Asylum - Chapter 1

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Welcome to the Asylum



Ah, you're back. Good, the victims er patients are getting antsy waiting out here for me to finish taking pictures and turn free will back on. Controllable sim Lizbet has been extremely gesticulative about her impatience for me to get my act together and get things started.

That or she's not happy that I have her standing here like a bump on a log while a hailstorm is raging. Demanding, isn't she?

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And with that we're live. Lizbet is the only sim I can click on or control, so I sent her off to greet the paperboy. While I should send her to greet her roommates, being friends with her them won't help her career; being friends with the paperboy can. Family friends are important for the career.

The rest of Lizbet's asylum-mates seemed to have paired off (or tripleted off, as the case may be). Let's review who is who again quick, shall we?

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In the red dress is Marie, the closet romance sim whose family mysteriously disappeared. Next to her in pink is Lorna, the workaholic popularity sim. The fellow about to have an unfortunate encounter with the kicky bag is Raul, a Pleasure sim singing sensation-wanna-be whose dreams were shattered when his superstar idol told him that he, frankly, sucked.

Here we also get a glimpse of the apparel the Wainwright Asylum staff has chosen for our residents. They've tried to stick with casual, easy-fitting clothing without a lot of complex fasteners to confuse the confused. Basic, slightly feminine gowns for the ladies with mules and for the men, baggy shirts and wrinkle-proof poly-cotton trousers. Pyjamas too are intended to be loose and comfortable for the patients while undergarments are modest and supportive. (We'll be seeing a lot of modest and supportive)

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Just down the sidewalk, and a little less active, are three more Asylum residents. The lone lady in the group is Wanda, a Family sim whose dreams of a white-picket kid with 2.5 dogs and a home were dashed when her husband left her for a big haired blonde with plastic perky bits. Earl is across from her in blue, a Wealth Sim from a slacker family but with big business desires. Finally in the middle is Popularity sim Van, a champion surfer who, after a catastrophic wipe-out, is now scared of the waves in his bathtub.

Hmm... aren't we missing someone though?

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That someone would be our anti-social Knowledge sim Parson. Seems he discovered the telescope in the living room... and the reason why we don't use the telescope during the day.

Yeah, Sim-Keth came over and gave him the beat down a few minutes later.

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After she got done chatting up the paper boy, Lizbet headed inside to look for a job. Her lifetime want it to reach the top of the education career (Education Minister I think?) I was shocked that it was the very first job in the paper. The last time I tried an asylum challenge, it took three days before the job showed up. Hopefully the education career being immediately available is a good omen for the rest of this challenge.

For the moment, Lizbet is a playground monitor and her carpool will be here for her at 7 a.m. She's thrilled, I'm sure. But 7 a.m. is a good ways away and a lot can happen between now and then.

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Lizbet, you haven't even eaten anything yet. How can you be feeling urpy and sick to your stomach already?

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Oh, it's Parson's musical ability (or lack thereof) that's causing the nausea. She was so polite about it too. The other residents will boo and whine and hold their ears at Parson's playing, but Lizbet just quietly stood behind him and made little throw up gestures.

Why don't you head back outside Lizbet? There's more important things to do today, like...

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Greeting the Welcome Wagon, headed by Captain Angelia herself. I was not surprised to see her leading the show. She runs the Welcome Wagon in Strangetown too, I swear.

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And here's the rest of the Welcome Wagon. Ah... sorry Lisa, I haven't had a chance to change you out of the banana tunic yet. I've got to do that from Keth's lot, since she has all the hacks and I haven't gotten back there yet.

I thought this was pretty cool. Two sim-selves and an (infamous) sim-creation in the Welcome Wagon. Lizbet will be able to make all sorts of hook ups once she gets to know them. Except...

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Except sim-self and (infamous) sim-creation were more interested in each other than in socializing with the loonies, er residents. *facepalm*

Wait a moment... do you hear something?

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Don't look so surprised Van. You brought it on yourself.

Anyway, back to Orrin and Sim-Lisa...

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Orrin took a break from soaking up the attention Lisa was showering on him to attempt a little petit larceny. Fortunately there were still too many people outside for him to feel confident he could get away with it. Gnutzo the Asylum Gnome is safe for the moment.

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Orrin was too distracted to try to steal him a second time.

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I thought this was cute. Stereo Slouching. Captain Angelia seems to approve.

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That or she was just waiting for them to move aside so she could try her luck at stealing Gnutzo. Like Orrin, she felt there were too many people outside for her to be successful either. I'm not sure Gnutzo will be lucky three times running through.

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Meanwhile, back at the Asylum...

For being an ice queen at work, Lorna doesn't seem to be having any problems making friends here. Those hearts are a little one sided though.

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Oh no Lizbet. You didn't...

"What?"

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I guess she did. And Lizbet becomes the first person to cry when Sim-Keth shoves them. Everyone else so far has shoved her back.

Once she's stalked back to her own place Lizbet, why don't you call the Welcome Wagon in out of the rain and chat them up a bit.

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Insert Handcuff joke here

Hey, don't look at me. You brought it up Lisa.

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While Lizbet was hanging out with the Captain, Lisa, and Orrin, the rest of the patients gathered in the kitchen to witness the first fire of the challenge. I think Earl started this one. I forgot I have a couple custom foods (soups) that sims with 0 cooking skills can cook. Earl was trying to make some tomato soup when he wandered away from the stove to stuff his face.

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Hurry it up and call the fire department Lizbet, before one of your new roommates burns to death. I can't handle a vengeful ghost this early in the challenge.

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And here comes just one of many firemen who will become frequent visitors here, no doubt. This is Corey Spitzig. He's blond, has somehow managed to score a pair of Enayla's eyes (did I townie-ize any of those? I can't recall), and we're in his way as he rushes to trigger the inevitable.

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Wow, not one, not two, but three nervous breakdowns. I wasn't expecting that many for the first fire. No one else knows quite how to handle it. Lorna and Fireman Corey think the cheese has definitely slid off their crackers.

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Two gorillas and a chicken. Great. I'm not sure if the Asylum is doubling as a zoo or a farm. Will one of you guys take that burned pan off the stove. I need to go check on something. My Simmy Sense is tingling.

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Captain A! Please tell you didn't just gnomenap Gnutzo!

"What? Who, me?" *cackle*

Great. Get yourself back inside right now.

Lorna went right out and stole Gnutzo back, even though the Captain was still on the lot. That's when I realized I had a small issue... how to get a stolen gnome out of an patient's inventory when they weren't the selectable sim. My executive decision was... to collapse Lizbet's want panel, switch to the inventory view, select the gnome-recoverer only long enough to move Gnutzo back to his spot on the lawn, then switch back to Lizbet before returning to play. This way the game will be paused the whole time the other sim is selected, and the most I'll see is the levels of their aspiration and needs (both of which I could guess at from the background colour of their icons).

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Once I was done returning Gnutzo to his rightful place on the front lawn I sent Lizbet in to get the burned pot off the stove... and the stove promptly burst back into flames. *facepalm* I've still got stinky sims from the last fire! Quick, Lizbet, call the fire department! Lizbet?

Lizbet?

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Aw Frack.

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Come'on Doc, hurry it up. I need her to call the fire department before someone goes up on flames. Have her do the chicken dance and let's get going here.

I knew we shouldn't have let Fireman Corey leave yet.

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By the time Lizbet got off the phone with the fire department (Firebabe Katerina is on her way) the fire had spread to the counters, so I sent her over to start extinguishing them. The Captain is getting some synchronized panicking in with Raul there in the back.

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Here's one of the times that it's worth it to leave the walls dropped. Everyone is in the kitchen freaking out over the second fire of the evening. Everyone except Lisa and Orrin that is. They're in the living room talking about kissing.

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And right on cue, the same three (Wanda, Earl, Parson) who lost it before lose it again. Hoo boy are things going to be interesting here the next few days. The stove was a total loss and, with only §100 in the bank, they can't quite afford a replacement one yet. Unless Lizbet gets a promotion on her first day they won't be able to afford it tomorrow either. Since she needs 1 family friend for promotion, which she doesn't have, I don't see that happening.

Captain! Don't make fun of the fruitcakes!

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I see someone has taken advantage of the chaos and stinky confusion caused by the fire. Orrin! What the Frell?

"Quiet Woman! I've been waiting all evening to abscond with this."

*sigh* Now I remember why I don't have garden gnomes in Strangetown.

I think Van stole Gnutzo back after this gnomenapping.

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And so Lizbet beats her asylum-mates to the shower and will probably get an actual bed this evening too. It's a good thing, since needs to be up bright eyed and bushy tailed in order to leave a plate or two of gelatin out for the others and then catch her carpool at 7 am.

Well, that wraps it up for this chapter. We're through the first day, yay! No, I don't plan to blog every single day, but it just happened that this worked out to be a great place to split my screenshots up. After all this, it's got to get easier right? Right?!

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