I also played the Church. Poor Jon had just finished his painting, but now he’ll have to start all over..

Jon Lewis lives behind the Church with his wife Sophia and his teen daughter Mary. He has named the Chapel also partly after her.
Mary has a small garden with a few strawberryplants. She likes to work among her plants, but the thing she would like most of all, is love. Mary is roughly the same age as Luc.

When there’s no Mass, Mary also likes to jump on the benches in the Chapel. I think she does it to feel the rush in her head she would otherwise get from loving someone. Jon doesn’t mind.. He doesn’t know her longing for love, but I am certain he would not approve of it. His daughter is still so young!

Robyn and Frank walked by and Mary greeted them. She’s a friend of Robyn’s, even though we’ve never met her in the story. They checked out the Chapel and liked it. They’ll love to get married here.

I will be going on holiday tomorrow (yay!). I have another post all written, and I am sure I will find some time to go online and publish it. I could also just post it now, but it’s more spread that way. (; Perhaps I will also write some more, I’ll be taking some photo’s with me.

See you soon! 

hen Jantine came back home to her children, still a little confused from her confrontation with the pastor, she told her daughters everything. Well, almost everything. She did not tell him she thought that Jon was simply being a ridiculous pig.

And at first, they were shocked, too. She had not even needed to tell them her thoughts- they could work that out on their own.
But they figured that all was well now and were able to step back, oversee and move on, something that Jantine found she couldn’t do. Jon continued to haunt her in idle moments. She had thought the worries would be lifted with Dorus’ departing, but the pastor still seemed to have a grudge against them.

Her girls just went on with daily life and joked a bit about it. Jantine didn’t mind, she wanted her children to live a normal life. But sometimes she envied the light tone their conversations had.

‘Robyn, remember that man we saw at the market last week, with all the pottery?’ Merle giggled.
‘With his huge moustache! Ofcourse I do! Did you see him again?’
‘Sure I did. And you’ll never guess what he was up to.’
‘No! He didn’t-’

‘Course not, you silly. There simply was some arguing at yesterday’s market. Mary-Ann was asking if he could repair her broken mug, and I don’t know what he said, but it must’ve been something rude. She was really offended and snapped at him.’
‘Wow. Mary-Ann? Are you serious?’
‘I know, right? She always is so calm. But anyway, afterwards he plucked at his moustache and declared that his pottery was the very best of the best. He was very pompous to everyone who came looking at his pottery.’

‘What is it with men and their moustaches?’ Robyn wondered.
‘I don’t know,’ Merle laughed. ‘But it’s a very special sort of men who treats their moustaches like that.’
‘The pastor also has a big moustache.’
‘Of course!’
‘And they curl at the tips, like this..’ Robyn drew a moustache with several curls on her cheeks.

Merle giggled. ‘I bet he puts something in them to make it stay that way.’
‘Like apple juice!’
‘Eww!’ Both girls were shaking with laughter.

‘Can’t trust a man with a moustache, really,’ giggled Merle.
‘Dad has a moustache, too,’ peeped Luc.
‘Well yes, a tiny whispy one,’ Merle laughed.
‘True enough,’ Robyn said. ‘But you couldn’t trust him fully either- when he promised he wouldn’t tickle you, he would still attack you from behind when you turned your back!’

‘But he wouldn’t shape his moustache into curls with apple juice, anyway,’ Merle said.
‘No, he’d use beeswax. But his is too small and whispy for shaping up.’

‘Speaking of. Does your beau grow some hairs on his chin yet?’
‘I will make sure he won’t put apple juice in it, if that’s your concern,’ Robyn smiled.
‘I was just wondering,’ Merle winked to Luc. ‘Good grief, it won’t be long before you’re married!’

‘And then it won’t be long before you will be an aunt and I a grandmother, dear,’ Jantine called proudly from the bench. She was happy to hand everything to her daughter and son-in-law, and she prayed that she would be able to meet her grandchild. But she already knew that they would live a good life.

Tinn actually celebrates its second birthday this month! *gasp*
Yes, I created it two years ago. However, much has changed since then. I thought it might be fun to show you this pic, which is the oldest one I have:

As you can see, I did not pay much attention to the real authenticness with the sofa, carpet and toddler toy. Lol. I think I just didn’t have the CC back then. This is one of the peasant families. The girl, Thalia, is now on the verge of getting married. She was the first of the kids to hit adulthood and will also the first to marry.

Almost all of the kids are currently teens, and relationships have begun to blossom throughout the last winter and spring.

This is a peasant love: Martin Baker (uhuh, the toddler from the previous picture!) and Marisa Thatcher. They are very sweet together. In Summer they will marry, as both will come of age then, and Martin will inherit the Bakery. I am curious to see whether Marisa likes to cook all day!
I use Inteen, and when they have 7 days left till adulthood, they can marry and everything. So I use that. 7 days left means 20 days old in total, and that seems an appropriate age to marry, to me. (It also means that if I count that way, their parents already are hitting their fifties (and their elderhoods), very old for the medieval times! So they will, slowly but surely, get sick and/or die from Old Age. I think I will roll a die if they hit sixty, to determinate if they will live on, and every passing day too. That way, they will make place for the new generation, but some will live to see their grandkids. )

These two lovers are Eveline Optima, the firstborn of Quinten - though she is a girl - and Jeannes Green. Jeannes really is being complimented by the defaultreplacement skins. Eveline loves it.
Because Eveline already is 25 days old, but Jeannes 18, they won’t marry until Autumn of even Winter. Jeannes will run the grocery, which is currently in the process of setting up by his father.

Also in the little Castle, Eveline’s younger sister Charlot has found love with Rudolph Miller. He’s the one who has gained the most out of the new skins.. He’s not hideous anymore, but rather interesting.  But luckily, that doesn’t matter for Charlot, who is most happy to have a Summer marriage to a boy who will inherit a non-existing Mill, and instead breeds dogs for a living. I hope she likes puppies.

In the spring, some adults grew into elders. Maike and Geofryc Baker will get out of their modern clothes as soon as I play the Taylor Shopp and will receive some nice hairs and wrinkles, too. And I also need a decent Medieval relaxing chair.

The owner of Taylor Shopp, Anne Weaver (we’ve met her in the story, she also grows some very sweet apples in her free time) has turned into an Elder as well. She looks really cute!
 

I had to change her hairstyle though, even if it looks good on her, due to an event that took place just before her birthday..

Her husband died! *sniff* I rolled Leiela’s Book of Death to determine some deaths of the elder ones. Merrin Weaver was one of the victims. I hated to see him go, as he is such a cutie, but he would also have turned into grey hair that very evening and I wanted to preserve his ghost as an adult. So..

In remembrance of dear Merrin. His children have painted a few portraits of him though, so he will never be truly gone.

Anne now wears the widow hat. I want to recolour it, because the knot is kinda blurry. I like the hat, though. It’s one of the very very few nice medievalish(and lower-class-ish!) hats out there. So I better make good use of it! It seemed silly to put it on every single married woman(as was common, if I recall correctly), but widows should do. Especially if I make a few more recolours of the hat. I haven’t done much recolouring, but this couldn’t be too difficult, right?

So, that’s how some of the other families’ve been doing. I also wanted to tell you about my townies..

I was just tired of all the times my teens brought some stupid townie kid home from school. There are so many other villagers, why choose one of those?
But back when I started Tinn I had never even heard of clean templates and some while ago I even misclicked and created a Downtown (noooo!) so I had numerous townies to deal with. So, recently, I decided I only wanted my own villagers to occupy Tinn (and why shouldn’t they? It was the medieval times, there weren’t that much people or travelpossibilities anyway!) so I went into SimPE and deleted every townie and stray that I didn’t want.

DON’T do that, EVER. It’ll bork your hood and they will come back anyway, but broken. You’ve been warned.
I restored my backup (thankgod) and searched for methods to remove townies for once and for ever, and found a topic on Maty, but I guess I’m very unawesome because I didn’t understand a word of the tutorial xD Didn’t have a clue where I was supposed to look.
So, I just killed them one by one. There was one townie I wanted to keep, she’s in the background looking rather satisfied..

I ended up with three townies I liked, dressed them up in medieval clothes and made them townies again. All the 160(!) tombstones I put into the inventory of one of them, an elder female who wasn’t likely to marry into my villagers, and wiped their memories.

I think it worked, when I played some other families they stopped by and the mailman, paperboy and two drivers for the schoolbus and taxi were regenerated. I changed their names to something nice and medievalish. Here they are. I want to change their appearance though.. Has anybody got a clue how to remove those hats?

Agnes Carpenter, previously Angie Cormier. She got all the tombstones. I wanted to say that nobody would suspect such a sweet old lady from murder, but she’s pretty mean- hitting Maike and pulling pranks on everyone! I like her though. She also got a few wrinkles and another hairstyle- an older woman shouldn’t wear her hair loose like that, tsk.

Thomas Tax, previously Sullivan Raha(?). He’s quite okay, I think, though I changed his skin to something lighter.. No offence, but darker Sims do not really fit in Tinn- it’s placed in Western Europe, and I don’t think they had the means to travel that far, back then.

And the joyful paperboy, Simon Herald. Previously Todd Philippine(?). He’s cute! I gave him some freckles.

I really want to replace the shiny screaming yellow outfit. Maybe later even their whole appearance with that of some villager, but they’re okay for now.

That’s it for now! I hope to have the next update up soon. It will be some Chandler family action, and will also include some fishing, if the lake has stopped freezing..

Joyful Simming! 

It had gone so rapidly, she couldn’t even begin to understand herself. It had gone so quickly and not even fully wrong. She did want to marry the boy, perhaps, eventually, but not like this.

Louis Weaver had just been one of her crushes. There were quite a few good-looking young men in the village, and Merle liked to imagine.
He was one of Anne’s twins, and the handsome one, in her opinion. Despite the fact that they were twins, Lex looked nothing like Louis. Louis was charming, daring, and had mysterious dark blue eyes.

So she was thrilled when she found herself in a hay-loft, with Louis. Her heart melted away, and thumped out of her chest at the same time. She wondered if he noticed.
He smiled at her, at her only. It was enough to make any girl lightheaded, Merle thought.

And then he kissed her, lightly at first, to taste her- then his kiss became more rough. It was the first of many. And she kissed him back, with more passion and desire she knew she possessed. She loved it, oh how she loved it.. Nothing more in the world but him and her. In the hay.
She let herself drown in his arms and be kissed and be buried in the hay, further and further-

Then she noticed he had swiftly taken off his tunic. As she struggled up to a sitting position, he pulled her against him again.
She looked up at him, questioning, and he answered her with a look that was both wild and longing. He then slipped his hand around her waist and kissed her into the hay once more.

Merle felt his hand in her hair, fiddling at her laces. He wanted to undress her too! She moaned softly and protesting, but this only urged him to go on.
As much as she liked Louis, and loved to have these kinds of little adventures in the hay, she wouldn’t let him seduce her into- that.

She hit him, so he would let go. But he didn’t. So she pushed, and suddenly she rolled him over, seized her opportunity and struggled away from him, over the bales of hay.

He did not even appear that much surprised.
‘Such a goody-two-shoes you are,’ was all he said when she climbed away from him, trying to held her head high.

‘So.’ Once inside she felt the expectant gaze of Father Jon upon her. She shrugged.
‘You wanted me to confess, you and the lord Earl. I admit everything.’
She saw on his face that it was not what he meant.
‘And I abandon the tr- the thoughts of my husband.’

The scowl on his face did not cease.
‘You have to mean it! How can you possible believe the Lord will be able to forgive you if you do not sound like you mean it!’
She did not mean it, no. In fact, she had to control herself very tightly to get the words over her lips which this man so desperately wanted to hear, and to keep the words inside which she so desperately wanted to say. She now understood Dorus’ agitation, now she herself were confronted with the authority.

‘All right! Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I abandon the thoughts of my husband and I am heartily sorry,’ she said on her most devoted tone and bowed her head so as to look even more sorry.
But he still wasn’t pleased.

‘Are you being honest?’ he asked. ‘Do you not hide any secret thoughts? Do you have the intention never to commit your sin again?’
He was coming awfully close to her thoughts. Suddenly she remembered he was a priest, and lying to him was like lying to the Lord. Still she did not trust him enough as a person, to confide him in her thoughts. She knew the Lord would understand. He sure knew this man was not always his humble messenger.

‘Yes, no.. yes!’ Jantine squeaked, ‘I mean, yes I am being honest to the Lord! Of all the villagers I and my children are very devoted to the Church! You know how my husband always was a bit too much.’
Happy now, she thought. She was doing this for her children, if she refused to, they would have a much more difficult life. He better be happy with this, because she could not bear it much longer.

But he was not happy, not at all!
‘You shall not make excuses for yourself!’ he bellowed. ‘Do not say before the messenger of God that it was an error!’
Suddenly he was beside himself with anger, it scared Jantine and she leaned backwards, but nevertheless he gripped her shoulders with his long fingers.

At this point the Earl stepped in and Jon’s interest was caught. Relieved, Jantine stepped back, away from his fingers. Jon snapped at the Earl.
‘She is in confession, milord!’
‘Then why are you shaking her as if she were a sack of turnips? I want to have a word with you, Father. Oh and.. Goodwife Chandler, you have my permission to leave now. I suggest you go enjoy the brilliant sun outside.’

Once she was safely outside and could not hear them anymore, Quinten had a word with Father Jon. He didn’t even have to say anything.
‘I do believe I’ve gone a bit too far,’ Jon admitted, ‘and I apologize for that, but I do think I scared the crap out of her. We won’t have any trouble of them anymore, I suppose.’

Quinten did one of his long stares and said nothing. After a while Jon began to chuckle.
‘I do suppose that’s all you wanted. Wasn’t it? No trouble in the village. No worries there, milord, I’ve got them all sorted out for you.’

The Earl and the pastor had decided that Jantine and her children would be forgiven, if she confessed and gave up Dorus’ ideas. She only had to confess her sins, the Earl had promised. So when she found herself walking to the Church on a pretty sunday morning, she wasn’t worried at all.

Jantine had taken a walk along the shore. It felt really good, having her greatest worries lifted from her shoulders. Dorus was gone now, and with him the huge worry of being exiled from the Church. She missed him, yes ofcourse she missed him! She had loved him so much it hurt, and waking up everyday, remembering he would never ever stumble in again and pull the blankets off her to tease her in the early morning, was like having her heart ripped out.

She felt guilty for thinking it, but it was so very true: now that he was gone, she wouldn’t have to worry about him. Dorus sometimes was just like a child.. Like blabbing his unusual opinion out and about. She had always been worried it would be just like in Applevalley, when they had to flee.

His opinion was hers, too- that was why she married him, afterall. She wouldn’t have considered fleeing with him and leaving her parents and her home and her everything behind for that one opinion, if she didn’t share it and love him for it! She had only hoped he would have learnt his lesson after that. One would say that one fiasco would be enough, wouldn’t it?

She had already abandoned her hopes when Dorus let his tongue slip in Church. She had given up all optimism. She had surrendered. And now the Earl and the pastor granted her another chance of life in Tinn.

They wanted her to confess. She would confess everything they wished. 

I have much to show you that doesn’t directly have to do with the story, so I decided to write some sort of Simtalk post, where we can actually talk about the villagers as Sims and not as people. *grins*
I’ve been so busy reading other stories and things and writing things for school, and I just hadn’t got the inspiration. Help me remember I should put up a linkage-page, where I can list all great sites- cause there are so many!

Number one reason Tinn exists is for fun, ofcourse. Sometimes I forget that when I desperately want to write something and I don’t know what. But sometimes it’s oh so great. I will just show you this picture:

I really had to stop and stare at it tenderly for a while. It’s just so cute and almost a real village. We are facing the south-west now, just off the screen on the right is the lake. In the foreground is the mill and the Chandler cottage, where Robyn lives. On the left you see the Meadowsweet house, they sell flowers.
Behind all the trees live the farmers, the fields are there too. There also is a Church, barely visible. I’ll come back to that.

Here you got another nice shot from the valley. If you pretend for a moment the letters aren’t there, it’s a lovely view, isn’t it? Now we’re looking at the other side. You can also see a few of my sets I built especially for the photo’s, the marketplace is just off the screen but the ‘lake’ is clearly visible. I had the pastor walking there when he was brooding on revenge. Actually I wanted to have villagers skating on the ice, but the water wouldn’t freeze.. *laughs* Poor pastor, he waited for about a week on high-speed!
The roads have become a little wonky, apparently plopping lots down and moving around doesn’t go well with a hilly ‘hood. I did build all the lots from scratch, but, well.. I was hoping to use Freetime to get them right, but I don’t think I’ll get it because, what need do I have for a soccer net in a Medieval village?

Allright, so, you can also see the Church much better on this pic, I even pointed it out for you, so, that’s Tinn’s brand new Church. *grins* I did have another Church, perhaps you can recognize it- right on the other side of the street- if you have good eyes, and if you can you’ll agree with me: it is hideous.
Luckily, all I ever showed was the inside, and that’s okay, so in the new Church it is somewhat similar. But I really like the new look:

In the meantime I have made the tower a floor higher, put the clock all around and got rid of those windows. So just imagine that, wouldn’t you? I really love the steeple, it’s very high! It is an object and I thank Jen very very much for showing it! And for the inspiration, too.
I am still debating on the outside wallpaper- I really love this look, but wouldn’t stone be more realistic?

This looks more like a medieval Church, doesn’t it.. But the steeple does not match. Meh. I don’t know. What do you think? Leave a comment, I really need help!

Behind the Church (you can catch a glimpse of brown in the previous pics) I built a house for the pastor, Jon Lewis, and his wife and teenage daughter. It turned out very tiny, but I like it, and it’s not so bad when playing. I wanted them to live there, because then I could summon Sims there easily and move them around. And that is indeed very handy.

This is the top floor, you can see a little garden the family fenced off for themselves, you can also see there is a hidden passage to the tower. With the high roof it was just big enough. The family uses the tower gratefully as a bathroom. *laughs* 

So, what else did I have to say.. *checks list* Ah, yes: I put another, more spring-like picture up in the header. See if you can spot the Church! *grins*

I was going to show you some pictures of other families, and how they have been doing this winter and spring. But this is alreadygetting very long, so I will save those for another nonstory post. I only want to show you his Highness the eldest son of the Earl:

Emerald! Isn’t he the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? I love him, and secretly I envy the girl who is to marry him. He has yet to develop his personality as he just turned to a teen, but he kept feeding his new babybrother so I don’t know but I guess he’s kind. And he smiles a lot. Should make a fine Earl!

I will leave you with a sneak-peek of the following chapter. (Yes, I actually have done something.) I will give away that this takes place in the new Church, as you could probably guess because of the window. I love her expression!

So, now I will search for my inspiring sites and put up a linkage page, and I kindly suggest you tell me which Church-look you prefer, and if you spotted the Church in the header? Thanks so very much.

‘Are you sure you know the way back?’ asked Robyn, just to be certain.
‘Sure.’
They walked on a while in silence, but then Robyn felt like bursting.
‘I am so happy it’ll be spring,’ she blurted out. ‘I felt like exploding all that time in the house, all those worries and not being able to get outside..’
‘But now we are.’
‘Now we are.’

They sat on a fallen trunk. Robyn leaned happily against Frank and sighed.
‘So, how are things? Last time I saw you properly, you were busy and that was a week ago.’
‘They are fine,’ Frank replied. ‘Obviously we miss dad a lot, but you see.. It’s been quite a while now, and even mum is over her worst grief now, and I am just very glad I apologized to him.’
‘I see,’ Robyn mumbled.
‘The worst sorrow is gone now, and all that is left of him now is a happy memory and an aching gap in our heart. I am sure you feel the same way about your own father.’

‘Yes. But the aching gap is healing a little now, having you to fill it with love,’ Robyn stroked his hand.
‘I think it will never quite heal. But there is some callosity growing on it.’
They sat quietly quite a while, just sharing their love and grief.

‘You know,’ Robyn said, ‘I’ve always wondered what you were like. I used to watch you from a distance and couldn’t help but wonder, what would such a typical boy be like?’
‘And, do you like what you know now?’ Frank eyed her with an odd look.
‘Yes,’ she whispered.

‘And?’ he mumbled into her hair.
‘I’d never have guessed that you’d be so full of love.’
He looked at her tenderly and kissed her full on her lips.

He had a little speech for the midwinter feast and convinced most people quickly. The greater part had his name inherited from ancestors and most names had no particular meaning anymore.
Thus changed Pervarus, who was a greengrocer, his name into Green and Wissi picked a nice flowername, as he had a flowershop, and became Meadowsweet. Only Quinten and his family stayed the same, because Optima still had a magnificent meaning- it meant ‘the best’ in Latin.

Jantine and the kids named themselves Chandler, in remembrance of Dorus. They still made candles in Dorus’ workshop.
Frederick, the little brother of Frank and heir to the family, decided on Appleseed. The many apples they grew were even beginning to compete with Anne’s(who was now Weaver, by the way, named after their tailoring).

The new renamed Chandler cottage struggled with the new taxes and the fact that Dorus was gone. They tried the best they could, but it was hard to make so many candles. Soon they would run out of beeswax and could not produce until it was spring again.
Robyn and Frank now spent little time with eachother, due to the fact that they both had to help their families to survive.

It was the compromise that the two of them would marry in a few years, when Frank had had time to save money for their house. However, this was an emergency. Frederick, as heir, could provide for his mother and sister. They could just work on the land and sell their harvest to the greengrocer. They could manage without him.
But Luc was way too young to be the man at home. The girls were able to help with the candle-making, but what they really needed was a man in the cottage.

Therefore, the decision was made thus. Frank would be of the age, next year’s spring, when it was legal to marry. Robyn and Frank would marry, and Jantine and Luc would live with them too. Merle would have to find a husband anyway, but now sooner rather than later.

Later, Frank and Robyn were fondling on the couch.
‘Where will we live?’ asked Robyn, ‘In this house?’
‘Possible,’ thought Frank, ‘but if you wish otherwise, I’ll build us a house.’
‘Cheesyhead,’ laughed Robyn, ‘Ofcourse not, this is a fine house! We’ll have to make space for our room though, but I bet we’ll fit in.’

Mart had gotten a terrible cold, whether or not it was an infection the physician did not know. But he did know that without an effective treatment, Mart would die. The physician already suggested that he could provide for the treatment, hoping to receive more money. But the trouble was, the simple family couldn’t afford such a treatment..

Mart, being a brave man, tried to ease the pain of his wife and kids and implied that it was not more than normal for people of his age to move on, that he was immensely ill and could probably not be cured anymore. They tried to make the best of those days, since no-one really knew how long he still had to live.

But still it was very hard to comprehend. Mart might have been a bit old, he was still strong and enjoyed life. Just why did he have to be sick?
This, however, was the right time for apologizing. Frank sat with his father often, and he had known for days what he was going to say, he had only waited for the right moment.

‘Father, you know I’m gonna marry Robyn, I- she-’
‘You made a good choice, Frank,’ he whispered. ‘She’s a good girl. She nursed me, even..’
‘I know father, I- I love her, I really do.’
‘Then make her happy and she’ll love you in return. And I will have grandchildren, even if I do not know..’ He looked sad for a moment, already too weak to sit up. And he looked at his son in a wise, pensive way, that made the boy think he was old and close to death.

‘I will, father, I will. And I am really sorry for having shouted at you,’ he hestitated, ‘even if it was kinda you own fault.’
His father laughed softly. ‘I guess it was.’
Father and son embraced, at last. ‘Bless you,’ said Mart, with a certain fondness in his eyes that Frank had never really seen before. It was sad, really, that now after finally having found eachother, they’d have to part so soon. But it was right in some way, too, because Frank could not have beared the thought that they would never have made up.

Thus, Mart could die peacefully and have a proper burial in the Church. Karline was brokenhearted, Frederick dazzled and Francene’s little heart had a gap, too. Frank promised to himself, and the memory of his father, that he would be a good father to Mart’s grandchildren.