I’m not participating this week for #underrenovation10 but I couldn’t resist trying my hand. It developed into a little story. The lot is not finished yet and I don’t know if I’ll ever upload it to the gallery.
Log of a Renovator.I waited until the boss turned around the corner, then my knees gave up and I had to sit down fast, or I’d have fallen down. Oh my. A Princess being forced to wed far away from home and nosy socialites, all because she’d gotten pregnant out of wedlock. Huh, that was a new one and a little bit old fashioned, by earth standards! It explained the low budget though, 71.000 Simleons aren’t what anyone would consider enough money to outfit a royal wedding. Maybe aliens had other ideas about expensiveness than earthlings? Or it really was meant as a punishment by the royal house. Well, no matter the background, I would do my best so this couple would have a dream wedding!
I inspected the requested structure. Not bad. Although it wasn’t what I was used to I could see lots of possibilities and pulled out my sketchbook and my tablet computer to capture all the ideas that were running through my head. I looked up some alien plants to get ideas about color schemes and shapes. A spiky crown theme, that would be nice! I nearly ignored my ringing cell phone but it was never a good idea when the boss was calling. The news wasn’t good. One of the star guests had broken her ankle. So much for the idea of preparing the wedding ceremony on the biggest platform, the party on another. The less stairs involved, the better. Another idea made me call back. “The princess isn’t too far along, no?” I hesitantly asked. Highly pregnant females and stairs aren’t a better idea than broken ankles and stairs. And some other parts of my plan might be influenced too if- “No, I asked! Ambassador Bimimi said that she isn’t showing yet, no problems. Some nausea, but no vertigo.” I thanked her and made a note to reduce the distance to the toilets.
Two days later. My working bees were marvelous. The finished roof structures looked impressive, if I said so myself, and weren’t costly. They would also provide some cover to shield the wedding from prying eyes and camera lenses. Bride, groom and party would arrive via a Vortex Generator, on the biggest platform, but the requested strange alien trees I planted would certainly cause some curious stares. Note to self, high fences are needed too.
Yep, strange they might be, but they grew fast and made the park look much better!
Now for some special touches and I knew exactly where I could find what I wanted. I had to leave for a little bit. I made sure to lock the door behind me so no vagrant would be able to use the unfinished lot as a temporary home. The restrooms were clean and neat, certainly, but the porcelain thrones were the cheapest I could find and shouldn’t be used to prevent early breakage. They had to work for not even a day. No matter, the plumber was on speed dial for emergencies and I had a rented tux in his size too. Don’t ask.
It took some persuasion to convince the curator of the museum to let me take some seeds and cuttings. Thankfully he was used to aliens and wasn’t shocked about the reason I needed them, just skeptical. After hearing about the Princess Starla and her plight he even helped me with some gadget so the plants would grow very fast. Princess Starla would have some comforting fragments of home away from home. Doctor Nowhotky shed some additional light on the alien culture of ZamCaBam. He lectured for hours but what it boiled down to was that, while babies were rare and precious, the future husband wasn’t a native of that planet and although his own race was more fertile and he himself was revered as a great warrior, nobody liked his race much and didn’t want a Halfling royal additionally to the out of wedlock stigma.
Racism. I swallowed and looked down at the seeds I’d acquired. While waiting for the plants to bloom, some bad timing on my side, I had cursed the lost time and questioned myself for being too fancy. Now my resolve was back and I hurried to the lot and planted my little treasures. The doctor said that these luminous bulbs and, to my eyes at least, dangerous tentacles were considered a delicacy all over the galaxy and a pregnant female would adore them as a midnight snack. Their glowing would cut back on my lighting costs as well. Hey, a tight budget encourages pragmatism!
Tomorrow I will add some finishing touches. I really hope bride and groom will like it.
To be continued
