Riverview Updated Part 4 - Pairing up; What NOT to Do at a Funeral

Disclaimer: My computer crashed part way through this episode, so what you see here may or may not be exactly as things happened.

Jameel Van Guile continued his pursuit of Becky Baker. He called her up and asked her to meet him at the bookstore.

Becky suggest they go grab a snack after they do their shopping and browsing.

Jameel thought that was a great idea. Poor Jameel doesn't understand boundaries, and came on a little too strong in the beginning. Becky already has a boyfriend named Juston Hutchison whom she met at work (I think.)

Becky asked why they couldn't just be friends who met up to go jogging together and things like that.

Jameel decided to try and impress her with the fact that he fights for justice as a police officer.

He learned that Becky is a sucker for a guy in uniform.

Throw in a gift of flowers, and Jameel just might stand a chance.

It looks like he made it to first base! Congrats, Jameel.

I couldn't find an option for Jameel to ask her to break up with her boyfriend, however. So I figured he would have to try that at another time.

Careful, Becky; Jameel just might post that picture on the internet, and then you'd be in hot water with Juston! Jameel and Becky were getting hungry, so Jameel suggested they go to the gazebo park and he'd cook them up some hot dogs.

However, before he could finish them, Becky got a mysterious text from Holden Wonzy, which she was very excited about. I thought he might have invited her to a party.

Suddenly, she had somewhere she just had to be.

I followed her and noticed she didn't have to go to work for another 4 hours! However, she went home rather than over to Holden Wonzy's house. I looked to see if there were any parties going on in town, and there weren't any. Maybe she saw Jameel pick that hot dog up off the ground and put it back on the grill, and didn't want to take her chances getting sick.

Moving on to the Martinez family, I found them out enjoying the fall festival.

Sims Wiki describes them as "lovebirds" who are "outdoorsy folk looking to explore nature." It suggests they might grow bored with life in suburbia.

Pablo, when I caught up to him, was brave, flirty, athletic, a vegetarian, and loves the outdoors. He was at social networking skill level 2, but had no other skills. He was working as a rabid fan at the stadium.

Jennifer, is flirty and loves the outdoors, just like Pablo, but she is also good, charismatic, and a computer whiz. She was working as a podium polisher when I caught up to her. She also has more skills than Pablo: 2 in social networking, 2 in athletic, and 1 in drums. She seems to enjoy reading scary books.

They also had a kitty named Shadow who is hyper and quiet, but at this time they have no children.

Jennifer competed in the pie eating contest, but Pablo was so enamored of the haunted house that he kept going in it over and over. It took its toll on him.

He did gain something from it, however.

During the pie eating contest, I took stock of the other contestants.

The one on the left is Regan McHugh, a witch as we discovered at the bakery in a previous episode. The little kitty Georgie recognizes him as one as well. The guy on the right is Dante Levin. We'll see more of him later. He won the contest, but Regan would just not quit until he was finished. As you can see, Jennifer accepted defeat and wandered off.

I took over Regan so I could learn more about him and what's going on in his life. He also loves the outdoors, and is a computer whiz, a daredevil, a green thumb, and is artistic. He was a photographer at the time I joined him, but he really wanted to be a spy someday, so while I was with him, I sent him to join the law enforcement career. Fun fact: He's engaged to Gwen Glover! I guess she won't be marrying Holden Wonzy this time around. Regan is rooming with his good friend Juston Hutchison - Becky's boyfriend, who happens to be a vampire.

Juston is a great kisser, clumsy, a bookworm, charismatic, and nurturing. Despite being in the music career, he wants to also be a spy, so I think I sent him over to join up with law enforcement as well. I could see him possibly marrying Becky and/or turning her into a vampire and Jameel would have to fight to get her and convince her to become human again. I also wondered if Topher would like him as a step-father.

Maybe it was due to his clumsy trait, but when I first checked in on him, he had been out in the sun too long and needed a couple days to recover from it.

Juston and Regan live in this house. It was only one bedroom, but easily converted into a two bedroom house.

Juston's favorite color was red and Regan's was turquoise, so I furnished accordingly.

They have a cute little kitten whose name I don't remember, but the kitten pretty much has it's own room too. I bought Regan an alchemy station and put it in his bedroom because he wanted one.

He didn't have any skills when I first switched to him, but now he can at least make a vial of bliss. Regan is also a bit of a rabble-rouser. He set up a protest - without my help - and carried on about needing better access to fishing in Riverview.

The movement started out slow, but gained momentum with Jeana Wolford (in the background), Joann Eastman, Irene Funke, Theodore Lum, and Aimee Williams joining in.

Regan reminds me a lot of actor Kyle Chandler.

Kyle, erm, Regan tried to rope this paparazzo into joining the cause, but she was afraid of getting arrested and couldn't afford any trouble with the law.

Regan pointed out that getting arrested would probably be a good thing as it would draw attention to the cause.

The woman insisted she was only here to catch a movie.

It turns out that Regan didn't need the woman's help anyway. The protest ended, and they were victorious!

Way to go, Regan. I admit I was putting most of my attention on Regan and his exploits, and assuming Juston would just take care of himself. So imagine my surprise when both were asleep and Juston was showing signs of being dangerously thirsty. I assumed he'd wake up in time to stumble to the fridge and get some plasma juice. I assumed wrong.

Sorry dude, I thought you knew better. The little kitten appeared to be pleading for Juston's life, and I know Grim often will restore a sim if their pet pleads for them because he's an animal lover. However, I didn't actively take over the little guy and make him plead, so I guess it's curtains for Juston. Sorry kitten, I thought you put forth great effort.

Regan was pretty torn up over the incident, so much so, that he neglected his personal hygiene. We came across Becky in the library, and she too was struggling with her sorrow, or so it seems.

Becky has taken up with dressing like a vampire wannabe.

"I'm going to miss Juston SO MUCH!" she exclaimed.

"He would have made a great police officer if he had only had the chance." Regan said. "The funeral will be tomorrow. I hope you can attend."

"Erm, you wouldn't happen to know if he included me in his will do you? After all, I was his girlfriend."

"Was it HIM, or HIS MONEY you wanted?!?" said Regan in disbelief.

Becky seems to be a fickle girl. Earlier I followed her to see how she was taking the news of Juston's death.

It was there that I spotted her "mourning" outfit. (Really I guess this was her outerwear.)

She was out having lunch with her mother Svetlana.

Svetlana tried to calm her down and console her on her loss. Pablo offered her some sympathy flowers and expressed his condolences .

Meanwhile, Svetlana was really putting on a musical performance.

"So are we going to play pool or just stand here staring at the table?" Svetlana asked. Meanwhile, Betsy ate her feelings and followed it up with a stiff drink.

Oh hi, Holden. What are you doing here?

Back to Regan now. Regan had brought his stinky self to the library to improve his logic skills for his job.

Afterwards, he went home and showered, then asked Gwen if she'd like to meet him at the art studio. She was too busy, but he went anyway. He hoped to make her a nice pair of earrings.

I'm not sure if this is really the way they make glass sculptures, of if this is only "similar" like how sims make waffles.

Whoops! Epic fail! No earrings, but at least he was okay.

He and Gwen got together later that evening and watched a romantic movie together.

The following day, Regan held the funeral at the cemetery for his dear friend Juston. (Funeral, oddly enough, didn't show up as an option, so it was a "destination party" instead. I could have sworn sims could throw funerals.) I guess I never really looked at what a vampire grave looks like. I never knew they had bats on them. I thought it would just be a starvation gravestone.

It was a wet and gloomy day for a funeral, but the turnout was good. However, people seemed to be using it as a dating destination rather than grieving for poor Juston.

In defense of Regan, he did put these flowers Gwen gave him on Juston's grave.

Becky did go over at mourn at the grave, but she seemed to be more concerned with losing her father than her loss of Juston. Or maybe she thinks she'll have to live with her parents forever.

Betsy struck up a conversation with a dark haired woman she hadn't met. It turns out her name is Bree Van Guiel. Is she any relation to our buddy Jameel Van Guiel? Not according to the family tree, but she's his sister. Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Bree is a great kisser, nurturing, a heavy sleeper, easily impressed, and mean-spirited. The mean-spirited part reared it's ugly head at the funeral when she snuck up on poor Becky and scared her, then started saying mean things about her.

The Martinez's just couldn't keep their hands off each other during the entire event.

Svetlana decided this would be a appropriate time and place to tell some ghost stories, while the Martinez's watched the stars. Even poor Regan couldn't mourn his friend in peace without his phone blowing up. I guess he should have silenced it before the event.

With the funeral behind us, lets take a few minutes to investigate Jameel's sister's situation. Bree is a longtime girlfriend of Cory Lu. When I first met Cory in the library a few days earlier, I didn't know anything about him except he was very fashion-challenged.

I changed out his bee-keeping hat for a cowboy had and gave him a goofy mustache and goatee. I also made him change out those ridiculous space pants.

This is him at home afterward. It appears he has been living in sin with his long-time girlfriend and they had two daughters, Melissa and Ada, and Melissa was a teenager for crying out loud! Ironically, along with his other traits: can't stand art, daredevil, charismatic, and friendly, he is also family-oriented, so I felt it was only fitting that he make an honest woman of mean-spirited Bree and give their children his name.

They had a quickie private wedding right there in the kitchen. (Twice because the game crashed.)

Melissa, grounded because she broke curfew, is a loner, excitable, a snob, and a computer whiz. She has a boyfriend: Spencer Funke.

Little Ada is a night owl, good, and lucky. She's friends with the youngest Funke girl, Carol.

While I was with the Lu family, guess who got engaged!

This is where Dante Levin comes in. Dante is flirty, loves the outdoors, is a night owl, a natural cook, and a bookworm. Joann spent the day shopping for a wedding cake at the bakery and going with Dante to the Old Mill to see if it would be a suitable venue for getting married.

I don't own the Old Mill, so I'm obviously missing some things like the tea sets and the water wheel, but I fixed it up using the items I do have.

I put in a baker's oven and a food synthesizer, so the place would have waitstaff for those coming here on dates.

I didn't have whatever interior stairs this building had, so I had to adjust things a little to put in a typical stair. Before Joann and Dante arrived, Becky was scoping the place out.

By the time Joann and Dante arrived, it was pouring down rain again. (I turned off the rain soon after that. I like it, but it happens way too often!)

The rain didn't dampen the couple's spirits, however.

They didn't sit together for their meals because Theodore Lum decided to sit with Joann and eat with her. Dante, not wanting to make waves, made his way to the fireplace to light it and dry off from the rain.

After their meal, the couple was inseparable.

I gave Dante a slight makeover because is just seemed "unfinished" with no hair of any kind. He seems to have a more distinct personality now.

I think they decided against this place as a venue due to too many unsupervised children making all kinds of disruptive noise. I believe this is Ada Lu.

And this is Makila Williams.

I can see where this would be a great place to play out their fantasies of being royalty.

While I was with Joann, I learned that Regan and Gwen got married and moved.

While this announcement doesn't say so, Regan and Gwen moved into a different house - not his or hers, and Holden Wonzy moved with them. I felt Holden needed to move out and get his own space, giving the newlyweds a little privacy. I settled him into a little cottage and made it into a nice bachelor pad for him. I thought I got pictures of it, but I guess not. Next time I'll show them if I remember. While I was with Holden, guess what happened.

I guess they sorted out their wedding plans. Speaking of such. I was looking through the town and noticed the business building from the original version of the town had been deleted, and then I noticed there was a building that housed the "Tribune" so I figured this must be the new business building. It looks kind of familiar, like Lapaige showed it to our group before. It was nearly empty, so I put the newspaper level in and added a newpaper/business rabbithole rug.

The cubicles still look too stark, but I'll add some calendars, bulletin boards, and desk toys to make it look like someone works here.

Holden was working as a handyman, but he really wanted to be a writer, so I had him join the journalism career, at least for awhile.

I'll add other businesses to the second floor later, but the third floor looked like it was intended to be an events venue - it had a small stage and a dance floor. It looked pretty, and I figured it should be a wedding venue, and made it so.

Now if I can only get these sims to stop getting married without me, so I can try this venue out!

Holden was invited to a party at Becky's house, so that's where we went, and guess who's Becky's new boyfriend?

While Jameel was obliviously dancing the night away, . . .

Holden was flirting with Becky in the garage. The relationship panel reveals that HE is Becky's new boyfriend. I guess there were clues all along, but I was surprised.