The Sims 2 Presents: Foster's Valley!

[Cassini90125]

My thanks, as always, to those who commented. It's always nice to hear a few words of appreciation.

Foster's Valley - "Secrets revealed"

(Warning: long post ahead)

Madame Foster was up the stairs in no time; not an easy thing to do at her age. She was confronted by a very angry-looking Frankie and knew immediately that she was in trouble. "You called, dear?" she said in a nervous voice. Frankie didn't say a word; she simply pointed at the painting. "Oh, my, isn't that nice?" Madame Foster said. "Did one of our lovely hosts do that? It's very good, everyone looks so cheerful." Frankie again didn't say a word; she held up the Season 2 DVD case barely six inches from her grandmother's face. "Oh. Frankie, I can explain-"
"WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?!?!" Frankie was clearly upset:



"Frankie, please understand, I did this for the House-"
"You traded the stories of our lives for the House?? This had better be good, Grandma, this had better be real good!"
At that point Wilt and Mr. Herriman showed up. "Is everything okay?" Wilt asked. "What's going on here?" Mr. Herriman added.
Again, Frankie pointed to the painting and held up the DVD case. "Our lives have been animated and put on public display," she growled. She directed their attention to the TV. "See for yourself." Wilt and Mr. Herriman sat and watched in stunned silence as the events of Where There's A Wilt There's A Way unfolded before their eyes:



"But... a lot of that never happened!" Wilt said, distraught. "You can't do all of that in the space of one basketball game! And I'm not an astronaut or a dentist!"
"Well, perhaps now you all understand how I felt when that video of me entertaining my creator was posted on the web!" said Mr. Herriman. "Waitaminute... Oh, no, don't tell me they made an episode about that!"
"I don't know," said Frankie. "I don't know how many episodes there are, or what they're about, or how this all happened without us knowing about it, but we're going to find out! Aren't we, Grandma?!"
Madame Foster sighed. "It's a long story."
"We have time," Frankie said. "Spill it."
Sparky arrived at that point:



"Um, you mind if I sit in? I know it's none of my business but I'd like to hear this, too, if nobody minds," she said. "I've been a fan since the show started. We all have; that's why we were so eager to have you come spend the day with us. And Madame Foster, I'm sorry this got out. The painting and the discs were supposed to be put out of sight; I don't know why they weren't."
"It would have gotten out eventually," Madame Foster replied. "No one's to blame for this but me." She shifted gears for a moment, trying to lighten the mood. "So, who's your favorite character?"
"Terrence."
"The Cassiman punk??" Frankie was incredulous. "He's in the show too?"
"Not lately," Sparky said unhappily.
"But why... hold it, Grandma, stop changing the subject!"
"Sorry, dear, just trying to lighten things up a bit."
Wilt excused himself at that point, feeling a need to tell the rest of the IF's what was going on. Eduardo didn't believe him at first:



"Animated? And on TV? No way!" Wilt did convince him pretty quickly, and Coco, too; feeling rattled, both headed for the bubble blower. Berry giggled and wanted to watch the show; Bendy, still engrossed in Night Of The Living Dead, didn't much care. Wilt was feeling pretty rattled and a little violated himself and needed to talk to someone about everything. Fortunately, this was the Never Forgotten house so there were definitely a few people who might understand what he was going through:



"It's a really good show," Jekylljuice told him, "and you've got a lot of fans out there, and in here, too. It's something you should be proud of."
"Yeah, maybe, but it was done without me being asked. I'm sorry, but I'm kind of a private person; I mostly keep things in and don't tell the world about my life. Now a lot of it is on TV. Madame Foster should have asked me first, I wouldn't have liked it but I wouldn't have said no."
"You never do," smiled xxxClaire.
"Never been able to. Hey, how'd you know... oh, yeah. I guess we've both seen Where There's A Wilt There's A Way now." A little laughter, a little healing. Upstairs, Lynnie joined the group; there wasn't any laughing going on as Madame Foster told her story:



"It all started about five years ago. The House has always been short of money, and as you can imagine the bills are huge, what with all the residents we had. After the incident with the Imaginary Klingons-"
"Imaginary Klingons??" said Lynnie.
"Yes. Some Trekkie kid created them. Two months later another Trekkie kid adopted them. In the meantime they broke things while playing 'Capture the Mugato'. They decided Eduardo was the Mugato, whatever that is, and terrorized the poor dear, and you know how he gets when he panics. After we paid the repair bills we barely had enough money to stay afloat. One day while I was at the mall I met a man named Craig McCracken, who it turned out was working for Cartoon Network. We chatted for a bit and ended up having lunch together. He told me that he was working on a new show for CN, a show focusing on Imaginary Friends, so I told him about Foster's and what we do. He was fascinated by the stories I told him and it hit me that they might make for good TV. And a good bit of money from the royalty checks. It took me quite awhile to convince him that the show he wanted to do was in the foster home that I ran but in the end I talked him into it. The problem was that I knew no one in the House would want a bunch of animators and writers following them around, asking personal questions and telling them to hold still while being sketched. The 'being on TV' part would be even worse; the shyer IF's, not to mention private people like you, Frankie, and Wilt and my dear Mr. Herriman, would never have agreed to it."
"True," said Frankie. "There's a reason it's called a 'private' life, Grandma."
"I know. But we needed the money so bad. What's more, Craig was on a deadline and I didn't have time to tell him all the stories I knew. That's when it occurred to me that everything he needed to make a show about us was on the House security tapes."
"You sold our security tapes to cartoon people??"
"I did. I asked him to please not go into too many background details or personal stuff but other than that, do what you want with them. Before I started mailing the tapes to him though I had to figure out how to keep everyone from finding out about it once the show started airing. I was able to convince the IF's that CN wasn't worth watching; I showed Wilt a few episodes of Billy & Mandy and that show with the three boys named Ed and he wrote of CN as having no educational or cultural value. Eduardo, I let him see what was on Adult Swim, and he won't go near CN now. Same with everyone else; I convinced them all that CN wasn't worth watching."
"And what if we went out, hmm, Grandma? How'd you plan to keep us from finding out from someone else's TV?"
"With one exception, that wasn't as big a problem as you might think. Most of our day trips were to the parks or the beaches, places without TV or internet. I kept you from finding out online at home with blocking software and search filters and such. Other trips out. like to the mall or anyplace with a TV, well, I kept my eye on the TV schedule and worked around it. The IF's seldom went out on their own much anyway, fearing that a child who might want to adopt him or her might arrive while they were out. I played on that fear to keep them in. The exception was you, dear. You had a life outside the House; you'd go out with your friends at night or on a date or some such thing and I had no way to keep you in. But I did find a way."
"And I'm guessing that this is where Rhonda Cassiman enters the story," said Sparky. "Rhonda, and Bloo. Oh, hell, I think I know what you did. Dang, Madame Foster. Just... dang."
Frankie spoke again. "So do I. But I want to hear you say it."
"First I want to say that I'm ashamed of myself," Madame Foster continued. "All I was thinking of was the House, and the money, and the plan. I should never have dragged the Cassimans into this. Like with Craig, I met Rhonda at the mall one day, and we chatted and had lunch. The poor woman was clearly tired and I asked why, which is when she told me about her problems with Bloo and her children. I suggested that she pack up Bloo and send him to my place but she wouldn't hear of it. 'I can't just ship off my son's best friend, imaginary or not,' she said. 'I need relief from him but it wouldn't be right.' I explained to her what I was up to with Craig and CN, how it would get Bloo out of her hair and get Mac out of the house to meet new friends, and in the end I offered to cut her into the deal because the way she described him, I had to have Bloo. I had to have him in the House because this loud, messy, destructive, egomaniacal troublemaker of an Imaginary Friend was the only thing I could think of that could wear you down and leave you too tired and cranky to go out and discover that I'd sold your life to Cartoon Network. And I've hated myself for inflicting him on you ever since. Frankie, I am so, so sorry that I did this to you." Madame Foster had tears in her eyes. So did Mr. Herriman, Sparky, and Lynnie. So did Frankie as she got up and left. To be honest with you all, so do I.

(To be continued...)

[Imaginary Light]

This is becoming epic. I seriously cannot wait for the next installment.

[Lynnie]

One word for you-

WOW!!

Man alive, this is getting intense! I sooooo want to give Frankie, Wilt and Ed a hug and apologize for them finding out like this. And even Madame F, since at least she meant well. But it would have been much more honorable to get permission from the residents (and the Cassiman kids and Bloo) first. Aww.. Yes, I felt myself getting teary eyed at the end there.

I most definitely cannot wait for the next update!

[antgirl1]

Gasp...

[xxxClaire]

Whoa... that was intense... can't wait to see what happens next.

[Cassini90125]

Concluding the visit...

The meeting upstairs was mostly over at that point. Lynnie caught up with Frankie and managed to convince her to at least eat something before heading back to the House, which she did:



It was pretty obvious to everyone that she was more than a little upset. Linestra inquired if she was okay; Frankie responded in a calm, detached voice, saying, "Well, it seems that Madame Foster..." and repeated the entire story. Nobody missed the fact that she referred to her grandmother as "Madame Foster" and not "Grandma". There was a lot of hurt here, a lot of deep hurt, and it wasn't going to heal anytime soon. Eduardo took it all in and stood quietly nearby and spaced out, his mind gone to another place where he didn't have to deal with any of this:



"I..." Words failed him. "I know, Ed, I know," Jekylljiuce said as she joined him. Meanwhile, Coco found a different way to cope with things:



And that's where she stayed as Frankie gathered up the rest of the Imaginary Friends and went home.

Upstairs, Madame Foster continued to explain herself to Sparky:



"I can't say much more than I already have," she said. "It seemed like it was the only thing I could do. The House was in bad shape, the bill collectors were closing in, donations were flat and we couldn't get help from the government. It looked as if my life's work was coming to an end. Now my granddaughter hates me, the show is ending and the royalty checks aren't going to cover our expenses for long. I remember moving here because the taxes were lower, but something went wrong. I don't know what it is; the taxes and the bills weren't as low as I thought, they skyrocketed two days ago, and there's a huge gap in my memory between when we left Washington and when we arrived here. Everyone in the House has it, and so do a lot of other people. I don't understand it."
"Don't you remember anything from that time?" Sparky asked.
"Echoes of fear and something about a crystal. That's all," she replied. "I'm more concerned about money right now. Did you get your tax bill? My goodness, the first one was bad enough but the last one, poor Mr. Herriman nearly had a heart attack when he saw it. What happened that they rose so much overnight?"
Sparky shrugged. "The Bandrowskys warned us. 'Don't talk about the Piano with the newcomers or else'. I guess someone talked, and Kimmy and Darran found out about it. He's on the Valley council and pushed the tax bill in retaliation."
Madame Foster rolled her eyes. "Again with this Piano thing! What is the big deal about a musical instrument? You press the keys, it makes a nice sound. Have I missed something?"
"I don't know if you want to get involved in this," said Sparky. She looked at Madame Foster for a moment. "Then again, maybe you do. There may be a lot of money at stake."
"Newcomers or not, we live in the Valley, too. We're involved whether we want to be or not. So, what is it? Made of rare wood with keys of ivory and onyx, strings of silver, and lost out in the bay until someone finds and claims it?"
Sparky laughed. "No, not like that. It's not lost at all; in fact, I'll bet you've already seen it. A piano is a musical instrument but the Piano, the Jewel of the Valley, is a house."



"A house?" Confusion tinted Madame Foster's voice. "The Bandrowskys are up in arms because people might talk about a house? Who are these Bandrowsky people?"
"Wealthy, ambitious, and ruthless," said Sparky. "Kimmy, Darran, and their three daughters:



"Kim, the youngest, she's not too bad but the rest of the family... I don't know. They want what they want and if you cross them or get in their way they will hurt you. They're also very charismatic, charming people, and they know how to use that charm. Be careful around them; if you frack them off enough, Kimmy will arrange a response, and it won't be pleasant."
"That bad? Dang. How does the Piano fit into this?"
"It started decades ago. There once was a man in the Valley named Marcus Langard, just another guy, really, nothing special about him until after he graduated from the University. He went on to become an adventurer like no other, travelling far and wide across the Valley and well beyond. When he finally returned to the Valley to settle down he had a fortune with him and bought a lot of land. People started calling him 'Marcus Landgrab', which he thought was funny, so he changed his name to that... 'cept there was a typo on the legal documents, so it's spelled 'Landgraab'."
"As in 'Malcolm Landgraab the 4th'? The fellow in Bluewater Village who owns Club Dante and the electronics store?"
"That's Marcus's descendent:



Marcus and his wife Irene had two children, Malcolm Landgraab the 1st and a daughter named Teresa. The Piano, built for him by the great architect Seomi, was their residence. Cost a fortune to build but was worth it. Total luxury. Unfortunately both Marcus and Irene died in an off-lot accident while the kids were in college, leaving the Piano as an unowned lot that nobody could afford, and in the Valley" (and in the game) "if no one owns a lot, no one can enter it. Malcolm the 1st tried for years to raise enough money to buy it back but never succeeded. Same with Malcolm the 2nd. Malcolm the 3rd lost interest in the house; I don't know what Malcolm the 4th thinks about it. I don't know what happened to Teresa; she left the Valley after graduation and that's the last anyone heard of her."
"Okay, so the Piano is a big expensive house," said Madame Foster. "So is my house. What's the big deal?"
"The big deal is what might be inside. The stories and rumors are pretty wild but the fact is that Marcus was incredibly wealthy and collected a lot of stuff during his life. No one knows what's inside the Piano but everyone knows it's far more valuable than it's already high price would suggest. The place is an incomparable treasure trove."



"So the Bandrowskys wanted everyone to keep quiet to reduce the competition, is that it? Wow. This is a lot to take in, Ms. Read, it truly is. But it'll have to wait; right now I'm more concerned about my granddaughter."
"So am I, Madame Foster. So are we all."

The evening was pretty much over at that point. Madame Foster headed home while Sparky chatted briefly with the last two stragglers:



Mr. Herriman, dedicated as always to his creator, promised he'd look fter her and do whatever he could to heal the rift that had now formed between Frankie and Madame Foster. Coco promised the same thing... and demanded to know where she could buy a bubble blower of her own.

Early Sunday morning at Foster's, neither Wilt nor Madam Foster could sleep. They found themselves taking comfort in each other's company on the living room sofa:



"I've done a horrible thing, Wilt, a horrible thing."
"I know, Madame Foster. Your heart was in the right place, trying to save the House and all. It's just bad judgement. Really bad. Especially dragging the Cassimans into it and using Bloo to wear down Frankie like that. Sorry, but that's really not okay."
"I know, Wilt. I always have. And knowing what I did has been tearing me up inside for five years now. I don't know if I can ever forgive myself for doing this to her and to all of you as well."
"This is going to be with you for a long time. Look, I'm not happy about this either, but I forgive you. Does that help?" He smiled that big white smile he was so well known for.
"Thank you, dear. But will Frankie ever forgive me? I don't know if there's any way I can ever make this up to her. I just don't know." With that she sighed and went to bed, leaving Wilt in front of the fireplace to contemplate the future of the House.

Actually, Madame Foster, there is a way you can make it up to Frankie. You see, there's some unfinished business at Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. And you're going to be the one to finish it.

Stay tuned.

[antgirl1]

Dun dun duuuuuuun!

[Lynnie]

I second what Ant said, hehe.

I want to give Ed a hug in that shot of him all spaced out, awww. Yes Ed, I know too. And I love the look on Coco's face while she's playing with the bubble blower.

Ah hah! So that's what "The Piano" is! Fascinating. It looks spectacular from the outside, and I can see why it got its name.

I feel sick for Frankie. I hope she'll be ok.

[jekylljuice]

Darn it, this is getting really good. And it's nice that I was able to chill a bit with Eduardo there.

As for the Piano...lol, good to have that mystery finally solved.

[Fomalhaut]

Yay for detailed family stories! (God, I hate saying "yay" but it fits here, I guess.)

Keep this up! - and I'd like to see where I am while all this mess is going on (or is it better for me to stay out of it...?)?