Cecil's CCL, Chapter 4
- 1. Hello, and welcome to the fourth chapter of Cecil’s CCL! It’s a Crazy Cat Lover Challenge, and the objective is to have as many cats and as much cat-themed décor as you can manage. It was created specifically for the handsome fellow up there. No, the other one. The one without fur and whiskers. This is still sort of in play-testing, so I reserve the right to change rules if it becomes absolutely necessary. If you’re playing one of these and you have a question or a problem, please let me know!
- 2. Something I’ve been having a little difficulty with myself is the rule about not interrupting an action initiated by a cat. Looking at this queue, I simply can’t tell if that interaction is Cecil’s idea or the cat’s.
- 3. Finally, I figured out a solution: Hit pause and look at the cat’s queue. Here, you can see that Clotho had a different action lined up first, but since she’s gone to the bother of canceling it in favor of Cecil, I decided to let it go through. After all, if a cat deigns to interact with you, you should humbly accept the honor.
- 4. I ran into a bit of trouble at the start of the first rotation: Cher couldn’t go to work because Atropos decided to go to sleep right in front of Cher’s pillow. Although most normal beings would either step over Atropos or make use of the vast floor space off to the left, Cher is a Sim-cat… and not an overly bright one, apparently. I used moveobjects on Atropos so that Cher could get out of the house. Moving stuck objects is allowed, but I’m not sure about this, so let me know your thoughts.
- 5. Both Cher and Louis aged up after work that day. Neither looks particularly different, I don’t think.
- 6. Now that he has six cats, Cecil is busier than ever. Just keeping all the food bowls clean and filled takes quite a bit of time. Andy apparently thinks it takes too long.
- 7. Keeping the food bowls filled also takes quite a bit of money, and Cecil has had to resort to digging for treasure again. At night, of course, when more of the kitties are asleep. This time, at least. Cats sleep when they feel like it, and you just have to work around that. So what do you do when you have no money and can’t keep up with the demands of the kitties?
- 8. If you said “Give some of the kitties of for adoption,” that is absolutely the wrong answer. The correct answer is “Find some of the kitties jobs.” Andy and Clotho are now in Show Business, Lachesis is in Security, and Atropos is in Service. Why yes, I did give them jobs in the order they appeared in the paper. However did you guess?
- 9. But even with the challenges inherent in having to care for so many cats, I think we can all agree that this is about as close to heaven as a Sim can get.
- 10. Partway through the first rotation (for, as you no doubt recall, this chapter covers two), Cecil got an unexpected visitor. CECIL: Mom? What are you doing here? BUTTERCUP, CECIL’S MOTHER: I came over for a visit. What do you think? CECIL: I didn’t invite you over. BUTTERCUP: No? CECIL: No. I mean, it’s not that I don’t like seeing you, but…
- 11. BUTTERCUP: So it’s okay. And how could I resist a chance to visit with such adorable fuzzy-wuzzy, um… CECIL: Cats, Mom. And you don’t like cats. “Green eyed little bastards,” you called them.* BUTTERCUP: It’s not my fault if they’re scheming little sadists, is it? Plus, they leave dead mice on your pillow. CECIL: It’s what they do to teach kittens how to hunt. It’s a sign of affection.** *See “Green-Eyed Monsters” on my LJ. (Tag: Myshuno!) **True.
- 12. CECIL: Mooo-ooom! Those are my money trees! You have your own at home! BUTTERCUP: Children are supposed to support their parents in their old age, aren’t they? CECIL: You and Dad are worth ten times what I am! BUTTERCUP: Don’t be ridiculous. It can’t be more than about eight times your net worth. (kisses Cecil on the cheek) Good to see you, sweetie. Come by for dinner sometime. Yes, Cecil’s mother really did drop by to harvest money trees and play with one of the cats. I can’t make this stuff up.
- 13. I am ridiculously proud of this shot. Not because it’s well composed (it isn’t) or because it’s particularly exciting (it isn’t), but because it proves that my cat bed solution works! Just having the edge of the room lined with cat pillows is boring, so I came up with this setup to put pillows on different levels. And it worked! The three pillows are for Atropos (red), Clotho (orange), and Lachesis (green). Clotho is sleeping on Lachesis’ pillow, but don’t all cats regard everything as “mine” anyway?
- 14. I also found a couch designed to fit into the bay window* and decided to make my unofficial window seat actually usable. So far, Cecil is the only one to take advantage of it, but it does work. Come to think of it, I have yet to see the cats take advantage of the regular couch either… *The couch is by Sunni at Plumb Bob Keep. Search Sunni’s page in the “Codex Artifex” section to find it.
- 15. And proof that using moveobjects on to tuck a litterbox out of the way under the desk also works nicely. The litterbox can be cleaned as well, although I have no photographic proof of that. The question of why someone would want to put a litterbox near their feet while they’re on the computer I will leave to you to answer.
- 16. Since money is okay right now, with the kitties all working, and since Cecil’s motive are doing okay, Cecil spent a good chunk of the second rotation teaching kitties the skills they will need for promotion. Here you see Lachesis mastering “Stay.”
- 17. And here is Atropos getting the hang of “Shake.” This gives me a whopping two points. +1 Each command learned (except Use Toilet…) This stacks: if Mr. Fuzzypants learns Roll Over and Come Here, and Queen Snuffles learns Come Here and Shake, you get 4 points.
- 18. As you can see, I’ve rearranged the living room a little bit. Now it’s even closer to heaven than before. Look at how many of the kitties are spending time in it! Until this rotation, I had no idea that more than one cat could use the cat condo at the same time. (Well, I’ve only ever had one other household with more than one cat, and they couldn’t afford a cat condo.) And isn’t that cat stereo great? It’s a TS3-to-TS2 conversion with recolors by untidyfan/Jennerica, from their LJ.
- 19. Speaking of heaven, unfortunately Louis is getting a chance to check it out. I’m not very good at reading cats’ lifebars, and neither Cecil nor I were expecting this.
- 20. Everybody needed plenty of snuggles after that. Cecil’s queue was filled with pictures of all the kitties wanting a Stroke or a Hug. They had to wait their turn, though. Rule #3a. If multiple cats have interactions lined up, it's first come, first served. Never cancel an interaction involving a cat.
- 21. After everyone was feeling a little better, Cecil went off to make himself lunch. He got a bit distracted -- possibly by a cat; I don’t remember -- and lunch caught on fire.
- 22. Although that wasn’t quite as bad an outcome as you might think. ALLYN THAYER, THE FIREFIGHTER: Glad to see not of the cats were hurt. I take it you really like cats, huh? CECIL: Yes. ALLYN THAYER, THE FIREFIGHTER: Me too. I’ve got three. Well, you be more careful next time, Mr. -- ? CECIL: Shankel. Cecil Shankel. ALLYN THAYER, THE FIREFIGHTER: (shakes Cecil’s hand) Allyn Thayer. Always good to meet a fellow cat lover, Mr. Shankel.
- 23. Alas, the joy of meeting a fellow spirit was offset by Cher joining Louis in the giant kitty condo in the sky. I suppose this shouldn’t have been a surprise, since Cher and Louis were adopted at the same time, but Cecil and I were both taken unawares a second time.
- 24. Once again, there was a mass rush on Cecil for comfort. I’m glad that the kitties have a good enough relationship with him to be able to do that, at least. I don’t know if this is the time or the place, but I’d just like to point out that the cats are color-coded: Clotho has the orange collar, Lachesis has the red one, and Atropos has the green one. Andy is the grey cat.
- 25. And perhaps next time the house won’t feel quite so empty… Until next time, Happy Simming!
- 26. Plus points Commands learned by a cat: +1 Stay (Lachesis), +1 Shake (Atropos) Minus points None Total: 2 Total from last time: 24 GRAND TOTAL: 26