Chapter Eight - Two Parties

There were always more bills. But now that Tamsin had decent savings, she was finding them much less of an issue. She was still depressed, and still dressed to impress. Although she had grown close to her daughter, she still had a guilty sense that she didn't love her daughter.

Moonlight was often pushed into the background of Tamsin's day. Cory came over sometimes, unpaid, to check that Moonlight was being cared for. To the degree that Tamsin was motivated, she looked after Moonlight: Feeding, changing, the obligatory snuggle.

Anyway, sometimes Moonlight and her entourage creeped Tamsin out a bit.

Sorting her mail after breakfast Tamsin found an invite to a party at Jed Barracks's house. She'd only met him once, briefly, but she decided she and Moonlight would go. It would mean a walk in the sunshine, and she needed to get to know more people. The only company she had was Cory, who, she had to admit was becoming a dear friend despite being only a teenager.

Tamsin also wanted "adult company" again. It had been a long time. She seriously considered leaving Tamsin at home, but decided to make a go of being a good parent.

The party was... ...weird. The house was ill-lit, and instead of playing music, there was sport on the television. Jed was making rather unappetising looking nibbles.

Tamsin spent most of the evening talking with the only other guest to show up, Jimmy Ropata. At first she had mistaken him for his father, Russell, who she had met at the hospital a few weeks earlier. Where Russell was mature and opinionated, Jimmy had a sexy glow of youth about him. He made for nice conversation. Unfortunately he had to leave for work.

Tamsin was left alone with Jed and Serge Barracks, and a television. She was getting tired, and dreading the trip home, so she tried to make conversation.

- "So, Jed, what do you do?"

- "I was stationed in Symria for two years", he replied.

- "Oh", she replied. Then she added, "I did oppose the invasion. I mean, we haven't really helped anyone, have we?"

- "I think you should leave", Jed said.

It had been an odd moment. Tamsin relaxed when she got home. She would have to find an excuse to call Jimmy. He seemed like a nice guy. He had probably paid more attention to Moonlight at the party than she had, it was obvious he was good with children. Maybe she needed someone like that?

The idea struck her like a bullet. She'd just been to one party, and checking the calender she wasn't wrong - it was Moonlight's birthday! She'd throw a birthday party and invite her friends! She even went out on a limb and invited Perseus, not expecting him to come. He was Moonlight's father, though. She figured she sort of had to.

He was the first guest to turn up. He and Tamsin exchanged an uncomfortable greeting.

The party started to come alive when people she and Moonlight actually liked arrived. Perseus, throughout the party, made no attempt to get to know his daughter. Jimmy, however, did.

Moonlight became a Child

A cross-eyed child.

After the cake was dished out, Cory dragged Tamsin aside. She was upset that Perseus had been invited. She said everyone in town had heard him bad-mouthing his daughter.

It wasn't long into the evening when Perseus snapped. He had been moody all afternoon.

- "You just had fucking cake, you heifer!", he shouted at Moon as she helped herself to more food.

In that moment, any doubt Tamsin harboured about her love for Moonlight fled. She ripped in to Perseus, insisting that he leave her home. Cory, for the first time, was impressed by Tamsin.

Moonlight was less happy. She understood that man was her father. She understood that Tamsin was her mother.

Her parents were fighting.

She snuck outside, and played with her doll in the porch-light. "Leafie", she had named him, because her mother liked leaves so much. She felt happy with Leafie, and sad with her mother.

That night Tamsin could hear Moon chattering away to Leafie. She felt pleased with herself. The party had been motivated by selfish desires, but in the end it had lit that spark of loving loyalty to Moonlight that she had sought. Little did she realise what had happened.

Moonlight had snapped. In her head, Leafie was there. All her senses told her so.

Reality was a different matter.

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Challenge Notes

Due to her rough childhood, Moonlight has developed the Can't Stand Art trait. I'm eager to get to the heir, and so I'm going to be angling for Tamsin to meet up more with Jimmy. I found it really funny that SP has shoved Jimmy into exactly the same career as his father. They look very alike in their uniforms.

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.