Down & Out in Del Sol – Ch 1: Arrival

When Mariel arrived in Del Sol Valley, she asked the ticket agent at the bus station where the address on her deed was. The ticket agent told her that it was in Mirage Park and 101 Vacuous Green was just a few streets over. Since it was a sunny, spring day, Mariel decided to walk. Umm, yah, that and she didn’t have any simoleons to take a cab anywhere. Mariel dragged her luggage behind her and walked straight to her property. When she got there, she was just not ready for what she saw.

“It’s just a lot,” Mariel said as she surveyed the very green space that she was going to call her home. “I thought it would have a shack, or trailer or something, but there is nothing here.” 

She looked around the neighborhood. It looked pretty nice and her one neighbor had a sailboat parked in their driveway. She lived on a cul-de-sac with a little park across the street.

She sighed. Maybe she had made a mistake coming here. She had no simoleons, no friends who lived here, nothing. She thought she was going to cry and reached in her jacket pocket for a tissue and found some scraps of paper. Of course! Now she remembered.

While she was at the bus station, she had noticed a bulletin board with the names of two talent agencies looking for aspiring actresses. She had torn off the tear-strips from their poster. Oh, she should call them and find out if she could get an audition. She decided to call the Everday Extras Talent Agency because they could also give her shifts at Chez Llama between gigs.

The agency needed a headshot and bio to determine what type of audition she was suitable for. She quickly took a selfie and attached it to her composite card and e-mailed it off.

What luck! She had a choice of 2 auditions. Both were tomorrow. She decided to go for the Salty Suds Commerical.

With that done, she felt happier already. Mariel decided she wanted to explore the neighborhood a bit. She saw some sims and went over to introduce herself. Who knows, maybe they were famous and she would be discovered like her Mom had been.

But, no, they were just some visitors taking in the sights of Del Sol Valley.

But she did get to meet her neighbor, Vanessa Jeong, who was a one-star celebrity and a commercial spokesperson. Vanessa had done a few commercials herself and gave Mariel some hints on what to do to prepare for her audition. Vanessa had to leave but said that if she ever needed anything that she just lived across the street.

Mariel and Vanessa. Her first friend in Del Sol Valley. Mariel loved Vanessa’s hair and Vanessa loved Mariel’s Charlotte Olympia kitten flats. Well, thank goodness someone noticed her shoes! She had paid $500 simoleons for them and that was on sale! She had used almost all of her babysitting earnings to buy them. Somehow Muriel knew that she and Vanessa were going to be best buds.

Mariel bid Vanessa farewell and heard her stomach rumble. When was the last time she ate? Hmmm….she thought she was imagining it at first, but she smelled bar-b-q. It smelled so good. Someone was bar-b-q’ing in that little park. Maybe they had some food to spare.

She saw some sims sitting at a table and they invited her to join them and offered her a plate of chili. She introduced herself to Alex Moyer, a resident of Del Sol, and Miko Ojo and Akira Kibo who were visiting from San Myshuno.

Mariel was telling a joke to Alex when suddenly Kayla Flemming – yes – THE Kayla Flemming sat down at the picnic table with them. Mariel couldn’t believe it. She was sitting beside a celebrity! Kayla was THE Personal Trainer to the stars!

Mariel tried to play it cool, like she saw celebrities every day of her life and attempted an introduction. That went well, but then she got so carried away, she heard herself blurt out, “May I have your autograph? Can I take a selfie with you? Can I take your picture?” Oh no! Mariel couldn’t believe she had done that. Of course, Kaya said no to all of those requests and Mariel just wanted to bury her head in the sand.

Instead, she excused herself from the table and made her way to the public restrooms. Thank goodness at least they had a restroom here. When she came out, Kayla was nowhere to be seen.

Well, that’s ok. Maybe Kayla came to this park to get away from the spotlight. Mariel was sure that this was the start of many encounters with celebrities. In the meantime, she would look around the park and see what she could collect. Not much, but at least she found a few items. Maybe there was a pawn shop near the Talent Agency where she could sell these items.

She took a quick simstagram photo for her simstagram update. Wow! 24 followers! Someone was actually reading her story. It was getting dark and Mariel thought that maybe having a nap on the park bench would be a good idea. She chose a bench that was hidden at the back of the park.

It really wasn’t bad for her first day in Del Sol. And sleeping out in the open reminded her of her camping trips with her grandfather. Well, except without the tent or the solar shower. She was a bit chilled, and she wished she had a sleeping bag to sleep in. As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered if there was anywhere to fish in Del Sol. She missed fishing… ZZzz

* * * * *

Day 1 Stats:

From zero simoleons to $132 simoleons. When in season, there are also some chrysanthemums, daisies and a lemon tree to harvest in the park. I sold all her finds except her photos and a ruby. I read that the ruby (worth $36 simoleons), when placed in the Celestial Crystal Crown, recharges the hygiene need. The Celestial Crystal Crown costs $100 simoleons in buy mode. Because she doesn’t have a sink or shower yet, I think I may keep the ruby and buy the “crown” to test it out.

For her audition, Mariel needs to get to level 2 charisma before noon tomorrow. I gave her lot one lot trait so far, the penny pixies lot trait, because, well, yah, she’s desperate.

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