Mesa Vista - My BaCC for fun: Week 4, Part 10 - University

[lorinsv60]

Welcome back to Mesa Vista and the first Uni chapter of this BaCC, featuring another wonderful house by plasticbox at MTS, decorated and landscaped by Yours Truly ;)



In case your memory needs refreshing, Mesa Vista's founder was able to privately fund a University all the way back in Week 1, when Zach's Hoops earned an incredible 1.3 million simoleons using the patented Goldmine Venue strategy (details in the very first chapter).
(Ah, those were the good old days...)
Anyhoo, Zach Adams acquired La Fiesta Tech for a song at just one million simoleons, due in part to LFT's sub-par Secret Society house (at least, some Apocalypse founders thought so when compared to Sim State's...).



The journey to LFT was a little rough on Mina Outside.
"What the... hey, what happened to my Ponypuff?"



Her sister Nicole arrived soon after, ready to work her magic with the help of the care package her mother Ciel had put in her backpack.
"Thanks, Mom! Abracadabra, make us over and lead us to our new Greek House..."



Mina decided to stick with the shorter hairstyle, albeit one with a bit more oomph, before visiting campus to do her part in getting their Greek House up and running.



"It's a nice Greek touch, sis! What does the V stand for?"
"I don't know, it was free. Value?"
"No, Video!"
"Vogue."
"Vivacious!"
"How about the obvious: Vista House?"
"Eh, too predictable. Venture House?"
"M'kay," Mina agreed with an easygoing shrug.



"Look at this, Nicole... Mathematics works for both the Medical and Gamer careers."
"I don't know... Math?"
"There are other options, but then we couldn't take our classes together."
"Hm."
"This semester's course is 'Remedial Addition: The Fingers and Toes Technique'."
"... I can do fingers and toes... all right, I'll do Mathematics with you."
"Great. Aaannnd, majors declared."



"THERE'S BREAKDANCING AT THE QUAD! FOLLOW ME, MY DANCING QUEENS!"
"Oh yeah, count us in!"



"Oh man, seventy-five simoleons! Do we have 'sucker' written on our foreheads?"
"Fret not, fair freshman! We're raising money for improvements to our Secret Society. Voo gerbits!"



"My sister and I have an old dance score to settle, but I haven't done this before."
The breakdancer held out his hand and with a smile beckoned Mina over with his finger.



"Like this?"
"You're getting it. Don't worry, you'll be able to hold your own."



"How am I doing? I ask because my sister and I have an old dance score to settle."
"Honey, when I'm finished with you, you'll be an internet sensation."

And surprisingly, the breakdancer was right! Check out Nicole's YouTube video if you didn't catch the first glimpse.



"All right! I've been wanting one of these."



*GASP!* "Did you see that?!"
"See what? What is it, Mina?"



"Hello, are you actually telling me you didn't notice?"
Nicole turned and saw the streaker just as he faded out of sight. "Oh, him... not really. The breakdancing was fun, huh?"
"I have to admit you're better than me. Just don't rub it in, okay?"



"I'm surprised you came back, since you clearly ditched us at the Quad. It was your idea, after all."
"I didn't ditch you, I was filming some video of the fundraiser for the LFT Boosters. I, uh, got that footage of you breakdancing."
"So you're the one who secretly filmed me?"
"I wouldn't call it a secret, we were making a promotional video aimed at getting more Mesa Vista students to attend our school."
"Oh... that's okay then..."



"Mina Outside?"
"Yes?"
"Hello. I would like to extend a free membership to My Muse, the premeire dance studio for all your dance-related wants and needs."
"What about my sister? She's got some real talent."
"Her name?"
"Nicole."
"Mm no, there wasn't a Nicole on the list, only a Mina."



"I wonder why you got in and I didn't?"
Mina paused from her term paper. "Probably lousy record keeping."



Pizza was a new thing for the Outside girls, and sometimes the cravings were strong enough to rouse them from a sound sleep.



"Hey, do you remember me, I was in your video!"
"Oh yeah, you were the one really cheering me on!"
"Of course, you were great! I'm Andrea Jayapalan, but I go by Andi."
"Would you like to come in?"



"So, you have your very own Greek House?"
"Yup."
"That's cool."
"Yeah, but we sort of don't know what we're doing yet."
"Nicole, don't say that!" Mina said with a nervous laugh.
"I like it," Andi said around a bite of pizza. "I like that you guys aren't pretentious or stuffy."
"See, Mina, it's okay, we're doing fine just being ourselves... just like Andi said."
"Are you looking for pledges? Cuz I'd like to join."
Nicole clapped in delight. "Yay, we got our first pledge!"



"Er, where are you going?"
"Where all good pledges go... to make your beds, clean your bathrooms..."
"Um... okay?"
"Just go with it, sis, it's a different world here..."



"Almost finished, see? Easy-peasy..."



"Whew... now I'll just crash and hang out 'til it's time to go home."
"Stay as long as you want!"



"Sorry, there was a tiny record-keeping kerfuffle, turns out you're a member too."
"Thanks!"



"Procrastination, I hereby vanquish thee!"
Mina could attest that term papers were so much better when you actually wanted to do them.



"Now that I'm a shoe-in for the Dean's List this semester, I say we go and win ourselves a dance trophy! Are you lame or game?"
"Definitely game!"
"Tomorrow then!"



"This is what's so great about taking the same classes. Let's get 'em, tiger!"



When Mina saw their math professor (wait, her math professor?!) was joining the contest, her confidence grew.



Nicole sat the first one out to assess the competition, but Mina had one thousand "Win a Dance Contest" points burning a hole in her Wants panel, and she went for it.



Though she faltered ever so slightly when a familiar figure joined the contest at the last minute.



"And the winner is... My Muse's very own Noelle Dennis!"
"What, me? Haha, you're too kind!"



"I'm available any time you want a lesson," Noelle Dennis offered a little too sweetly.
"I'll think about it."



"I think I'll sit this one out, give you new kids a chance."
Mina was finding she did not care for the My Muse dance instructor. At all.



"Okay, I'm in!"
"All right, Nicole! We've got this one in the bag."
"I can hear you, Mina."
"Oops. Sorry, Professor Wood."



"And the winner is... Armannnnndo!"
"Mayan!"
This obviously wasn't going to be as easy as Mina had thought!



"The best sister won," Nicole sighed in playful resignation.
"Congratulations, Mina."
"Thanks, Professor."
Mina wasn't as happy about winning as she'd expected. Sure, the aspiration boost was nice, and the "dance fight" with Nicole from the Untold years was officially settled, although even that had evolved into a running gag between the sisters rather than any kind of real rivalry. No, it was that snotty dance teacher Noelle Dennis that had put a damper on the experience, and Mina wondered if she would ever bother coming back to My Muse.



"Okay, my turn to win one of these."
"Miss Snooty over there might have other plans."
"Then wish me luck."
"Good luck!" Mina said with a quick kiss on her sister's cheek. "I'm done competing, I'm going to take a peek upstairs."
"Okay, see you later!"



This time Nicole took a cue from the dance teacher's first round, pulling a last-minute switch to the Smustle.



And after ending with a little moonwalk flourish she had learned from the breakdancer, Nicole was announced the winner!



"You're a good dancer, Professor Wood."
"I'm nothing of the sort, but it's fun and good exercise. Tell me, have you and your sister ever given any thought to teaching dance yourselves?"
"Not really, but now that you mention it, that could be fun."
"If you ever do, I'd take lessons from you over that one any day."



Nicole joined Mina upstairs and told her what Professor Wood had said.
"Maybe you could teach breakdancing, but I'm nowhere good enough to be giving lessons."
"But wouldn't it be fun to go into business together?"
"Well, yeah, it could be."
"Anyway, we should definitely consider it..."



Pizza for lunch
Pizza for dinner
Pizza for breakfast
We call that a winner!



The llama's video was clearly beginning to work, and Diane Shin arranged for her teenage employee Laura Langerak to be sent directly to La Fiesta Tech. And if Mina Outside's hair had suffered a cut-back on her arrival, that was nothing compared to the hack job Laura experienced.
"Not exactly the best start," Laura sighed.

(To be fair, bypassing the move-in process cost an earned CAS point. But then again, Mesa Vista had several of those still waiting in the wings...)



But, thanks to a trip to the campus's Mirage Shopping Center and the magic that was the Maxis mirror, Laura approached her dorm looking more like her normal self.



For something different, Laura was played "Sim-Centrically" – that is, giving commands only for fulfilling Wants or avoiding Fears, with some flexibility for achieving them, which thinking about was in itself kind of fun.
Fortunately she was Knowledge, which turned out to be ideal in a Uni setting.

Sim-Centric Legacy Challenge (I'm ignoring the Legacy component):
http://fae-sims.livejournal.com/15495.html


It was easy keeping Laura's aspiration high with wants such as doing her assignments,



skilling Charisma,



writing her term paper,



and of course, playing chess.
And as for kissing Shea Terrill, the rather forward dormie she had just met? "I'll pass."



On the rare occasions Laura had no wants to fulfill, she did Tai Chi autonomously, which made her think of Diane Shin, who had taught her the relaxation technique, and whom Laura practically considered family. At least, as close as a new former townie got to having a family...



"Hey, Diane."
"Laura! What brings you here?"
"Just missing you and the store a little."
"Aww, we miss you too!"



"You look great, by the way! The perfect Uni student."
"Thanks, I was hoping it would help me fit in."
"Is everything going all right?"
"Oh yeah, everything is fine."
"Well, what's it like? Are you living in a dorm or have you joined a sorority? Are you making lots of new friends?"
"I'm not the sorority type."
"Not even that new one established by a couple of girls from Mesa Vista?"
"Don't know about that, though I've been so focused on school and skilling... How do you know about it?"
"The fourth wall is a pretty nebulous thing in Mesa Vista, but in this case, I recognized one of the Outside girls breakdancing in a La Fiesta Tech promotional video, which also mentioned the new Greek House."
"I don't know... I don't know them."
"But, you're all new and from Mesa Vista, you have that in common."



"I can't really complain about my dorm mates, but to be honest, I feel sort of alienated from them. I'm finding I'm just not... very social, you know?"



"I can relate to the alienation, I felt that way when I first came to Mesa Vista, but then you know what? I took a chance and on an impulse went to Takemizu, where I found Stephan and... well, now I have a beautiful family."
"And a really cool import store."
"And don't forget my good friend Laura... What it all comes down to is it's really up to you... take a chance if you feel up to it, and if you don't... Well, I know it will all work out, and I'm always here if you need anything."



The not very social Laura Langerak impulsively stepped forward and surprised Diane with a hug.
"Thank you."

**CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE**