The document summarizes a role-playing game involving several characters who become engaged through a series of rock-paper-scissors duels. Casilda defeats her sisters Olga and Pitti-Sing in duels, taking their identities and engagements. This leads to confusion over who is engaged to whom. The rules of the duels are called into question, potentially undoing the results. In the end, the various characters sort out their true identities and engagements.

1. Hello! Welcome back to Ruth’s (un)Officially Wacky Boolprop Challenge
and to the Plot! Last time, we had three engagements in quick
succession, plus a rash of rock paper scissors played for very high stakes:
the loser legally dies (even if they’re still breathing and walking around
and such), and the winner takes their place! Casilda cheated in both
games, first beating her sister Olga (engaged to Caryl) and then beating
her sister Pitti-Sing (engaged to Alec). Casilda herself is engaged to
Dongsool, rounding out the roster nicely. Olga wanted to lose the game
in order to impress Caryl with her goth cred, and Pitti-Sing wanted to
lose because the Red-Headed League has finally tracked her down for
nefarious purposes! Or have they?
And now, Act II of “The Middle Child, or, Rock Paper Scissors”!

2. OLGA: Caryl! Caryl! I did it! My sister and I had a rock paper
scissors duel, and she won, so now I’m dead and she’s me!
CARYL: Vunderbar! Und now how do you kome to life again so ve
kan be married?
OLGA: Uh… I, um… I. I don’t think I can. Censor blur. I’m
permanently dead, aren’t I?

3. CARYL (putting a brave face on it): No, it vill be all right. You say
your sister is you now, ja? (walks over to Casilda and holds out her
hand) Hello. I am Caryl Jung, and ve are engaged now.

4. CASILDA: Uh…
DONGSOOL: Hey, wait a minute! You can’t be engaged to her –
I’m engaged to her!
CARYL: There vas a duel, ja? Und Casilda is now Olga, ja? Und I
vas engaged to Olga, so I am now engaged to Casilda.
DONGSOOL: But I got engaged to Casilda first!

5. CARYL: Ja? Und vhen, exactly, did you bekome engaged?
DONGSOOL: At two o’clock this afternoon, before the duel.
CARYL: Und I became engaged to Olga at one forty-five this
afternoon, before your engagement. I have seniority, und I vill be
getting married. (sits primly but firmly on the couch) Und after my
marriage, I vill begin holding séances.

6. ALEC (hums): Here comes the bride… Here comes the bride…

7. ALEC: Knock knock! Is Pitti-Sing here?
CASILDA (warily): Who wants to know?
ALEC: I’m her fiancé.
(Dongsool begins to laugh)
CASILDA: Oh dear. How to explain? (pause) Have you ever heard
of dueling with rock paper scissors?
ALEC: You mean, where the loser is Officially dead, and the
winner Officially takes over the identity of the loser? Sure, who
hasn’t?

8. CASILDA: We-eeeeeeell, Pitti-Sing and I had a duel. So… I’m
Pitti-Sing. I guess.
ALEC: So we’re engaged now?
CARYL: No.
DONGSOOL: Yes.
CASILDA: Maybe. When did you get engaged to Pitti-Sing?
ALEC: Uh… At one forty this afternoon. Why?
DONGSOOL (to Caryl): Ha!
CASILDA: Then you’ve got seniority. So yes, we’re engaged.
ALEC: Oh. (sits despondently)

9. BEAUDELAIRE (from downstairs): Excuse me – Can you tell me
which room is Pitti-Sing’s?
(Pitti-Sing yelps and scurries to hide ineffectively behind a potted
tree)
PITI-SING (hisses): It’s the Red-Headed League! Don’t tell them
where I am!

10. BEAUDELAIRE: Hi! I’m looking for my fiancée, Ms. Shankel,
Ms. P –
CASILDA: I’m Ms. Shankel, but I’m afraid I’m already full up on
fiancés.

11. BEADELAIRE: Genevive, she’s already got a fiancé!
CASILDA: Got one? I’ve got three – two guys and a girl. (gestures
glumly)
GENEVIVE (eyeing Alec): Very nice. Are there more like him at
home?

12. BEADELAIRE: Who cares? Genevive, I am not going to let Pitti-
Sing marry someone else! You’ll help me sue, right?
GENEVIVE: You bet I will!
CASILDA: Pitti-Sing? Oh, she’s dead.
GENEVIVE and BEADELAIRE: WHAT?!
CASILDA: Died earlier today. That’s her fiancé over there.
(indicates Alec) Tragic, really.

13. GENEVIVE: What happened?
CASILDA: Rock paper scissors. I won.
BEAUDELAIRE: So you’re Pitti-Sing now?
CASILDA: Yup.
BEAUDELAIRE: And when did Pitti-Sing get engaged to that
fellow?
CASILDA: At one forty this afternoon.
BEAUDELAIRE: Well, in that case, I have a prior claim. I’ve been
engaged to her for thirteen years! (to the assembled affianced)
Sorry. Genevive, back me up here.

14. GENEVIVE (to Casilda): I just have one question. Who threw
what in your rock paper scissors game?
CASILDA: I threw scissors and Pitti-Sing threw paper. Why?
GENEVIVE: Because if you’re using rock paper scissors to duel –
and I assume you are, since you said that Pitti-Sing was dead after a
round of rock paper scissors – then according to the rules, paper
beats scissors.
CASILDA: Really?
GENEVIVE: The rules are backwards for duels. If you followed
the game rules, then the duel was invalid.
CASILDA: Then…?

15. OLGA: Then I’m not dead?
GENEVIVE: Not if you did paper and she did scissors.
OLGA (to Caryl): I’m not dead!
CARYL: That means it is not nekrophilia to marry you!
BEAUDELAIRE: Wait, I thought…
CASILDA: Then Pitti-Sing isn’t dead either! (to Dongsool) And
that means I can marry you!
BEAUDELAIRE: But if you’re not Pitti-Sing, who is?

17. CASILDA: Oh, come out of there!
PITTI-SING (resisting): He’s from the Red-Headed League! He
wants to get me! And he’s poor as a rat!
BEAUDELAIRE (bowing): Onegai shimasu.* I don’t want to hurt
you. I want to marry you. I’ve been reading up on how to be a good
husband and father. I don’t belong to any secret societies. And I’m
not a bit poor anymore. I own a casino.
*In Japanese, this is a phrase that expresses the hope that things will go well in
a new relationship. There is no English equivalent. Say “oh-Nah-GAH she-
MOSS.”

18. PITTI-SING (hopefully): You do?
BEAUDELAIRE (reassuringly): I do. And the house wins. The
house always wins.
PITTI-SING: And really no secret societies at all?
BEAUDELAIRE (cheerfully): Not a one.
PITTI-SING: Okay, then.

19. ALEC: But – !
GENEVIVE (to Alec): You look like you could use a shoulder to
cry on. Let me loan you one – and buy you a drink while we’re at
it, hmmmm?
And that is where Gilbert & Sullivan rang down the curtain. But we
still have a little bit of Uni to get through, so let’s venture onwards,
shall we?

20. Olga spent what little remained of her college career celebrating her
engagement.
So she’s juggling coffee cups, so what? You have to start with
something before you move on to knives, right? Anyway, what do
you know about goths? Nothing, that’s what.

21. Winifred, Dongsool, and Olga all Grew Up into typical transition
outfits. Olga’s was, once again, not particularly goth.
Given what Caryl Grew Up into, both ladies agreed to never speak
of transition outfits again. Ever.
You can read about Dongsool, Olga, and Caryl in Already in
Progress, available at my LJ or my Tumblr. You can read more
about Win in The Sandersville Small Business Association,
available on my Tumblr. [/shameless self-promotion]

22. It was at this point that I went ahead and installed a shorter
semester mod, in the interest of my own sanity. That means that
Pitti-Sing and Casilda had less time at Uni after the conclusion of
the Plot than anyone else in the family. Pitti-Sing spent her time
getting to know her fiancé.
She approves.

23. Because I play my Uni to my sims’ Wants, and have for a while
now, Casilda definitely struggled in school. She needed lots of
Body points, and never rolled up anything that could be interpreted
as the desire to skill for one. Eventually, I settled for taking her to
the fine arts building, which has several dance bars. Dance bars a)
advertise very strongly and b) build Body skill, so Casilda ended up
with enough points to allow her to pass her classes.

24. Allyn was held back a semester thanks to her also not rolling Wants
that would allow her to pass her classes, and graduated at the same
time as Pitti-Sing.
You can read more about Pitti-Sing in Already In Progress,
available at my LJ and Tumblr, and you can read more about Allyn
in a forthcoming Perfect Mother challenge that will also be
available on my LJ and Tumblr. [/further shameless self-promotion]

25. Casilda finished the last requirement for the (un)Officially Wacky
Boolprop Challenge just before the end of her senior year. Her
graphic novel Riding the Rooster garnered lots of critical acclaim,
but did not sell particularly well.
That’s all right, though. With the new-to-me Free Time novel
writing functionality, Casilda has written an actual book that she
will give to the local library, and then everyone can read it any time
they like.

26. EXTRA FOR CLONING AS NEEDED

27. Shortly after her graphic novel was published, Casilda graduated
into the same outfit as Winifred. Casilda was not best pleased about
this fashion faux pas.
And that’s where the challenge ends. I won!
But that’s not where this story stops. I have one Plot left, and I’ve
been setting it up for honest-to-God years of real time and over
three stories, so I’m not going to waste it. Until next time, Happy
Simming!

28. Notes, disclaimers, and other trivia
This Plot was based on The Grand Duke, or, The Statutory Duel. It
was Gilbert & Sullivan’s last collaboration, a huge flop (it actually
lost money) that is frequently described as “bloated.” And since a lot
of it is about actors going into politics and how wicked awesome
Ancient Greece was, I can’t necessarily argue with that assessment.
But it’s a lot more immediately accessible than Iolanthe or Princess
Ida, and you have to admit that being engaged to four people at the
same time is pretty Wacky. I trimmed and adapted pretty freely,
bringing the fifteen-minute Act I finale down to three slides, two of
which have no writing. There’s no one-to-one scene equivalent for
this show, but you can find the cast list on the next slide.

29. Rudolph (Grand Duke of Pfenning-Halbpfenning): Pitti-Sing
Shankel
Ernest Dumkopf (a Theatrical Manager): Olga Shankel
Ludwig (his Lead Comedian): Casilda Shankel
Dr. Tanhäuser (a Notary): Ryan Wheeler
The Prince of Monte Carlo: Genevive Rossi
The Princess of Monte Carlo (betrothed to Rudolph): Beaudelaire
Rossi
The Baroness von Krakenfeld (betrothed to Rudolph): Alec
London
Julia Jellicoe (an English Comedienne): Caryl Jung
Lisa (a Soubrette): Dongsool Wheeler

30. I wasn’t sure if I should give this the full treatment, with two acts
and all, because it doesn’t follow the original as closely as a
previous adaptations. But then I thought that the other two heirs got
the full treatment, so Casilda should too. I hope this was the right
decision for my readers.
It is traditional to break the fourth wall in Act I when wondering
where to find witnesses for the second duel. The Grand Duke
usually gestures at the audience while saying “Bless your heart,
they’ve been staring at us through those windows for the last half-
hour!” In this case, I have swapped the character who speaks the
line, because it fit the personalities better.

31. Regular readers may recognize Beaudelaire and Genevive from Auspicious
It Ain’t, my Nickel & Dimed Challenge. Beaudelaire was earmarked for his
role from the beginning, since he was appropriately “poor as a rat!” In the
original, the Prince of Monte Carlo is father to the Princess, but Genevive
is only Beaudelaire’s older sister. The Monte Carlo fortunes were indeed
restored by gambling – more specifically, by the invention of roulette.
You will notice that most of the genders in this story have been switched.
That is because of the babies my game threw me.
The original duel was cutting cards and was rigged with cards up the
sleeve, but since Sims can’t do that, I went with something they could do
that also had an outcome that could be determined in advance.

32. “Pfenning-Halbpfenning” is pronounced “Penny-Ha’penny.”
“Mensch” is a Yiddish word that literally means “man,” but that is
also slang for a good guy, a pal, a stand-up human being.
One final bit of trivia: The original show is set in Germany, or at
least the part of Europe that later became Germany, and all the
characters except Julia Jellicoe are supposed to be German.
However, because this is an English opera, they all speak perfect
English – except for Julia, who traditionally speaks with a heavy
German accent. Oh, that Gilbert! Talk about Wacky!
I hope you have enjoyed this little bit of opera fun, and that you
will join me for the last little bit of Plot coming up soon.