To save you having to re-read week 6, here is a short summary: Isabel and Benjamin Baldwin lived here together with their children Sofia and Marcus, until Isabel met her three-bolt-love in Beaumont DeBateau. She left her husband and kids to move in with Beaumont.
Isabel died years before Benjamin, who never remarried. He died (on PermaPlat) at 72, shortly after both his children returned from university.
Marcus and Sofia have both reached their respective lifetime wants, which means I hardly control them. Marcus became World Class Ballet Dancer when he was still 18 days from elderhood. He did not try to keep the relationship with his college sweetheart Pauline Aspir going, but instead met and fell in love with Tina Traveller last round.
Something else that happened last round: The cleanbot broke, causing havoc with nobody thinking of turning it off, let alone repair it. Ever since, the siblings have been living in chaos.
Look at Sofia in her "nice cosy" bedroom - surrounded by flies from the heaps of trash everywhere on the floor! She became Head of SCIA 11 days before Elderhood.
A top-down view of the upper floor reveals the extent of the chaos caused by the broken cleanbot.
Stopping to complain about the terrible conditions and the bugs (resulting from the heaps of rubbish, of course) all the time means the siblings hardly get anything done. There is plenty of food in the fridge, but Sofia decides on a liquid breakfast on Monday morning.
They can't seem to decide what is their greatest need - sleep or eat? Complain about the rubbish, or the bugs?
Every now and then, one of them actually remembers that bugs can be sprayed, not just stomped on.
And even better, from time to time they remember to pick up some of the rubbish (only for the cleanbot to spit out a fresh pile).
Desdemona Capp, an old friend from uni (I think) comes by, and I make Marcus greet her. She leaves soon afterwards - nobody offers her a meal, or takes much notice of her.
Marcus has managed to have a nap and empties the trash compactor. As you can see, the bug infestation is always on his mind.
Tuesday morning, Sofia falls asleep standing in the bathroom, while the cleanbot drives all around her.
Meanwhile downstairs, Marcus resorts to drink. So far, the living/dining room is unaffected by the chaos.
While Marcus is enjoying his drink, his older sister dies of starvation. Sofia was 7 days from Elderhood.
The Grim Reaper can't but shake his head at so much stupidity. "And they made THIS girl Head of SCIA?!" he mutters. Actually, I was expecting Sofia to die already last round, but going to work (and "eating" there) saved her life more than once.
Sorry, Sofia, but you really brought this upon yourself!
Downstairs, Marcus has found his way to the fridge and stuffs his face. By now, the rubbish has spread to the living/dining area as well - not from the clean bot, but because Marcus interrupted his taking out of the trash, stopping for another session of complaining about rubbish and bugs.
On Wednesday morning, he wakes up rolling the want to hire an exterminator. This wish keeps recurring every day for the rest of the week, and I let him call this service every day and tip the lady generously (he can easily afford it).
She works all day until she announces it is a bit late now and time for her to leave.
Marcus, although very hungry again, joins in the work and sweeps up some of the dead bugs on his own accord. Of course, not picking up the rubbish piles means there will soon be new bugs.
He even joins in the spraying.
I have him greet Rose Greenman, but like Desdemona earlier, she does not stick around. Nobody wants to stay at a place as messy as this, do they!
Remember my new rule about sending my Sims to at least one community lot each week? Marcus shows the want to go fishing, so I send him to Woodland Park, originally situated in Pleasantview.
He meets and greets some fellow New Maximilianians there, such as Guy Wrightley.
His girlfriend from last round, Tina Traveller, appears - Marcus has not rolled any wants about her, but I have him greet her, of course.
Back home, he manages not only to pick up all the rubbish piles downstairs, but even tackles the dead bugs. Upstairs, with the cleanbot spitting out new piles as soon as the old ones are gone, the mess is the same as always.
That does not stop Marcus from cleaning the bathtub on Thursday morning.
He cleans the entire bathroom - and of course the cleanbot does its "work" there as soon as Marcus is on his way downstairs.
He plays the piano for a bit. There are still dead bugs everywhere.
For a change, Marcus' meal of the day consists of a bag of cookies.
He cleans the upstairs toilet and once again picks up the rubbish from the bathroom floor - but you already know that it does not take the cleanbot long to replace it.
Friday morning sees Marcus having a liquid breakfast again.
Mercutio Ottomas (formerly Monty; married to Sharla Ottomas) walks by and is duly greeted.
Marcus has been rolling the want to influence someone to serve a meal, and so I have him try that with his guest. Mercutio prepares a platter of chef salad, and sitting at the table together for the meal, he kindly suggests the younger man to either join a family or have someone join him - he is really sorry for Marcus, living on his own now, having lost his Dad and now his sister, and clearly not coping.
"You know what, Mr. Ottomas, I think you're right. Maybe I really should have someone move in here with me, to share the load..." Marcus replies.
It is his first working day of the week, and of course, "eating" at work helps.
Marcus starts Saturday morning (after a full night's sleep, much to my surprise!) having a hot bath on his own accord - still surrounded by piles of rubbish.
He manages another spot of cleaning up afterwards.
Looks like Mercutio has been talking at home about the dreadful conditions at the Baldwin house, because today, his brother-in-law David Ottomas (married to Lilith Pleasant) appears.
The kindness of these two men seems to spur Marcus on; he sweeps up some more of the dead bugs still covering the floor downstairs.
He rolls the want to invite someone over, and soon, Tina Traveller, her mother Trish, and Rick Contrary appear.
Without being asked to, Rick...
...and Tina start cleaning up. Trisha heads straight for the computer and does not join in the work. By the time Marcus has to leave for work, a lot has been accomplished - but of course it only helps on the long run downstairs, not on the top floor.
On Sunday morning, Marcus has a shower. Again, he has had a good night's sleep.
He returns from work late on Sunday night, still disgusted with the conditions of his house, but seemingly unable to solve the problem.
To be honest, I am sick and tired of it now. Why did the programmers at Maxis forget to make sure Sims can swith off bots autonomously? Of course, I could have had Marcus simply do it - it would have saved Sofia's life. But sometimes I can be rather stubborn when it comes to my Sims' autonomy!
Anyway. Will Marcus stay here, or is he going to move in with Tina and her mother?
Next up is the Beaker family - I have already caught up with them by re-reading their last chapter.
Maybe the writes forgot to put in the program when their introduce hobbies or was open for business (can't remember which). Another one gone. The first death of round 7 and i thought Marcus might also die too.
ReplyDeleteMarcus was saved by going to work and "eating" there!
DeleteHmm... I think it was Open for Business that introduced the bots, toymaking and flower arranging. Sewing, pottery and repairing old cars came with FreeTime.
Can Marcus repair the Cleanbot? How about hiring a maid? Lol, you did well to put up with the mess, shame about Sofia but Sims just don't have the A.I to look after themselves that well it seems,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Marcus is still around and wonder if he will live alone forever or will he join Tina's family, He clearly needs some help but it was a very entertaining round,
He could repair it if he turned it off first. And of course he could hire a maid if he wanted to. But although he kept rolling wants to hire an Exterminator and a Repairman (and I let him do that), nothing was done about the cleanbot. He never rolled the want to turn it off, or to repair it, and the repairwoman never attempted it, either.
DeleteOh that's interesting. I guess the programmers forgot to add the Bots to the repairman's list!
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether the repairman would have repaired the bot had it been turned off. Maybe next time I come across this situation in my game I'll try.
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