Chapter Three: A New Passion

The next morning Rachel took a closer look at one of the meteor shards she had brought home. She was no expert, but it's strange texture and odd coloring seemed unlike any rock she had ever seen.

The events of the night before still clear in her mind as she arrived at the police department, she took an uncharasteristic break from her gung-ho work ethic to chat with her partner about what had happened. Ashton Beckingworth suggested that Rachel might not be the only sim who wanted a souvenier of the event and that she should see if someone might want to buy a few of the pieces she had collected.

At the consignment store to sell this time, Rachel was shocked to find out that her space rocks turned out to be a rare mineral called chassignite, worth over §3000! She sold all but one, small piece that she kept for herself. With the money she made she was finally able to buy a real bed, curtains for her much needed privacy, and a sink for the kitchen.

But her pride and joy was an old-fashioned stereo with turntable. She would spend many evenings after work with the music turned up, burning off steam to VV Brown. Her house was starting to fill in, but it turned out that all the new, expensive furniture being delivered attracted some attention.

Other sims might not have heard the creak in the floorboards as the midnight intruder crept through the house, but Rachel Keatts was awake in an instance.

Knowing something was wrong, she quickly locked the bedroom door and got the police on the phone; she was in no way qualified to handle this situation on her own.

"I think someone's breaking into my house," she whispered urgently when the operator picked up.

"Huh?" the guy who had the evening shift sounded barely awake, "Oh, yeah, sure, we'll send someone right over."

The cops never showed up and the burglar got away, but Rachel was relieved that the he had decided to walk right past her new stereo and swipe the shower instead.

Although she definitely missed it the next day, especially after the toilet clogged and she had to spend the morning up to her elbows in toilet water.

She washed her hands a few extra times, but would definitely need a new shower soon. She wished she hadn't spent the money she had made off the meteor all at once.

At work she heard about a puzzle contest with a cash prize. It was at a bookstore on the other side of the hill, so that afternoon she took a long subway ride, then called a cab to take her the rest of the way.

She was attending with the hope of being able to replace her stolen property with the winnings, but there was a sale going on to coinside with the contest, so she browsed the selection while waiting for it to begin. She spotted a book on martial arts philosophy and decided to buy it; she had always been secretely fascinated by the practice, but had never persued the interest.

Unfortunately, that book was the only thing she would get out of the trip, as she ended up losing the contest. She would have to earn the money to replace her shower the old-fashioned way.

While her days were mostly taken up with work, Rachel began spending the free time she did have reading about martial arts, and her fascination with it grew.

On a whim, she even went out and bought a gi, determined she would have somewhere to wear it some day. She began to dream of travelling to Shang Simla and learning from the masters.

Since she couldn't quite make it all the way to China, she thought she would see if there might be some training available at the local Extreme Fitness gym that weekend instead. The center was modern and extravagent, but had no martial arts equipment.

Disappointed, she nevertheless figured that a few hours of exercise would be a good use of her time.

Later, back at home and unsure how to spend the rest of her weekend, Rachel put on some music and sat down with the Sunday paper. If she had had a computer she would have probably tried to get some work done at home, but that wasn't currently an option.

Glancing down, she noticed an ad for the Lighthouse Country Club. Apparently it was the place to be, and for a moment she contemplated going out for the night. Thinking about the annoying crowds that were sure to be there, she quickly changed her mind. It gave her an idea, though - why couldn't she have music and food and a good time right here on her own?

The radio was already on, so Rachel put a pot of water on the stove to boil and went to gussy up. Sure, it was kind of silly to be dressing up for dinner with just herself, but she had been working hard lately and deserved some fun. She was putting on the last touches of make-up when she smelled the smoke.

She rushed back into the kitchen to find flames leaping from the stove.

She quickly called the fire department and grabbed an extinguisher, desperate to keep the fire from destroying her expensive counters.

The fire grew intense and Rachel began to be overwhelmed by the flames.

Running back to the bathroom to douse her smoldering clothing, she was incredibly thankful that she had finally replaced the shower just days before.

The fire fighters arrived, and this time Rachel kept at a safe distance while the professionals did their work.

The evening and half of her kitchen ruined, Rachel changed back out of her good clothes. As she cleaned up the mess of yet another disaster she couldn't help but wonder if Fate had it out for her.

---

So, I completely forgot about the rule that you're not supposed to make money off of random things that aren't for your career or opportunities when I sold the space rocks. By the time I remembered at least a week had gone by, and it would've been weird to just get rid of all of her furniture at that point. I have enough mods that make my game harder that she's still struggling with money anyway, so it didn't give me too much of an advantage.

I realized that I haven't given much info on Rachel yet: her traits are Ambitious, Light Sleeper, Loner, Snob, and Workaholic; her favorites are Mac and Cheese, Soul Music, and Spice Brown; and her lifetime wish is to be a Martial Arts Master. I rolled random a few times to get a combination of traits that seemed interesting, and the only things I changed were her music and LTW. For the LTW I wanted something that seemed to fit with her Ambitious trait, but wasn't just raising to the top of her career since then the only thing she'd ever do in life is work.

And now here's a bonus video! *gasp*

I was trying to catch her doing a turn, but I guess she got camera shy. I've never really played around with making a sims video before, but I thought it was kind of cute. ^^;