The Hutchins and Mojica Renovacy Chapter 3

Chapter 3

This is Mmdrgntobldrgn's renovacy - the link to the back story is here:
http://mamadragonssims.weebly.com/renovation-challenges/hutchins-and-mojica-renovation-challenge
And the download for the lot is here:
https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9190694

“I’m really worried about Aunt Regina.”
Uiara gazed at her brother through her fringe – and his as well! They couldn’t afford haircuts, so Viriato was doing his best for them with a pair of blunt kitchen scissors, but it wasn’t a very good best. “Why?”
Much as she loved her brother, Uiara had to admit that he wasn’t very observant. Mostly, he was in a world of his own – usually one that involved horses. Ask him what a spavin was, or what a bran poultice was traditionally used for, or a snaffle versus a martingale, and he’d be right with you.
“Haven’t you looked at her recently? She looks dreadful. And we have no money.” Viriato was facing up to this same challenge. What they’d scraped together, they spent on turning the house into, basically, two bedrooms. The five of them shared one room, and Regina and her twins slept in the kitchen. Even the table had been moved outside. But Eugenio would be needing a bed soon, and where would they put one? Bunk beds would work, but they couldn’t afford them…and there was no way he could hold down a job and do everything else he did round the place as well. “Well, how can we help?”
“More cleaning and tidying for a start off, instead of leaving it all to Viriato and Regina.” Uiara ignored her brother’s disgusted face.
“And then we could try collecting things to sell,” she went on.
“I’m supposed to be doing that for school this weekend, but it sounded boring. I thought I’d go down to the stables instead…”
“No you won’t! We’re going out collecting now!” “I got one!”
Uiara turned her head away so that Desmond wouldn’t see her face. She’d practically had to shove his nose right down to beetle level before he noticed it. Still, now he’d caught one, he might do better next time. And Desmond did catch another one, spotting it in the fading light just before they headed home, full of good intentions on Desmond’s part and practical determination on Uiara’s part. “We can make the beds,” Uiara had said to Desmond very firmly. “And empty the potty and clean the bath and the basin. And play with the little ones to keep them happy. So Desmond was making a start. And it was the weekend – more time to get their homework done. Maybe Viriato would finish his homework as well for once. “Is this really me? “ Regina thought, putting Charlie on the potty in the hope that one day he’d work out what it was for. And she needed some more pictures for her blog that weren’t just of the garden, which wasn’t coming on very well anyway, as she and Viriato were so busy with the children. She went off to pay the bills. They were making ends meet – just – on their day-to-day income and the royalties from her book, but nothing more. There was nothing left to sell here – and she’d used up nearly all of the small savings she'd accrued after giving up the rental on her town house and selling on the remaining furniture. It would have cost too much to transport it to the island now that the road bridge was gone – and there would have been nowhere to put it anyway. When she remembered her luxurious double bed though, she did sigh inwardly.
She needed new clothes – these were beginning to show signs of wear, and they weren’t practical either – and so did the children. She’d have to look out for another garage sale. Soon the older children would be home from school. She still rather dreaded that. Viriato was so cold, so contemptuous of her. And even more so now that he’d discovered she didn’t even know who the father of her children was. Uiara and Desmond weren’t as bad, but they didn’t actually seem to like her. They might all go straight to the library though – Viriato often took them there after school to get their homework done. Eugenio chose to come home though, rather than going to the library with the older ones. Regina had found clothes for him at a garage sale – since the road bridge had closed, the islanders had become much more self-sufficient, more interdependent. To the older inhabitants it had all felt very familiar, and it hadn’t been hard to settle into a more frugal, recycled lifestyle as a community.
“Reggie!” Eugenio hadn’t been able to say her name properly when he was little, and it had stuck. “Reggie! You’ll never guess what happened in school today…” The other three were at the library, doing their homework together. Viriato had made sure that the twins were doing well at school – A grade students, both of them now – but he was still only averaging a C. And after this, there was the garden, and time with Tesni… The challenges seemed endless. And that stupid, careless aunt of his hadn’t helped things by getting pregnant with twins and no father on the scene to give support. Viriato’s teachers had spotted his potential though. Despite the dreadful haircut and the permanent scowl, they thought that there was more to him than met the eye. So here he was, a few weeks later, visiting the science facility to help improve his grades with some hands-on research. It might be fun. He hoped Uiara and Desmond would remember to get Eugenio to go to the library with them and do his homework though. “The little ones love me,” Regina realised, more relaxed than she normally was at this time of day, knowing that the older ones wouldn’t be home until later. Knowing Viriato wouldn’t be home until later.
Tesni ran towards her, shouting, “Reggie! Reggie!” while Charlie, who certainly couldn’t speak clearly yet, kept time by banging a block.
The table had been a bargain – a neighbour, driving past had told her about the sale she was having and offered to take Regina and the children to it. They needed clothes – Regina had agreed gratefully. The little ones had seen the table and instantly started playing at it, and Regina hadn’t the heart to take them away from it. The very last of her savings went on the clothes and the table and a few other essentials. And she'd been given some stuff free as well! The other three went to the library to do their homework, as they’d promised Viriato. But once there, they found some handy helpers! Viriato was too stiff, too proud to ask for help, but the younger ones had no such qualms. These were people they knew by now, these were their friends or the relatives of their friends. This was island life, more close-knit than the city life Uiara and Desmond could still remember, but Eugenio had never known. When Viriato came home through the warm summer night from his time in the lab, he found the whole family out in the garden, eating one of Regina’s delicious salads. She was a good cook, but he hated admitting even that. They were sitting on sawn-off log seats, and there were candle lanterns on the fence posts, and everyone looked happy.
Viriato was obscurely annoyed by this.
“There’s plenty of salad left,” Regina called over, and “How was the lab?” Uiara asked. Regina almost sounded happy too. The three younger ones were playing at a table with coloured blocks, and a lighted lamp shone through the window. It looked so homely – and Viriato’s unexpressed, unacknowledged grief tore at his heart so strongly that he could scarcely be civil to anyone. Only his fear of hurting his younger brothers and sisters kept him from lashing out. “Thank you,” Uiara said. “These are a much better fit!”
Regina smiled. “I chose the lilac shirt for you because it brings out the colour of your eyes. What I can see of them,” she added, peering through Uiara’s fringe. But there was no malice in her tone, and Uiara didn’t take offence.
“I suppose I’ll have to ask Viriato to trim my hair again.” “I could cut your hair for you. If you’d like me to, I mean. And I do have some sharp scissors safely hidden away.”
“Really? I’d like that. I mean, I know I’m not – I don’t look like Mummy did…”
Uiara’s voice trailed away and Regina recognised the insecurity in it. She looked down kindly at the girl wearing second hand clothes in the shabby room.
“You’ve got Aurora’s eyes. And Lincoln’s hair. You look a bit like both of them. But you’re a brand-new, never-to-be-repeated person. You look like you.”
“Could you make me look like a – a better version of me?” Uiara hadn’t wanted to say prettier, and Regina respected that.
“I can help you look like Uiara Mojico. And you’ll go on finding out just who she is all your life.”
“Are you still finding out who Regina is?”
“Do you know, Uiara, I think I am,” Regina answered, before turning back to the half made pancake batter. They ate outside again, sitting on the logs that had come free from that garage sale (and transport thrown in too!)
“This is nice,” Uiara thought. “And these pancakes are lovely too. Regina tries to make us happy. We should do that too, not just help so’s she doesn’t crack up completely.” “Will you cut my hair for me please? Viriato’s taken Tesni out and I’ve asked the boys to look after the little ones.” “Look at me!” Uiara said excitedly to her brothers. “Look at my hair! Look at what Aunt Regina did!”
“Reggie did that?” Eugenio said, mildly interested. “It looks nice.”
“Aunt Regina can cut hair?” Desmond said. “I want mine doing now!” And he abandoned Charlie and headed into the house.

The dresser is by Sandy at ATS3, part of her IKEA stuff, and the trunk seats are by marteole (NiceTrunkSeat)