Sim_Iris

As many of you know, I started this challenge a while ago, but I lost the save file, the sims... well, everything. I tried to recreate it, but I just couldn't connect with the new sims because I was still too attached to the original story.

Thrilled to see her girlfriend again, Lavender had come with a handmade gift - a woven rug in Violet's two favourite colours, purple and blue.

The rug added colour to the outdated kitchen in Violet's small ground-floor apartment, but she instantly noticed the decor on the walls. "It looks really good in here. Your landlord keeps the place really nice for all her students."

"Oh, I added most of this," Violet said. "It's just white walls, otherwise, and I really wanted to make the space feel lived in."

Lavender smiled. "Vanesha probably loves that you're helping decorate the place for the next tenant," she said.

"Oh, yeah, I mean, this place needed a bit of character," said Violet. "Most people just come and go with the program."

"Well, it's nice of you to leave your mark before you head back home."

Lavender thought she noticed Violet's smile falter slightly, but she didn't have time to dwell before there was a knock at the door.

Violet let them in, and landlord Vanesha Cahyaputri smiled at the young women. "I wanted to check that the fans were working. It's almost summer and only going to get hotter down here."

"Go ahead and look around," Violet said easily. "This is who I've been telling you about for months! Vanesha, this is Lavender, my girlfriend, and Lav, meet Vanesha."

"It's nice to see you're not just some AI in Violet's phone," Vanesha cracked. Violet laughed and Lavender smiled politely; she considered launching into her feelings on artificial intelligence, but she didn't want to make anything too awkward for Violet.

Vanesha, on the other hand, didn't mind it, and she made herself at home in the living room to chat with the girls a while. But Lavender wanted to spend time alone with her girlfriend - she'd flown a long way!

As night fell, jet lag was chasing Lavender down - but Violet seemed happy to have Vanesha there, and she was the property owner, after all.

Violet and Vanesha had an easy rapport - so easy that Lavender tried not to feel too jealous. She and Violet had a great rapport, too, but Lavender couldn't help Violet with her Tomarani phrases the way Vanesha could.

At least they didn't speak in a language Lavender couldn't understand for too long. And after a while - probably a lot less time than it felt to Lavender - Vanesha left and headed upstairs.

Finally alone for the first time since Selvadorada, the girls made up for lost time in the bedroom. Lavender had looked forward to this trip for a long time, and she didn't want to waste a minute with the girl she loved.

Vanesha could pop by whenever she liked, but Lavender was the one who got to kiss her, hold her, and feel butterflies as they cuddled until they fell asleep.

Violet spent her days with her academic program, leaving Lavender to explore on her own. She didn't mind it and always liked spending time alone, but she was just as happy to stay in and work on her LavaKnits orders until Violet came home in the late afternoons.

By then, the heat had usually cooled considerably - if not the humidity - and the girls could explore the Night Market in search of dinner, drinks, or fresh fish to fry up for breakfast.

They'd often peruse the stalls and Violet would pick up little knick knacks to display in her apartment, like colourful tassels and baskets, and each time Lavender wondered whether Violet really saw Tomarang as a temporary home. But she didn't want to vocalize it. Not unless Violet did, first.

Instead, Lavender let Violet share everything she was learning about Tomarani history and culture in her academic program, and Violet let Lavender talk about her new place in Evergreen Harbour.

"The workshop space is the best part, because I'll be able to meet so many more orders than before."

"That's great!" said Violet. "There's no space for you to have a workshop in my little apartment..."

"No, but you could probably find a lot of work as an event planner in Evergreen Harbour."

Violet grinned. "I couldn't plan a recycling drive better than you could."

The girls were happy together in Tomarang, and they spent every free moment together that they could. Vanesha was always around, puttering in the garden before the girls headed out to the national park or the beach.

And every day, it seemed, Violet and Lavender stopped to talk to her. But one rainy night, the girls' in-ground plumbing was on the fritz. They headed upstairs in search of the landlord, but they only found her 14-year-old sister, Zhafira.

"She's working late doing inventory at the coffee hut tonight," explained Zhafira. "But I'm sure she'd rather be here dealing with the toilets."

"She's a great landlord," said Violet. "I'm sure she'll be over as soon as she's done inventory. It's a shame she works a job she hates so much."

Zhafira nodded slowly. "She wouldn't like it if I told you, but after our parents died, she gave up her dream of becoming a DJ to take care of me. I don't think she knows I know, but the barista job is just to make sure we're covered when we're between students in the unit downstairs."

"She sounds like a great big sister," Lavender noted politely, but Violet's reaction was more familiar. She knew Vanesha better than Lavender thought, and she tried to smile through pangs of jealousy.

"In a few years, you'll be old enough to live on your own," Violet told her gently. "And then we'll force her to follow her dreams if we have to!"

The girls made their pact before Lavender and Violet decided to beat the indoor heat with a visit to the ancient temple just blocks from the rental unit.

The golden temple spires lit up at night were a sight to behold, and the girls removed their shoes to pay their respect to the gods as they wandered inside a rabbit hole of ornate tombs and painted altars.

With some writing on the wall as the girls explored another corner of Violet's new home, they let the monument distract them from taking any time to read it. ->

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Gen 1 Start | Gen 1 Summary Gen 2 Start | Gen 2.1 Summary | Gen 2.2 Summary | Gen 2 Finale

Welcome to Ravenwood. Some towns greet you with sunshine. Ravenwood prefers dramatic lighting.

Sometimes you have to leave home to hear yourself think... Or to outrun whatever I haven't figured out how to name. Off we go. Me, Louie and whatever life crisis this trip counts as.