Aw man, poor Linestra! Shame on Bendy for doing that to a stranger! And a perfectly nice one at that. He should be sent to his room with no supper. :sadbendy:

I spy the group photo behind the banister in the shot of Madame F playing billiards. :bloosmirk: Oh, and I love Frankie's ear rings. :frankiesmile:

(Again, I've removed the smilies from quoted posts to comply with the 10 images per post limit.)

Or with supper, provided that supper is IT. (Evil grin Bloo smilie goes here)

For the record, Sparky made the pic.

I loved picking them out for her; I've always wanted to buy her jewelry, although I'm more interested in getting her a ring. (Frankie smilie goes here)

Continuing with Day One at Foster's...

After drying off, Linestra joined the Welcome Wagon and a few of the residents at the lunch table:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so11.jpg

It was a typical Foster's lunch, meaning that there was as much talking as there was eating. Everyone had a thousand questions for Linestra; unlike everyone else in the house, she's native to this part of the Valley, and so was able to fill them in on a lot of things; who lives here, what's fun to do, etc. The questions continued after lunch, with Eduardo pausing from studying for a moment:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so12.jpg

"Do you have any potatoes?" Yeah. Anyway, the rest of the afternoon was a pretty leisurely one, with little going on other than casual conversation and idle play, such as Coco and Mr. Herriman with the swings:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so13.jpg

The two of them were surprisingly close in the old Valley; perhaps they remember that on some level and are trying to rebuild it. Hard to say. Evening rolled around, and the second prescheduled event occurred: the Downtown invitation. In addition to the Welcome Wagon, every new family gets a call at 6:00 pm and one randomly selected adult or elder gets invited out for an evening of theoretical fun. I say "theoretical" because I've seen some real disasters now and then. The trip is optional; you can go out or stay in. In this case it was Frankie who got the invite, and there's no way I'm going to keep her in all night if I don't have to. Besides, I wanted to see who else was roaming around Downtown that night. A few minutes later the taxi showed up, and she was off to the 125 Cafe:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so14.jpg

It's a combination restaurant and coffee bar, one of my favorite Downtown locations. The conversation soon turned to sports:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so15.jpg

And a moment later they ordered dinner. While waiting for the food to arrive I let my attention wander, curious to see who else was in the restaurant that evening, and soon a familiar face showed up:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so16.jpg

You can almost hear Duchess thinking, "Oh, no, not you people again! Can't I be rid of you?!?!" or something equally rude. Cranky old battleaxe. She moved off to the coffee bar and spent the next hour getting wired on espresso. Then this guy wandered in:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so17.jpg

Severus Snape, or as I call him, "One of those Potter People". The only one, by the way, so don't look for a Foster's/Hogbarf crossover. Should've added Gandalf. Also present, and fortunately just missing Duchess by minutes, was her favorite victim:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so18.jpg

Hello, Checo. Had he and Duchess met they wouldn't remember that they hate each other but I'm willing to bet that a new Persnicketty/Ramirez feud would have been born. The girl to his left, her name is Kim; she's one of the native residents of this part of the Valley, and the other natives grew strangely quiet as she passed them. Frankie noticed that and asked; she was told, "You don't want her family's attention. So, uh, how 'bout those Mets, huh? Good pitching in the works for next year, I heard..." Something's going on here but I don't know what; this part of the Valley is new to me, too. Frankie dropped the matter, and later smirked as this guy strode passed:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so19.jpg

Good ol' Blake Superior, on his way to the espresso machine. When he's through he'll be bouncing around like an overgrown version of Tigger. Eventually I'll have to post a video of him jumping around on the couch; it's so ridiculous I can't help but laugh. Seated near him is Luanne McBride; her husband and some of her sons are criminals and thugs who occasionally work as enforcers for the local powers-that-be. Not that Luanne herself is any better; she wants her kids to get ahead in life and she isn't fussy about how they get there. Interesting family. At that point it was time to head back to Foster's so I zoomed in for a close-up of my favorite character:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so20.jpg

My stars she's gorgeous... uh, and a moment later she was out the door and headed for the taxi, full from a hearty dinner, but full of questions, too. There's a lot going on under the surface, she realizes; this isn't like the Foster's Valley she barely remembers but can never completely forget. Frankie wants some answers. So do I. So, I suspect, do the rest of you.

The final pics from Day One at the House are next. Stay tuned...

(Mac smilie goes here)

You know, I spotted that picture of Snape before I read the caption underneath and I was like, "HOMG, is that SNAPE???"

Sorry, sorry, just a little random 8D

Every time I see Checo now, I just laugh. 8D Poor manvictim.

Oh geez, DUCHESS. If ONE character cannot be saved, make it Duchess. XDD

Yay, it was a good day for everyone it looks like. Well, except maybe Duchess, but that's just Duchess. Blech! :P And Linestra got to meet the whole house! That's awesome! And she sat right across the table from Wilt! :D

Well, if we get to share our Sim universe with just one HP character, I'm glad it's Severus Snape. ;D

Concluding Day One at Foster's...

After hitting the espresso bar and playing a few rounds of darts, Frankie made her way home. She's in the background here, talking with Mac's mom, while Linestra chatted with Derek Monroe:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so21.jpg

Don't let his posture fool you; he's not bored or being rude, he's just too dang lazy to stand up straight. Derek's a great guy but he'd rather loaf in front of the TV than do anything requiring more effort than raising a fork. Behind him, Bendy can't get a word in so he opted to go talk to Barbara Cravet:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so22.jpg

You can almost hear her thinking, "Sheesh, this kid is rude! What's wrong with him?" Almost makes living with Cheese seem like a blessing. Almost.

As it turns out, Frankie and Rhonda don't much care for each other's company. Frankie, needing to unwind, went out and played on the swingset for a few minutes, while Rhonda went into the kitchen and was confronted by Berry:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so23.jpg

Rhonda: "I'm sorry, but Bloo is my son's Imaginary Friend, and even if he wasn't, you couldn't adopt him. IF's can't adopt IF's, and you're too unstable young anyway."
Berry: "I DON'T CARE! HE OUGHTA BE MINE! I WANT HIM! I LOVE HIM! GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!"
And things just kind of deteriorated from there. I assume Berry will eventually meet Bloo and Mac; it'll be interesting to see if their Sims get along any better than the originals.

While the argument in the kitchen went on, Linestra spent some time getting to know Wilt better:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so24.jpg

And better:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so25.jpg

The two are very close to the "Friends" level as defined by the game; one phone call ought to put them over the top. Nice to see two members from my two largest families getting along so well. Alas, the same cannot be said for Barbara and Rhonda:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so26.jpg

"You bore me. Your whole family bores me. And no, I'm not taking Bloo off your hands, I've already got an Imaginary Friend messing up my house!" Bloo and Cheese in the same house... bad idea. The cleaning would never get done. Despite their differences the two managed to be civil to one another at the dinner table:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so27.jpg

Another round of chef salad was served. It's not as filling as hamburgers, which require the same level of Cooking skill, but it has one advantage most other meals don't, which is that it can't be burned or start a fire, although I'm sure some Sim somewhere is working on it. Near the end of the meal, Rhonda casually inquired about some rumor she'd heard about something called the Piano; as it turns out, Linestra, who is native to this part of the Valley, does know something about the subject, but all she did was shake her head and say, "I don't know what's in it. Kimmy and Daran said not to talk about it with the newcomers or else. We can't take another tax hike. If you really want to know, ask Sparky or Lynnie; I'd rather stay out of it." Frankie raised an eyebrow at that point but said nothing; Coco changed the subject to her desire to hit the mall. More mysteries accrue. The day wound down after that; it had been a long one and everyone was a little tired. Wilt volunteered to clean up:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so28.jpg

Frankie went upstairs to hit the books again:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so29.jpg

And Coco, after playing on the swings with Eduardo for a bit, fell asleep on one of the benches under the gazebo:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...90125/so30.jpg

And that's pretty much how the first day at Foster's went; friendships begun, meals eaten, self-improvement, and general fun all-around. And more questions raised.

Up next: a look in that other large house just down the street.

(Mac smilie goes here)

I liked these ones :)

Hope to see more soon; maybe some shots of me would not go unappreciated. Thanks! :)

Linestra and Wilt are becoming friends! That's so awesome! And some big time loling at what little we know about the "piano", we now know it's something scandalous. Maybe terrifying. I hope no pianos show up and make trouble. :wiltshock:

Looking forward to the next.... chapter? Page? Day? Well, looking forward to the next post. I'd like to take a look inside that other big house myself. :goo: