there was another birthday as youngest child Afia aged up in a toddler.
A really really cute toddler! EEEEEEEE!
Aww, doesn't it just warm your heart? After the bitchstorm that is Aurora I was really concerned that generation ten would just be a seething mass of rage, but now that I see the two youngest Heart's hitting it off? Major yay!
And Angelius wasn't the only one enamoured with little Afia. You may remember that Bailey hasn't exactly been the greatest parent in the world- being more consumed with coitus that childcare of late- but with Afia it seemed she was determined to make a fresh start by actually acting like a caring mother.
Of course, this didn't extend to all of her children... Taking care of a toddler is demanding, and with Afia taking up so much of her time Bailey didn't have much opportunity to interact with anyone else. That meant that middle child Angelius was sadly sidelined, and he couldn't even get anyone to help him with his homework.
Poor dear :(
Isolated and alone, in desperation Angelius even turned to his father Eli in search of companionship which, if you remember Eli's intense dislike of children, was not a wise idea.
Elliot couldn't stand kids at the best of time, but with Angelius pestering him all day every day eventually he just had enough and snapped at the poor boy.
And then, as if that wasn't bad enough, Angelius even received a tongue-lashing from Aurora on one of the rare days that she was actually at home.
Happy families this is not...
But don't despair too much for Angelius just yet! Thankfully the aforementioned cheery vamp Ricky was one of the few people around who actually enjoyed spending time with our lost soul, so at least he had some company on occasion.
Despite some problems here and there the family were predominantly happy- Bailey and Eli had a very contented marriage, they lived in a beautiful house, and their children were well cared for. Everything really was as close to perfect as a Sim could hope for... but that was then.
It was a day like any other in the Heart household. On a lazy Sunday afternoon Angelius and Afia were inside playing with their toys, Aurora was on her way out to visit her boyfriend, and Bailey was tidying up the house.
On the upstairs balcony Elliot was spending some time stargazing. As both he and Bailey were, well, geeks they both had a keen thirst for knowledge, and studying the universe was a much loved past time of theirs. On this occasion though, the hobby would prove to be deadly...
It started quickly and there was barely time to react before the destruction began. All at once Angelius ran to join his father on the balcony, and began to point at the sky...
In the front garden Aurora stopped in her tracks as she made her way to the driveway, and she too began to look skywards...
And Bailey, seemingly in a fit of premonition, simply braced for impact.
Then, it happened.
The meteor's force was overwhelming- destroying most of the furniture on the upstairs balcony, and that's not all.
Immediately after the impact smoke began to rise from Angelius...
...And then both he and Eli got a nice charcoaly tint.
One meteor impact was bad enough, but if the family thought that was it then they were sadly mistaken. Barely a few seconds later there were two more strikes in close succession, which obliterated most of the garden.
A fire started in the shrubbery and Bailey rushed to put it out.
Meanwhile there was another impact upstairs in the same place as the first.
In the garden, Bailey and Aurora- working together for once, valiantly battled to put out the fire that threatened to destroy their home. Meanwhile, Angelius ran back inside both for his own safety and so he could keep an eye on Afia.
But whilst chaos rained from the skies there was one person seemingly oblivious to the devastation. Elliot had barely moved since the impact had begun, and now, with the house falling down around him, he was still glued to the telescope. Realising what danger he was in I immediately crossed off his action queue and gave him a new directive- get inside and into safety.
Prying himself away from the telescope Elliot headed indoors... and then he stopped. Freezing in his tracks he turned and looked at the sky with abject horror.
All was quiet, and then...
He was gone.
Downstairs there was bedlam. Fires were popping up all over the place and, as well as Bailey and Aurora's efforts, some firemen had also showed up to help battle the blaze (and some had ended up a bit crispy in the process).
Meanwhile, a lone reaper materialised in the garden and slowly made his way across the grass.
Eventually he reached the balcony upstairs and regarded the specimen on the ground.
The now-expired Elliot Heart.
Before long there fires were extinguished and it was then that Bailey noticed someone missing. Immediately she ran upstairs where she was greeted by the devastating sight of her beloved husband in the Grim Reaper's thrall.
Bailey and Angelius could do nothing but cry as Eli drifted out of their lives forever.
Well, Angelius managed a bit more than that as he abruptly fainted.
And Aurora? Well, she copes with these things in her own way.
Very helpful...
As the night drew in the meteor strike had finally ceased its destructive assault. Outside, every element of the garden had been ripped apart by the force of nature, but this was nothing compared to the damage it had inflicted on the family itself.
Bailey and Angelius in particular were in tatters- both physically and emotionally.
About the only impressive thing to come out of the devastation of that day was the huge meteor that had claimed Eli's life. It was placed in the garden next to his tombstone, as a memento of that terrible day.
The next morning in the Heart household was like any other, except for the fact that it was wholly different. For the first time since she was a teenager, Bailey awoke alone with nothing but a cold pillow by her side.
Immediately she was hit with the realisation that every day from now on would be like this, and that nothing could be done to ease her pain.
She would just have to live her life, alone, without Eli.
Elsewhere in the household Angelius was also struggling with the reality of life without Elliot. Whilst he had never been especially close to his father he still thought of family as something crucially important, but if Angelius thought he would be able to turn to the remaining members for comfort he was bound to be disappointed.
Aurora, unsurprisingly, offered no words of solace- only a bitter and patronising chide.
Normally when confronted like this Angelius could only reply in disparaged tones- withdrawing from the situation as he licked he wounds, but on this occasion he felt differently.
Sick of Aurora's harsh words to him throughout his childhood he turned on his older sister, giving her a taste of her own medicine for once.
I for one was pleased with this outcome.
Elliot's death continued to have repercussions for the family for the next few days- for everyone but Afia that is. Being only a toddler Afia hadn't been scarred by Eli's death like the others, so she continued to maintain a relatively happy mood.
The sunny disposition of her youngest served to help Bailey out greatly- she could look into Afia's eyes and forget, at least for a minute, the crushing loss she had suffered.
Indeed, in a time like this the best thing to do was surely to seek out family members for comfort, and so that's exactly what Bailey and Angelius did the next day.
And Blue was more than happy to help in any way she could.
(N.B.- If you're wondering why the images are a different shape all of a sudden it's because this is the point where I got a sexy new widescreen monitor IRL).
As well as Blue and her wife Vienna, at the house that day Bailey and family also found their children Aphrodite and Parvati who had recently aged up.
This gave Angelius a rare opportunity- the chance to interact with some children his own age for once, as he didn't really have any friends at school. Unfortunately though Angelius just couldn't quite bring himself to say hello- in fact he just seemed nervous about the whole situation.
Instead of playing with Parvati and Aphrodite like any normal child he simply burst into tears.
And then, embarrassed and vulnerable, he walked to the water's edge nearby so that he could be alone... again.
He stayed there long into the night whilst Bailey spent time with her sister, simply fishing and occasionally being stalked by the paparazzi. Four generations later and Micah's star-studded legacy still lives on.
I know Angelius, it annoys me too.
Later that night it was Afia's birthday, which was watched over by Bailey.
She grew up into a cute-looking child, as expected.
And of course Bailey was on hand to give her daughter a warm hug.
For the next few days as Afia embraced childhood there was always one person by her side. With Elliot gone Afia became Bailey's closest confidant, and the two spent most days together- especially as Bailey was a teacher at Afia's school.
Pretty soon family mealtimes became occasions that only Bailey and Afia attended.
Aurora spent most days with her boyfriend and Angelius, having not been informed that any family dinners were even occurring, missed every one as he spent time by his father's graveside.
But although Bailey was pretty much glued to Afia's side, occasionally she did separate from her daughter as she was inexplicably drawn outside...
Ahh, this would be such a lovely cross-family picture if it wasn't for Vienna's groping Bailey in it...
Inappropriate touching aside the six Sims were all extremely close in a non-pervy way, and spent most evenings and weekends together.
Elsewhere, Aurora barely missed her family as she spent all her days at Ricky's house.
And of course, with Bailey, Afia, and Aurora all having better things to do, when it came to Angelius and his birthday he sadly spent the occasion all by himself.
Well hellooooooo Angel.
Later that night Aurora returned home, and as you may imagine she didn't exactly have any birthday wishes to extend towards Angelius- just pure spite instead.
This really wasn't what Angel needed, and as usual he was sick of Aurora's meanness, and so told her exactly what he thought of her.
She didn't take it well, and promptly kicked his ass.
Angel couldn't do much else but run away after that.
Yep, some time in the gym is definitely called for.
You can find the storyboard version here if you'd like to rec.
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