beanstalk_sims | Culpepper Pals: Spring 2: Spangler

Did someone ask for more Culpepper Pals? It's time for a new family to join the mix!
You might want to grab a cup of tea or coffee for this one, it's the longest Culpepper update yet!

Index / Boolprop

The newest additions to the Culpepper Pals are making their home at 20 Culpepper House, where the Vatores used to live. I think it's an unofficial rule I have, that any new arrivals have to start out in Culpepper House.

Let's meet the new ladies!

This is Venus Lockheart, a young mermaid with a passion for dance, ready to see what the city has to offer her!

She has the Beach Life aspiration, which gives her the Home Turf trait, and her other traits are Child of the Ocean, Dance Machine and Bro. Upon reflection, it probably wasn't the best aspiration to give a city dweller, so I'll probably change it at some point.

Venus has a flatmate:

Meet Elsie Spangler, a spellcaster!

Elsie has the Spellcraft and Sorcery aspiration, which gives her the Quick Learner trait. Her other traits are Bookworm, Cheerful and Geek.

She is my first ever spellcaster - and this rotation was the first time I'd ever played with Realm of Magic, so that's why there's so many screenshots. Everything was brand new and exciting.

It's probably worth noting that Elsie wasn't Venus's original flatmate.

When I first got Realm of Magic, I moved Morgyn Ember into the household, after seeing them from the trailers and thinking it'd be cool to play them. I hadn't realised Morgyn was a sage. Once I realised how powerful Morgyn was, I moved them back out, but the damage was done - Morgyn was no longer a sage, and a new one had been assigned.

So there's a lesson to be learned here: experiment with new packs in a new save, not your main save file :) Anyway, let's get into it, and see what spring has in store for these ladies!

"I've been a mermaid all my life, how long have you been a spellcaster?"

"About three days, but I'm really embracing the lifestyle. Might take a walk out to Glimmerbrook this afternoon."

Elsie went out for a hike in Glimmerbrook almost immediately after that conversation with Venus ended. I was just too excited to see the Realm, I couldn't wait.

I think at this point I had been playing a lot of TS1 Makin' Magic, and was super in the mood for all things magical.

Honestly? I love it.

I know some people were upset it wasn't more hidden, but I don't mind.

Looking back, I probably should've made Elsie a normal sim and then had her ask the sages for magic, rather than just making her a spellcaster straight out of CAS.

But oh well. Hindsight and all that.

I genuinely love the Realm of Magic. I took so many screenshots, I really have tried to keep the update to what's relevant.

Especially as this game has been out for months now.

That determined look is the look of someone about to go wand shopping.

This area of the Realm is a disaster zone, and I can't help but wonder what happened here. What's the history? Why is the world being ripped apart at the seams?

Also a ghost vendor in a magical world is perfect.

Elsie immediately gets to work practising and learning her craft.

Of course, I also had to get Elsie a broomstick. I just couldn't resist.

Elsie then searched the library at Magic HQ for tomes, because free magic is the best magic, right?

Nothing puts you in your place as a novice quite like watching a random duel in the garden.

"I'd better take this spellcaster thing seriously! That looks dangerous!"

Good work, Elsie.

Anyway, time to head back to the city and catch up with Venus.

Part of me feels like Venus just sat there like this, all day.

Let's get her out of the house for a bit.

Venus's only friend is Morgyn Ember, because apparently living with someone for 0.4 seconds is enough to get to know a person.

So she invites them out to coffee in Windenburg.

An evening spent in a quiet coffee shop is probably not Venus's idea of a great night, but she did get to befriend Morgyn properly.

She also got to meet Jo, which is great. Venus probably scored an invite to Jo's next party.

I'm looking forward to Venus and Elsie getting to know the rest of the Culpeppers.

Venus headed straight to bed when she got in, but Elsie was still up.

Elsie literally walked past two chairs to read her book at the foot of Venus's bed. Sims, am I right?

Elsie then headed out to the streets to practise her magic...

...on the discarded coffee cups outside.

I think she might be upsetting people with her random, tiny fires.

Maybe time to call it a night with the magic.

Elsie then causes fires in a totally different way - by eating spicy food.

The next day, Venus got a job, because I'd just remembered that bills and stuff were a thing. Some of my other households are getting to the point where employment is optional, I'd definitely forgotten that these guys wouldn't be in that position.

So Venus is currently working as a barista.

Elsie, meanwhile, is off to the realm for another day of spells and sorcery.

I swear that top hat lady is always duelling.

...She might get it eventually.

Who knew being a spellcaster would take so much work?

You're not an official Culpepper Pal until you've taken a nap outside somewhere. That seems to be a rule.

By the end of her day in the realm, Elsie seemed to be making progress with the whole broomstick thing.

Back at the flat, Venus had invited her new friend Morgyn over.

"Wait, Venus said you're a spellcaster...?"

"Yes, I am."

It's probably the fact they're both magical, but Elsie and Morgyn clicked instantly. And probably started geeking out over magic.

Jo had also been invited over, but she wasn't super into all of the magic talk.

"Who sat me with these magical nerds??"

I've probably mentioned it, but Venus is my first mermaid. And I love that she gets a tail in the bath!

I kind of miss the scaley legs from TS3 though, I must admit.

After night had fallen, Elsie got a random call from this guy. Apparently he wanted a duel.

Who am I to say no? And by the look on Elsie's face, she's totally ready for this.

I'm going to be honest, I expected there to be more to duelling. Like I would be involved in some way.

It's still pretty cool, but I was expecting to do more as a player during a duel.

It'll come as no surprise that Elsie lost her first ever duel.

"If beating noobs makes you feel like a big man..."

Pride's not stung at all, is it, Elsie?

After the duel, I figured I'd been spending so much time on Elsie and her magic that it was time to do something for Venus.

So we're off to the ruins for a dance party.

Venus wants nothing more than to dance the night away.

Elsie, meanwhile, finds Morgyn and ends up star gazing with them.

She also had a whim to give Morgyn a key to the apartment, so I obliged. Hopefully I won't regret it. I kind of regret giving Candy a key to Dusty's place.

(Although I have since taken the key off Candy. She should drop by less now. Hopefully.)

So Elsie spent the dance party making her first spellcaster friend.

Venus, meanwhile, was busy meeting people. Mainly the other Culpeppers who had shown up.

I will never get tired of group dances.

Towards the end of the night, Akira yelled at Adora for something, but I hit the pause too late and missed it.

Things really aren't right for these two. I'm really going to have to make some changes for them next season.

The sun comes up, the party comes to an end...just as Kirby arrives.

I guess she's still making the most of being able to go out in the daylight.

After some rest at home, Venus and Elsie head back out, this time to the gloomy looking beach. This is how they're planning to spend Bunny Day.

The Culpepper Pals they know were invited, as well as Morgyn, but where's Venus?

She's already in the water. She couldn't resist it any longer. :)

This child of the ocean is happy :)

She also made a dolphin friend!

The sun comes out as most of the friends invited along slip away, but that's okay.

Elsie and Venus can still make the most of it.

Is there a better way to spend ~~Easter~~ Bunny Day?

Morgyn, who left the beach a few hours ago, is apparently ready to socialise some more, just not at the beach? Maybe they don't like beaches.

Elsie said yes, leaving Venus to enjoy the beach alone.

An afternoon of experimental cooking in Newcrest means Elsie and Morgyn are now good friends.

Evening arrives, and Elsie's off to the magic realm.

"Can you believe I get phone reception here? How cool is that?"

Elsie invited Morgyn to come hang out - and to ask for some magic training - and I decided to send them to the floating island with a greenhouse on it.

It's gorgeous!

And totally useless at the moment. You can't go inside, and because Elsie isn't making potions yet, none of the ingredients on the island mean anything to me.

Still, it's a perfect opportunity for Morgyn to teach Elsie some magic.

After training, Elsie had a proposition for Morgyn.

"How about a duel?"

"You know you won't win, right?"

"Yeah, but the practise can't hurt right?"

"You know I won't go easy on you, Elsie!"

"I didn't ask you to!"

Unsurprisingly, she lost.

But there's no hard feelings.

"I'll beat you someday, Morgyn."

"I hope you do. It means all this training will have paid off."

Elsie finished this trip to the realm by purchasing her first familiar - a Leafbat! Look how cute it is, I'm in love!

I asked my boyfriend, Rob, what I should call him, but he didn't have any suggestions. So I named it after him. So meet Robbie, the Leafbat.

When Elsie got home, Venus was dancing in her swimwear, which was pretty amusing.

Another day, another trip to the realm.

Despite what I said earlier, about how duelling is very "hands off", I still love it.

I'm not sure how the winners and losers are determined, but I guess I'll find out more as I play.

Elsie finally won her first duel, anyway.

Although I think that girl is a teenager, so it's kind of hard to count that as a win.

I feel like I haven't given Venus much attention this season, which is unfortunate because I really like her.

Despite it being gloomy, Elsie and Venus decided to spend the day together, doing things Venus enjoys. There would be no sneaking off to the realm of magic today.

Venus and Elsie head to the lounge in Uptown, despite their small bank balance, for some quality time together.

Venus looks mighty proud of that fart she just did. That's Bro sims for you.

I can't remember if Venus used her clear skies mermaid power, or if the sun came out naturally, but either way the day brightened up enough for a swim.

It's probably a pretty amazing spot for a swim, and makes me think of those places with the glass pools that overhang the side of the building.

There was even time for some tanning, as part of Venus's aspiration.

All in all, the girls had a pretty good day.

The following day was Love Day, and mermaid fun was on the agenda again, although this time Venus definitely did have to use her powers to bring out the sun.

Venus decided to spend the morning catching up on all the dolphin gossip.

Elsie invited Morgyn to the beach, to give them a Love Day gift of a rose. I thought Morgyn seemed into it, but they left pretty quickly afterwards.

Maybe Morgyn doesn't like beaches.

Venus wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to Elsie, and her confusion at Morgyn's sudden departure.

Venus was too busy "borrowing" this jet ski.

I don't think Elsie was super into the Love Day beach trip, she spent most of the morning sat down playing blic bloc.

Maybe not liking beaches is a spellcaster thing.

Venus and Elsie made it home in time to visit the Spice Festival, where Venus met Candy.

Maybe making new friends will stop Candy from stalking Dusty so much.

Although it's possible Candy was just at the Spice Fest because Dusty was.

Some things never change.

"You made it to Spice Fest!"

"You invited me here?"

"Yeah, but I invited you to the beach this morning...and you left pretty quickly."

"Beaches aren't really my thing, you know?"

Elsie and Morgyn spend the rest of the Spice Festival hanging out, swapping some small flirts. Look at Elsie's face in that last shot, she so has a crush on Morgyn.

Elsie decides it's the perfect time to take a chance.

"So, Morgyn...will you go out with me?"

Elsie looks more afraid here than she did when she first starting duelling. Luckily for her, Morgyn's into it.

"Of course!!"

Elsie and Morgyn then take the traditional "we're together!" selfie, although I must admit Morgyn might want to work on their selfie face.

The leg pop is also pretty fun.