Chapter Four: Patron of the "Arts"

Rachel couldn't sleep. Worries about how she would be able to save up the money to repair the damage from the fire kept her tossing and turning all night.

Still worrying the next day, she was glad for the distraction when her old chess opponent, Tanner Rice, gave her an unexpected call. Apparently he had recently gotten interested martial arts and wanted to work on promoting the practice in the community. He had seen Rachel buying Wax On Philosophic at the bookstore and was wondering if she'd be willing to help him out. Rachel didn't remember seeing Tanner in the crowd that day, but wasn't surprised to hear that a fellow logic lover had been competing in the same contest. Always interested in martial arts, she agreed to meet him at the consignment store that afternoon.

"There you are, I was afraid you weren't going to make it," Tanner greeted her as she arrived, "So, Rachel Keatts, tell me what you know about Sim Fu. Do you think you're qualified to teach any moves?"

"Honestly, most of what I know is theoretical," Rachel shrugged apologetically, "If you're really interested in learning the techniques, you'll have to travel to Shang Simla to train with the Masters."

"Unfortunately, travelling to China isn't an option for what I'm trying to do," Tanner looked disappointed, "You see, I'm a substitute teacher and I've been noticing that kids seem to be getting really lazy these days - always sitting around watching TV or playing video games, you know. What I was hoping for was to find some way to introduce a physical activity to them that they would think was cool. I can't very well send my students flying across the world just for a little exercise, so I was really hoping to get something started right here in Anne Arbor."

"So, here's what I'm going to do," he pointed to himself dramatically, "I've got a grant from the school for 2000 simoleons for this. I'm going to give it to you to use to figure out how to promote a local martial arts practice. Think you're up to it?"

Rachel was shocked that he would trust so much money to someone he barely knew. Thinking about the first time they met, though, she realized that this was hardly the riskiest thing she'd known the man to do. She agreed to his proposal - she just couldn't turn down this opportunity to share her favorite hobby with the rest of the neighborhood.

Approaching the owner of the high class Extreme Fitness Gym with only 2000 simoleons and a long-shot idea for building a martial arts studio was ambitious, but Rachel liked to aim high. It worked out to her advantage, as the corporate heads turned out to be quite eager to monopolize on this untapped market. They even declined to take her money, which Rachel at first thought was awfully nice of them, until she realized it was probably because they didn't want to have to sign any contracts with her that might have given her rights to some of the profits from the project. At any rate, she still had the 2000, which Tanner told her she could keep as a reward for her accomplishment.

The addition to the gym was impressive when it was completed. It was very modern, with two imported training dummies and plenty of room to meditate. Rachel was pleased that she now had somewhere to pracice the techniques she had been reading about, but it was still a long way from a traditional dojo.

Meanwhile, Rachel had been spending her extra money much more carefully this time. After replacing what was ruined in the fire she bought only a used washer and dryer and saved the rest.

Well... most of the rest. She had wanted a telescope ever since the meteor shower had made her much more interested in what was going on up there in the sky. She set up her new toy in the back yard as soon as it arrived, even though it was much too early in the day to see any stars.

The equipment assembled and ready for sunset, Rachel went back inside to do another load of laundry and quickly discovered the downside to buying cheap, second-hand appliances.

Singed again. At least she had miraculously been standing in the one dry spot left on the floor, or that shock could have been much more devastating. Reaper: 0, Rachel: 3.

After spending all afternoon messing with the washer, Rachel didn't get a chance to do any stargazing before having to clean up and leave for a party at her partner Ashton's house. She had thrown the party in Rachel's honor, to celebrate her success with the gym. Rachel had tried to tell her that it wasn't necessary, but finally gave in when she realized she might get a chance to talk with some of the higher ranking officers who would be attending and maybe impress them enough that they'd consider her for a promotion.

But when she arrived, the only people there were the two of them and Ashton's daughter, Chelsea.

"I guess there was some emergency that the big shots all had to rush off to right before the party," Ashton rolled her eyes, "Of course they didn't need us paper pushers getting in the way. You know, I'm really getting sick of the way they treat us, blowing us off like their job is just soo much more important."

Rachel stayed just long enough to be polite before heading home. Not long after, Ashton ended up quitting the police force and getting a new job as a paparazzi.

Rachel was assigned a new partner, Holly Sue MuMacker, who seemed nice enough until she showed up uninvited late one night.

Rachel had just finished making dinner, so she invited Holly Sue to join her. They made awkward small talk while they ate.

There was more awkwardness after dinner, when Rachel realized that Holly Sue's real reason for visiting was to talk about the meteor strike that had killed her father when she was a teen. Rachel felt sorry for her, but didn't really know what to say. She answered what questions she could, but was glad when she finally went home.

Holly Sue ended up getting fired for poor performance the next day. Rachel wondered if the only reason she had taken the job in the first place was to meet her, but later Holly Sue managed to convince the Lieutenant to give her a second chance and got her job back. By that time Rachel had earned a promotion to Desk Jockey and been assigned yet another partner.

Rachel got along with Greg Hamilton even less than with her previous two partners. Not that there was anything wrong with him, they just didn't seem to have a whole lot in common. Still, although Rachel would prefer to work alone, she was required to have a partner and she might as well try to get to know him. She invited him out to play chess at the park, something she hadn't done much of since the meteor incident. They chatted about work mostly, which was fine until Rachel realized that they were both competing for the same promotion.

Rachel decided to give up on her attempts at socializing once she saved up enough money to buy a home computer without breaking the bank. Her life quickly fell into a routine, with her days spent working hard either down at the precinct or on the computer during the weekend.

In the afternoon she would head down to the gym to practice with the training dummies. She was able to perfect many of the techniques she had read about and was soon qualified for a higher belt level.

Finally, after training, she would return home and spend the evening observing the heavens.

Rachel was fulfilled. She didn't have everything she wanted, but the important parts where there and her life was heading exactly the direction she wanted. Take that, Fate!

---

Rachel goes through partners as fast as she goes through near-death experiences.

It feels kind of cheaty to be putting WA skill stuff in the base neighborhood, but it seems silly to me that it should be so restricted. Plus, it made for an interesting story. I left out the board breakers so that there'd still be something that could only be done in China at least. I did consider deleting the money Rachel got from the opportunity for talking to Tanner to make up for it, but I really wanted to be able to fix the fire damage and also needed to start saving up some money so that I'd be able to advance the story some day!

The part where Holly Sue showed up was kind of creepy. I had actually thought about inviting her over for dinner that night so that Rachel could raise their relationship for her job performance. I opened up the relatioship panel and was about to queue up the action to call her, but then decided at the last minute that it was too late and that I'd wait and do it later. A few seconds later the doorbell rang and it was totally Holly Sue. o.o

Outtakes:

"Ow, my eye!" Also, why are you wearing socks?

Just chillin'.

OMG, it's not burnt!

Random room shot. Needs a rug.

The mailcarrier hates delivering bills as much as you hate paying them.