#LIMarkusManfred

[enkisstories]

Markus waited for the TV team to leave, then he sneaked into the Captain’s office, using his detective uniform to blend in.

The Captain’s chair was empty, and just like Eloise had complained in the first episode, Markus couldn’t resist and empty chair, so he sat down in it. That prompted a bat to swoop down from the ceiling - apparently for a vampire hanging upside down was more comfy than sitting in an office chair all day.

Markus: “A word, Captain...?”

Gavin: *deep sigh*

Markus: “Judging from your mimic you know what this about. I went over this case again and again, and I’m not imagining things! My clues were “gloomy male”, but somehow, after I had brought in that one, the case file said the person who insulted the city planner was a “female in a blouse”. It also said “Last edited by Cpt. Reed”...”

Gavin: “Look... we’re fighting crime here, not criminals. Get it?”

Markus: “Wait... are you going to tell me this man had information that he offered up in exchange for you dropping that fine?”

Gavin: “No, I wasn’t going to tell you and now that you said it out loud yourself, I also won’t have to... smartass.”

Markus: “So this isn’t about you disliking the city planner and wanting that insult to go unpunished?”

Gavin: “That’s admittedly a bonus.”

[enkisstories]

Let’s Investigate! - Episode 7

Contestant 2: Markus Manfred

Markus stared at the case files even more confused than Orange had before him.

“I’m your man if you wanted this display expanded on aesthetic critria, but I cannot find a new clue in here, sorry. Except... maybe... I’m to look for a gloomy male, who called the city council’s urbanist the daughter of a llama, so I know anybody Hot-headed or Cheerful cannot be the culprit. Those traits contradict each other."

Yumiko and Rika vaguely remembered this from their psychology training, but in the end “likely doesn’t have these two traits” didn’t count as having derived a real clue from the material.

On the upside, Markus had brought Eloise for his usual teamwork bonus point.

This was too easy. One new sim, A, hiding behind a crowd of four Batuu sims. A it is.

Markus: “I cannot tell yet who the culprit is, but I know whom I’m going to arrest: The gun-toting guy!”

Gun-toting guy: “It’s a replica! We’re here for a Star Wars convention!”

After checking everyone’s convention passes, Markus arrested the only person on site who didn’t have one. That didn’t require much deduction skill, but Markus made sure to also Get To Know the suspect and it turned out that he was indeed Gloomy. Thorough work, take your bonus point.

Markus: “So you’re the guy who called the city planner the daughter of an alpaca...”

Suspect: “No, a ll... Uh, I mean, I never met that woman!”

Markus: “If you don’t know our city planner, you could have called her that and would still not have to lie if you told me you didn’t.”

Suspect: “Uh... Can we do that again in english, please?”

Markus replied that he had all the time in the world, what was a lie, of course, knowing the contestants got timed on their case. But he lied a lot more convincingly than the suspect. However, after using up almost all his ten questions, Markus had to admit that his suspect was not guilty.

Markus: “I could have sworn... Where did I fail to pay attention?”

You didn’t. This is indeed the culprit, but there was a really stupid incident with Rika talking into Markus during the interrogation, what caused the table to glitch, what in turn forced me to debug the interrogation task, what in turn scrambled the whole damn case, generating two new clues, that were no longer matching the arrested sim.

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Let’s Investigate! - Episode 6

As for the three contestants that were still in the running, there were three packages waiting for them at the DPD.

“Come unpack them!”

It was the first time the contestants were allowed in the main office (aside from the Meet & Greet in Episode 1).

The boxes contained a detective uniform for each contestant, that they were to wear in the next two episodes.

Congratulations to your “promotions”!

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Let’s Investigate! - Episode 6

People-person Markus again with the teamwork score! He seems to have persuaded Alexander Mack (who is actually the cop he mentioned in his introduction interview) to accompany him to the Mills-Sherfield cottage in Finchwick.

Unlike Emma, Markus cannot perform ceremonies...

...but that wasn’t the main drawback. What really held him back was his lack of the Brave skill. After seeing each new haunted object, Markus had to psych himself up in various ways to overcome his fear.

Markus: “My father taught me overcoming our fears is the real courage, only stupid people do not have fears. He was right, of course, but those words of wisdom ring rather shallow when a damn clock is ticking in the background!”

Also in the background: The Mills-Sherfield couple dealing with the stress in their own way.

And this was where having a partner with a police car on site paid off:

Markus: “Sorry, Mister Sherfield. Officer Mack will drive you to the DPD asap to have you checked up for lingering effects. I’ll follow later.”

[enkisstories]

Let’s Investigate! - Episode 6

Sergeant Ulrike Faust of the Department for Paranormal Investigations with her (temporary) students: Orange, Markus, Emma and Cailean.

From here on the contest will be more intense, as there is no more comfortable middle tier in the table to hide in. It’s either excelling in the tasks or winning favor with the audience - so what is your strategy, dear contestants?

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Ulrike: “For your training we’re going to summon a couple of spectres. They’re semi-sentient blobs of lingering emotions, in this case those of the prisoners who were once held in this room. The most persistent ones are the DEFs.”

Markus: “Devs? As in “developers”?”

Ulrike: “No. As in “Daniel leaves his Emotional Fallout all over the place”.

Red DEFs are Daniel’s Deathwish for Connor. They’re pretty rare, but vicious. Should they - or any other reds - appear, you run and let me handle this. Blue spectres are Daniel’s Doubts and green ones are Daniel’s Dedication to his family. But we may get spectres created by other prisoners and even by the Captains Reed and Anderson. This basement is pretty lived-in in this regard.”

Hugo: “Are spectres everywhere?”

Ulrike: “Pretty much, yes. When a certain threshold gets crossed, they will materialize on their own, and then we get what is commonly called Haunted Lots. - Here they come! Ah, blue ones, nice! Do as I showed you!”

The surest way to deal with spectres is to give them gifts and the simplest method to do that is using polaroid photos. For this reason every contestant will be equipped with a camera during episode six.

Orange reaches out to the blue blobs with a warm smile and is rewarded with a set of Holy Candles from the Beyond. They might come in handy during the next task!

Meanwhile Hugo gets a Soul Grail for his efforts. Drinking from one of those confers knowledge one’s previous incarnation possessed.

Despite being an avid reader, Hugo is surprised to find that the grail grants him Creative Writing skill. He hadn’t expected to have been a poet, journalist or the like.

Markus finds that he isn’t liked by the spectres. They reject his gift.

Markus: “Daniel? What have I done to you?!”

Hugo: “You know the man?”

Markus: “He’s my husband’s twin brother... Detroit really is a village, huh?”

Ulrike: “Well, those emotions are from a time before you two met. The spectres don’t know you, but you acted as if you and them were old friends. The blues are a pretty cautious  bunch, they probably assumed you having an ulterior motive.”

And finally Greg discovers that spectres are edible, so he takes the quickest route to making them vanish: Devour them!

Afterwards he got a tooth ache (and Daniel probably scar pain from the psychofeedback - this is third time now that Greg has bitten him).

Emma with her maximum Medium skill didn’t have to take lessons from Ulrike. But she vanquished Markus’ spectre and received candles for this.

[enkisstories]

Let’s Investigate! - Episode 6

While the jury graded the contestants’ performance (and the DPD officers re-took those of the fingerprints and mugshots that had come out bad), the contestants were taken to the basement, where the Paranormal Department had its headquarter. Down here Sergeant Faust would give them a crash-course on common supernatural household pests in preparation for the sixth episode.

Ulrike: “I’m actually part of the Windsor Police Service, as this department serves both the Detroit and the Windsor area - you could call as an international force, haha! Also, count yourself lucky - the usual task for rookies in this department is making kilotons of candles.”

Supernatural household pests? Candles? The contestants exchanged tell-tale glances, then Emma blurted out: “Are we going ghostbusting?!”

Ulrike: “Four of you, anyway. We should know who that will be once I’ve finished your training.”

Note: This episode takes place in a Save_As environment. I don’t want the Medium skill they are aboit to gain to remain with these sims.

[enkisstories]

Let’s Investigate! - Episode 5

Next up was Markus, who so far had managed to cruise through this show, never getting a vote, but never being at risk of needing one, either. His work today was outstanding, from handling the equipment to gaining his prisoner’s genuine trust, and he was the only one to finish with time to spare. On the downside, Markus was also the only contestant whose mughost came out useless - the prisoner closed their eyes during the flash.

Come to think of it, Markus doesn’t really fit in with the DPD, after all - he managed to score positive in TEAMWORK, what is pretty unheard of here.

In the crime lab he met his assigned detective partner, Eloise Deckart. She was discussing a case with Detective Winter, but they wouldn’t share details with the contestant. This was serious and went beyond the scope of a TV show.

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Let’s Investigate! - Episode 4

Eloise: “What’s this we made?”

Markus: “Zaatar Manakeesh, a flatbread with herb butter and shepard’s cheese.”

Eloise: “Isn’t that quite a fancy dish?”

Markus: “Not neccesarily... not with our cooking skill, anyway!”

Eloise, I strongly contest the “we” in your sentence. You stood in standby and refused to help with the cooking.

Alexander: “If a vampire drinks from you during this task, does that count as “guest has eaten” for purpose of scoring?”

Markus: “Good question! That’s the level of detail one would expect to get informed about in advance!”

Me (off camera): “The rules say “1 point for every platter or pot grabbed”.”

Markus: “So if Connor’s familar sat on a plate and a vampire grabbed that plate and drank from her, that would have been a legit point?”

Robert: “You are aware we wouldn’t have this conversation if your dish had come out edible, right?”

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Let’s Investigate! - Episode 3

Markus didn’t catch what exactly Sofia and Seth had done, but the drone he had gotten issued clearly marked them as fineable.

Sofia stomped along the boardwalk angrily, whereas Seth was sad. That could point to that she had attacked him, not the other way around, but Markus couldn’t tell for certain. The proper thing to do here would have been to write both a citation and let Connor sort the rest out at the DPD.

Alas, I simply couldn’t and so by extension couldn’t Markus.

Markus: “No, sorry. This isn’t a real patrol, it’s just a game we’re playing. Seth fought alongside me in the revolution. He got tortured while covering my escape... I cannot fine him now on a vague hunch.”

Camera team: “But if it wasn’t a game? Would you have let your friend away after fining the stranger?”

Markus: “That strongly depends on the friend in question. I have some that warrant fines just for breathing.”

[enkisstories]

Did I say Free Love neighborhood? Exactly. It was only a matter of time before the sims acted on that.

Markus: “Martin... shit, Martin... thirteen years ago I’d considered this, but now? We both have families, we’re in love with our partners!”

The sweet part? Markus refused the flirt, something that’s incredibly rare without the Loyal trait! I view him as a very open people-person, but romantically exclusive, and it was nice to see the game play along with that.

The hug in the third screenshot was autonomous, too. They really parted on friendly terms, no grudges or the like.

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Let’s investigate! - Episode 3

Had Markus’ patrol started off slow, at one point everyone in the street went at everyone else. It got so bad that Markus (or rather, I) missed the culprit who had kicked open a local’s trash can. He grumpily put it back up himself.

Technically not a crime... and when Markus approached the two, Mandy yelled at him. Alright, Peregrin, have it your way then. But just because Mandy is okay with this, doesn’t mean your husband is, too!

Funnily this really is a Free Love neighborhood.

Markus: “Not even the fact that you’re my ex’ new fiance can save you from your fine now, Fred. Here you go!”

Frederik: “You’re the only one who can say that with a straight face, Markus.”

And finally John got attacked twice for being suspected of wanting to steal Mandy’s boat.

Tbh what saved him is the fact that John is a played sim. Had a townie loitered in this spot for such a long time, I’d declared them a thief for certain.

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Let’s Investigate! - Episode 3

By now the show had gained some following. As a result a number of retired police and security personnel appeared in person at the scene of the next contestant’s patrol assignment to watch it live:

Retired detective Ben Collins, former security guard John Clyde, shot-in-the-line-of-duty officer Marlon Wilson and honorary sec guard Daisy (John’s Doberman, from a line of guard dogs).

When the camera team asked Markus how he felt about that audience, the contestent admitted: “A little nervous”, before he clarified: “As a well known activist I’m used to a much stronger police presence wherever I go!”.

Speaking of the activism that has led to his celebrity status...

Markus: “Guys... stop that! I’m not some kind of divine avatar to worship! This is embarassing!”

[enkisstories]

After Markus and Hugo had analyzed the crime scene, they sat down to debrief with their partners (and with detective Youssel El-Khouri who had spawned randomly).

Youssef: “So, what do you think happened here? We know, by the way, so don’t feel afraid to tell us your theories. There’s no way anything you say could accidently sabotage this investigation.”

Markus: “Homicide. Cruel and wanton.”

Hugo: “Yeah. I’m afraid so, too. That or sexual assault, but the witness testimonies would have alluded to that, so murder it was.”

Eloise: “What makes you two so sure of that?”

Markus: “Well, it wasn’t vandalism, theft, impersonation, breaking and entering, arson...”

Hugo: “...smuggling, fencing, kidnapping, blackmail, extortion...”

(they take turns continuing the list for several minutes)

Eloise: “Wait a moment, are you trying to tell us that you were able to exclude all those crimes, because you already have committed all of them and the crime scene looked nothing like any of that?”

Godefroy: “So the only crimes left were the two they hadn’t done yet.”

It’s not quite that bad, but Markus and Hugo could really tell a story or two of their colorful past.

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LET’S INVESTIGATE! - Episode 2 

Markus (also without his partner) got sent to the same crime scene as Hugo, the Blue Velvet bar.

Unlike his fellow celeb, he found not just the graffitti, but also two creepy outlines. Evidently one of the victims had lost an arm and half their skull to a particularly cruel killer!

Not really, it was just a brawl. One brawler tossed the other out through the door, but the police wasn’t allowed to draw the outline of this person across the lot boundaries. Bureaucracy at its finest.

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Let’s investigate! - Meet & Greet

Markus Manfred & Eloise Deckart

Officer Deckart, tell us something cool about your celeb partner!

He’s incredibly helpful and intuitively knows when to talk, when to lend a hand and when to better get an expert on the job. And he never talks your problems small, even if he thinks so secretly.

And something uncool, please!

He always wants to sit. Whenever we exchange more than a single sentence, Markus tries to find the nextbest seating, and, bamm, places his butt on it. Makes one wonder how this man managed to give his speeches during the revolution! Well, and after a while you feel silly standing up and take a seat yourself, so it’s even contagious!

A common Sims 4 issue, but it was more pronounced with them than with the other pairs.