Fire, and Lots of It
There are always going to be Sims that will make it their goal to set at least one major appliance or house on fire, and the Ravenclaw Sims are no different in that respect. What is a fireman for if not to save the sillyfaces from their antics, right? This month, I found a great deal of hysteria occurring around one major element: fire.
Now, this has nothing to do with bonfire parties, where Sims are more than welcome to set fire to their backyard--with safety precautions in place, of course. I mean, there's a giant fire pit, and there's a bunch of people capable of using fire extinguishers if need be. That is not to say that these pyromaniacs don't eventually start fires elsewhere, of course. But that's why this column still exists!
Fire-Starters
Fires don't just start by accident. Well, there had been that one occasion where Kyrie caught fire in one of Cassandra's parties. I mean, it was hardly Cassie's fault that her fireplace wasn't fireproof, that would have defeated the purpose! If you ask me, Kyrie shouldn't have been dancing too close to the crackling fireplace to begin with.
Yet that traumatic experience didn't stop Kyrie from becoming one of the most prolific pyromaniacs of Ravenclaw Sunset Valley. The proof is in the fact that she set fire to somebody else's house, and managed to lock herself inside while the fire was a-raging. Talk about a love for fire that spans across all sorts of logical sanity. Thankfully, Edmund saved Kyrie before any more body parts got charred.
Considering the person she lives with, however, is it really no wonder why Kyrie loves fires so much? Silmarien is no better at this nonsense, the occasional inventor that she is. I really should eventually set Sil and Kyrie's house fireproof to prevent any more mishaps from occurring, but I fear that won't really stop their need to light things aflame. It's only too bad I never got the chance to take screenshots of Sil catching fire and speeding toward her bathtub to get rid of the evidence. There was certainly quite a bit of amusement in that.
Kyrie and Sil are not the only notorious fire-starters of RSV. Unfortunately, the craziest among them happens to be a mad scientist vampire. Unlike the former pyromaniacs, Maya--being a vampire--doesn't have much affinity to fire, especially when being set to it can cause her to turn to dust. But, she is a mad scientist, and a mad scientist isn't mad or a scientist without her experiments.
Unfortunately, mad science experiments have the tendency to go terribly wrong. Take Maya's attempt at upgrading her espresso machine, for example. Instead of raising the espresso machine quality (which is pointless, considering Maya and Sophia never make espresso to begin with), she sets it on fire. And proceeds to make panicked expressions whilst letting her party guests laugh at her misfortunes.
Glorious, Glorious Panic and Mayhem
And that's where it all leads, to panic. Chaos. Bedlam. What once used to be amusement in Ryan L's face warps into total distress, and soon everyone's running towards the fire to point, yell, and scream at it. As if that's going to solve the problem. Alas, lunatics will be lunatics.
It didn't help that the firefighter that came running into the house did absolutely nothing to assuage the situation. In fact, without the eventual--and I emphasize, eventual--action of Maya and Cassie, the kitchen would probably not be the only thing that would have caught fire. Imagine having to replace the entire darn house because some mad scientist vampire just wanted to tinker with the measly microwave oven.
Panicking does seem to be one of the more common reactions to fires, as Maya would not be the only one with the penchant to panic. In one instance--and in some mysterious happenstance--a house fire occurred within Scarlet L. and Pavel's household. My guess was Pavel caused it, which may be the reason for Edmund's consternation upon entry of the house (or, it could be the fact that the house was unlocked in the first place, and all Pavel had to do was run out...not stay inside the house feeling trapped).
The Fireman
Thankfully, RSV has at least one competent firefighter in their midst, and his name is Edmund Smethwyck. It's been a while since he's actually slipped off the firepole, and nowadays he's regarded as the local town hero and legend. If you're not convinced of his sheer efficiency, you should see how he dispatches of those fires with much cool and a lot of water.
Let's not forget the fact that he's also a savior of children and is prepared to brave a burning house in order to save the people who are trapped inside. I'm not sure how anyone could get trapped on a balcony, but Edmund is prepared to use any means necessary to get the victim out. Even if he does have to ruin perfectly good mahogany.
