Santo's Island Survival Guide
When we left poor Santo, the shipwrecked wannabe actor, he was stranded alone on a tiny deserted island. He was on his way to his first big part in a major motion picture when his ship sank. His lifeboat was in shreds, but he was able to reclaim some of the cargo, mostly from the kitchen section of the ship. He used reclaimed wood and woven reeds and grasses to construct a rudimentary shelter, and various junk that drifted ashore to construct the few necessities for life. The island has one banana tree and a couple trees that are apparently producing coconuts as Santo's autonomous go-to food source appears to be coconut juice drinks, with little paper umbrellas which he presumably found in one of the crates he rescued from the sea.
It appears the poor guy has been stranded for some time, but I kept him there for one more week to see what survival on this little island would look like. I learned a few things:
1. Sleeping on the garbage bed causes the sims to wake up very dirty.
2. The rock with the face on it did nothing for his social needs, though it seems it should. It might have got his fun up - I forgot to check that, but it seems talking to and playing with the rock should have some positive effect.
Happy Love Day, Santo.
3. When the social needs get really red, sims will start talking to inanimate objects: the fire pit, the broken boat, the chair, etc., and this will raise the social bar to about 1/4 green.
4. Sims sometimes can find things when playing in the sand. Santo found a little bunny toy, but since he's not childish, he didn't really do anything with it.
5. The soccer ball increases athletic skill, but it doesn't help for wishes to become pumped or strong.
Santo eventually built himself a chin-up bar so he could fulfill these wishes.
As for food, Santo ate primarily fish he caught from the ocean, . . .
bananas from the tree, . . .
his favorite coconut juice drinks, . . .
and on special occasions, he helped himself to a can of soup or a container of ice cream.
Overall, Santo fared pretty well. However, he would sometimes become distressed over missing out on his big break into show business, . . .
afraid that when he finally did make it to civilization, he wouldn't be able to find any gigs except being a clown at children's birthday parties, . . .
which sometimes left him very frustrated.
(He did actually try to make a break for it when I sent him to swim or snorkel - those cursed water taxis tried to ruin my storyline! I wish there was a mod to remove them and only them without affecting ground taxis and other vehicles. I guess I could uncheck the Isla Paradiso pack, but I assume I have been using some of the items in this game.)
Why a survivor of a shipwreck would even want to get on this particular boat is beyond me! I took pity on poor Santo on Thursday because he was struggling with loneliness. I let him swim to the "big island" and interact with the wild horses, who took to him immediately. He must have a way with animals.
When people started coming down the path, I sent Santo back to his island. When a week had passed, I allowed him to swim to shore and seek out civilization. (Let's assume he built a raft and drifted for days.) Santo left the island after gaining level 3 diving, level 4 fishing, and level 5 athletic skills.
Civilization at last! Santo knocked on the first door he came to, which was owned by Lord Alexander Beaumont II. Santo was very nervous about encountering people for the first time in such a long time.
But Alexander has always be a generous man and a gracious host. He allowed him to come in and cool off, . . .
get a drink and get his bearings, gave him directions to the movie studio, and called him a cab.
Santo secured a job as a movie extra in a sci-fi movie called Space Avengers.
He was issued a costume and got to tour some of the sets. He met Virginia Thompson down in the reception area and took a few minutes to get to know her.
While they parted on friendly terms, they just didn't have any romantic chemistry. Since Santo really had nowhere to go, he decided to hang around the studio for the day. He did some research on the shells he collected while snorkeling, hoping they might be worth something, . . .
until the computer broke. (Just walk away, Santo, the IT people will fix it in the morning.)
He was thrilled to find a real bed. No more sleeping in garbage!
This is luxurious!
I'm not sure what Virginia thought when she spotted him sleeping on the movie set. She pretended not to notice.
The next day Santo found a piece of ground to settle on. He has limited funds having lost all his money while being shipwrecked, but he should be getting a steady paycheck, so I'm sure at some point his accommodations will improve.
It's not much, but it's swankier than what he had on the island. He wanted to meet some people, so he went to the city hall to see who was around and take care of any paperwork he needed to get settled in.
It was there he met Sally Hardy.
They got along fairly well, although they had a little bit of nerdy name-calling.
(When I get my new computer, I'm definitely going to download that No Social Groups mod that eliminates this kind of behavior outside of University. I'm tired of a conversation going well then suddenly having one sim fire off an insult out of the blue. I'm also really tired of the sims busting out a school cheer at random times. Like, who does that in real life?)
It looks like Eunice must have made an embarrassing error in her presentation and Sonyja is calling her on it.
Carlo is also belittling Zac Whipsnake, as Holden looks on, trying to decide whose side he wants to take.
Both Holden and Carlo felt Zac was being boring, and decided to amuse each other.
Santo and Carlo seem to be on good terms, and it seems Eunice and Jack have a romance going.
After being in town for a few days, Santo discovered a local watering hole and started going there to unwind after a stressful day at work. He regaled the bartender with his exploits on the island, but I don't think she took him too seriously.
"Stranded on an island for over a year? You're pulling my leg!" We'll let Santo do his thing and drop in on Natalia now.
Natalia's New Career
In the previous installment, I mentioned that Natalia really, really wanted to be an acrobat. She was placed by Story Progression into the military barracks, so I made her join the military career. She was there for quite awhile, but the acrobat wish kept surfacing and her lifetime wish is to top the career. Since she moved in with her boyfriend Jaron, I had his other roommate Eunice, who is in the military career, take her spot at the barracks. While I was following Santo on his island, I kept getting notices that Natalia was rapidly advancing in the acrobat career, so I dropped in to see how she's doing. She was a high enough level to have earned this balancing ball.
And I thought that it would be really cool to have her throw a talent show "fundraiser" (aka a destination party) to raise money for the school. She invited those with musical talent and set the show at 4pm, so the kids would be out of school and able to attend if they wished. She went to the lunch room and prepared some cookies, pie, and cheesy bread for refreshments. Then I sent her to the school stage to perform for tips.
NOTE: I originally made this a performance venue, but had to change it because those only operate certain hours, and I also had the school rabbithole rug on the lot, and the kids couldn't get in the school because the hours for school were different from those of the performance stages. Therefore I just put in a "normal" stage that everyone could use. As a result, the audience wouldn't sit down, or not for long, anyway.
How Not to Behave at a School Fundraiser
Natalia's performance was warmly received, at least at first.
Alexander Beaumont was especially jazzed by her performance, while others politely clapped. Next, Boyd Medley and Anwar Russo joined in with their instruments.
I was looking around for Denny Pyle, as he and Boyd are supposed to have a band together, and I knew I invited him. I couldn't find him anywhere, then, back in a corner, I heard a slap-fight going on, and there were Denny and Robin, going at it. I guess the budding romance between them is dead.
Robin seemed a little hissy.
I had Boyd invite Denny to join in the jam session, so Denny could escape the situation.
Natalia made the mistake of not bringing her balance ball, so she improvised by going through the same routine over and over. Soon the audience was getting bored.
Some became downright rude. Yes, I mean you, Geraldo Gann!
Speaking of being rude, Alexander apparently had a bone to pick with Jenni Adam and took out is white glove and slapped her across the face with it! Perhaps he was too hangry to think straight.
Of course, the paparazzo captured this incident with his camera. Poor Jenni was shocked!
At this point, Natalia had quit performing and left the stage to the musicians. Some of the audience were really cutting a rug. Anwar was really showing off his dancing talent.
Meanwhile, Natalia spotted the altercation between Alexander and Jenni, and stepped in to try and defuse the situation by redirecting them to the food she cooked up for the event. Then she started discussing recipes with Jenni.
The attendees had to admit that, while Natalia's performance became lackluster, the food she provided was excellent.
Alexander calmed down after having a piece of pie.
The stress of the event was getting to Natalia, and discouraged, she retreated to the art room and took her frustration out on a large block of clay.
William Russo sought her out and thanked her for her contribution to helping his school raise money. What a nice boy he is!
Eunice, on the other hand, was highly critical of the quality of the event and told her it was lame.
Stressed and exhausted, Natalia retaliated by implying that Eunice's mother was a poodle, dissing Eunice's werewolf curse.
"Ooooh, burn!" said Alexander excitedly.
Eunice can apparently dish it out but can't take it.
NOTE: The only mean interaction I produced in this whole episode was Natalia implying Eunice's mother was a poodle. I also directed the performers to the stage and attempted to get the audience to sit down. All else was just the free will of the characters. They were all being very naughty yet amusing.
Despite the struggles with her talent show performance, Natalia is still swiftly climbing the acrobat career ladder and is now at level 8. The tourists love her.
That's right, mime, keep walking. This area is already taken. Natalia has also been awarded this fire hoop. No one will dare say her performances are lackluster now!
Natalia's boyfriend Jaron is quite proud of her. Despite his talent in sculpting, it's just not where his heart is. He dreams of being a magician, and by golly he's going to work up the gumption to give it a shot! After announcing this to Natalia, he asked her out on a date. He pulled out all the stops - I was amazed!
It's summer in the game, so I thought I'd drop in on Sally and see how the lifeguard job is going. I also turned Story Progression back on because I felt it was time for things to progress, but boy howdy, did it throw me a curve!
The Dastardly Deeds of Korie Devine
I was notified that Alexander Beaumont and Korie Devine have decided that they can no longer live under the same roof due to differences in lifestyle. They used to be good friends! And who got kicked out? Lord Alexander Beaumont II was evicted from his own estate leaving Korie and her family in control of it! (I know I could go to edit town and set this right, but what would be the fun in that?) Sally located Alexander at the Russos, where he planned to crash on their couch and get some guidance from Anwar, who is the only sim I'm playing with ties to the town government.
Sally said, "There's no reason for you to stay here, Alex; we're engaged!"
"But moving in with you before the wedding just wouldn't be PROPER!" he said.
"Well, I really don't care about having a big wedding anyway, darling. Why don't we just go down to the courthouse tonight and get married?" Sally suggested.
"Well, if you are sure you want to get married at 2 am, on the night of a full moon, and with such short notice, who am I to argue."
"We'll just swing by my place - I mean OUR place - and I'll get my dress! I bought it last week, and I guess it was good that I did!" she enthused.
The wedding was very low-key with only two paparazzi as witnesses. The couple took a wedding photo at the courthouse. Luckily, no zombies presented themselves, which is probably the first full-moon wedding where that hasn't happened for me.
"I swear tomorrow, I'll whisk you away on an exotic honeymoon, but for tonight, I'm really, really tired."
It appears that ousting renters from one's rental property requires going to court. Before heading home, Alexander went to get the lay of the land. "I'll consult with my legal team when I get back from the honeymoon," he thought.
I see some new residents in the future.
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