1.2 Day 2

It's early in the morning when Nozomi rolls out of bed. She glances at Taras, who's fast asleep. He must've come home pretty late if  I didn't wake up, Nozomi thinks.

As quietly as possible, she climbs out of bed. She doesn't want to wake him. Or at least, that's what she tells herself whenever discomfort wells up inside of her and she finds herself avoiding Taras...

Her husband. 

Taras. 

That's right. 

The only place open at this early hour is the diner. On the way in, Nozomi nearly bumps into an elderly woman. 

"Sorry Miss," the elderly woman apologizes. 

Nozomi politely averts her eyes, not wanting to stare at her pale green skin. Her first impulse is to reach for her wand and shoot scorching balls of fire at her, but she reminds herself that zombies don't come to Riverblossom hills... she hopes. 

Taras is not surprised, but still feels a pang of disappointment, when he sees Nozomi isn't next to him the next morning. He knows without checking that there will be no text from her, no note telling him where she is or even just to say she was going out. 

When did things get so weird between them?

He conjures an apple for his...lonely... breakfast.

I got it more quickly this time, he reflects absently, his mouth twitching into a smile, and it doesn't look poisoned...

After eating his (thankfully, not poisoned) meager breakfast, he checks the time.

"11:30!?" he hadn't meant to sleep in so late! He only has 30 minutes to get ready before he has to leave for work!

It began raining shortly after Nozomi ate her cheap, greasy diner breakfast, so she couldn't preform outside. With nothing to do and no desire to stay cooped up inside, she hit the gym. 

Normally workouts are her paradise, but it's been too long since she's talked to anyone other than Taras. Instead of feeling the burn of good exercise, she feels the pang of loneliness. 

She leaps off the machine and introduces herself to the first not-Taras she sees. 

Unfortunately for her, being a not-Taras herself, she is less than smooth in this unexpected conversation. 

"So, umm...do you workout?"

Taras barely makes it on time to work. Sweating and panting, he hesitates a moment before he enters. It's been so long since he's been inside a caravan...

His boss also told him not to wear shoes...for some reason. 

Yeah, he doesn't get it either. 

Nozomi finds another victim for awkward conversation. 

Olive Peynter stares at the odd young woman, slightly annoyed at the disturbance of her workout. 

As Nozomi bumbles her way through conversation, Olive's mild annoyance blossoms into full blown irritation. All she wanted was to exercise in peace.

She tries to find a polite means of escape, but none are forthcoming. 

After a terrible day at work, Taras is stopped by a potential client. He hopes all this guy wants is a vague, generic horoscope so he can leave...

"Can you see ghosts?"

Olive eventually had to pick her daughter up at school (don't kids here get driven home by a school bus?) so Nozomi took a shower and headed out. Delighted that the rain had stopped, her thoughts immediately flew to getting some cash flow.

Well, 2 people is better than none...

The man hadn't been very satisfied with Taras's "no" and stormed off, muttering about being ripped off by "phony psychics".

All in all, it's been a pretty bad day.

Nozomi's "work day"isn't going too great either. Now that she finally has an audience, her magic seems to refuse to work. Nozomi knows all too well that magic is based in emotion and her frustration is probably making the problem worse, but that doesn't stop fury from erupting across her face after the 8th time cards refuse to spill from her hand.

Taras is pretty sure Nozomi won't be back in their room for awhile (and even if she came home early, he doubts he would be pleasant company) so he makes the trek to the library on foot...bare foot. He should've stopped at the nectary to pick up his shoes first. 

It's not a great day to be Taras Zorin. 

Eventually Nozomi calms down enough to summon a bouquet of flowers. Her audience of one seems suitably impressed.

Nozomi basks in her success and bathes the ground with rose petals. 

Her audience soon doubles in size. 

Well, 2 is twice the size of one.

Not too long after, others gather. While the size of this crowd is a far cry from what she's used to entertaining, the familiar feeling of eyes on her still brings a thrill down her spine. 

That's when the money finally begins falling into her tip jar.

It's late when she finally gets home, but she doesn't feel the usual relief at seeing Taras being already asleep. 

Long after she herself drifts into unconsciousness, her arms curl around his body and pull him closer. 

AN: Finding a place to perform for tips was really hard! Sims in Riverblossom Hills don't seem to gather in any one place. Poor Nozomi only earned 29 simoleons after performing for nearly 8 hours.

Taras really did have a horrible day at work. He woke up in a bad mood from the cheap nectary bed which was disastrous for his work performance since mood is the only metric right now.