The Name's Oliver - Ben Oliver. Ch. 159: Duty vs Ethics, Pt. II

[RainBeau]

Yay, only five more days! Three cheers for Schip!

Hip, hip!

[Schipperke]

Beauty and the Thief, Part IV

Diary Entry

The hotel doors opened and four beauties walked in to the lobby.  Julienne, Theodora, Constance and Jamie had arrived.  Gracie's flight was a little late.



The pageant events didn't start until the next day, so I asked the girls if there was anything special they wanted to do.





The decision was unanimous - none of them had pizzerias in their home towns, and they all wanted to go for a real home-cooked pizza.  Gracie joined us as I was working on my pizza crust.







The pizza was a great hit.





The girls decided to attend the concert at the theatre.  Reluctantly I declined to join them.  I had other business to attend to.  I had an unpleasant duty to perform.  I returned to the hotel.  The girls wouldn't be back for at least two hours.  I proceeded to search their rooms.

[Magz from Oz]

Interesting update.  Searching a woman's room is easy... searching her handbag is the difficult task... most of them hold 10 cubic metres of junk.   

Great to hear that the cast comes off soon.  Hope the physio is not too arduous.   

[ladybug53]

The girls all look very lovely ! I hope Ben gets to find a few clues to help him with his new assignment . Great update !   

[RainBeau]

Mmmm, pizza! That's the first thing I would do in MV too. That hotel sure is gorgeous.

[Blayzen]

HOORAY!! I'm so happy that you're on the way to healing, Schip! Recovery from any kind of injury is never fun but when you take into consideration that you also lost a creative outlet because of said injury, it must have been horrible! Looking forward to your return to action 

As for the update, I was so thrilled that these pageant girls wanted pizza! It makes me happy that I'm not the only one who indulges in food that I probably shouldn't. 

I also agree that Ben has the easy job if all he has to search are their rooms...My purse(s) would take weeks to search through! I loved the screenshots you managed to get while he was searching the rooms. His facial expressions had me laughing out loud!

As always, another great update!

[Swirl-Girl]

I bet he had fun looking through their things !
I'll be counting the hours as well, glad that the end is in sight and my services (controlling the mouse for you) won't be needed.
Wonderful update, just keep on healing!

[Magpie2012]

5 days? Your cast comes off on my 30th birthday! Awesome! As of now all birthday wishes and good luck are by default transferred to Schip so that her wrist can be in fine form!!!

Irresistible is perfect for Ben, it will just tell the world what we all have always known... Friendly might be a good one to make it easier for him to befriend all those dastardly wrong-doers and find out their secrets... Perceptive helps with learning other sims traits so that might be handy... OK now I'm out of ideas LOL...

Be well Schip  we all rooting for you!

[Crystal]

Me, I'd be looking into any room / purse / inventory used by any of the girls who actually ate pizza.  Seriously when was the last time anyone saw a beauty queen eat?  They're all  fakes!  Arrest them all and hold them for 24 hours for questioning.  In 24 hours Ben will sort it all out!

[Blayzen]

Me, I'd be looking into any room / purse / inventory used by any of the girls who actually ate pizza.  Seriously when was the last time anyone saw a beauty queen eat?  They're all  fakes!

I'm with you, Crystal! I was basically thinking the same thing but I figured that Schip would make sure that these beauty queens were ones that all women could relate to...Good, solid role-models. Even if one them is up to no good!

[Louise56]

I'm glad the cast come off in a few days! Irresistible will be a awesome trait for Ben. Then he can wink at girls and blow kisses. I love the update.

[Swirl-Girl]

Hoping your wrist is healthy and fully healed tomorrowday!

[Schipperke]

Hoping your wrist is healthy and fully healed tomorrowday!

Thanks for the good wishes, everyone!  Yes, the cast came off yesterday.  But the wrist is far from being fully healed.  Stiff, flaccid, covered in dry flaking skin, swollen, discoloured - to my eye it looks like something that was harvested from a morgue.  Frankenstein's forearm?  The specialist says it has healed in a good position, although it looks quite misshapen to me.  And it sure doesn't operate like a  wrist at this point, being very stiff and weak.  Time will tell.  I still can't do much with it, but I have a bunch of exercises to loosen it up and strict instructions to not try to strengthen it yet because it really isn't finished healing and won't be for several months.

But it's good to be rid of that heavy cast.  And the good news is, I have the next update done and hope to get it posted sometime today. 

[Schipperke]

Beauty and the Thief, Part V

Diary Entry

The pageant was spread  over several days, so that as many town residents as possible would be able to attend.  But  of course the three judges would be there every day.  It was considered a great honour to be a judge at the first ever beauty pageant, and competition had been fierce.  Three of the town's most prominent citizens had been selected.  Su Lin Chang, businesswoman, was known to be mean-spirited and I was sure her only reason for wanting to be a judge was to further her career.  Gino Ferrari, the playboy chef, and mayor Costanzo Rossi were ensconced in their front-row seats, smugly waiting for the lovelies to arrive.



The judges could keep their front-row seats.  Because I had the best job, spending time with the girls between pageant events!  I thought I looked quite dashing in my tux as I introduced the first contestant, Jamie Jolina.





The judges asked each contestant to introduce herself by telling the audience the three words that best described her.

Jamie was gorgeous in her yellow gown as she talked of her interest in science and said "The three words that best describe me are driven, honest and a family person."



Beautiful Constance greeted the judges and said frankly, "Bibliophile, first and most important. Or the colloquial bookworm, although I feel that's less descriptive. Mmmm...detail-oriented. And well, to be perfectly honest--kind of...awkward." 



Gracie was stunning in her two-tone gown.  The three words she chose to describe herself were "Spontaneous, naughty, and flirty."  She sounded like my kind of girl.  I made a note in my little black book.



Lovely Julienne's phone rang just as she started speaking.  She apologized to the judges, "Sorry - a call from the office.  They're not used to doing without me, because the three words that best describe me are passionate, dedicated, and honest."



Theodora was resplendent in her gown with the turquoise sequins.  She described herself as "Empathetic, sunny, adaptable."



Next question:  name one living Sim who inspires you.

Constance:  "Oh! The person I most admire is Anna-Liza Riddle. I read many of her books as a child and I have read the rest of them since! Her mysteries are perfectly set up, so upon a second reading you can see the warning signs, but on a first reading she almost never fails to surprise me! She was in the Journalism career, like me, but she was able to retire early to write, just like I want to do. I'd like to be just like her someday."



Julienne:  "Lola Belle. Her music is incredible, and I really admire how she can juggle work, family, and a love life. That's something I want to do myself in the not-so-distant future."



Gracie:  "I would have to say that Agnes Crumplebottom is my inspiration. She never stopped believing that love would conquer all; even death!"



Theodora:  "This is such a hard one!  I would say maybe Honey Darnell.  Talk about a rags to riches story!  And she obviously loves her pet horse very much.  I also love listening to her albums."



Jamie:  "Hank Goddard.  He is a police officer and he helps people in a different way, but he still inspires me to be a better person and work that much harder to reach my goal. Hank is very driven and dedicated.  It is not every day, you see someone, in a thunderstorm, rescue a kitten from a tree or help an elderly person find their way home."



Finally the official pageant events were over for the day.  But my work was just beginning.  I asked Jamie if she'd like to visit a genuine country pub.  Off we went to Worries and Woes to wet our whistles.





Soon Jamie started looking around, saying "I wonder where the ladies' room is."  I pointed to it and offered to watch her purse for her.



Ha!  My clever plan was working.  As soon as Jamie was out of sight I began hastily rummaging through her purse, looking for the microdot.  Unfortunately I underestimated the incredible amount of junk women carry around in their purses.  Jamie returned to find me digging around in her bag.  "What are you looking for?" she asked.  I gave her the first excuse I could think of - I was looking for an aspirin for my headache.

"Ben, why didn't you say so?" Jamie said.  "I'm a doctor, you know."



Jamie continued, "You don't want an aspirin.  I have something much better.  It's brand-new.  Look, here you are.  Just swallow this and you'll feel much better."



I goggled at the size of the pill she was holding out.  No way I was going to try to swallow that thing!  I hastily told her that my headache was suddenly much better.



And just to show her there were no hard feelings over it ...



But when I suggested a little romantic interlude, she replied "Sorry, Ben.  You're a nice fellow and all, but you're no Hank Goddard."



And just like that, she broke my heart.  Oh well.  Four more lovely beauty contestants to practice the old Oliver charm on!

Diary Entry Ends

Notes:  The contestants' answers to questions in this and the next few updates were all written by the members of the top-hush, button-lip team, who did a great job of giving each contestant her own special voice.  And thanks again to Saltypaws for creating the hotel with that spiffy runway which is just perfect!

[Tilia]

Get it, Dora!  I'm rooting for you.