Whimsy Generation 1: starting out

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Talamh* Whims grimaced as she looked over her new home.  If you could call a dirt plot in the middle of Evergreen Harbor's "Port Promise" neighborhood "home".   She had thought the land a steal at the list price and bought it sight unseen... even though it had cost her most of her simoleans - leaving her with the clothes on her back.... and a tent.

(Author's note:  Generation 1 and her children are to be named in a nature theme.  "Talamh" according to google, it gaelic for "earth")

Yeah, the land was a steal alright...and she was the one who'd been robbed!   Scrounging around in the pockets of her worn out jeans, she saw she had enough loose change for one absolute necessity.   Sticking her thumb out, she hitched a ride to the Simhome Despot*  and found a wan looking portapotty bush in their discount sale area.  Obviously other sims had been pre-testing its peeabsorbing properties, if the smell was anything to go by.   (* similar to, but legally distinct from a certain real-world store!)   She wasn't likely to get a ride back to home with this thing in tow, so she hefted it into her arms and began the long walk to home.

By the time she got back to her lot the smell from the bush had pretty much killed off all the olfactory mucosa. See, Mz Reisenburg, I remember some of that crap you drilled into me from science class, she thought.   And the death of her sense of smell might be a good thing, considering this place was covered in a yellowing haze of smog.   Talamh set up her tent, dug into the sickly soil and planted the bush.  It looked completely out of place -- the only spot of greenery in an indusstrial urban area.

But that's going to change.  She thought.  She'd bounced around all of her life in the foster system, always feeling like she'd never have a home of her own, that she'd always be an outsider looking in.

I'm going to have a home.  She vowed.  One that is all mine that no one can take away from me!  And wouldn't it be an even greater accomplishment to make it here?  

But to do that, she'd need knowledge.  She hadn't done her research prior to buying this place, but to bring it back from the brink she'd need to know what she could do with it.  There wasn't an HOA to deal with, thank the SimGods and Goddesses, but there might be some sort of zoning she'd have to be wary of.   She had no money to speak of, and couldn't afford fines or fees if she built something against code.

Evergreen harbor didn't boast a public library, but Willow Creek did.  Sticking out her thumb, Talamh hitched a ride to the Willow Creek archive.   She got to work right away, looking up the zoning codes for lots located in Port Promise, Evergreen Harbor.

.

She also decided to get a job as a Freelancer working in the SIMply Crafted Career.  She didn't want to work a traditional nine to five or whatever.  She didn't need or want someone looking over her shoulder, micromanaging her every move.   Okay, okay, so there was the small problem of she didnt' own a fabricator of her own (Yet!) but the client didn't need to know that.  All they cared about was that she created something that met their vision and needs..and got it to them by the deadline.   She found a gig that didn't ask for a ton of skill - making a rug.  Okay, the pay wasn't a lot, but anything was better than what she had now, which was zero.

There was a community lot not too far from her own.  Right now it was supposedly a recycling center, though it was hard to tell with the overflowing dumpsters and trash scattered around the lot.  Talamh went to the voting board, using what influence she'd managed to earn to vote for a makerspace.  She needed that desperately!    She also needed food.   And since she wasn't proud and really needed to save every simolean so she could start building a house -- of her very own!  She rooted through the dumpster, looking for deals or meals, whatever she could find. 

Hmm.. "Forbidden Fruit of the Plant Sim"... wonder what this does?  It didn't look bad...and since she was just a few steps from starving she decided to chance it.

Well... crap!   So that's what that meant!  On the other hand, she wasn't hungry any more.  She could feel herself growing stronger the longer she stood out in the sun.  Strong enough to go diving until she found everything that had any sort of worth from the dumpster.  Some of it was in need of repair so she would take it back to her lot and fixup what she could.... keeping what she wanted to save for her own (future) house, selling what she could (at least it was saving it from the landfill!)..and recycling what couldn't be salvaged for bits and pieces..  She needed those for her fabricating gigs.

Talamh didn't know how long she'd be a plantsim.  Was she stuck like that forever or would it wear off after awhile?  Okay, okay, so maybe she hadn't paid the best attention in Mz Reisenburg's science class.  (*Author's note -- I didn't know about the fruit or how long the effects would last, though a quick google search let me know.. the effects would wear off in five days.)    At any rate, at least she didnt need to eat during the day..   She didn't know what would happen when the sun went down.  But with sun, water and a little luck, she'd be okay.    .... hopefully.