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.