Tallying the Points: Day 15

On the 15^th morning, there was a thread of—tension—in the air.  Keira, especially, seemed on edge.  She rose early and sought out as many of the housemates as she could, expounding dark and convoluted theories about how the scores were being decided.   Some sims dismissed her out of hand.

Some seemed to listen with an open mind….

And some even to find a grain of truth in her wild stories, or at least to give them some serious consideration.

When Morning Meeting convened, the sims were still buzzing with nervous energy.  At length Braylen got everyone settled down and at least nominally ready to receive their score envelopes.   

He himself felt no doubt about his position, and indeed a glance at his numbers validated his confidence.

Skill points:  20

Friends: 1 (Marci Queen)

Inventory sales: 34

Job points (painter): 2

Super Sim /Loser: 4 (twice winner)

Sim in Spot: 2 (succeeded)

Activity points (gained through participation in outings and activities):6

Total: 69

Ranking:  1/8

Reece was still solidly in second place, and seemed to feel very secure in his position.  After all, only one sim could win the competition—but the second place prize was nothing to sneeze at.  Enough of a pot of gold, he thought, to make a big difference in his life.  His time in HRS seemed to be gradually restoring his self-confidence and easing his broken heart.

Skill points:  17

Friends: 1 (Tommy)

Inventory sales: 6

Job points (gardener):3

Super Sim /Loser:6 (four times winner, twice loser)

Sim in Spot: 2 (succeeded)

Activity points:  4

Total:  39

Ranking:  2/8

Alysha, still hanging on to third place by a slender margin, explained her thoughts to Efrain with a vehemence which sounded strangely like some of Keira’s theories.   

More and more, she appeared to believe that there was a lot of stuff going on under the table.   

Reece, in an uncharacteristically unkind moment, pretended mockingly to dig around under the table himself.   

Taken aback by his ridicule, Alysha began to cry.   Reece, although angry about her allegations of impropriety in the judging, seemed to feel a bit ashamed at having upset her so much.

Skill points:  21

Friends:

Inventory sales: 12

Job points (gardener):3

Super Sim /Loser:-1 (once loser)

Sim in Spot: -2 (failed)

Activity points:  1

Total:  34

Ranking:  3/8

Aileen, perhaps more than any of the HRS contestants, seemed delighted by her scores.  While still not in the top three, she had made big strides in catching up, and now fell only two points behind Alysha.  “I think I have a very good chance of moving into third place,” she said with enthusiasm. 

Skill points:  17

Friends: 1 (the other evening’s flirtations brought her much closer to Efrain!)

Inventory sales: 4

Job points (Social Director/mixologist):3

Super Sim /Loser:7 ( Four times winner; once loser)

Sim in Spot: -2 (failed)

                                                                       Activity points:  2

                                                                       Total:  32

                                                                       Ranking:  4/8

Keira, predictably, had quite a bit to say about her point situation.  Her ranting initially left most of the sims unmoved, but her conclusion had quite a chilling effect on the group.

Skill points:  17

Friends: 0 (she’s fortunate that there’s no negative score for enemies…)

Inventory sales: 2

Job points (Chronicler):2

Super Sim /Loser:0 (twice winner; four times loser)

Sim in Spot: 0

Activity points:  1

Total:  22

Ranking:  5/8 (tied)

It was Efrain this time, who seemed resigned to his scores.  He only shrugged to find himself now tied for fifth place.

Skill points:  19

Friends: 1 (Aileen)

Inventory sales: 2

Job points (Entertainer):2

Super Sim /Loser:2 (twice winner; twice loser)

Sim in Spot:-2 (failed)

Activity points:  -2

Total:  22

Ranking:  5/8 (tied)

Deb, too was stoic at finding herself now in sixth (or seventh) place.  She had a pretty good idea now what was generating points, and knew that given her position, she had never really had a chance.  Her calm, positive outlook had reasserted itself and while not pleased with the situation, she wasn’t going to put too much energy into it.

Skill points:  18

Friends: 0

Inventory sales: 4

Job points (chef):3

Super Sim /Loser:-2 twice loser)

Sim in Spot:-2 (failed)

Activity points:  0

Total:  21

Ranking:  7/8

Hunter had decided, going into the Morning Meeting, that he wasn’t going to react openly no matter how poorly he’d done.   

Unfortunately, he was seated next to Keira and while she showed no hesitation in blaming her own poor scores on judicial corruption, she couldn’t resist making sarcastic remarks about Hunter’s.   

To his own horror, Hunter’s composure crumbled under her taunting and he broke down right in the middle of the meeting. 

Deb’s look of pained compassion only made him sob harder which in turn brought tears to her own eyes.

After an uncomfortable pause,  Braylen cleared his throat and announced that there was one remaining Sim in Spot opportunity, which would be coming up the following day.  The sim in question (everyone knew it would be Keira, since she was the only sim left who had not completed her Sim in Spot) was advised to take every opportunity today to improve her mastery of chess….

Finally, there would be an interesting competition that evening, similar in design to a game of musical chairs.  Deb would be baking cupcakes on a new machine, which she would find upstairs in the skilling room.  Once the batch was finished, she was to remove one cupcake from the plate (leaving seven) put the plate in the kitchen, and call the household to share them.  The last sim to arrive would fail to get a cupcake, and would lose two points. 

There was some complaint about this, since the timing was completely up to Deb and she, of course, would be guaranteed to get a cupcake.  However, given her current point standing, it was hard for anyone to get too worked up about the situation.

That afternoon, Keira did her best to draw her housemates into playing chess with her.  She ensnared Alysha—

--and convinced Efrain to join her.

Braylen, as ever firmly convinced of his own brilliance, was her third victim.  The game began with mutual feelings of confidence.

Braylen made small talk about the evening’s competition, and perhaps allowed himself to become a bit distracted by his own wit.

Soon he found himself in a dangerous position.

His fury erupted without warning.

With a shout of anger, he knocked over the pieces! 

Keira showed no restraint in gloating over her victory and telling him how poor she thought his performance had been.

While the game was going on, Deb was hard at work figuring out the workings of the bewilderingly oversized cupcake machine.  Since she knew perfectly well how to make cupcakes using only the oven and a small pan, she couldn’t understand the need for such a ridiculous piece of equipment.  However, she easily produced a plate of mouthwatering vanilla cupcakes (eating one herself, to make sure their were only seven on the plate) and called the sims to the treat as instructed.

Alysha, Hunter, Reece, and Keira sat down to enjoy their treats in the dining room.

Meanwhile, Deb, Aileen, and Efrain snacked while watching TV.

Where was Braylen?  Why wasn’t he first in line for this, as for so many point-making opportunities?

He had stomped off to bed, furious at his chess defeat, and not caring a bit about the puny two points.