Chapter Seven - The Greening of the House

Tamsin and Moonlight were, because of Perseus's refusal to pay child support, living in squalor. Finally the courts found in Tamsin's favour, and Perseus was ordered to pay a ripe $36,000 into her account. It was easily enough for her to complete the first floor of her house, and get some furnishings.

She called in a decorator and demanded lots and lots of greens. She also bought herself a chemistry set so that she could source better chemicals for certain inventions.

Exterior:

Kitchen:

Dining Room + Hall:

Moonlight's Room:

Inventing Space:

Tamsin's Room:

Chapter Six - Positivity

Tamsin ate despondently. She had always prided herself on being careful, on being a positive-thinker. This did not mesh well with being depressed. She was struggling to care for herself, let alone her baby. Being positive was part of her identity. She spent her morning in a daze. She had no money. ...and she had a child.

The doll her great-uncle Ken had sent her was another issue. It creeped her out. It always seemed to be ... watching Moonlight. She had tried to throw it away in the bushes, but it had reappeared in the house. "There's some spiritually wrong with that doll", she had said to herself. Not even she was sure what she meant by that comment. The doll just bothered her.

Moonlight becomes a Toddler

Herp. Derp.

She decided she was spending too much time indoors, insofar as she had any indoors. What she needed was a baby-sitter. She needed to get some new clothing. Positive clothes. And get out into the wide open world.

In her luggage from the move she found some orange-brown tights, some sheets, and some imitation leather shoes. She spent the rest of the morning hand-sewing a slouchy, bohemian dress of sorts:

Then she hired a baby-sitting service, with no money to pay them, and ventured out into the world on her bike. It felt great, the wind on her face. The sunlight. "Freedom", she thought for the first time in days.

The baby-sitter contracted to Moonlight, Cory DiPaolo, was too young to notice and judge all the signs of neglect. She just saw a child who needed love, and who seemed especially at home sitting on the grass. Moonlight's bond with Cory grew and grew throughout the day. She'd never had so much attention. She was totally enthralled by Cory's stories. Cory's family had come from Ghana, and she told stories about Anansi, the spider man, who was a magical trickster. Moonlight was happier than she had ever been, learning about the wide outdoors of Africa.

Tamsin, too, had not felt as happy in a very long time. She collected some butterflies and traded them in to ensure that she avoided another visit from the repo man. She still didn't have a chair. She didn't really have any furnishings. It was starting to bother her. She felt like everyone was entitled to the basics of life, and yet she really lacked them. She let it go. This week was about finding strength - being positive. She ran in the sunlight.

She paid Cory, but was too distracted by her own thoughts to really chat. Cory felt her new employer was a bit distant and cold, not positive at all.

The next morning, Tamsin was filled with a new resolve. She would try to bring Perseus back into his daughter's life. She would be the bigger, more positive, person. She called him.

"I don't want to talk to you right now", said Perseus simply, and he hung up on her.

She was plunged into another despair. She went back to inventing until she was out of scrap. She must not give herself enough time to have negative thoughts. She tried to ignore the damn doll. The worst thing about it was it's lurid yellow color. Or its freaky blue eyes. Or the way it turned up in weird places.

She called Cory over, much to Moonlight's excitement, and ventured out to get more scrap. She needed lots. She needed to step things up a little, instead of the quarry she would go to the local junkyard. She might even find some new furniture!

One of the first things she spotted was a freshly offloaded trash compactor. She hated the amount of rubbish households produced, so it made sense that, what couldn't be recycled, she would have compacted. She snatched it up, hoping to repair it.

She found a toybox, badly in need of new paint, but otherwise fine - the wood hadn't rotted - and it have several toys already in it. She loaded up her swag, and went home.

A new week rolled around. She wanted clothing that absolutely screamed: I AM A POSITIVE-MINDED EARTHCHILD. She wanted to feel bright, and bold, and challenging. She dyed her hair. (Cory told Moonlight it looked like grass clippings). She sewed a new dress out of curtains, sheets dyed with mulched plants. Everything in it was recycled! She felt like a super hero. Her new look was ludicrously bright. Because she was positive.

A man named Teddy Ursine dropped off a stereo for her to upgrade. She repainted it in bright colours, because she was being positive. She didn't really intend to return it.

She put her new severely damaged chair in place at the table without thinking a single negative thing about it. Because she was being positive.

She let the trash compacter smoke uselessly in the corner without batting an eyelid. Because she was being positive.

Finally, she repainted the toybox, and that fucking doll, as bright and green as she could muster. Because, for the love of gosh, she was being pretty darn positive indeed.

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Challenge Notes

I was happy to have Cory come on the scene. Tamsin needs to know more people, she needs some female friends! She was a mess when she first arrived, with bright blond hair, so I whipped her into shape with Mastercontroller, changing only her clothing, hair, make up, but not her personality or facial/body structure.Tamsin is nearly hitting adulthood, thank god I rolled so few children, I think it would be quite insane if I was trying for five or six with Single Parent!

If anyone is curious about how to change the patterns on the imaginary friend doll, you need to use Debug Enabler or (in awesomemod) setconfig enabledebuginteractionstrue. There are about 12 different patterns to choose from. Obviously, Tamsin preferred the green one.

I don't know why I went so crazy with Tamsin's outfits. She's a bit crazy, I guess. She DOES have the Eccentric trait, after all. :P Maybe she's bipolar. I might have her moods fluctuate a bit, from this "positivity" mania, to very unhappy and unmotivated. She's a terrible parent, but I do love her.

Chapter Five - Moonlight

Time had flown by, and Tamsin was feeling huge. Her back ached, her ankles were swollen, but she was determined in her denial. She did not deny she was pregnant, she simply denied that she had to do anything about it. A part of her hated the baby, it was now far too late in term for abortions even if they had been legal. She resisted every urge to eat crazy foods. She cast from her mind all thoughts of babies. She hated the little maggot that moved inside her. She tried to treat her pregnancy with complete indifference. Even if her world was ending, she was going to be stoic enough to at least continue doing the bloody laundry!

She threw herself into her chores and her inventing with a newfound gusto. She exhausted herself daily, giving over very little time to think about her circumstances. She became a conveyor belt of dipping birds and floor hygienators. She threw the last of her savings into inventing, and didn't even blink when the repo-man seized her only chair.

She barely had a house yet. Why would anyone imagine she'd need furniture?

Finally the inevitable happened, and she used up all her scrap reserves. If she didn't find more, she'd have nothing to do. She needed to gather as much as she could - at least 80 units. More, if possible. Her life was evolving into a melodrama. Her denial was a great, sweeping gesture. It deserved its own soundtrack, so desperate and vigorous it was. She marched, nearly literally, towards her quarry.

As Tamsin entered the lot she saw a mad old woman in a silver swimsuit. It annoyed her that anyone else would be there, especially somebody who, from the looks of her, was two kittens short of a crazy cat lady. Tamsin was horrified, at one point, to notice the old bat licking a piece of metal she'd pulled out of the pile! She tried to rummage on the other side of the heap, ignoring the hobo.

After half an hour, Tamsin was left to her own devices. She gathered anything that looked like it could be recycled, hissing to herself that so many perfectly good resources were left to spoil and to ruin the environment. When she got home, she continued her inventing blitz.

Late that night she went into labour. She thought carefully. She could call a taxi. But that would be an acknowledgement of this mess. She heaved herself clumsily onto her bike. Her labour pains made the journey nearly impossible, and at more than one point she almost tumbled. What she was doing was insane, but part of hoped her carelessness would be the end of the baby - or even of them both.

She arrived at the hospital in tears, the muscles in her inner thighs felt torn. The doctors were visibly furious with her, as much as they tried to mask it behind professionalism. She didn't care. The birth was long and she had put both herself and the baby at risk - not so much as to be locked away, but enough to send a very clear signal of her wilfulness. Afterward the birth, she declined an offer of free counselling.

Holding her new baby girl, she tried to love it. She understood it was now her child. It was very important. She had to take care of it. But she didn't yet love it. She figured she would have to work herself up to that. All she really felt was sad.

When she got home she stood on her porch in the moonlight, holding her baby. She liked ludicrous names. She thought, at the moment, that "Moonlight" was a good name. It was nature-themed. It was beautiful. It was very, very sad, and a little frightening.

She would never tell her daughter why she had chosen this name. It was too horrible. But her daughter, she decided, was Moonlight Knox.

Moonlight Knox spent the first night of her life sleeping on a cold, stone floor beside a very depressed woman who happened, unfortunately, to be her mother.

Moonlight Knox, as tiny as she was, was already insane - the bike ride had addled her brain - but she was not unhappy. Moonlight stared upwards. She enjoyed the twinkling of the stars with uncomprehending newborn wonderment.

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Challenge Notes

The first child is here. She is Insane and Loves the Outdoors. The next child is heir, and the quota for this generation. I'm not really certain how I'll get the next child. Do all the children have to share the same parentage? I'd rather not draw Perseus back in. I was so thrilled to see Prof Von Threadneedle in the quarry! It's a hidden tomb lot. I had thought Sims never routed to those autonomously! I guess I was wrong. Tamsin is currently too broke to pay her bills. I should have spent a lot longer skilling up in her professional abilities before letting her have children, but this destitution suits the story.

Chapter Four - Plans Aborted

She had held out until she was certain, but now Tamsin knew she was pregnant. She booked an emergency appointment with an intern at the hospital, Dr Ropata. "Calm down", she told herself, "This happens to lots of young women. It's easily fixed." As she opened her door the mailman saw her, dropped his delivery quickly in the box, and sprinted down the hill away from her. She liked him less and less and less each day.

Dr Ropata introduced himself. He was from Niua Simoa, but had moved here for the much better pay and conditions. Apparently doctors didn't like to stick around in the islands, and there was a shortage of medical professionals throughout the Pasimfic. He even apologised for leaving, but explained he had a family to feed. Tamsin, being only interested in eco-politics, smiled and nodded. She wasn't even sure where Niua Simoa was.

"Basically", she said to summon her courage, "I'm pregnant and I need an abortion."

"The father isn't in the picture", she lied. She didn't want Perseus to ever know, if possible. She needed this to be private.

"I'm not in any state to start a family. I have a tiny income. I literally don't have a roof over my head. I live this crazy, impoverished, free-wheeling life, and kids can't fit into it. They just can't right now. Maybe one day in the future, but this one needs to stop before it's anything more than a tiny, mindless cluster of pixels in my womb."

She felt exhausted, having said it. She was a modern girl, with a modern understanding of her body. She hadn't ever expected it to be so difficult. She had always imagined, if she'd needed an abortion, it would be easy. The reality was, now, that she spoke with confused, mixed feelings - certain of what she had to do, but also hurt and afraid of what it meant. There were, after all, risks.

Ropata looked at Tamsin with sympathy and concern. "Do you know anything about abortion law in Sim Nation?", he asked.

- "No."

- "The problem is, abortion hasn't been legal here for several decades now. There isn't anything I can do, as a doctor, except advise you to seek financial support."

- "You don't understand", said Tamsin, "I literally cannot afford this baby."

- "Can you talk to the father about a child support plan?", Ropata persisted.

- "He's not in the picture", she repeated.

- "I do sympathise", said Ropata, "This law is rather draconian. As of two years ago, a woman can't even board a plane from Sim Nation to another country while pregnant, in case she tries to get an abortion overseas."

Ropata grew more animated as he spoke.

- "It's been this way ever since President Alto's cronies took power. I tell you, Supreme Court Justice Crumplebottom is a law unto herself! She outlawed nipples! Nipples! Haven't you ever wondered where they went?", he was beside himself with anger. "It's no bloody wonder nobody breast feeds anymore!"

Tamsin sat throughout his political speech as if she had been slapped. She had simply assumed all her reproductive rights were intact. She didn't care much for politics. She couldn't believe how uninformed she was, for a start. She was also frustrated by the way a man - doctor or not - kept saying he sympathised. Maybe, but he certainly could not empathise. Could he really contemplate the situation she was in right now. Suddenly, she snapped, interrupting his tirade

- "I don't care!", she yelled, "Just tell me what I can do! Isn't there something I can do to stop this pregnancy going ahead? Can't you help me privately, without anyone knowing?"

- "I've told you", said Ropata in his best soothing voice, "I sympathise. But there is nothing I can do that won't put me at risk of jail time, and my family in jeopardy of being deported."

Tamsin left the hospital feeling like she had been physically beaten. She felt sick. Her arms ached. She couldn't begin to describe how numb she was, looking up and down the main street as she mounted her bike. She might have to stop riding her bike as she got bigger... That would be the least of the changes she would face. She felt old. Entering the doctor's office she had felt too young to have children. Now she felt too old.

That night she did the only thing left to do. She called Perseus, told him the truth, and asked him to help her raise the child. He came across as cold. Mid-negotiations he lowered his voice, and insisted that she do something very dangerous to herself in hopes of bringing about a miscarriage.

She hung up the phone without letting him finish his proposal.

She hoped never to see or hear from him again.

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Challenge Notes

Depressing, much? I had fun with this, thinking about reproductive issues in The Sims 3 off the back of a twitter conversation with TheSim3Gamer's Amy Tucker. It all fits the story perfectly, and makes it somewhat plausible that an edgy young thing like Tamsin can't have an abortion, as she would if she were a real person in a developed nation. I didn't want to make Perseus into such a bad guy, but the story pushed me that way, so I did. A shame, because I like the guy. It's interesting, when I invent the Sims for neighbourhoods I try to be very vague, because the Sims are only springboards for other people to tell stories. Too much of "me" in them, and they become restrictive. Legacy play invites me to add much more depth to the characters, it's not something that's ever happened to me while playing The Sims 3 before, this level of emotional investment.

At any rate, the challenge is moving forward well. Tamsin is now stuck being a single parent. Her inventing skill is climbing. She needs to change her wardrobe the moment the pregnancy is done, though, or she misses out of her Fashion Diva requirement. Looking forward to rolling for Gen Two.

Chapter Three - Sick

Tamsin finally did away with taxis and bought a bike. She always felt so guilty, using all that fuel. Bikes are better. It's the best thing she's done in a long time. She has been riding all around the countryside over the weekend, and now she's riding to meet Perseus. That was the other big step she took. She called Perseus, and over the phone she seduced him. She's cycling to meet him for a date. She's made it pretty clear that she wants to take him home tonight. Why, after all, should this woman Pauline have all the fun?

So how does the date go, then?

It was fantastic! Tamsin didn't even need to take him home, she got what she wanted in Cog's elevator. It was quite a rush, it almost made her feel like a daredevil! They had some cheese platter. They kissed goodnight. They went their separate ways. "Free", she thought. Since moving to the countryside it had become her greatest, most unfortunate cliche: "Freedom."

With the dawn, though, something wasn't right. Tamsin kept puking. Her stomach heaves. Bad cheese, last night? As she got to breakfast, the vomiting subsided. She got back to inventing.

Later in the day, while cleaning, it dawned on Tamsin that perhaps she should see a doctor. Quickly. Because it could be...

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Challenge Notes

It's fairly clear what is happening here. So Perseus became the father after all. It made sense, they were best friends, there were no other men on the horizon. And, well... ...he was good for it, to put it crudely. The date was really fun.