The Withergrass household has come under some scrutiny of Arthur Picklethorpe, as of late.

Arthur: "There's something fishy going around here. My superhero senses are tingling."
Magical lamp: *Flickers ominously without visible source for its flame*
Arthur: "BUT WHAT COULD IT BE?"
House: *Makes scary, creaky noises. Faint hollow laughter can be heard from inside*
Arthur: "Maybe they're not paying their taxes on time, or something."





Inside, Stephen has invited his sister Cordelia over for a family dinner. He's not very happy with her though.

Yue: "Come now darling, finish your food."
Stephen: "But she kicked out MY BABY SISTER!"
Cordelia: "What do you care? Aren't you supposed to be some eeeeevil warlock?"
Stephen: "I might be a witch, but at least I'm not a bitch."
Yue: "Stephen!"



Head of the family Davin has been putting in a lot of extra work lately, and it's finally paid off. From now on, the rest of Riverside Hollow will have to refer to him as The Law! He'll be the one who'll be dishing out the orders from now on! And if anyone gives him any lip, he'll just stick Law Enforcement on their asses. He can do that now, you know.

Now if only he could find some more intimidating candidates for the police force... 



Stephen's pet wolf Akela has started to show her age. She spends most of the time sleeping curled up on Stephen's bed, eating, and sitting outside on the porch guarding the house. 



Akela's not the only one who has been showing her age. Davin can't seem to remember how to properly use a phone, for one.

Davin: "SPEAK LOUDER, I CAN'T SEE YOU!"



Things between Stephen and his ex-girlfriend/rival witch Flora have gotten as cold as the temperature. 

Flora: "Stephen. You know, if you're thinking of bewitching that snowman into some unholy servant of the dark forces, I'm going to whoop your ass seven ways from sunday."
Stephen: "Witch, please. As if you could touch my muscular behind. Face it, you're just not up to a fight."
Flora: " The White Council says I can't touch you until I can actually catch you doing dark magic... please, just give me a reason. We'll see who's up to a fight then."
Stephen: "Psshh. Your White Council doesn't scare me. Now get out of here and let me finish my snowman."



For all his talk, Stephen knows that if Flora actually manages to get backup, he could be in trouble. He's never heard of this White Council before, but he can't take the risk that Flora isn't just bluffing.

Time to brush up his social skills, and get himself some followers of his own.




Stephen's decided to start his charm offensive with some free concerts at the Four Corners. People like music, he wants people to like him, it's a simple equation. Besides, maybe he can wrangle some tips out of it.



Warren Muntz joins in on the drums, but is quickly chased off by Stephen. He doesn't need some spy of Flora's to stick his nose into his business.

Warren: "But I only wanted to play some drums :("




Warren's older brother, Alex, is an elusive townie at best. He's come out for a game of darts with Stephen, though. I've got a feeling he'd like to come out to Stephen in quite a different way as well. 

Alex: "Evil warlocks are so HAWT!"




While Stephen and Yue are out on their recruiting spree, Davin has invited over the rest of the family for a little get-together. It's the first time he's gotten to meet Emily, his first grandchild. 

Cordelia: "Just don't drop her dad, okay?"




Davin: "Whooza good girl den? Izzit you? Yes it is!"
Emily: *coos*




I'm quite happy that Davin got to meet Emily and spend some quality grandfather/granddaughter time with her. 




Especially seeing as the same evening, the Grim Reaper came for him. Stephen and Yue were still out trying to scout out potential cult members, so noone was around to plead for him.

Davin: "Story of my life."
Grim Reaper: "AND YOUR DEATH, I THINK YOU'LL FIND."




Alas, poor Davin. We didn't like you much, but you'll be missed on principle.




The next evening, Yue could be found cooking up something in her cauldron. Spells might be Stephen's speciality, but when it comes to potions, Yue far outclasses him. 
What could she be making? A solution to raise Davin as their undead servant? A plague to scourge the town? A draught to enslave the minds of the poor, unwitting inhabitants of Riverside Hollow?




Nicodemus: "I say, that was possibly the best tomato soup I have ever tasted."

Oh, just cooking for the meeting that Stephen has called together, then. A couple of the Sims invited left immediately after having heard Stephen's speech about how he could promise them power they'd never even dreamt off. He let them be on their way, after a quick memory wiping spell. It wouldn't do to be too obvious about his business right now, or to make unnecessary enemies.




He's having quite a bit of success with Liam Button, though. The journalist seems fascinated by what he has to say. And even though he's trying to pretend that it'd be a great opportunity for journalistic research, Stephen can tell that he'd be quite interested in ways to move up the career ladder as well. A good thing, all in all. Liam had been getting too curious about Stephen's business, and if he couldn't get him to join up, he would have found some way to silence him. For good.




He's having less success with Ivy Babbling.

Stephen: "Will you SHUT UP about your stupid alien agenda for a second?! I'm trying to offer you real power here!"

Smooth, Stephen.




Long after the meeting had been disbanded, in the early hours of the next day, the Riverside Burglar arrived at the Withergrass residence. She'd been scoping out the impressive, mansion-like house, and expects it'll be filled with costly things.

(Little does she know, the Withergrass house is actually just a fancy shell with sparse furniture, because the cost of the house was so great there wasn't money left to furnish it properly.)




The Riverside Burglar: *Cackle*




Stephen: "BAAANZAAAAAIII!"
The Riverside Burglar: "Wha?!"




Stephen: "STEAL FROM ME, WOULD YOU!"

*Smack* *Noogie* *Slap* *Indian Burn* *Elbow* *Wet Finger in Ear* *Punch*




The Riverside Burglar: "THEY'RE MAD! MAD! AAAAAHHH!"
Stephen (offscreen): "And if you ever come back, I'll make you wish you'd never been spawned!"



Next up: The Button family, starring twins Ryan and Roxanne!