Pick'N'Mix Mods for The Sims 2

10 - Strange Stirrings

Analise stood in the middle of the chalet living room and turned slowly around, taking in her surroundings.

The bell-boy, who was actually a bell-girl, busied herself with opening the shutters, plumping cushions on the sofas, throwing open the French-doors leading onto the veranda and indicating various switches. She disappeared into the bedroom. Analise's first impression had been she was 13, possibly 14, but slight hints, her gait, a fullness here, a more pronounced curve there, and subtle feminine intuition made her realise they were a similar age - 23 or 24.

Analise followed her into the master bedroom.

There were French-doors opening onto the same veranda, with an uninterrupted view of the mouth of the bay and the ocean beyond. The bedroom was built out over the water,

a chained off gap in the veranda handrail led straight into the crystal-clear water. Analise peeked over the edge, the drop was about four feet - she could cope with that - and she could see the sandy bottom about six feet down. Fish shoaled around the piles and she could see crabs scuttling over the sand. She heard a gentle cough behind her, and turned back into the room.

The bell-girl was stood smartly at the bottom of the turned down,

king-size bed, hands at her side, beautiful deep-brown eyes sparkling, a huge grin on her pretty face. Analise spread her arms to indicate the whole chalet, returned the smile, brought the palms of her hands together, fingers pointing upwards, in front of her chest and bowed slightly in the ritual greeting of the islanders.

The girl giggled. Then executed the greeting perfectly. Analise tried again, but the move felt awkward. The girl giggled again and pointed to Analise's elbows, then repeated the greeting slower - Analise watch the girl's elbows carefully and noted what she'd been doing wrong. Analise tried the greeting again, it felt much more natural. The girl gave a little clap and returned to her smart pose.

Analise took a note from her purse and went to hand it to the girl. The look in the girl's eyes quite clearly showed it was too much. Analise could hardly withdraw the note, but she faltered - she'd had a vision of what was going to happen when the girl returned to the concierge. Analise pointed at the girl, bent her knees to reduce her height, pointed at herself, put the note in her pocket, gave a little clap and smiled. Before the girl could react, she pulled the note from her pocket, stood up on her toes and spread her shoulders to make herself as big as possible, and ripped the note out of her hand with the other, then she sunk back into the knees bent position and mimed crying. The girl reached out and took Analise's hand,

a frisson raced up her arm, and led her over to the arm chair. The girl stood in the chair, snatched the note and raised her hand to slap Analise's face, instinctively she flinched backwards. Tears welled up in Analise's eyes. The girl, folded the note in half, then in half again, pointed at Analise's purse and held up the quartered note. Analise opened her purse and went to pick out a smaller note, the girl's warm, soft hand landed on her's to stop her and she pulled out an even smaller note. The girl mimed handing the note over to the concierge and the concierge stomping around, shouting and waving his fists at the chalet.

By the end of the performance, Analise was sat on the bed, tears of laughter streaming down her cheeks.

The girl handed the bigger note back and turned to leave. It was so unfair, Analise had to do something. She caught the girl's arm and stopped her. She reached behind her neck, undid the clasp on the chain and held out the medallion. It was worth twenty times the value of the small note; Analise assumed the girl would sell it. The girl blinked, lowered her eyes, but didn't take it. With her other hand, Analise took the girl's right hand, raised it palm up, lowered the medallion into it, closed her fingers over it and removed her own hand. The girl looked up, there were tears in her eyes.

The girl crossed to the arm chair, raised her leg and placed her foot on the seat. Her skirt split open to reveal a shapely, tanned thigh. Analise spun around, her back to the chair, blushing.

She hadn't allowed for the mirror on the wall in front of her. Reflected over her shoulder, she could see the girl, her foot still on the seat, looking deliberately at Analise in the mirror, as she hid the medallion. Analise blushed furiously, but could not avert her gaze. She offered up a silent prayer, to whatever island deity may be listening, that the concierge would never, ever find the medallion there. Analise saw the girl drop her foot and approach, she turned around, still blushing. Even if she could have talked to the girl, she had no idea what she would have said. The girl gave the ritual greeting, Analise returned it. Then she reached up and kissed Analise lightly on the lips.

At the bedroom door, the girl turned. "Thank-you", she said, in perfect Simlish, and was gone. Analise fell back on the bed,

signals ricocheting through her body that she didn't understand.

9 - Work It, Own It 11 - Retail Therapy