Chapter 4.3 - A New Mystery

Willow was having a hard time believing she was really here. She couldn’t quite process the fact that everything had worked out, that nothing had come up last minute to keep her from going. She wondered when she had become such a pessimist.

But she was really here! In China! And it was everything she’d ever imagined it would be.

In some ways, it was a little sad to be here by herself. China had been the first stop on the trip she and Conor had planned, and being here without him made her nostalgic for what might have been.

But even being here alone, China was magical.

The very first thing Willow did, after she had gotten over her jet lag, was go to the martial arts academy. She had been sent here on a mission, and she was determined to fulfill it.

“What is your name?”

“Willow Doe.”

He paused, visibly thrown off. “Doe is… your family name?”

“Yes…” Willow didn’t see how this could be relevant, except in the unlikely case that one of her father’s minor scandals had made it all the way to China.

“Is it a common name, Doe?”

“Moderately.”

He looked her over more carefully, then nodded. “You have been sent here to study martial arts, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Then I will teach you. First, show me what you can do.”

After she had sparred with him, he nodded.

“Good. But you still have a long way to go.”

Her week in China flew by in a blur of sparring, tutoring, meditating, and similar activities.

But interspersed with her martial arts training, she had several strange encounters with locals.

Many were friendly, and she didn’t usually have a lot of trouble when she went down to the base camp, or to the market where most of the tourists shopped. It was when she ventured farther out that she ran into problems.

Her first troubling meeting happened when she went out to the dragon cave, having sought out a quiet place to meditate.

“What are you doing here, child?”

Willow was first surprised by the use of the word “child”, since the woman didn’t appear to be much older than she was. “I’m studying at the martial arts academy, and I wanted a quiet place to meditate.”

The woman seemed to assess the validity of her words, then nod. “What is your name?”

“Willow. Willow Doe.”

Her face hardened. “Doe? What sort of Doe?”

“Um… the Doe sort? I didn’t realize there were types of Does. My father’s name is Alaric, if that makes a difference.”

It didn’t. The woman’s face remained guarded. “And your mother’s?”

“Madeline. I think her maiden name was Milne. Why this sudden interest in my ancestry? Does it matter?”

The woman looked her over. “You are welcome here… for now. But tread carefully, child.” 

Then she left, and Willow stared after her in confusion and a little frustration. What was that about?

Unfortunately, that was only the first brush with the bizarre she had over the course of her vacation. Almost every time she left the relative safety of the academy, a pale stranger would confront her and question her about her name and parentage. Finally, on the last day of her training, she resolved to ask about it.

“Willow Doe. Do you have a question for me?”

Briefly, she outlined her experiences with the strangers. “Why are they so interested in me and my parents? Why were you, when you first met me?”

He frowned. “There is someone who is… well known in these parts. A foreigner, who goes by the name Doe. Many are… concerned that you are here on that one’s behalf.”

She sighed. “I promise that no one in my family has ever been to China, let alone this one town. Doe is a fairly common name, and people often use it as a pseudonym.”

He nodded. “But people do not know that, so they are concerned.”

Still, she didn’t really know what was going on.

--------

When she finally got home, Willow walked into the house with a spring in her step. “I’m home!”

“Willow! Thank Plumbob. I can’t… I can’t do this without you.”

“Felix? What’s going on?”

“Marissa… she’s gone.”

Author's Note: I've made the executive decision that this generation isn't going to be as picture-heavy as they have been previously. I'll still try to get pictures for every scene, but I find I enjoy doing this a lot more when I'm not constantly focused on having pictures for every individual line. That said, I'm really excited about this generation! I've written/played pretty far ahead (all the heir candidates of Generation 5 have been born), and I think it's going to be really interesting. Next time: we see the fallout of this cliffhanger!

Chapter 4.2 - Focus

Dear Conor,

I hope you’re still getting my letters. I know that you don’t always know where you’ll be on a given day, and you haven’t written me back in a while, but until I know for sure, I’ll keep writing to you. Things are good here. At least, they’re as good as they ever are. Felix graduates next month, which is really exciting. There was a while when I wasn’t sure he would be able to keep his grades up, but he’s committed to his goal. Flora’s been growing like a weed. I know toddlers are supposed to grow fast, but I’ve taken to buying her clothes a couple of sizes too big so that she can wear them for more than a month. Marissa… well, I haven’t really seen Marissa in a while. She hides upstairs for most of the day. I don’t know how long it’s been since she went to school. Sometimes I hear her and Felix shouting at each other when I get home from work. I don’t know how Flora sleeps through it, but I’m glad she does. She shouldn’t have to hear that. As for me, I’ve been doing fine. I got promoted recently, which means I’m doing less teaching and more actual sparring. I actually kind of miss the teaching, but I still get to do some of it. The kids are the best. They remind me of when I first got started. A lot of them are really angry, but I get to help them work through it. I feel like I’m giving back. It’s a beautiful feeling. As always, I wish you were here.

Love,

Willow

--------

Willow loved her job, and not just because it was an escape from the tension of the house.

No, Willow loved her job because it allowed her to share her passion - martial arts - with the world. She loved sparring, and she was very, very good at it, but teaching other people to love it as much as she did was her favorite part of the job.

“Try to get your leg up a little higher. A little more… that’s it!”

“If you hold your hand like that, you’re liable to break a bone. Try it like this.”

She loved seeing her students improve, and knowing that she was helping them.

That said, there would never be any substitute for the rush of sparring.

When she was facing off with an opponent, nothing else existed. Her world narrowed to just the two of them, their movements, the elegant dance that sparring against a skilled opponent became.

She couldn’t worry about anything: not money, not Felix and Marissa, not Conor, not Flora. None of them mattered when she was in the midst of battle. None of them even existed. Just her and whoever she was sparring against.

Every night, Willow came to work and spent a couple of hours tutoring new pupils, and even some of the more experienced students sought out her help with difficult moves. Some of them told her that she was the best at the center. Some of them told her she was the best they’d ever seen.

She didn’t really take them too seriously. She knew she was good, but she was too young to be really spectacular. You had to polish your art for years to become a true master.

After the tutoring hours were over, she moved on to sparring. She’d joined the local competitive ring recently, so she sparred against opponents both from the training center and from elsewhere. She won most of her matches. Her skill level was high, and her focus was unrivaled.

Still, it was a shock when she was approached after her match, not by a fan from the training center, but by a man she instantly recognized.

“Willow Doe? I’m Reuben Shields, the regional recruiter for the Sim Nation national martial arts team. I think you’d be an excellent fit for our Sim Fu division.”

Willow couldn’t do anything but stare at him. She’d seen him before, of course, but she’d never thought that she’d be recruited by him. “You’re sure? You want me?”

“You’re the best I’ve seen spar in years. We’d love to have you on the team.”

“In that case, what do I have to do?”

“Well… we want you to go to China.”

Author's Note: On the one hand, I've had Willow's storyline planned for months, and I actually wrote these first few chapters in August. On the other hand... I picked a really bad time to write about travelling to China (or anywhere really... but especially China). Still, it is the Sims, where we go to escape from real problems, so I'm not going to stress too much about it. In other news, I forgot to mention last chapter that Flora is our first heir candidate for Generation 5! The kids of this generation will be getting a lot more plot than those of previous generations, partially because they'll be born earlier and partially because Willow's plot is pretty low-key. Next time: Willow goes on her (poorly timed) trip to China!

Chapter 4.1 - Flower Child

Willow was almost always the first one up in the mornings. She liked it that way. She enjoyed the quiet of the sleeping house.

As was her habit, she made breakfast before everyone else got up, and she was almost done eating by the time Felix dragged himself downstairs.

“Hey, Will, what time is it?”

“About 7:30. The girls are still asleep.”

He nodded. “Marissa should be up soon.”

Willow restrained herself from saying that should and would were two very different things, especially where Marissa was concerned. “I’m sure she will,” was all she allowed herself to say.

Predictably, though, when Felix boarded the school bus, Marissa was nowhere to be found.

Willow headed up to Marissa’s room and knocked softly on the door.

“Go away, Felix.”

“It’s Willow.”

“Even worse.”

“The school bus left an hour ago…”

“And if I wanted to go to school, I would be on it. Now go away.”

Willow just frowned and headed back downstairs. It was time to wake up her favorite niece.

When she reached the nursery, she peeked into the crib, not surprised to find its occupant still asleep. She hadn’t been put to bed until Willow got home from work last night, which was a lot later than her usual bedtime.

Still, they had established a routine, so Willow woke her up. “Did you sleep well, Flora?”

Little Flora smiled. “I think so.”

“You’re not sure?”

“How do you sleep bad?”

“Sometimes people have bad dreams, and they don’t like sleeping.”

“Not me! I never have bad dreams.”

Willow smiled, hoping that it would always stay that way.

--------

Willow almost always spent her mornings watching Flora, and this one was no exception. Sometimes she felt like she did more parenting than Flora’s actual parents. She knew that they weren’t in the best circumstances, and she had volunteered to help them, but she also knew that there was a difference between helping and taking full responsibility. What Willow did was perilously close to the latter.

So when Marissa finally came downstairs, at almost noon, Willow took action.

“Marissa! If you’re not going to school today, you should watch Flora while I do the grocery shopping.”

Marissa sighed. “I can’t, I have to be somewhere in half an hour.”

“Where?”

“Does it matter?”

Willow had to utilize a formidable amount of self-control not to snap at Marissa. Instead, she smiled cheerfully. “Well, if you’re going out, then you can get the groceries. Here’s the list.”

Marissa looked at the shopping list like it was a dead rodent. “Can’t you do it?”

 Willow’s temper was fraying. “I can’t do everything around here, Marissa. If you want to eat this week, you’ll either do the grocery shopping or watch Flora while I do it. Those are the only two options.”

Marissa let out a sigh of a long-suffering martyr. “I guess I’ll get the groceries.” She looked at the list. “Do we really need this much food?”

“Yes, we do. Now you’d better get going if you want to be back by the time Felix gets home.”

Marissa left.

--------

The afternoons were always a hectic shuffle. Felix got out of school at two, and he had to rush home so that he could be back by the time Willow’s shift started at three. Until recently, he would then be home until school started the next morning. But, since money had been a little tighter than usual, he had picked up a part-time job from seven to ten. When he’d done it, no one had thought it would be a problem. They neglected to realize that leaving Flora home alone with Marissa for three hours was a disaster waiting to happen.

“Marissa, you have to actually take care of her tonight.”

“I do take care of her!”

“Giving her a toy and then leaving her alone for three hours isn’t taking care of her.”

“I didn’t leave her alone!”

“Then why was she hungry and exhausted when Willow got home? You should have been able to feed her and put her to bed!”

“Is that what she wanted?”

“Did she not ask you for food? Say she was tired? She can talk now, you know, it’s not like it was when she was just a few months old.”

“I don’t know!”

“You have to pay attention to her the whole time!”

“It’s just so much work, Felix! I can’t handle that much responsibility!”

He tried to contain his anger. “You have to, for Flora’s sake. You’re her mother. It’s your job to take care of her.”

“But what if I can’t?”

“That’s not an option.”

Author's Note: I'm back! I know it's been forever, and I am really sorry about that, but I can say with certainty that I will have a lot of time to spend with the Does over the next few weeks, so you should prepare to be seeing a lot of updates. In that break I forgot how painful it is to try to coax good facial expressions out of Marissa. For all the pictures of her in this post, there were at least twice as many that were painfully unnatural-looking. Also, I hope you enjoyed Willow's painfully patterned house. As explanation: I felt like Willow would end up renting the sort of house that's a "before" on a home makeover show, so I tried to think along the lines of "house previously owned by an older lady who hasn't changed anything in fifty years". Anyway, on to the good stuff!

Here's a CAS picture of Willow, whose adult trait is Family - Oriented (pretty sure you all saw that one coming). Jonah and Amanda, who are already YAs, can be seen on the Rolls and Traits page. I'll put Serena's up when she ages up.

And this is baby Flora, who is Good and a Heavy Sleeper. Next chapter: we take a look at Willow's work!