Toledo County Residents - Part 3

 Featured households: Rivers, Tolbert, and Vargas

When we left off last time, Toni Rivers had asked Andres Farris out.  He gave her mixed signals by asking her for money, then giving her flowers, and then accusing her of having issues when she tried to thank him with a kiss.

This event took place at Rusty Tolbert's "faux party," which was basically just him in his nearly empty house.  Rusty was in the kitchen preparing Autumn Salad for the group when Andres stormed off after accusing Toni of having issues.  Toni stayed and had autumn salad with Rusty, who told her that Andres wasn't worth her time.

Then Toni went to the gym to work off her frustration.

Toni's lifetime wish is "Physical Perfection" which means she wants to reach level 10 in athletics and martial arts. I edited the town and placed an Asian restaurant and dojo, and a stadium, so all these sims who wanted to take an athletic class could do so.  I also placed a movie theater and a diner where people can perform. I don't have a picture of the dojo because I had forgotten lighting when Toni visited it the first time. While she was at the dojo, I took a peek inside the restaurant.  It seems to be a popular hangout for the journalists. I found Fidel Dutton (from the last installment) there - he apparently has a hot romance going with one of his co-workers.

When Toni got up the next morning, she went to pay bills and get the mail. She found a love letter from Rusty Tolbert there. She sent him one back. I also gave Toni a different hairstyle to set her apart from the other women in town. It seems they all had basically the same hair and looked a lot alike.

Here's a glimpse of Toni's living area.

I switched to Rusty so I could fix up his house and get to know him a little better. He was delighted with his new dining room. His favorite color is pink, but I didn't want it to look too "girly."

Rusty is artistic, a coward, a workaholic, a computer whiz, and a virtuoso. He favors sushi and songwriter music. He is working in law enforcement, but yearns to be a singer.

So far, no ads for singers have been found in the paper. I thought I'd have Rusty call Toni up and ask her out, since they both are artistic in some capacity (Toni is a photographer.) Plus they wrote each other love letters. However, when I clicked "Ask out on a date," I noticed he already was interested in another woman (one with atrocious fashion sense.)

I guess beekeeper hats are all the rage, and the men really dig chicks with these hats.  I couldn't stand it, so I gave the woman an edgy, but coordinated wardrobe. 

Anyway, I didn't select her for Rusty to ask out and instead clicked on the familiar only other option. And when Rusty went to meet her at the Goth Pub, I realized my mistake: He accidentally asked Lindsay, Orlando's girlfriend, out.  

Actually, I had gotten a notice a little earlier that Lindsay got pregnant and she and Orlando had a "shotgun wedding." Which made the whole thing even more awkward as Orlando just happened to also be at the pub.

How embarrassing! Rusty quickly smoothed things over by pretending it wasn't really a date a bought a round of drinks for all of them. 

Lindsay is LITERALLY barefoot and pregnant, yet she accepted the drink Rusty offered her.

I believe it was a virgin drink. I don't know why Rusty is thinking about crime. He's in law enforcement, so maybe something happened at work that he's obsessing over. At any rate, Rusty politely asked to leave the date, and after Lindsay left, called Toni and asked her out to the Plum Blossom House, the Asian restaurant. Once he got there, Toni called and said she had to work, so maybe she quit the photography career.

Still, Rusty was hungry, so had a try at making Teppanyaki Vegetable Medley, and he did a pretty good job.

His boss, Anwar Koeng, happened to be at the restaurant, so they ate together.

Anwar, like Rusty, works in law enforcement.  I assume he's a 007 type of spy because he is always wearing the white tux. I saw him leaving work wearing it, too. 

The blonde couple in the background are the Clark and Ruby Vargas. Clark was a carnie who travelled with the festivals and sold concessions.  However, one day in this obscure little town, a beautiful blonde came to his booth and ordered some nachos. Her name was Ruby, and Clark fell for her instantly. He learned she was a firefighter, and despite her social awkwardness, he knew he'd regret not staying around and getting to know her better.  He had a trust fund that he hadn't touched, as he was wanting to make it on his own, but he broke down and bought a house in Toledo.  He hired Orlando to remodel the house an give him a library.  Apparently he had been carting around a lot of books friends had given him, and wanted a nice place to keep them. He was at Orlando's first party, still wearing his work uniform.

Anyway, he and his new wife, Ruby, were slow dancing the night away in the Plumb Blossom, and I'm sure poor Clark's feet were getting sore because Ruby was constantly stepping on them.

Clark's such a good sport. Before the evening ended, Ruby went into labor, and found herself surrounded by a bunch of panicking men who were no help at all! 

 

I forgot to put a hospital in this town! You'd better go home, Ruby! Rusty left quickly, not wanting any part of this. Later that night Ruby gave birth to a bouncing baby boy and named him Daron.  The following day, I checked on the Vargas household and fixed up their house to have a nursery. They also had a cat, and minimal furnishings, so it was a complete remodel. Clark moved from his original house to a buff brick rancher across the street from Rusty. Clark also quit his job at the concession stand and joined law enforcement, so he works with Rusty and Anwar, I guess.  Here are the stats of the Vargas family:

Clark is handy, ambitious, has a good sense of humor, but at times is absent-minded and clumsy. 

Ruby is a socially awkward party animal, who is easily impressed, athletic, and friendly. She's currently a firefighter, but wants to quit her job and stay home with little Daron. She feels it's not a good idea to have two first responders as parents of an infant. She hasn't officially quit yet, as she still has some maternity leave to burn, but she's seriously considering it. 

The next morning after I switched to the Vargas household, Clark went off to work, and Ruby set about building her cooking skill by making waffles. (Again, a horrible outfit; that will have to be fixed - I don't care that they are pajamas.)

 It's a good thing she's a firefighter! She put the fire out so quick, there wasn't any damage. 

Good job, Ruby!  I might just redo your kitchen anyway.