The Sims 2 Presents: Foster's Valley!

[Cassini90125]

Originally Posted by jekylljuice

Wow, is this a Truman Show-esque conspiracy in the making?

Let's find out...

The sun set right after Madame Foster dropped her little bombshell on Sparky. Both went inside, Sparky going online and Madame Foster going to the dinner table to await the evening meal. Unfortunately, the chief cook and her chief assistant, both of whom were sick to death of doing all the cooking and cleaning, decided dinner wasn't their problem, they were going to have fun on the swings and that's all there is to it:



And they did indeed have a good time. Oh, you Sims and your swings... anyway, xxxClaire didn't want to wait on them, so she went ahead and took a shot at making dinner herself:



One huge platter of spaghetti and meatballs, coming up. Cooking isn't her favorite activity but she knows what she's doing; most of the residents have a point or two in the skill. Jekylljuice and Luanne joined Madame Foster to wait to be fed:



Luanne is still being cranky but with the prospect of food on the way she's more polite now than she was earlier. The conversation wasn't about anything in particular, although the suitcase icon appeared several times so I think travel was the main topic. Dinner commenced soon thereafter, another haphazard affair, with people drifting to and from the table as hunger took them (and as seats became available). More talk followed the meal; Sims happily chatter away without any prompting from me, except for the really shy ones. Sparky hooked up with Samira Marville in her office:



A pleasant change for Sparky, no doubt; Samira is probably the most level-headed guest they've had at the Forum house. Back in the dining area, Linestra caught up with Madame Foster and the two had a lively chat:



They're discussing the enviroment, although you'd never know it from watching them. It's the icons in their speech balloons that tell the story; I've played the game enough now that I can often follow whole conversations. Nearby, Jekylljuice cornered Luanne:



"So, Mrs. McBride, I hear you have four sons about my age. Are they cute?" Oi, vey. I'd add the "rolling eyes Bloo" smilie here but it'd put me over the image limit. At that moment, Imaginary Light finished her painting, sold it, and having had no socialisation for several hours, promptly got on the phone:



She and the guy on the other end both have lightning bolt icons in their relationship panels, so I think the Serious Conversation I've mentioned a few times will be coming up soon. Just friends right now, and I'm not too worried, but they're on the Watch List. Outside, well, here we go again:



The swings burn no calories, and Madame Foster is starting to get a little heavy, but she's having a good time. At least she was, until Sparky called her into the office. More on that in a moment. Samira and Luanne, tired from the day's events, went home soon thereafter, and most everyone else went to bed. Lynnie stayed up late with a cookbook, studying for the soon-to-be-played Headmaster Scenario:



If she wins, everybody wins, and y'all will be off to private school and get embarassing spiffy new dork outfits school uniforms. In this pic, she'd clearly like the cameraman to take a hike.

Back to Sparky's office; she wants some answers, as I'm sure you all do, too. So late that evening, past midnight, really, she sat Madame Foster down and asked:



"Are you serious? No one in the House knows that they've been animated and that Cartoon Network has been running a series about them for the past four years? How is this possible? Why haven't you told them?" Sparky asked.
Madame Foster sighed. "They're very private people, especially my grandaughter and Mr. Herriman. It's easier here in the Valley; CN isn't broadcast here. Back in the Pacific northwest I had to quietly convince everyone that the channel had nothing to offer. I showed Wilt a few episodes of Squirrel Boy and Gym Partner, plus an extra gross episode of Billy & Mandy; that convinced him to stay away from it and to keep the youinger residents from watching it. Eduardo was easy; five minutes of Adult Swim was all it took. He won't go near CN. Coco never watched it anyway, when Bloo lived with us I steered him to videogames, and my dear Mr. Herriman regards CN as 'intellectual rubbish that rots the mind as surely as candy rots the teeth'." She smiled at the memory. "Bendy and Berry weren't with us very long at the time and when they rejoined us in the Valley, it didn't matter anymore."
"Very clever," said Sparky, "But what about the internet? My Forum, for instance. How'd you keep them from finding out that way?"
"Blocking software and sophisticated search filters."
"You blocked my Forum? Nevermind. What about trips out of the House?"
"We never took any, at least not to places with TV's. If we had to go to the mall I'd check CN's schedule first. Oh, there were some close calls but it all worked out in the end."
"I see. What about Frankie? The IF's may not have anyone to visit but she must have. What about her? And why'd you do this in the first place?"
"I did it for the money." Madame Foster sounded quite unhappy. "Donations were almost nonexistent. Our savings were dwindling. Do you have any idea how much it costs to run Foster's? I met Craig McCracken by chance one day. We talked, he mentioned that he was looking for an idea for a new show, and I talked him into using us as characters and stories from our lives as plotlines. I gave him everything he needed; we drew up a contract, he animated us from the tapes I gave him, and it went from there."
"Tapes? And how'd you keep Frankie from finding out?"
"The House security tapes. I don't know what's on them, and I don't watch the show. I don't watch because I don't want to be reminded of what I did to my poor grandaughter to keep her in the house." Madame Foster had a tear in her eye. "And now it may all be for nothing. I moved us here because the taxes are lower, and I remember that they were, but now there's a huge gap in my memory, the taxes are higher than I thought they'd be, and I hear rumors that because of some stupid musical instrument that nobody wants to talk about, they're going to go higher still. And now with the show ending, pretty soon we're going to start running out of money. In the not-too-distant future, we may have to shut down."

Madame Foster politely excused herself and went home. Sparky went to bed. There was nothing left to say.

(To be continued...)