Chapter 3.1: Expansion

Year 9

As winter turned to spring, Christy finally accomplished enough study of science to be admitted to the career.

Due to her advanced knowledge, previous experience and connections in the field, she started as an inventor working the day shift and was given a biotech station to experiment with viruses and cures.  Needless to say, this made Lennon a bit nervous, and he made her keep it in the backyard and promise to be very, very careful with it.

Finally, construction on Lennon's new shop was finished.  He visited to move his stuff in and set up the displays in preparation for opening to the public.  It was simple, but with room to expand, and a nice break area for himself and any employees he might hire in the future, though the idea of having to work with other people made him a bit nervous.

When he got home, he installed a set of doors on his old workshop, so that it could be used for sleeping in the future.

The final pieces had fallen into place.  Christy and Lennon couldn't wait any longer, they had to marry.  Money was still a bit tight from the business expansion, so they opted for a private ceremony, rather than a party, and they both took Lennon's last name of Henkes.  They decided to try for their first child right away, before Christy really started advancing in her career.

As Lilly Won was making dinner one night near the end of her pregnancy, she somehow managed to send the entire stove up in flames!  Luckily, Ji had the night off and remembered his fire safety training, and the fire was extinguished without much trouble.

This latest fire, the third in the small town, prompted the formation of a law enforcement department, which would handle criminal activity and fires.  Due to his previous out-of-town experience as an officer of the law, Komei was designated the town's first patrol officer.  He was soon promoted to be a desk sergeant, working on the logistical side of things rather than patrolling all day.

Despite her husband's success, Tanya was restless.  Some routine flirting at the club - come on, how else is she going to get people to come inside? - began to develop into something more.  She was in love with a man who wasn't her husband, and it was thrilling.  She wanted more.

When Ji Won came by later that night after his DJ shift, Tanya couldn't help herself.  She practically jumped him.  Surprisingly, he didn't seem to mind, and they shared a quick cuddle in the lounge of the Wrong Side of the Tracks before he went home to his expectant wife.

Word of the new community in No Man's Canyon was starting to spread to neighboring communities.  With the spring thaw came two new people looking to start a new life in the town.  The first was Timothy Burns, a pleasure-seeker with a penchant for steamy romance.  He moved into the studio apartment that shared a floor with the Tellermans'.  Since he was a child, he had always wanted to become a romance novelist; this was his chance.

The other was Freya Dresden, a peculiar woman if there ever was one!  It was said that she was like a plant, and yet still a sim - a plantsim.  She moved into a tiny cabin located on a plot of irrigated farmland on the far edge of town.  Despite her unusual biology, she longed for fortune and an easy life as much as anyone else in this town.  She kept to herself and her plants for the most part, carefully gardening and irrigating both them and herself under the desert sun.

 The town was growing to the point where there was demand for community resources.  The townspeople debated, and decided to build a park around a natural lake, calling it Oasis Park.  This park would be free for all to enter, and the resources contained within were to be shared among all the people in town.  It was their plan for the future to designate more places such as this, when the town was large enough to support it.

((Christy got a spot in the science career because she maxed her logic skill and science enthusiasm.  She started so high because she has a billion friends.  She was actually at career level 9 when she joined the family.  I'm not sure if this is cheating or not, but the rules don't seem to prohibit it, so I won't force her to start at level 1.  Finally, the first slot opened up in law enforcement.  The Tellermans are doing much better now.  Silly me completely forgot about earning CAS sims for player-owned community lots, so I introduced two new townspeople at the end there, as well as the first community-owned lot.))

Chapter 2 Bonus

More things from chapter 2.

"OHAI u tryin to take a photo?" *trollface*

I know that picture was in chapter 2.2, but really, I have to talk about that toilet...that was taken at 9:45 AM, and it had just been cleaned at 4AM!

Apparently, women scare Ji: "What?  No, I'm fine talking from over here...behind the TV...you're a bit scary's all..."

Chapter 2.2: Making Things Work

 Years 6-8

After her long, hard labor, Tanya was rewarded by the cries of an infant.  It was a boy!  She named him Nicholas, and thanked her lucky stars that it wasn't twins.  The newborn was settled into his nursery, located in the living room, and Tanya got some well-deserved rest before she had to go back to work.

It was a lot of work taking care of the infant, but they managed to juggle it with their work schedules.  Soon after the birth, Komei finally managed to paint that elusive masterpiece, bringing him up out of the depression that he'd been slipping into.  The Wrong Side of the Tracks club was turning a small profit, but what it really needed was a bar.  Unfortunately, the funds weren't there for that sort of construction expense, and wouldn't be for some time.  So Tanya would just have to make do with what she had.

Lennon's business was going coming along nicely.  He managed to sell a steady stream of merchandise while simultaneously working on his SentryBot.  Soon, it was complete, and he set it to patrol around the house.

Newlyweds Ji and Lilly were enjoying the time they had together.  Of course, Ji had work most days, while Lilly stayed at home and studied.  She had been experiencing some pretty bad nausea, but couldn't tell if she was possibly pregnant or if one of her cooking experiments had just gone bad.

While watching the yummy channel later, she considered calling Ji at work to let him know that she might be pregnant, but decided to wait.  It would surely make itself known in a more concrete way soon, and then she could tell him.  Nothing like announcing to your husband that you're pregnant, and then have it turn out to be food poisoning from undercooked omelette!

Sure enough, before long she was having a hard time fitting into her clothes; Lilly was pregnant.  Ji was excited at the news, and they started setting aside some of their savings for a nursery.

As winter began to grow to a close, Christy started dropping hints to Lennon about what she wanted out of life.  Sure, she had goals to become a scientist, but that wasn't her ultimate aspiration.  She wanted grandchildren.  Lennon was confused by that at first, but slowly came around to the idea.  However, he knew that grandchildren meant children, and that meant space in the house that they didn't have.  It was Christy who came up with the idea of repurposing the workshop into a detached nursery; after all, the children would be safe enough with the SentryBot flying around.  Lennon protested, asking where his business would go, but Christy replied that maybe it was time for the business to move out of their home.  After thinking about it for a while, Lennon agreed, and started construction on a building.  They also announced their engagement that day, though they set no plans for the wedding yet.

Lilly's pregnancy was progressing well.  She was spending most of her time watching the yummy channel, and was beginning to consider opening a food store of her own once the children were older.  Ji was promoted again, this time to a party DJ, which meant he was back on the night shift.  But he didn't care, the job was great fun, didn't pay badly at all, and he was finally out of those ridiculous uniforms.

As a reward for finally breaking out of the boring jobs, he was given an indoor hydroponic garden, which would exercise his creativity as he tried to grow plants in this unusual setting.  End of winter taxes were coming due.  Lennon and Christy owed $1,150, the Wons owed $1,400 and the Tellermans owed $250, bringing the total funds to $3,450.

On the other side of the small town, Nicholas grew up.  He was mostly taking after his father in appearance, with the same red hair and wide jawline.  With the new toddler toilet and toy in the apartment as well, they were beginning to get very cramped for space.  Tanya and Komei began to talk about finding a new, larger home, though with money so tight they couldn't see how it would be possible.  But they'd find a way, somehow.

((Their apartment is really cramped.  I'm not sure where Komei's going to paint after Nicholas ages up and needs a real bed.  I might have him give it up whenever he gets to go back to the police force(that was his career upon move-in), when we get that third fire or a burglary.  For some reason, I didn't check until just now and notice that Christy has a telescope and lots of other crap in her inventory...we'll just fudge that one I think.  I have such a hard time getting photos in the Won's bathroom because the door stays open most of the time due to sims standing in front of it.  I changed the way it was facing in the hopes that it would help, but I'm not too hopeful.))

Chapter 2.1: Building Families

Years 5-6

As winter came, the temperature dropped, and Lennon took to operating his robotics store in some warmer clothes, sacrificing professionalism for being able to feel his arms.  Some of the locals swore that it snowed here in winter, though that didn't fit with anything Lennon knew about how deserts worked; however, it wouldn't be the most surprising thing about this strange land.  One day, as he'd just finished unloading his big ticket item for the day(a robotic cleaner), a woman walked up his path.  Her name was Christy, and she was beautiful.

He finished up business that day and closed his store before calling her up and asking her out on a date to the hottest - well, the only - nightclub in town.  It turned out that she wasn't just beautiful, she was intelligent too.  They hit it off, and Christy agreed to a committed relationship with him - moving in, of course, to help him with the store.  As she was moving her possessions inside, the first snowflakes of the season began to fall.  She told him that this was normal, and one of the reasons she wanted to be a scientist was to study the peculiarly un-desert-like weather patterns of the canyon.  Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow her into the profession until she'd gotten to the pinnacle of scientific knowledge, which was why she wanted to set up a telescope in his backyard.  Lennon relented, resigning himself to running the shop solo, just as before.

Ji had a somewhat rocky recovery from his lightning strike.  Somehow he managed to continue dragging himself to work every day, and so he wasn't fired.  He had finally made up his mind to start the search for a wife when, one day, he stepped out of the carpool from work and found himself face to face with a gorgeous woman.

Her name was Lilly Do, and she was everything he could ever have wanted in a girl.  He couldn't believe that he'd been about to just go ask the first thing in a skirt that would have him to marry him.  This was what he'd been holding out for!  Their relationship progressed quickly; first they agreed to a committed relationship, then Lilly moved in, and then, one night, she agreed to marry him, on one condition.  He had to move the bedroom out of the living room.

With the baby on the way, Tanya and Komei thought it best to get married as soon as possible.  They rushed through an engagement and had a private ceremony in their living room, not having any money to spare on a party, thereby becoming Mr and Mrs Tellerman.

Having a woman around the house was doing wonders for Lennon's bachelor pad.  Christy wasn't impressed at all with his workshop, but, with the addition of a few counters, a sink for washing up and a hot chocolate machine, he would be cosy out there all winter long.

She also suggested a few changes to his merchandise.  Looking through the wholesale catalog, she showed him some remote-controlled toys, not unlike his own toy robots, which could be sold alongside his hand-crafted goods for a greater profit.  As reluctant as he was to let his old business model go, he agreed that he would be able to bring in much more profit each day if the number of items he was selling wasn't limited by the number of items he could build.

Despite the night's snowfall, customers still came to the shop, and Christy's new idea worked.  Tinkering in the workshop late that night, Lennon figured out how to build hoverbots, which he wouldn't be selling in the shop yet, though he intended to build one for use on his own lot.

Ji and Lilly were settling in to their engagement nicely.  He received a promotion to a record store clerk, with the associated bonus and salary bump, which made Lilly realize that they were ready, even after their short engagement period, to start a family together.  The news of Tanya and Komei's shotgun wedding was still echoing through the small community, so they kept the event private and low-key, accepting congratulations only from their closest friends.  And so the Won family gained a new member.  Eager to begin building her new family, Lilly wanted a baby right away.  With some misgivings, Ji agreed to try, as their financial situation was relatively stable.  Lilly wasn't sure whether or not she'd conceived, but she knew she'd find out soon enough.

Things at the Tellerman's apartment weren't going so great.  Komei continued to struggle as an artist, always falling short of that masterpiece he strove to paint, slipping deeper into his frustrated depression with every stroke of the brush.  Tanya's pregnancy was not an easy one, forcing her to stay confined to the sofa or bed almost all of the time.  They'd managed to scrape together some cash, but it was hardly enough to afford everything they would need for the baby, on top of the rent.  And then, just as things couldn't get any more complicated, there was a scream from the bedrooom; Tanya's labor had begun.

((Yeah, we've lost the Webster family name.  Oh well, I figured it would probably happen.  Tellerman isn't a bad name.  Somehow she lost a day on her pregnancy visuals, which was really weird.  When I left her rotation she had the first bump, and when I came to her again she'd gotten the second bump.  But she didn't spawn that day, so...very strange.  Also, yes, I'm totally going to leave you hanging there.))