Marcus Baldwin - Week 8

(For week 7 at this household, click on the "Baldwin" label and scroll down.)

After more than 2 years in real life, we are back at the Baldwin's house. There is only one family member left here: Marcus, who is 8 days from Elderhood.
His parents died of old age long ago, but his older sister Sofia died last round because she was not intelligent enough to make herself something to eat from a fully stocked fridge.

It all started when the CleanBot broke, and nobody was able (or willing) to turn it off, let alone repair it. The entire house is now a mess, and infestated with bugs. Sofia and Marcus were both ill all of their previous week - no wonder when living in such unhygienic conditions! Also, being upset by the trash and the bugs constantly interrupted any other action of theirs, so that they went hungry, tired and unwashed nearly all the time. It cost Sofia her life, and Marcus does not seem to be far off, when I finally make him turn the 'bot off and repair it on this Monday morning.

Here he is, coughing away. Will he now start cleaning up?

No. First, he uses the toilet, and then falls asleep on the spot, never making it to one of the beds.

It is Tuesday, and he finds his way downstairs to the kitchen, where he opts for a liquid (and not very filling) breakfast.

He rolls the wish to call an Exterminator, and although he is on Permanent Platinum and I do not need to fulfill any of his wishes anymore, I agree that this is a reasonable course of action. While the Exterminator is at work, Marcus could of course get started on the cleaning, but it does not enter his mind.

On Wednesday morning, he surprises me by autonomously getting the mail.

This time, his liquid breakfast at least consists of milk and not of wine.

That changes again later in the evening, when he is back at the wine rack.

He does manage to have a bath and then even starts to sweep the dead bugs downstairs, but a coughing fit quickly puts an end to that.

Funnily enough, he considers playing the piano more important than eating or sleeping - at least for a few minutes, before he complains about being hungry again.

Wow - I'm impressed! There is some more sweeping going on.

On Thursday morning, Marcus comes upstairs to find the Social Bunny waiting for him. Looks like the Bunny is just as disgusted with the state of the house than Marcus, but neither does anything about it.

On Friday morning, Marcus once more gets the mail. And that is pretty much the last thing he does, because a few hours later, he dies from exhaustion (not starvation).
Sorry, Marcus - I wanted you to get a break from it all by going to work this afternoon, and I was also planning to send you to a community lot afterwards, but you died before I could intervene.

Well, I did nothing to avoid Sofia's untimely death, so it is only "fair" to treat Marcus the same way. I am not overly sorry to see these two incapable Sims go; they had everything it takes for a good life and threw it all away.

Stop! Stop!! STOP!!!
Something or someone in the Simiverse is against Marcus' untimely and unnecessary death, it seems. I discover that I can not save the game, and have to quit without saving. Of course I reload the game immediately afterwards, and when I re-enter the lot, I find Marcus is as he was on Monday - tired, hungry and dirty, but alive.

So it is decided: Marcus gets a second chance.

On Tuesday, Clarence Gavigan walks past the house and is not only warmly greeted, but also kindly asked to help with the cleaning.

The young man works hard for a few hours, but it is impossible to clean the entire place in a short time.

Marcus also does a bit of sweeping up of death bugs on the ground floor while his guest is busy upstairs.

As before, Marcus remembers to get the mail on Wednesday, but never pays the bills - he merely places them on his desk.

But at least he sweeps a few more dead bugs.

Unfortunately, with plenty of rubbish still around, new bugs keep appearing, and Marcus only stomps on them, rather ineffectively.

Then he wants to have a meal (surprise!) but manages to put the stove on fire. There is a fire alarm installend, and so the fire is put out quickly by a fireman. I make Marcus eat the burnt chili.

He sleeps surprisingly well on Thursday.

But of course the messy state of his house gets to him. Well, he is the person to do something about it, but he never does more than sweep up one or two piles of dead bugs.

Friday morning sees him having a liquid breakfast again.

Oh, and he takes out the bills again - and places them to the others on the desk.

For the first time this week, he has to go to work. I didn't know Sims can find their drivers so attractive!

He returns home late at night and falls asleep right there on the pavement.

The next morning, Saturday, Marcus gets a visit by the Repo Man just as I am sending him to a community lot.

Because he rolled the want to go ice skating, I have him drive to The Hills Community Center.

Rather ungraciously, he lands on his behind a few times.

But then he finds his balance and masters some pirouttes with all the grace of the World Class Ballet Dancer he is - much admired by Lilo Landgraab.

He has a mug of hot chocolate in the cosy block house by the fire place before driving home again.

There, the Repo Man is just about to make his choice. What do you think he took?
Not the stereo, no - the ballet shoes!

On Sunday morning, Marcus has a burst of energy after almost a full night's sleep and sweeps up some more dead bugs. He also takes out the trash.

And then he even remembers that great invention, the bug spray!
But that's about the extent of his cleaning efforts, and he ends the week in a house almost as messy as it was at the start of the week.

Will Marcus turn his life around eventually, or die again of starvation, exhaustion or some other cause next round?