I'd Like to Teach the World a Song: Day 9

Hunter woke on Day 9 with the conviction that he had it in him to become a proficient cook.  He set to work preparing the traditional HRS breakfast of grilled hotdogs.

His delusion didn’t last long.  Fortunately, he safely extinguished himself, and survived his experience.  It didn’t seem to discourage him, however, because after a thorough shower, he was back at the grill.  

Perhaps hamburgers would be a better breakfast choice for the novice chef!

At Morning Meeting, chaired by Aileen, the sims were told that there would be an in-house party that evening.  They also noted that Braylen would be presenting the first common room painting, and received the unnerving information that on the following morning, they would for the first time find out their current scores and placement in the HRS contest.  While a couple of them were feeling confident and looked forward to hearing how they were doing, others were more anxious.

Aileen said that today’s Sim in Spot opportunity was for a performer to attempt to make at least $100 in tips within a four hour time frame.  Efrain almost fell out of his chair in his eagerness to seize this opportunity, and the rest of the sims felt it was rightfully his.

He spent the morning practicing and warming up at home.

By 1:30, he was in place at the Museum, ready to entertain.  It proved a good venue, although he was convinced that he’d have made more if he’d been allowed to set his guitar case out to collect the tips instead of having them thrown on the ground in front of him.

After two hours, he’d made a solid $50 and set off for the Lounge in Oasis Springs in good spirits.

It turned out, unfortunately, that the older crowd who filled the Lounge during the early Happy Hour were more interested in drinking the half-priced drinks than in entertainment.  

Even when they came over to listen, they proved to be stingy tippers.  Efrain was pretty sure that the Lounge singer didn’t add to his take, either.  At the end, despite his hard work and persistence, he was forced to return home in defeat, having made only $70 total.

That evening’s party also couldn’t be described as a rousing success.  Despite having now spent 9 days together in the House of the Rising Sim, the household didn’t seem to be growing any closer.  If anything, some of their initial relationships seemed to be getting a bit frayed. 

They spent the evening eating and drinking, chatting about trivial matters, playing a desultory game of cards, and eventually gathered in the dining room for the presentation of Braylen’s painting.   

No one seemed to have had a particularly good time and except for Braylen himself, who found it sweet to be in the spotlight, the mood was poor.

Braylen’s daring venture into surrealism met with a negative response, unfortunately—even Efrain, the sim Braylen felt was most sensitive and artistic, after himself, of course, claimed that it made him feel ill.

When questioned about whether this left him downhearted, Braylen only scoffed.  “My painting, eet eees a masterpiece.  A work of the genius.  The rest of the household, they are simply philistines—they lack the ability to appreciate my brilliance.  Eet is unimportant. The generations to come, they will value zees painting as eet deserves.”

Art and Fitness: Day 8

Day 8 started, as usual, with an early morning dance party. Despite all of the dancing, it was becoming apparent that many of the sims, especially the ladies, were putting on some pounds at HRS. 

Perhaps it was the hotdogs for breakfast—who knew?  

In any case, Keira announced at Morning Meeting that their outing that afternoon would be to the gym. 

There were a variety of reactions.   

Some sims responded positively, others negatively.  Efrain surprised everyone with the vehement opinion that they were being manipulated once again.

Up ‘til now, Efrain had been quite compliant and laid back, so his sudden outburst was quite shocking.  Perhaps it was the lingering upset feelings from the previous night’s romantic antics? 

After the group made a few, rather haphazard efforts to calm him down, conversation moved on to more usual—for HRS—topics:  money, llamas, and undergarments!

By the time the group arrived at the gym that afternoon, Braylen, at least, had decided it was a brilliant idea for an outing. 

Oddly Hunter, despite his aspirations as a Bodybuilder, seemed rather lukewarm about the idea, whereas Aileen, Keira, Braylen, Alysha, and Deb dove right in.  Reece was the very first to grab a machine and start his workout.

  

In keeping with HRS spirit, many of the sims also enjoyed dancing to the music in the room with punching bags; Deb as always getting the dancing started.

When they returned to HRS for dinner, Braylen announced that he had a surprise for everyone.  The paintings he had created for each of the bedrooms were complete and ready to be put in position, to replace the dino stencils. 

 
Some sims were impressed with his work, while others were more critical.

 

Hunter and Reece surprised everyone by insisting on keeping their dino stencil, in addition to their new painting of a sunflower—they said that they’d become attached to it over the past week, and would miss it if it were taken down!  

As the eighth day drew to a close, one mystery haunted the House of the Rising Sim.  Why had  Reece chosen to sleep on the bench in the balcony?  Was he finding his small room stuffy or uncomfortable?  Had he had an argument with Hunter?  Would we ever know?

Awkward Encounters: Day 7

Was it a coincidence that the day after the allegations of corruption had surfaced, Reece was bounced from his Super Sim position, and in fact was the designated Loser for the day?  Coincidence or not, it didn’t really quell the gossip—and the whole situation left Reece feeling quite discouraged.

Efrain, on the other hand, had woken to find the prized green Super Sim hat outside his door, and was feeling in the mood to party.

 

All of the sims had received emails that morning, along with instructions not to discuss them with one another.   

Could that be the reason for Braylen’s distinctly inappropriate behavior?  Really, Braylen! 

 And, Deb!  What on earth did she ask Hunter during Morning Meeting?

Calling a halt to the, um, discussion, Efrain announced that it would be a home day for all of the sims except for one.   

The Sim in Spot opportunity that morning was rather dubious—a sim would go to the park, find a likely stranger, and flirt with them successfully enough that they agreed to come home with him  or her. 

Even Braylen, who had demonstrated only half an hour earlier that he was open to some pretty risqué behavior, seems to have been embarrassed by this one.  Hunter’s opinion was that it was garbage, and Alysha said firmly that it wasn’t in any way consistent with family values or morality.

Reece, however, perhaps still stinging from his sharp demotion to the Loser chair, agreed that he’d give it a try.  So after Morning Meeting, he set off for the park.

Scanning the area, he strolled over to a distinguished-looking older gentleman playing a quiet game of chess.

“Mind if I join you?  Reece Britton.  I’m new in town—“

“Have a seat.  Tommy Rassmussen, glad to meet you.”

After some chess and casual chat, Reece decided to ease into his mission for the day.   

Although Tommy initially put on a show of reluctance, Reece persevered.

By 6:00 pm, he returned to HRS with Tommy, mission accomplished!   

One can only wonder what Tommy thought of the household.  Certainly his hopes, if he had any, were destined to be dashed—he spent the evening chatting a little and playing a rather lonely game of Blicbloc. 

As it turned out, it was a busy and uncomfortable evening for the HRS sims.  Each sim had received an email that morning—instructing them that they were to approach the household member whom they found most attractive and make their moves.  Of course, no one was sure whether other sims had also received the same instructions—it was all horribly awkward and embarrassing.

Keira cornered Efrain out on the patio, where a casual supper turned  very quickly into an awkward encounter.

Alysha made her approach to Reece, but perhaps her choice of venue could have been better.

Braylen spent some time thinking about the ideal venue,  but was caught unawares when Efrain reached out to him.   

By chance, he was planning to approach Efrain, too—the situation might have become quite romantic, had it not been for the presence of Aileen. 

Having just been rejected by Efrain herself, she was very distressed to find herself the unwilling witness to the suggestive behavior of the two men.

Braylen, perhaps not the most sensitive of souls, seemed either not to notice, or not to care about Aileen’s humiliation.  He had a wonderful idea.

Efrain was probably not unwilling to have his hands kissed—if only Aileen hadn’t been staring at them the entire time!

“Zut, alors! “ exclaimed Braylen furiously.  “You play weeth my heart!  You toy weeth my feelings!  I cannot tolerate thees cruel behavior!  Good night!”

Upstairs, things were not going any better.  Having fortified herself with a drink, Deb approached Hunter in his bedroom and told him of her feelings. Inexplicably, Hunter shut her down, then proceeded to express his attraction to her in return! 

 Things might have taken a better turn for them, had not Reece shown up at that very moment, to find them sitting together—on his bed.

Perhaps overwhelmed by embarrassment at this situation, Deb, apparently forgetting her earlier admission, denied any interest in Hunter, and went to bed herself.

Hunter, once again finding himself in a bad situation at the end of a day in HRS, slumped off to repair the leaking toilet.  After all, his day could hardly get any worse at that point.