The Living Experiment: A Second Chance

A Tale of Torture and Mazes (Part 6)

Crypto cries.  If only he had a second chance to do everything right!   His hunger bar and energy bar are at rock bottom.

 In the end, his sleepiness wins out.  He can't even make it to the kitchen couch.  Anna worries about him briefly.  If only she had a second chance to do everything right.  Wait, she does!  

She has flour sack baby!  She's such a good mother to flour sack baby!  She plays with him, oblivious to the world around her. 

Then she mops up the puddle in the kitchen, probably because it reminds her of her daughter.

Crypto wakes up from his nap and sits.  He just...sits.  He looks depressed.

 Outside, things are normal for Victor.  Another guest arrives, and he's already planning a good fight.

I'd say Victor just doesn't like people at all, except for the fact that he's never wanted to pick a fight with the family.  Perhaps he feels some connection to them.

It's a typical day for Victor.

Inside, I'm tired of the flour sack.  It's time to give Anna what she wants for real - a baby - and see what she does with it.

I don't want to wait around for three days, so I cheat and speed up her pregnancy.  She goes into labor in the middle of the maze.

It's a baby boy - Telly Gram!   But Mom doesn't exactly look...happy.

Victor is drinking and thinking about his latest enemy when he hears the commotion.

He rushes to the window.  I don't know how he can see so deep into the maze, but maybe he's got super-vision or something.

He jumps for joy at the news of a little baby.

Dad looks less than happy.

He's still starving.  In fact, he seems to be wondering if the baby is edible.

I guess he can see through walls too.  Hmm, maybe that's how these Sims find everything so quickly.  He cheers for his wife, then walks away.

Anna puts the baby down on the floor.  She's exhausted.

This truly is a second chance to do everything right.  But first, she's going to need a nap.

Diary Excerpts:

Dear Diary, my wife can't take care of an eight year old kid.  Is is some cruel joke that she's got a brand new baby out of fricken NOWHERE?    -Crypto

Dear Diary, Anna is a doll.  Her new baby is so adorable!  I wish I could hold him.    -Victor

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The Living Experiment: Rock Bottom

A Tale of Torture and Mazes (Part 5)

 Victor has a new guest.  He looks so flattered at first.  Maybe he will actually make a friend this time.

 But no, he quickly loses interest and goes back inside to drink.  His guest is a persistent woman.  She follows him inside and tries to cheer him up.

 Victor isn't having any of this.  He starts in on his usual yelling and fighting.

But he gives her a hug before she leaves.  He probably doesn't want any one else knocking over his trashcans.

Inside, all hell has broken loose.  Crypto complains about how hungry he is.  Again.  But nobody listens.

Anna's stuck in crazy mode.  Every chance she gets, she goes off to play with her flour sack baby.

If there was any dignity left in this house, my no-toilet experiment has put an end to that.  

I've learned Sims will pee anywhere, including at the kitchen table.

Crypto and Crono eat some dinner in squalor.  The dishes aren't cleaned, the floor isn't mopped.

After dinner, they're both too tired to move.  They fall asleep in the kitchen.

Anna doesn't even notice.  Coochie coochie coo!

She's got a baby to take care of!

Flour sack baby is so cute!

Crypto wakes up in the middle of the night.  She thinks she hears rats.

As morning dawns, even Victor is beginning to look worried.

 The kitchen has become the new bathroom .  Crypto adds to the puddle

Then she begins to splash in it.  She's lost all dignity at this point.

 

I guess a puddle is a puddle...

 After a horrible nights sleep and covered in pee, Crypto rummages through the fridge for some food.  If only someone would notice her situation!

Well, it appears someone has.  A social worker pulls up outside.

Crypto stops what she's doing and stands completely still.  It's as if she knows what's going to happen.

The social worker marches right past Victor's room and finds her way to the kitchen.

She scolds Anna about what a horrible parent she's been.

For the first time, Anna looks truly regretful about what she's done.  About what a horrible parent she's been.

The social worker doesn't say anything to Crono's dad at all.  Instead, she marches into Victors office and scolds him for...I don't know?  Letting this horrible experiment take place?

Crono looks smug as the social worker walks her to the van.

Victor calls out after her.  Am I finally seeing Victor's soft side?  I think he's actually going to miss her.   But Chrono won't be missing this place at all.

 For the first time in this experiment, Anna actually cries.

Diary Excerpts:

They took my baby!  The other one, my real baby!    -Anna

Poor kid.  I hope she has a chance now.    -Victor

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The Living Experiment: The Family Begins to Crack

A Tale of Torture and Mazes (Part 4)

 

It's a brand new day.  A school day.  But Crono won't be going to school.  Like everyone else in this experiment, she can't leave the house.

 

Victor wakes up to a brand new day of drinking. He's sinking deeper into depression.

The whole family is hungry.  It's time for me to interfere.  I tell Crypto to go fix some breakfast for his starving daughter who's off playing with the RC car.

He puts some pop tarts in the oven, then wanders off to take a bath.

He gets back before burning down the kitchen, but just barely.  He's not happy with the results.

He's so hungry he eats one anyway.  At first, Chrono tries to satisfy herself with food from the fridge.

But then her hunger gets the better of her.  It's this, or starve.

Anna eats one too, choking all the way.  Between the smell of burnt breakfast, rotting food left on the table, and flies, she can barely keep it down.  Someone needs to clean this house.

 

Victor has problems of his own.  It seems one of the guests he offended has knocked over his trashcan, and now he has roaches.  He seems to be thinking about starting another fight.

It's time to intensify the experiment.  The family has been having too easy a time finding everything in this maze.  It's time to remove something altogether...the toilets.

 Anna has to go.  Badly.  She tries to forget about it and plays with the RC car, but then she gets some bad news.  Little Chrono's grades are dropping because she hasn't been in school.

It's the final straw.  Anna is a family-oriented Sim, and most of her fears revolve around her family doing poorly.  She collapses in a laughing fit on the floor.

 A therapist drops in free of charge.  His visit lifts her spirits.

He assures Anna that if she can keep her head together, she will be fine.

With her mind freed from worry, she goes back to more pressing matters.  Like having to pee.

She makes a puddle next to the RC car.  How embarrassing!

 But she's not gonna clean it up.  That visit from the therapist didn't do as much good as she thought.  She still wants another child badly.  She wanders off to a quiet corner.

She pulls out a flour sack and paints a face on it.  She rocks it like a baby, and coos and talks to it, unaware that down the hall her real child is dying of neglect.  She's officially gone crazy.

Diary Excerpts:

Dear Diary, my parents are IDIOTS.  What the hell were they thinking!  I'm smelly and hungry. I'm gonna flunk school.  I'm probably gonna starve, if I don't die from filth first.    -Crypto

Dear Diary, I wanted a baby, and now I've got one.  It's sooo cute!  It looks just like me!   -Anna

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