04-14. The Moral of the Story

Caprice: I really liked your story, Marvin, but it's getting late. Could we continue our talk tomorrow?
Bunter: Tomorrow? Uh, sure. Ok. Tomorrow.
Caprice: You can walk me to my door...in case there are any of those nasty raccoon about.
Bunter: You're teasing me again, Caprice.


Bunter thinks: (She still doesn't trust me. ...Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the tent. The car probably wasn't a good idea either.)


Bunter: Wait! We haven't...haven't discussed what work we'll do tomorrow.


Caprice: I thought we'd start on the lodge pavilion.
Bunter: Pavilion?
Caprice: The stable. ....And then we'll continue with the conservatory loft.
Bunter: Right. Need to get rid of that hay.


Caprice: Goodnight, Marvin. I did enjoy your story. It had a lovely moral. The meaning is what makes a good fairy tale, you know.


Bunter: The moral here being "Know when you're ready?"
Caprice: Marvin! The moral is "Know when you're NOT ready!"
Bunter: Oh.


Bunter: Still, I think there's a relationship between those two morals, don't you? A point of agreement?
Caprice: Well, maybe a small connection...a little one.


Bunter: You mean like this?
Caprice: Mmm.


Bunter: Goodnight, Caprice. I'll see you tomorrow.

In Rinn Fada 6: A Game of Toads-Part 2

Enough was enough. It was time to kiss some toads and get the heck out of Rinn Fada. 
That's when the Game of Toads really began!

Ruby kissed Larry. (These are special friendly kisses BTW, not romantic ones.)


Larry was cured.


Bonnie kissed Mark, but something happened. Something I didn't even know COULD happen!


Instead of curing Mark, the kiss backfired and Bonnie became a toad too! OMG!


So I brought Holly over to kiss Mark.


No luck. It didn't work. But thankfully, Holly the witch is immune to being toadified. Next, Holly tried a kiss on Roy.


Which worked. Then Clyde tried kissing Bonnie.


Which backfired. Clyde was now a toad.


Roy kissed Bonnie next.


And she was cured.


Then Bonnie kissed Mark again. Another backfire. She got turned into a toad a second time.


Ruby kissed Clyde and turned herself into a toad. When would the madness end?!


On and on it went, back and forth. It was a nightmare! I finally stopped taking screenshots. The thing was, Holly wasn't high enough in spellcasting to cure anyone, and I had no other way to heal them except to cheat, which I avoid unless I have a special purpose in mind.

Eventually, Larry kicked them all outside. At one point everyone was a toad except Holly. And each time the kiss backfired, they got mad and I had to make them apologize to each other. ...Well, except for Ruby and Roy--no toad-kissing between them. Ruby pestered Roy all night long until they became fully red-barred.


Finally at 6:30 am, still in Larry's backyard, they were all cured.


I could safely send them home without fear of toad issues. They took 2 taxis back to base camp (Roy and Ruby wouldn't ride together). Then Mark called travel services.


I kept my fingers crossed, but everyone got home in one piece. Sort of. Ruby and Clyde no longer had their Eternally Faithful reps. Ruby had cheated and been betrayed. She and Roy hated each other more than ever. And Roy had another cheat and one more betrayal to his record. ...Oh yes, love these family vacations!


Good thing they didn't take the kids! 

_____

Further repercussions from this vacation in Rinn Fada was that the Riverview household was finally split up. Roy, Holly, and Riley moved out and into the world of the Wild West. See the first Wild West story update: "01-01. Go West, Young Man."

In Rinn Fada 5: A Game of Toads-Part 1

I'm beginning to believe Marvin Bunter when he tells Lord Piers that Ireland brings out his wild side. Because, the Criminally Challenged household in Ireland is worse than the Criminally Challenged in Riverview. The next day brought even more trouble. Needless to say, their "vacation" was cut short. I soon sent them home!
_____

For the most part, I just watched the gang in action. I've learned that the more I try to interfere with this family, the worse it gets.

After a night of drinking way too much at the dive bar, they woke up pretty happy. Roy and Holly were fooling around as usual, as if Ruby didn't even exist.


Ruby and Clyde were back to their flirty ways. So I thought, this is great. Everyone has forgiven each other. I'll break Roy and Ruby up, and we can all go home happy. No need to take any drastic measures right now.


Except Ruby didn't agree. She saw Roy kissing Holly and went ballistic! I mean totally! I've never seen her this wild. Apparently she thought that with a sliver of attention from Roy, he was supposed to leave his fiancee. I watched Ruby go absolutely nuts. ...So much for the No Jealousy reward. It's no help at all.


For heaven's sake, Ruby hadn't given up Clyde. None of this makes any sense! Ruby had a betrayed moodlet, which of course meant Roy now had another Betrayal to his credit on top of the cheating. How can Ruby skate free like she does all the time? I found myself getting angry at her, the hypocrite! I even felt sorry for Roy.


Which is why I told Holly to do this. ...I should have kept out of it. I really, really should have!


But Ruby just wouldn't leave Roy alone. Was she crazy? He's hot-headed, athletic, master of both martial arts and athletics, top of his sports career. Don't push him, Ruby.


She pushed him. One jab too many. ...This was all them, not me. I'm not certain who actually took the first punch, but I'm pretty sure it was Ruby. 


Mark just kept playing his guitar. He's used to this sort of thing going on with Roy. 


Of course Roy won. ...Notice sweet little Bonnie insulting Clyde's intelligence in the kitchen. She's been hanging out with her nerdy husband Mark. 


So, I thought, time to get Ruby toad-kissed and go home. ...Oh, but wait. Holly had been invited to a party. A party given by Larry Walsh, the old guy she'd toadified the day before. I guess Larry liked being a toad. I was curious. I had to send them all to the party before heading home. 


Which turned out to be a very bad idea. At first, things went pretty much the way things do at these shindigs. Larry got the hots for Ruby (now de-toadified).


Johnny O'Gorman talked politics with Clyde while a police officer questioned Bonnie.


And oh yah, Holly toadified Mark. Just for the fun of it, I guess. She likes Mark. Totally her decision.


Then Holly toadified Roy again. More witchy fun. She must think I want her to toadify everyone now.


Poor Roy, toaded up twice in one lifetime. ...But wait! This was just the beginning--for everyone.

In Rinn Fada 4: Racketeers Outtakes

Just a few outtakes from the Riverview Racketeers stay in Rinn Fada.

The base camp Bed and Breakfast not only provided an onsite professional waiter, but also a limousine. I think this was the first time I'd seen my sims ride in one.


Riverview townie tourists kept showing up in Rinn Fada. My sims had several phone calls from them. Here, Bonnie talked to Tom Shallow.


Every day, Riverview sims swarmed the B&B. Several were ex-romantic interests of Roy's. What did he ever see in Rhoda Bagley?


But the worst was when Don Lorthario came into town and photobombed Roy's proposal to Holly with his thought bubble hearts for Holly.

In Rinn Fada 3: They Can't Go One Day Without Trouble

I can't seem to control anything this criminal household does even when I try. ...And that's what I get for creating Roy Thorn. I tried to improve his lot in life. I gave him chances and buffs. But he still is the biggest headache of the whole group. He causes trouble just by his very existence!
_____

Today I checked in with the Criminally Challenged troupe vacationing in Rinn Fada. Were they having a good time? Well...hard to tell.


Some of them certainly were.


At least at first.


But then, I got an idea. You see, I was concerned about Mark and Bonnie. They had just gotten married and had a new baby girl. But Bonnie had already fallen again for Roy when he'd kissed her after her wedding. That had taken me some effort to patch up. And now, Ruby was flirting with Mark. Ruby's not as good at flirting as Roy, but you never know! ...How could I keep those two troublemakers away from my happy couple?


Now first of all, let me explain that the "Prince and the Tower" story was staged. I was fully supervising Prince Roy, and he never romanced Bonnie or Ruby during that play. They just had friendly interactions. And he only woohooed in the tent with his girlfriend Holly. So the play was not the issue.


I knew I could never stop Ruby from flirting or Roy from kissing. Impossible. But maybe I could redirect their attention away from Mark and Bonnie. Right then, Roy and Ruby still disliked each other. Their relationship bar was in the red by a fair degree. ...I decided to friendly up Roy and Ruby, so he'd seek her out for socialization instead of his "friend" Bonnie. If he ended up kissing Ruby eventually, oh well. Better Ruby than Bonnie. 


But my plan went into high gear somehow! I'm not sure how this happened. With me completely directing this conversation, Roy managed to get the relationship up to just below neutral, still a bit red. The two were only acquaintances and Roy was being "sociable." At that point, Roy mastered Charisma. He could now use "Irresistible Greets." Dear god help me. 


Then Roy told Ruby about his engagement to Holly, a FRIENDLY comment. And what happened? ...They immediately went from Acquaintances to Romantic Interests (barely in the green)! Being friendly.  Ruby suddenly got the Naughty Reputation, no longer faithful. So, were they hiding a secret lust that only came out when the relationship improved? I mean, how is this even possible? Only Roy could achieve this feat of seduction! 


Things sort of disintegrated then. Roy switched straight to a flirt before I got my hands on him. And others starting "catching on" that something was up.


Clyde jumped down off the counter and went over to tell Ruby their date was over. He told her she was "selfish, self-centered, and self-indulgent." I'd never seen this message before. So sad. Eternally Faithful Clyde was hurt. In an instant. 


But I guess things could have been worse. After Roy's last stunt, I'd given all these guys the No Jealousy reward to see if it would ease the drama. Apparently it's working a little because even though Clyde and Holly got upset with Roy and Ruby becoming Romantic Interests, that's as far as it went right then. There were no more confrontations--that night. How awful to live like this! 


Ruby left the bar and was asleep when Clyde got home and crawled into bed beside her.


Roy had no problem woohooing Holly despite the fact that he'd just added another cheating notch to his belt--only by being friendly.


I haven't decided what to do. I quit the game. Roy and Ruby are now romantically involved while still in relationships with Holly and Clyde. Maybe I should have left well enough alone. ...But at least Mark and Bonnie were safe. For now.