Chapter One: Calculations
With money saved over many years, the Lupins were able to rebuild their home for Larisa. It was a graduation/birthday present. Larisa knew why it would be impossible for her to ever move out of her parent's home. Shortly after the build was complete, Luke finished his his biggest novel yet. It was his masterpiece, and he'd been working on it for about ten years. He started getting royalty checks of over twelve thousand simoleans!
Now with the new house built and no pressure at all for money, Tara found herself searching for a new hobby. She settled on painting.
Tara's parents were worried about Larisa. She had never really shown interest in anything other than inventing. In high school she had no friends except her brother. Now she spent much of her time alone. Tara didn't mind. Her parents were pretty good company and she could call her brother whenever she wanted.
With her mother's permission, Larisa decided to try her hand at working in the garden.
The sprinklers were set to turn on automatically. Tara forgot to tell her daughter so Larisa got big surprise.
It was big enough to cause a transformation.
Tara filled in the hole she'd dug with her miner. The repetitive nature of the task calmed her down.
When she was finished with her chore, Larisa was able to turn back into her regular form. She rubbed her head. Going from werewolf to human always left her with a bit of a head ache.
Though they never said anything, Larisa could tell her parents thought something was lacking in her life. It made Larisa uncomfortable. She didn't think anything was wrong. Sure, the way she lived wasn't normal to most people, but it was her own normal. Larisa decided to go out to the park for the summer festival. Maybe that would make her parents feel better.
When Larisa arrived, it was late. Everyone had gone home. She felt relieved. Larisa would enjoy the park more by herself.
Larisa smiled as she picked a wildflower. It was so pretty, just what her father needed to brighten up his desk. Maybe they would provide some inspiration for him.
As Larisa smelled the flower, she thought about her parents.
They loved each other so much. Maybe having a guy who gave her flowers wouldn't be so bad.
Larisa decided to lay off of the flowers and try her hand at skating. She wasn't very good at first, but soon she was able to skate around the rink with no problems.
She was tired afterwards so she sat down. Every once in a while a car would drive by the park. Larisa wasn't the least bit tired. She felt invigorated. After a while the cars and the quiet hum of the town began to bother Larisa. She was used to quiet except for the crashing of the waterfall.
Larisa wanted to think. She was beginning to form an idea for an invention. She decided to find a better place to sit and think. She soon came across a small park with a chess table. Perfect.
She played until the sun rose, engrossed in her thoughts.
Tara noticed that Larisa had not come home. She was worried. Larisa was technically an adult, but Tara didn't know how well she could handle herself. Larisa felt a twinge of irritation when her phone rang. Didn't her mother trust her?
Larisa decided it was time to go home anyway after talking to her mother. She went back to the bigger park to get her car and go home. When she arrived she put her wildflowers in vases, lining them up on one of the shelves meant for her inventions.
Then it was back to the workbench. Larisa had inventing to do.