Changing Seasons. Winter III, part 1

Winter III, part 1 “I like your lion.” Amber needed a break and had wandered out of her room to see what the others were doing.
“Thanks. I could see him in the wood. Plus, Minnie’s daughter – Julie-with-the-gallery – says that animal things always sell well. Talking of Julie, she asked if we’d seen what Minnie was doing.” “I might go down and have a look. I’m brain-dead at the moment. I need to chat to Clara again – I swear she understands my heroine better than I do!”
“Does she get co-author then?”
“No, but I’m dedicating it to her. Don’t tell her – I want it to be a surprise. Do you want to come as well or are your creative juices flowing nicely?”
“I could do with some fresh air. Let’s bike down there.” “Wow! When did all this happen?” Amber was amazed at the changes.
“I last saw Julie a couple of weeks ago, and she said they were about to start. She said Minnie had got the whole tribe in on it.” “Minnie, this is amazing,” Amber said over her shoulder.
“Christmas stuff,” said Rafe. “We need to think about Christmas. And do it in style.” “It’s fantastic! I can’t believe how hard you must have all worked.”
Minnie smiled at Amber’s evident admiration. “Well, I’ll tell the rest of them that you’re right impressed with it. Mind you, Susie’s Dan, this is what he does for a living, so he’s kind of got the experience, if you know what I mean, and we didn’t waste time with silly mistakes. His boss was fine with him borrowing the tools he didn’t already own too. You get on real fast with good tools.” “Be sure to tell me if there’s anything else I could be adding to the stock. There’ll be some more Christmas things coming in – but I had me some little bits left over from last year, so I put them out right away just to be reminding folks that Christmas is coming. And I figured that nice Honey might be wanting to pick up some little things, but I know they’ve not got a lot of money. What’s this I hear about Frank’s stepmother moving in with them…?” “Tell you what, little brother, you make a mean ratatouille.”
“Thanks,” Leo said, pleased that his cooking had turned out well.
“Come the spring, I’m going to trim those bushes out there into a nice hedge,” Amber said. “Marcus says the grass will help hold the soil together, and a hedge will shelter whatever we plant. I’m thinking outdoor sculpture garden.”
“That could work well,” Rafe agreed. “Well, we’ve nearly done a year here. First Christmas coming up! I think we can celebrate, don’t you?” Marcus had given them some wine as a thank you for their help over the last two weekends – this seemed like a good time to open it. “Okay, Lucie, you’ve been in charge of our day-to-day running costs. And this is the end of our third quarter. How are we doing?”
“We’re easily within our estimates for them. We’ve got nearly three months in hand, but we have been being very economical: we’ve bought no new clothes for instance, so I want to keep that buffer…” Amber listened admiringly as Lucie explained clearly and concisely exactly where their money was going. Lucie closed her folder and Rafe opened his.
“I think we probably could open this place as a gallery inside our original three year estimate. Based on what we’re selling and how our names and Lachlan’s are getting known. But we need more here than just a gallery. I think it’s time to consider some of the other buildings and how we can develop them as well. Tomorrow – in the daylight! – let’s go and have a look at the bar/restaurant place. Now, as to the details of our income in this last quarter…” “This place is opposite the gallery. If we can get it looking good, outside and in…”
“Yes,” Lucie said. “People will come to a neighbourhood much more readily than to a single building.” “Talking of neighbourhood,” Amber said, “if we could get this room alone looking good again, I think people would come here. Artie and Old Tench for two. Us. If we get Lachlan to fix the table football – and Clara to paint it! – then there’d be something fun and silly to do. One of us could babysit for Lachlan and he could take Marianna out on a date…” And presently they were all deep in discussion as to what to do and how to do it, and what order they should do things in… “Before we start filling this with rubbish, I think I’ll just see if there’s anything good in it.”
“Sooner you than me,” Amber said. “We’re going to need to read How to Restore Old Stonework if we’re going to get this place looking good on the outside.” “Lachlan is amazing! This works like a dream now!”
“No it doesn’t,” Rafe said. “My men aren’t working properly at all.”
“You’re only saying that because you’re losing,” Amber said, teasing him.
“Too true,” Leo said from behind. “I’ve heard that one before. About his chess pieces not working properly because I beat him!” “It’s looking cleaner, but I don’t think we’ve got to welcoming yet. Any suggestions?”
“Posters.” Amber called out over Rafe’s groans as she scored another goal. “It’s got no atmosphere, it’s not telling a story. And maybe better lighting. Perhaps Frank could help with that.” Leo left his brother and Amber to their noisy game and went upstairs to look at his restaurant-to-be – and spotted the pictures on the walls! They’d do for downstairs to help brighten up the place. Perfect! And free! “I had no idea I was so good at upholstery!” Lucie had re-covered all the stools after Rafe and Leo had sanded them down and varnished them.
“I still think it needs more work,” Rafe was busy saying to Leo. “These walls would look better panelled. We could hunt through the other buildings, see what we could repurpose…” “The stonework next,” said Leo.
“I think the space out here,” said Lucie.
“Yes. This paving’s not bad. I think we need to make a garden out here, somewhere you’d be glad to sit,” Amber added.
“Somewhere for the non-art gallery types to enjoy. What type of food works for the art gallery and non-art gallery types both at once?”
“Italian,” said Rafe promptly answering his brother from behind. “Works for everyone. Make your restaurant genuine Italian pizza and everyone will love it. When we get to that stage.”
It was the shortest of walks back across the road to their home – and one of the reasons why they’d got so much done, so fast.
“We’ve got to get the outside of this building looking good before we can open as a gallery as well. That’s going to take some thinking and some doing too.” “If we cleaned up the brick…” said Rafe.
“And painted the walls,” said Lucie.
“And made a roof garden up there,” said Amber.
“You’ve got a thing about gardens,” Rafe said.
“Yes,” Amber said seriously. “I think we need to bring back the green. Bring back nature. What colour were you thinking of painting the walls, Lucie?”
“Colour?” said Lucie. “Who said anything about a colour? I’m planning on painting these walls, not colourwashing them. This is going to be an art gallery, so let’s get it looking like one!” “What are you working on?” Rafe liked Lucie’s studio, with its sketches, paintings and smell of turpentine and oils.
“Sketches. Plans. Ideas for painting the outside.” Lucie’s voice was abstracted and Rafe recognised the signs.
“I’ll cook tonight then, instead of you. Clara’s coming for dinner.”
“Oh good. I might need her help.” She was still concentrating furiously and Rafe left quietly. “I know what she’s running from, even if the reader doesn’t at this point. And why she’s running. Why she’s scraping a living scavenging for junk in the asteroid belt. But I don’t know what she wants beyond the short term.”
“I could give you some ideas if you’d tell me what she’s running from!” Clara pointed out.
“But I don’t want you to know either. What you’re brilliant at is telling me Darya’s motives. Why she does things. Not what she does.” “Clara! Just who I need,” Lucie said, coming into the room.
“I’ve got first dibs on her,” Amber said. “I need to know what Darya wants long-term. Even if she doesn’t really dare hope for it, the longing’s there, deep inside her. Are you getting changed for dinner, because it’s nearly ready.” “You think that’s it then?” Amber asked Clara. “She wants the opposite of what she’s running away from?”
“That makes sense,” Rafe said. “Else why would she be running? She’s not escaping with a treasure that she has to hide, is she?”
“No, that’s for the sequel to The Scarlet Hawk,” Amber said absently.
Leo caught Lucie’s eye across the table. What had Clara been running from, and what was she looking for? They’d have to try and help her find it, whatever it was.

The factory building is by CycloneSue at TSR.
The bar/restaurant was a gift to me from LMC6254, from the SummerFest gift exchange and can be found here:
https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9395270