News flash! A large and complicated downtown area has just sprung into being near (for some value of "near") Neighborhood One!
Sally Raptor, matriarch of one of the neighborhood's First Families, immediately went to investigate this unprecendented phenomenon.
She felt pretty much right at home.
In particular, her lover Joanne Kim was flirtably tending bar, and her attractive but unavailable neighbor Jane Danvers was as swoony as always. One property of this section of Downtown: it's so dim that good photographs are practically impossible! Bad news for blackmailers.
Sally rocks the house.
First time she's seen a karaoke machine. She had fun.
Sally's daughter Gina also heard the news bulletin, and came down (without bothering to change into anything respectable) to check the place out as well.
Mother and daughter.
And some college kid in the background. And really awful lighting.
As Sally left to look for food, a certain amount of chaos erupted behind her.
My, my!
Whatever Amin was doing to annoy Ivy, it eventually resulted in a full-blown fight (which Ivy lost). I like how Jane's thinking of babies and ignoring the badness.
That previous image also reveals one of our first sighted Downtownies. We are happy! The Townie Project so far doesn't seem to have resulted in any new normal townies being generated, so finding hordes of interestingly dressed new people Downtown pleases us.
Anyway, on the theory that it's good to be able to see what you're eating, Sally tried a better-lit place for dinner.
"Is the salmon fresh?"
Speculation is rampant in the local Romance community about the seductibility of waiters, maitres and maitresses d', cooks, and so on.
When she got home, Sally called Eleanor, who was overjoyed to hear of this new source of lovers for her "Woohoo 20 different Sims" Lifetime Want...
Eleanor tried a different part of Downtown ("The Hub", I think it is) for her first adventure. Amazingly only one of her lovers was present, and when she suggested a date, Allegra Gorey was more than willing (I don't think I've ever posted about Eleanor's seducing Allegra awhile back; but anyway, she did, even though she has negative chemistry toward her, which just goes to show).
Things quickly got hot and heavy.
Or at least feathery.
Pow! Thwack!
Neither of them were rolling up very romantic date-Wants.
At least not toward each other.
I thought this was hysterical: during the date, each of them rolled up a Want to get married to the main man in her life. Note that Eleanor both Wants and Fears marrying Kennedy, while Allegra's Want to marry Castor Nova isn't similarly balanced. Ironically, both of these Wants rolled away when the date ended (it was Great, I think; they did make out once, right by the dance sphere, for a good helping of date points).
Eleanor also got to witness a fight (violent place, downtown); this time, John Danvers lost to (oh, what's his name?) that townie with the stringy red hair.
Aftermath
Eleanor's thinking "Well, that was interesting; now where did Allegra get to?" Eleanor and John were lovers so long ago that neither feels anything for the other anymore. I really ought to get them friends again, if only for old times' sake.
After her date with Allegra, Eleanor took a taxi to the park, and walked into an interesting Women's Group meeting by the swingset.
"Punching a time-clock stifles the soul!"
Easy for her to say; her tycoon days are far behind her. On the swings: Ivy Copur and Suzette Somnius. Walking about: intriguing new Downtownies to befriend!
After Eleanor'd gotten home and re-engergized herself with a quick Dream Date with Kennedy, Goopy Gilscarbo called up and invited her on a group outing downtown. She accepted even though I'd already stayed up much later than I'd originally intended.
(Amusing side-note: while she was waiting for the taxi for the Goopy outing, Castor Nova called her up as a result of her date with Allegra and also invited her downtown. I had her decline since I was afraid the taxis might have crashed or something, but the whole idea was pretty funny. What did Allegra say to Castor? "Yeah, honey, I had a great date with Eleanor Raptor while you were at class; you should give her a call and see if she wants to go downtown and like seduce you and stuff.")
Anyway, the outing:
At the theater.
Although Goopy claimed he was calling because he'd found new places to hang out Downtown, Eleanor actually had to decide where to go. I chose the Art Museum, but I don't think anyone ever got upstairs to the main gallery; the movie room was more popular.
It was a somewhat interesting outing: Eleanor met one elder Downtownie lady (the one just behind her platinum plumb bob there), and discovered that she finds Jan Telleman (her mom's tenth lover, sitting just to her right) to be extremely hot. Either of which may or may not turn out to be significant; you never know!
And I didn't see Mrs. Crumplebottom even once...