Chapter 2: Like a Lullaby

Suchandra has no intention of being a single parent for long. Right after he wakes up (usually around 10am), he calls and invites Darleen over so he can propose marriage.

Maybe he should have waited to call her after he showered, since he jumps right in as soon as he hangs up. Darleen lets herself in when she shows up.

"There you are!" she coos to her daughter "I thought I might have left you in the trunk of that taxi."

Once he's all clean, Suchandra wastes no time queueing up the romantic interactions so he can work up to proposing.

Finally! Darleen accepts.

"So, I should call my mother and start planning our wedding," Darleen suggests.

"We can just get married right here. No ceremony needed. My people call that a gandharva wedding."

"You're just making stuff up," Darleen protests.

"I swear, I'm not. That's the way we do it."

Darleen is convinced, and they get married right there in his living room.

Darleen brought 5 grand into the marriage, enough money to add on a new master suite. Kamala's crib gets moved into the old bedroom. Also, the broken toilet gets replaced.

The newlyweds celebrate the way newlyweds do.

Darleen is artistic, and has a desire to learn street art skills. Suchandra has a wish to give Darleen a gift, So, using the money she brought into the family, he buys her a street art kit.

Darleen immediately starts tagging up their driveway.

Quality parenting. Just drop the kid on the floor so they can go woohoo.

Darleen is actually family oriented, and wakes up early to take care of Kamala's needs.

Then it's back to tagging up the house.

When she earns her street art skill point, she gains rebel influence, and the powers that be grant her a megaphone.

"Hey, Suchandra! Wake up!"

"My energy bar is not yet full..."

"It's Kamala's birthday. We should throw a party."

"Okay."

"After we woohoo."

After some morning woohoo (well, it's getting close to afternoon woohoo, as Suchandra likes to sleep in) the couple invite Darleen's family and a few friends over to celebrate Kamala's birthday. 

Suchandra gets a little make over. Darleen likes what she sees.

"Let's woohoo again."

"The guests will be here soon..."

"We have time for a quickie."

Not quite, actually. Guests start filing into the bedroom before Suchandra and Darleen can finish.

And this is how Suchandra meets his father-in-law, Omar Matlapin.

"Don't embarrass me, Dad," Darleen warns. Like having your father walk in on your woohoo isn't embarrassing enough.

While Suchandra gets to know Omar, Darleen is plotting to get he dad out of the room so she can throw Suchandra on the bed again. Just give it a rest, Darleen.

Time for some birthday cake. Darleen's mom, Mariana, is pregnant.

Darleen 'helps' Kamala blow out the candles.

And Kamala becomes a toddler. She's got her father's golden skin color, but in a darker shade, and his pale eyes. But she got her mother's facial structure.

"Your house is kind of small and shabby," Kitty Price, one of her parents' old friends, comments, "You don't even have a proper dining table."

"And your neighborhood is kind of trashy, too. There's graffiti all over your driveway."

"Can we get that woohoo now?" Darleen asks.

"There are still guests here," Suchandra points out.

"So what?"

Sneaking back into the bedroom for a quickie. This time no one barged in on them.

Omar and Mariana are still very passionate about each other.

Oh, hey, you guys did not just woohoo in Darleen and Suchandra's bed. Yes, yes you did. Well, now we know where Darleen's libido comes from...

After changing Kamala's dirty diaper, Suchandra wanted to potty train her. Because who wants to change dirty diapers?

The next morning, way before Suchandra's energy bar is full, Darleen pulls out her megaphone. "Hey, Suchandra! Let's make a baby!"

Who would have thought Suchandra, celestial musician of Indra's court, would end up the woohoo slave of his mortal wife?

"I'm really, really tired, Darleen..."

"I want a baby!"

"All right, Just, put the megaphone away, okay?"

Since's he's up, he might as well get in some guitar practice. Lovely view there, in the back yard.

Wedding presents start arriving in the mail. Daarleen's mom sent an easel, and her dad sent an electric guitar. How thoughtful. They also got a new, higher end boombox and some paintings.

Darleen decides to teach Kamala to walk.

Money is still tight, but that doesn't stop  Suchadra from wanting to buy expensive, unnecessary exercise equipment.

Random shot of Darleen and Kamala. Darlen wants 5 kids. But, despite all the risky woohoo, she hasn't gotten pregnant again.

Suchandra wants to play guitar at a party. Darleen's parents just so happened to be having a party to celebrate the birth of their new baby girl, Shelia. 

"Wow, your parents are rich, Darleen!"

Quality parenting. Kamala gets left out on the walkway while her parents go inside.

Omar, this isn't your first child. You must know how to hold a baby, right?

Okay, then. More quality parenting.

Suchandra gets his wish to play guitar at a party. Doing this makes him late for work, but it's what he wanted.

Parents. So embarrassing.

Omar and Mariana try to sneak off for a little woohoo at their party, only to be interrupted by Darren Dreamer, who just wants to dance.

"Darren, do you mind?" Mariana complains.

"It's okay, dear. I have to pee anyway," Omar says.

Her parents are dancing in their underwear with Darren, her previous love interest before she met Suchandra. Gossip around town is that Darren has been going steady with Marisol Loera, but that hasn't stopped him from sending Darleen creepy, stalkerish love letters. Darleen decides this is pretty much a good time to pick up Kamala and leave.

"Your daddy is at work making money for us, so I can afford to buy a painting worth at least $250."

He got woken up that morning way before his energy bar was full, and by the time he gets home from work, Suchandra is dead tired. But he still wants to chat with Darleen before he drops into bed.

They both nap for a couple of hours, fully dressed, before Suchandra wakes her up again for a little woohoo.

"Did you hear that?" he asks sleepily when they finally settle in for some real seep.

"Hear what?" she asks.

"Celestial music," he says, "It sounded like a lullaby."

____________________________________

There actually is a type of marriage called a gandharva marriage, which is done without ceremony, just the mutual agreement of the two partners. A lot like a Sim private wedding, actually. Suchandra was not bullshitting Darleen about that.

So, I had Darleen throw a birthday party for Kamala after she rolled a wish for it. But when it came to cake time, I realized I'd have to direct her to blow out the candles, and I wasn't sure it was allowed. But, she did have a wish to have a great birthday party, too, and my understanding is if guests don't get see a age up at a birthday party, they trash your party rating, so I kind of counted the candle blowing as required to achieve the great party wish.

Not that this matters, but I hated some of the paintings they got as wedding gifts, so I sold them and replaced them with art I liked that cost roughly the same. Darren Dreamer sent a sculpture worth 4k. It's a medieval conversion that I don't want around the house. But I'd feel cheaty about selling something worth that much, so it's siting in inventory until I get round to deleting it.

I did know that in the canon from Sims 2, Darleen married Darren, but I didn't know they came as romantic interests in Lucky Palms. He's still a romantic interest for Darleen, but she hasn't rolled any wishes pertaining to him, so I can't do anything with or about it.

The autonomous woohoo...man. I swear it's not this bad in my other neighborhoods. I turned down pregnancy chance for both risky and try for baby, though. And since they can do both autonomously, I'm not directing my actives to try for baby even when they have a wish. (Darleen currently has a have baby wish), So, it's up to risky woohoo or what they get up to autonomously.

Chapter 1: Pajama Party

These stories often begin with a curse, and so it happens that Suchandra, a gandharva in the court of the great deva, Indra, was cursed by a powerful rishi, as punishment for seducing the rishi's wife. Cursed to live among the mortals is not so terrible a fate, Suchandra muses when he finds himself transported from the heavenly court of Indra to the desert town of Lucky Palms, though he knows many a yaksha who have chosen a quick death to free themselves from their mortal bodies, to be reborn the faster into their divine forms. But Suchandra has spent an eternity playing music for the devas, seducing apsaras and enjoying the many blisses of Indra's heaven. Life among the mortals might be a welcome respite, a chance to try new things, seduce new women...

In Indra's heaven, Suchandra was a celestial musician, so his first desire upon finding himself in the mortal realm was to procure a similar position for himself, so he applied for a job in the local theater. They hired him readily enough, but told him his talent with sitar and vina were worthless to them, he would need to learn the guitar. As soon as he learned of this new instrument that would bethe key to his career, Suchandra desired to play one. Unfortunately for him, acquiring a house to live in during his soujourn took all the money he had, so to learn this guitar, he had to visit an establishment that had one he could practice on until he could afford his own. Though new to the instrument, Suchandra's talent is evident, and he quickly garners the attention of the two customers visiting this coffeeshop. A little girl and an old man. No lovely women to dance for him as the apsaras did when he played in Indra's court, but it's a start.

While he was playing, Suchandra was struck by a sudden desire to improve his charisma skill, and since his new house had no mirror for him to talk to, he visited the local library to study the subject. After spending some time in study, the desire to invite someone to his home, shabby as it was, came over him. The trouble was, he didn't know anyone in Lucky Palms to extend and invitation to. So, he approached a woman browsing the shelves, and introduced himself. Her name as Zahra Diwan, and it turns out she's working in the same theater he was just hired by. Sadly, when he asks about her marital status, he learns she married, and too family oriented to be seduced, Still, making her acquaintance is not a total loss, as he'll need friends as well as a lover to get ahead in the mortal realm.

The second part of the curse, the part Suchandra thought would be the easiest, is turning out to b the true punishment. "Because you gave into your lust for my wife, without thought or care for anything else, so you will live in the mortal realm a slave to your basest urges," the rishi had said. Suchandra took that to mean he would get to do as he wished all the time, which really was not that different from how he'd lived in Indra's court. So far, all Suchandra's desires have been beneficial ones, to seek employment, learn guitar and charisma. But when his first shift at the theater is over, and he's tired, hungry, and getting close to needing a shower, his urge to visit a dance club compels him, and he does not head home right away as would no doubt be best for him. And though he needs to save his money for a guitar of his own, the urge to buy a drink, rather than hot wings or onion rings to assuage his hunger compels him to spend his hard earned money foolishly on a Spline Reticulator.

At least he's having fun, right?

So far, he's been unable to satisfy his wish to invite someone over, but while working at the theater, he's made a couple friends who might be willing to fulfill this desire for guests. The desire to have his first kiss from a mortal compels him to choose Darleen Matlapin over Oscar Arellano when he selects from the list of numbers on his smartphone.

Darleen accepts his invitation and rushes right over. (Suchandra had to sell his bookcase to afford the guitar. Priorities, right?)

Conscious of the fact that messing with another man's wife is what landed him here in thefirst place, Suchandra makes sure Darleen is single before he proceeds on his mission to get a kiss from someone.

She's not only single, but a hopeless romantic like himself.

Okay then, here goes.

First kiss acquired.

Which leads to deeper, more intimate kisses.

Suchandra thinks to serenade his new lady love, and takes out his guitar.

"Oh, you're going to play?" Darleen asks, disappointed, "I was hoping we'd woohoo."

Suchandra aims to please, and so puts his guitar away to satisfy Darleen's request. This is truly a cause for celebration, and a wish to throw a party overcomes Suchandra. Besides Darleen, his only other friend is Oscar, so it won't be much of a party, but then, his tiny house couldn't accommodate much more than that, anyway.

Besides Oscar, Suchandra takes a chance on inviting his boss, Yolanda Shaw, though he's only slightly acquainted with her. She arrives first, coming in just as he and Darleen were finishing up a bit of woohoo in the shower.

Yolanda and Oscar slow dance in the kitchen while Suchandra and Darleen disappear into the bedroom again.

"You can invite me to your pajama party any time," Yolanda purrs, appreciating the view of Suchandra in his sleepwear.

Darleen watches Suchandra play while Yolanda and Oscar take their slow dance into the other room. Suchandra is pretty sure Yolanda just had a baby with another man, while Oscar is involved with another woman, but who is he to judge his party guests?

Looking at Darleen in her nightwear fills Suchandra with the desire to kiss her.

Which leads to other desires. The guests pretty much let themselves out while Suchandra takes his pajama party back into the bedroom.

Exhausted, Darleen drifts off into sleep, while Suchandra goes outside to splash in the puddles left by the sudden rain. Unbeknownst to him, Darleen is dreaming of babies...

In the morning, the celestial trumpets announce the arrival of Leisure Day, and Suchandra wishes to experience the mortals' festival in the park. Darleen tags along with him.

Once in the park, Suchandra desires to taste a snowcone.

Darleen seems to be feeling a bit off.

That doesn't look too good, Darleen.

Having just thrown up breakfast does not put Darleen off from participating in the hot dog contest.

Suchandra wins, and gets a plate of hot dogs to live on for the next week as a prize. 

Suchandra has to leave right after the contest to attend a seminar at the bookstore that will help him advance his guitar skills, so he misses the moment where Darleen changes into her maternity wear.

The couple continue to spend their free time together in romantic bliss, neither one of them really planning for the child they are going to have.

The toilet is broken, but Suchandra cannot muster up the desire to fix it, nor the money to replace. So he just complains about it.

Darleen goes into labor while Suchandra is at work.

"I didn't think you were coming," Darleen says when Suchandra appears by her side at the hospital entance.

"I wished to hang out with you," Suchandra says, "So, we'll hang out while you give birth to my child."

Darleen gives birth to a baby girl, Kamala.

"Hurry up, Suchandra," she calls back to her lagging lover, "I'm going to take a cab."

Darleen literally takes a cab, driving it herself.

The baby is nowhere to be seen. Perhaps Darleen put her in the trunk?

Darleen leaves Kamala with Suchandra and goes back to her parents' house to rest. Suchandra has missed several hours of work, and decides he should go back in to finish his shift, leaving Kamala with a babysitter.

Frazier Morrison deserves special notice for being actually competent at his job, playing with and snuggling Kamal several times in the few hours she was in his care.

Suchandra plays with his little girl when he comes home from work. He's a father now, and he really should be married, he decides. Ideally to the child's mother. Unfortunately, Darleen turns him down when he invites her over, hoping to propose. So he'll try again tomorrow.

_____________________________________

So, this is a Wishacy challenge story, (rules by Buckeygirl80). Basically you are limited in how you may direct your Sim to fulfilling wishes or meeting critical needs (by clicking the moodlet to let the Sm decide how to meet the need, rather than choosing it yourself).

It's a very different play style for me, I'm usually very control freaky. Which is why I decided to this, to change things up.

Since the Sims are left on autonomy a lot, I had my Woohooer setting to allow autonomous risky woohoo and try for baby. I may turn that down a bit, as Darleen and Suchandra autonomously woohooed several times on her first visit and got pregnant right away.

In my story Suchandra is a gandharva, in Hindu/Buddhist tradition a celestial musician and messenger between the devas and humans, a sort of nature spirit (yaksha) who is rather low in the hierarchy of immortal beings. In game, he's a genie. Because I wanted him to have some kind of magic to set him apart from the regular people. Suchandra also appears as a minor character in both my Summerdream story and my Brannon Random Legacy. His story here is not related at all to his appearances in either of those stories.

The title of this story comes from descriptions of gandharva that say they reside in the scents of flowers and trees.