Hit the Streets

Leliana was so excited to begin construction on the gallery, she could hardly stand it. Devan preferred for her to wait until he could put a substantial deposit in the gallery’s account without affecting the household funds, but she just couldn’t wait. She got started the next day, but she didn’t get very far. Around that time, Devan had started working a new schedule that included weekends. They were both disappointed about it but knew it was only temporary as Devan was eating up promotions like Lays; you can’t have just one. One Saturday, he got up around noon to an empty house. He knew just where he would find his girls and went to the gallery before he had to go to work.

“We have walls,” he said.

“Isn’t it wonderful!”

“It really is. It looks great, Leliana. I have to go to work soon, but I just wanted to stop by and say hey. Where’s Ari?”

“She’s inside pretending to sell art to tough customers.”

“Heh, my crazy little girl. I won’t bother her then. I’ll see y’all tonight.”

“I love you, handsome man.”

“I love you too, beautiful.”

When Devan disappeared, Leliana joined her daughter inside and enjoyed the sight of her handiwork.

“What do you think, Aria?”

“It’ll be really nice with the pictures.”

“It certainly will. Come on. Let’s go market our business.”

“But, mommy…we don’t have anything to sell yet.”

“Quite the contrary, my dear. We sell ourselves and the potential our business has. You see?”

“Ohhhhhh. I get it.”

They went outside and hit the streets. They chatted up every Sim who passed by; each one of them were potential customers.

Some were interested, and some weren’t. One curious jogger stopped and asked what was going on. His name was Emery Stallings. Leliana told him all about their creative passions and how they want everyone to be able to share them.

He was very interested, as you can tell. Turns out he was also a businessman but in the corporate world. He had aspirations to start his own business but hadn’t found the proper time to strike out on his own. He had the funds, but to make sure he had a back-up plan, he rents the bedrooms in his house to two friends to lessen his living expenses. Emery agreed to return when the store opened.

As Leliana walked back to the property, she saw her daughter chatting up another pedestrian.

“Hey mister! You look like someone who appreciates fine art…”

“…and beautiful landscapes, and of course a few pictures of myself…”

“…come to our store! I may even give you a discount.”

“Ok, Aria, don’t give away all our merchandise before we have a chance to sell it!”