Chapter 11 - Mildred

"Mummy's here", Mildred cooed to her sister Penny every morning when she got up. Formerly Moonlight, she had petitioned the town hall to change her name to something more respectable. Tamsin, disturbed by her oldest daughter's puritanical behaviour, had relinquished power in the house to a great degree. Now she spent her days inventing in her room, staying out of her daughters' lives for the most part. There were days when she could barely get near Penny for Moonli... ...sorry... ...Mildred's hysterics. Penny grew into an eager toddler, unaware of the turmoil surrounding her.

Penny becomes a Toddler

Mildred was totally consumed by her role as the "lady of the house". She imagined her old friend Leafie must quite miss her company sometimes, she imagined he was getting lonely. There wasn't much that she imagined she could do about that. She had duties.

- "This house is such a mess!"

She cleaned obsessively. When she imagined she had found Leafie slacking off she would go postal, beating him with cushions until he had polished every surface.

- "Nobody does anything to help me around this house!", she would trill loud enough for her mother to hear through the walls. She knew her cowardly mother listened to her, but she stayed in her room making widgets. "Nonsense!", Mildred would say to herself in shrill disapproval, "It's just nonsense!"

Sometimes she would stop her cleaning up. Glance around herself, and mutter:

- "I'm the only one. The only one who realises..."

Early one night, Mildred took Tamsin's bike. She wasn't certain why. She was going stir crazy in that house. A mother's life couldn't be all housework, after all! She wanted to be out in the world.

Nothing pleased her very much. The fish in the gym were a mess, and the language they used was just filthy! "If my Penny ever utters such words", said Mildred to herself, "I shall wash her mouth out with detergent."

She rode around the countryside until morning. Every few kilometres she stopped, got off her bike, pulled out a wash cloth, and scrubbed angrily at a tree trunk.

- "Nobody does anything to help me around this town!", she would say just loud enough for any nearby pedestrians to hear.

Eventually she ran into Cory, who was one of the few people now who could talk any sense to her. Mildred loved Cory. Mildred listened, and Cory led her home.

Cory considered herself a very patient woman, but she could see the Knox family was nearing collapse. She needed to visit more often, get to know little Penny, and maybe even help Tamsin cope with Mildred. Cory had secretly tried to have Mildred committed, but there were no support services that offered full time care for the mentally ill in Riverblossom Hills. Another casualty of the government's austerity package. She cuddled Penny thoughtfully.

Mildred had gone right back to her cleaning.

Cory gave Penny a nice bunny suit, and left an old doll for her to play with, then went to spend some quality time with Tamsin. She would stay the night with her friends, and help with breakfast in the morning.

Tamsin had been struggling to think of interesting inventions. She'd been awarded by the city for inventing a time machine, but it languished upstairs untested.

"The thing is", she told Cory, "time travel could have a very detrimental effect on the environment!"

"To say the least!" said Cory with mock horror, suppressing a giggle.

The next morning, an idea struck Tamsin. She would reverse engineer that brilliant old drilling machine from the quarry! She set her mind to the task.

With Tamsin engrossed in her project, Mildred's reign over the household continued unabated. She was not popular at school, but her mother was so absent that the other teens happily exploited Mildred to hold parties without parental supervision. These events were odd, as the popular kids mingled uncomfortably with the unattractive and socially awkward.

Tamsin worked quickly. She had not only reverse engineered the drilling machine, she had considerably improved it. Now, instead of running on diesel, it utilised used disposable nappies - of which the household had a steady supply - for fuel. Tamsin ran the drill without a shred of guilt, oblivious to the number of womrat burrows she unintentionally destroyed.

Sometimes she would drill her way into underground adventures.

And sometimes, too rarely, the house had its quiet moments, when everyone could settle back and imagine they were just a normal, happy family. Even Mildred was calm.

"Shucks", she would say under her breath, "Horrible as their curse words are, the fish aren't wrong."

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Challenge Notes

So upon aging up to Teen, Mildred developed the Brave trait. That seemed to offer some interesting story possibilities, but mainly it has made her domineering. Penny, on the other hand, is Friendly and Artistic, purely by chance. Friendly should hopefully help with the Political career later on.

It has been really weird having an insane sim with an imaginary friend straight off the bat. I had this rule that - at least to begin with - I wasn't allowed to have imaginary friends unless the sim was crazy. Well... ...Moonlight might be a little crazy. It's hard to tell.

Also, that creepy looking teen? The son of Margo Tumeke and Prof Von Threadneedle. He inherited the Prof's nose! I didn't not know lesbian couples could pass down their genetics using Twallan's SP, but apparently they can!

Chapter Ten - Motherlode

Tamsin's old mailman had finally transferred. She kept an impersonal relationship with the new one. She had hated feeling paranoid when she went to the mailbox. "I won't hit on this one", she vowed, "...I guess."

Meanwhile, Cory had informed Tamsin that she was moving on from baby-sitting. She was a young woman now, and wanted to try her hand at more challenging full-time work. She hadn't pinned down a job yet, but she was actively searching. Cory really had become Tamsin's best friend, and they spent time together regularly. The new baby-sitter that the service had assigned her was... ...less than ideal.

Moonlight had taken up scouting. She was becoming more and more erratic. It was a period of huge changes at 2 Kat Road.

The biggest change being: Tamsin had conceived a child during her visit to Egypt. She was distraught. She didn't know how to act. She was handling the second pregnancy much more comfortably than the first, but it distracted her from Moonlight, who was really feeling the lack of attention. She was becoming more resentful of her mother. As with her first pregnancy, Tamsin threw all her energy into her work. Somewhere, amidst all the draining struggle of parenthood, she still had a dream of inventing something that would change the world for the better. She wanted to help the environment. She wanted to save the Earth.

Time flew by. She was in labour again. She was calm and sensible this time. She took a taxi. The entire trip to the hospital, she lectured the driver about the inefficiencies of the the gasoline engine. Her mood was dropping. She wished Youssef, who knew of the child but was far too poor to come to Tamsin's aid, was with her. He was a noble man. If he could have, despite having only lust for her, he would have helped her raise the child. Instead he sent a sizeable cheque. Tamsin knew he had sent her everything he had.

Penny is born.

The morning after she gave birth, Tamsin walked into the kitchen in pain. She was tired, she was angry with the hospital for not letting her stay as an inpatient. She would write a letter of complaint.

Moon was already up, talking aggressively into space. When she noticed Tamsin she said:

- "It's Leafie's birthday today. Did you know that? He's having a party. I can't go. Because you're making me go to school. Not fair, huh?"

Understandably, Tamsin was confused. She was too tired to argue.

- "Okay bub", she said, "That's cool. I'll make sure his party goes well."

Moonlight departed on the school bus about 30 minutes later.

At midday there came a knock at the door. It was Cory.

- "Hi Tamsin, I'm here for the party!", she looked around quickly, "Do you think it was a good idea to give Moon the day off just for a birthday party? Surely you could have held it this afternoon?"

It took Tamsin a good few seconds to work out what Moon had done. She was glad Cory would be there, and braced herself for more guests to arrive.

Cory went to the nursery to meet Penny properly. "I don't know what this family would do without me", she thought to herself, cradling the one day old protectively. It was true, Cory was much more aware of the children's needs than Tamsin was, despite not living with them. Whenever she visited, the kids were cared for. That much wasn't guaranteed when it was just Tamsin at home, beset as she was with mood swings and depressive episodes.

Tamsin was relieved to find she knew most of the guests. She'd never met Cleo before, though. At first she had assumed Cleo was Jimmy Ropata's date, but Jimmy was still tragically, miserably single. "I wonder why we didn't work out", she had thought to herself, forgetting, momentarily, the pregnancies. She was sometimes very angry still to be single at her age. She was so earthy and positive - she told herself - so why didn't men leap at the chance?

Jimmy, however, was becoming flagrantly desperate. It was a shame. He even, to everyone's embarrassment, propositioned an old friend of the family, Margo Tumeke, who was openly gay.

As each guest arrived, Tamsin explained to them what had happened. Despite all her apologies, and having had quite a good time, they left unimpressed. They had expected to spend time with a birthday girl. Tamsin, for her part, had completely forgotten about Moon's birthday. The fake party, and her forgetting, had made her feel sick and hurt.

She called up Youssef, and they talked at length. Youssef said he was saving his money to come to Riverblossom Hills one day. He wanted, more than anything in the world, to meet his daughter. His support, even from a distance, made Tamsin feel stronger.

She waited for Moon to come home, glaring out into the night.

Moon got home very late, dressed up in her fairy costume. She was sullen. Tamsin gave her a ten minute lecture, while - in Moon's head - Leafie patrolled the stairs for trolls.

Moonlight becomes a Teen.

Moonlight imagines Leafie becoming a Teen.

Later still that night, Leafie sat in the kitchen silently. He had been told to wait there. Moonlight was getting changed. She walked out of the hall, into the kitchen, and took an apron out of the drawer:

- "Leafie", she announced, "It's time there was a mother in this house."

Chapter Nine - Walk Like an Egyptian

It was another day at number two, Kat Road. The house was coming along nicely, although Tamsin had been a bit reckless in her spending. She and Moon were getting along well, and had spent several afternoons building a tree fort out back. Moon insisted on sleeping up there most nights.

Tamsin becomes an Adult

And doesn't look thrilled about it...

With all the inventing she had been doing, Tamsin wanted to get out of the house. She wasn't having a full-blown mid-life crisis, but she wanted to do something big. She looked at her bank account. There was more than enough to take both she and Moonlight overseas somewhere. That sounded brilliant, but Moon threw a tantrum at the idea of leaving Leafie behind.

Tamsin was a bit bothered, but she was eccentric herself enough to roll with Moon's little quirks. She booked only one ticket, and asked Cory to babysit for the weekdays she was away.

Al Simhara

Tamsin arrived completely unprepared in terms of her clothing. The heat was sweltering and she still had her cardigan on. She visited the local markets, buying some gifts for Moon and Cory respectively, then she dashed into the bathrooms to change.

There were so many quaint things about this place. The rustic grittiness of it seemed very romantic. She loved the sunshine, and the open landscape. Somehow, she thought it would better if people back home returned to such simple ways of living.

Riverblossom Hills

At home, Moonlight endured her first day of school without her mother around. Thankfully Cory also went to the same school, and helped her through the day.

Al Simhara

Tasmin was enthralled by the bright children's park on the waterfront near Al Simhara. She had spent a good portion of the day relaxing there. It was ridiculously hot. She had noticed a handsome Al Simharan man watching her off and on while she had been there. She'd returned his glances, but only inquisitively. Eventually he approached her.

She quickly discovered that he was very, very charming.

Her new love interest's name was Youssef. He had grown up in Al Simhara, and loved to cook. He spent a lot of time talking about food. She wanted to impress him, so after he had gone home she tried, under cover of darkness, to cook something delicious, vegetarian, and organic. "Perhaps I should try this again when I can see what I'm doing", she said to herself when she was finished.

That night, before going to bed, she mad a long distance call to check up on Moonlight. She was well. Mostly she talked about her doll.

The next morning was beautiful. Tamsin had set up a date with Youssef, and she had a quick breakfast in town to psych herself up for it.

The date went well.

Youssef invited Tamsin to come back to his place. This visit was an education. She realised very quickly that Youssef was very poor. His house had mud walls, and his furnishings were shot. The pair spent all evening talking about their lives. Youssef was very keen on art, and he loved to flirt, which Tamsin found invigorating.

That evening she cooked him a meal. It was a complete success. She felt so refreshed for this new, passionate affair. She didn't think about the past, she didn't think about the future. They just enjoyed each other's company.

Early that morning she kissed a sleeping Youssef goodbye, scoffed the leftovers of the meal she had cooked, then rushed out to catch her flight.

Riverblossom Hills

Moonlight was extremely pleased with her gift. An expensive camera! Cory, however, was surprisingly ungrateful for hers. Tamsin had not realised the girl could be such a snob.

Tamsin read Moonlight a bedtime story. For all the wonder of her trip to Al Simhara, it felt good to be living her simple, natural life again.

And she was glad for the sweet memories Youssef had given her.

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Challenge Notes

Finally! Tamsin is pregnant with the heir. I'm so excited, I'll roll for the next generation as soon as the heir is born. This whole chapter was formed around a bloody great big misclick. I meant to send BOTH Tamsin and Moonlight to Al Simhara as a mother-daughter bonding session. But I forgot to add Moonlight to the party who were going, and so Tamsin went off herself and I had to retcon the whole intention for going. :P

I loved the old Egyptian man with a cane. I was also really pleased to see my XML mod for the WA worlds is working properly. I modded the world files so that all the Sims in them have flavour text, as God intended. In France there are even three celebrities. One of the ghosts is a tribute to Jim Morrison of The Doors (who is buried in Paris) so it just made sense that his ghost should be famous. Seeing as they're working, I might share the XMLs on MTS at some point in the future.

Moonlight having the camera really fascinates me, because she can take photos of her "imaginary" friend. I don't know how that will play into my imaginings!