Tailor Gwynne Part 3 - So Long, Appaloosa Plains; Hello Roaring Heights

 Tailor and little Gloria have a close relationship, spending quality time together every chance they get. 

Tailor invited the cute cop, Derik Guillen, out to get to know him better. 

He liked entertaining Gloria with spooky stories. 

There's just one problem - make that two. Sometime between the time Tailor met him and now, he up and got married. Also, it turns out he's a bot fan - too cringy for Tailor, and a real deal-breaker. 

Paulo Whitehead also seems interested in Tailor. 

He's a stylist. He's also married. Why are all the good ones taken?

They are either taken or really rude.

Time flies, and soon both Tailor and Gloria had their birthdays. Tailor was no longer a young woman, and her biological clock started ticking. It didn't help that her little Gloria became a teen. Tailor soon found herself in a mid-life crisis. 

Gloria looked a little drab and gloomy. So I gave her a makeover. She can really put away the hotdogs.

Now she just has to decide: does she want to eat her winnings, let them spoil in her pocket, or feed them to the dogs. (She became a dog person when she aged up.)

She met a guy she likes - Royce Whipsnake. (There are Whipsnakes all over this town.)

I think Terence Whitehead was a little jealous. "Why doesn't she like me? I'm just like Royce! Or at least I dress as cool as he does.

One old coot gasped when he spotted the fashion faux-pas. 

There's no doubt that Gloria is luckier in love than her mother. Lester still calls Tailor. He's married, but doesn't seem to be happy in his marriage. Desperate Tailor met up with him at the horse arena when he asked her out.

His wife showed up too, but it looks like Frank Stem might distract her. 

Yep, this is the middle-age crazy talking. Lester decided to impress her with his bull riding skills. 

She thought he looked like a superhero - until she didn't. 

"Are you okay, Les?"

I think something Tailor ate didn't agree with her. 

"I'd love to give the bull riding a shot. What do you think?" she asked.

"Oh, it's much too difficult for a little lady like you. You're no spring chicken anymore, after all."

"You ignorant man!"

Opal's thinking, "I wouldn't want to be that dude! He's toast!"

Oddly enough, Lester got a charge out of being slapped, which further infuriated Tailor. 

"Don't call me anymore, Lester. We're through!"

"Oh, gosh, I think she really means it!" Lester realized. 

"This is a piece of cake!"

Tailor's mid-life crisis wasn't over yet. Next she wanted to move to a new house, leaving Cadillac Ranch behind. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life in a slow-paced little country town. It's time to check out the big city! Roaring Heights, here we come!

With the money she got from selling her house and bar, Tailor moved herself and Gloria to this 4 bedroom house with a pool. It took almost all the money she had, so she'd better find a job soon. She decided to rent out a couple of the bedrooms to roommates to help pay the bills. 

Katherine Whealdon, (the one in the sparkly dress), and Josephine Blanchard moved in a few days later. 

Tailor's first impression was that this is a rough town. This became evident when the welcome wagon came to get acquainted. 

Right off the bat, without warning, Clyde Reeves slapped Henry Simovitch on the front stoop. 

I'm sorry the jewel shipment is late arriving, but I assure you it will be here by the end of the week.

When it comes in, make sure your security is lax, see, or you will have some broken kneecaps, see."

"Breaking my bones won't bring the shipment in any faster. I've been paying you for protection for years!" 

I'm protecting you now but giving you the sage advice - make sure the gems arrive by the end of the week and leave your security lax or you will be eating dirt. Like this!

"And not a word of this to the new dame in town, understand?"

While all this was going on, I could hear raised voices coming from inside. Apparently Donia Spinelli and Tailor had their own drama going on.

Be careful, Tailor; I don't think you want to get on the wrong side of this woman.  You could end up in her basement. 

According to The Sims Wiki,

Donia Spinelli is a pre-made Sim, living in Roaring Heights. Her family biography states that she is bad to the bone, and wants to prove that she is the true leader of the town instead of Clark Houveir, whom she is enemies with, along with her enemy's wife.

Donia lives in an apartment at the city center. Her living room is located in the second floor, in which her bathroom contains a stair which leads into a basement, where it reaches a kind of prison with several cells.

Donia works in the Criminal career as a Henchman (level 7). She is 3 levels away from achieving her lifetime wish, which is to reach level 10 of her career (Evil branch). 

As for Clyde Reeves, he is also in the criminal profession. He's the Clyde counterpart to the Bonnie and Clyde spoof. Bonnie Davis is supposed to be his girlfriend. However . . . . 

He doesn't look that committed to me. I wonder if Clyde works for Donia. She doesn't seem to approve of his interest in Tailor.  It was about the time that Clyde made an indecent proposal, that Tailor lost interest in him. What a creep! Trying to offer her a car in exchange for being his mistress!

She set him straight, though. 

Henry Simovitch was quite impressed with her. She didn't seem afraid of anything and would stand up to anyone, no matter what their rank in organized crime was! Henry is a parody of Henry Ford. He's an entrepreneur involved in the car business. He recognizes Tailor as a potential asset to his company and strongly encouraged her to apply at his office for a job. 

 

She sure seems to be able to put Clyde in his place. 

"If you are looking for work, my company has an opening in the office. You could by my right-hand girl," he suggests. 

Meanwhile, Clyde went out to the pool where Gloria and her imaginary friend Pat were playing. He nearly landed on top of Gloria when he dived. Doesn't he know you need to check to see that the way is clear before jumping? 

Gloria was already close to drowning from fatigue. I've had kids drown in a pool before. I hope buying the house with a pool wasn't a bad idea. Gloria got herself out of the pool in time, thank goodness. 

Back in the kitchen Clyde continued with his threats toward Henry.

"I will be by tomorrow to collect your protection payment. Make sure you have it ready for me."

And the jewel shipment had better arrive by the end of the week, or else! (I really don't know what jewels have to do with cars, but maybe Henry also has a partnership in a jewelry store. I might have to put one in since I have the artisan forge now. Maybe Gloria can take up the skill and work in the jewelry store.)

"You really need to leave this life of crime, son, before you get in too deep!" Henry counseled. 

"There are so many respectable ways to make a living other than using your fists!"

Tailor walked in on them, so now she knows for sure that Clyde is an unsavory character.

"You two had better fall in line. Just so you know, I've got connections with the police in this town. They can make your life miserable!"

"Is that why this chump isn't in jail?" Tailor asks. "This is why he gets away with taking money from you?"

"It's just the cost of doing business around here. We've gotten used to it." Henry replied.

"I'm sure this really affects your profit margin. Something really should be done about this!" she exclaimed. 

The next day Tailor and I set off to explore the town. It's a base game world so there were no real bars anywhere, but there are several "hangouts." I placed a food register in the Beachside Cafe because it only had a couple coffee machines. I made The Palm Tree Bar into a dive bar and Luminous Bar into a Lounge, adding professional bars to each. And I turned Ocean Side Cafe into an Asian Fusion type of restaurant using the Asian grill. I didn't really change the decor in any of these but added some music sources to each because they really needed some ambient sound to be immersive. 

Tailor took Henry's advice and joined the business career, and in the evenings she moonlights at The Palm Tree Bar. She doesn't make much there, but apparently her skill level isn't high enough to work at the lounge yet. 

Hopefully working two jobs and taking in boarders will help her save up enough for her own bar someday. 

Henry is her boss at her business job and has graciously taken her to some of his favorite spots in town. Some are truly magical. There seems to be a hint of romance between these two. He's too old for her, but maybe she has daddy issues. 

The paparazzi seem to have taken an interest in Tailor. Perhaps her attitude toward the organized crime syndicate has gotten around.  Or maybe it's just the way her music can calm animals. (While I was away very, very briefly in Appaloosa Plains, Tailor taught herself the guitar it seems. She now has a few skill points and is a passable musician. Go figure.)

Gloria likes to go out fishing after school, but Theophraseus Souze warned her about the dangers of staying out alone after dark. That's when the thugs come out. 

 

As far as influential people, Tailor has met the mayor and Frank Astaire, a local celebrity. At first Tailor was star-struck, but soon decided that Frank wasn't "all that." 

I can't remember what it was that turned her off. 

In other news, Gloria is getting off on the wrong foot at school. She skipped in order to hang out at the public pool, but to be fair, she did spend a little time completing her homework. It really hasn't helped that she pranked the school by releasing frogs in the science room and getting caught.