2.42 Promoted

It's Friday night at the Grind and the club is packed. Tula's here to celebrate her promotion to Ballot Counter and Rafael's promotion to Department Head and Jessica's promotion to Squad leader. The trio is moving up in the world, it seems. 

But Tula's priority tonight isn't her pay raise. 

"Hi, you must be Beau Merrick. Jessica says you have a work proposition for me," she gets straight to the point. Rafael warned her that Beau has a large appetite for women and has "always given him the creeps". She figures she should err on the side of caution for now. 

"I do. It's a recruiting position for my former organisation. Jessica tells me you have excellent people skills." 

She stares at him with a smile, waiting for him to continue but he doesn't. She takes this as a cue to elaborate on her personable nature. 

"I suppose you could put it that way. I was a tour guide- might I say quite a successful one- for a year in Shang Simla. That's how I met Rafael and Jessica. Now I work at town hall. Not one of my coworkers doesn't know me, and I can say with confidence that none of them has a single complaint against me. In fact, they rather like me. Enough to chip in to hire a special DJ for tonight." 

Beau nods, but Tula senses that he isn't convinced. "I see. Well, there's a small test for you to pass. To verify these...skills you have. There's a man over there, William Fangmann. Red eyes, bulging muscles, he's pretty hard to miss. We're interested in doing business with him. See if you can get friendly with him." 

Tula glances behind her and sees him, chatting with some people at the bar. 

"Sure. But let's wait for him to finish up with his friends, shall we? I'll see you around." With that, Tula saunters off to mingle. 

Beau squints at her. Jessica better be right about her charisma. 

"Aria! I'm so happy you came!" Tula greets Aria Trill, the woman she met at the park during her first day in Bridgeport. 

"I'm surprised you invited me! It's not often I get invited to clubs anymore. I must admit, it's quite a bit louder than I remember." 

"I guess it's no concert hall, huh? How about next time you have a performance, you invite me?" 

Aria smiles, genuinely now, "Sounds like a plan." 

Aria suddenly trails off, her attention caught by a blonde woman staring daggers at Tula. 

"Is there something wrong, dear?" 

The woman stays silent before stalking off. 

"What's her problem?" Aria mutters. 

Tula was told by Jessica that Beau's girlfriend, Marina, came with him tonight and pointed her out to Tula earlier on. Tula guesses Marina's unhappy to see her boyfriend "fooling around" with yet another woman. 

 "No idea. If you'll excuse me, Aria..."

Her main focus tonight isn't Marina. 

"Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" Tula speaks her first words to William Fangmann. 

William is surprised that, for once, a girl is approaching him in the club. Looks like his luck is finally looking up! 

"I-I like your smile," he blurts out. Then he winces- what the hell was that? 

This just causes Tula to grin, "Oh really? Not too bad yourself..." 

Beau watches, impressed, as within a matter of minutes Tula has a complete stranger howling with laughter. 

"Plumbob, I'm sorry, that pickup line was pretty bad, wasn't it?" 

Tula giggles, "Maybe I just need to get used to it. Say it again..." 

Rafael was told by Jessica to "make nice" with her co-workers who showed up for the party. This is no hardship for Rafael. He quickly tears up the dance floor with Pin Yin, Jessica's former squad mate. 

"Jessica is lucky. A man who can dance is quite the catch," Pin yells over the music. 

"You're not too bad yourself!" Rafael says with a wink. Pin laughs as she spins around Rafael. 

"You know," Tula says, catching her breath after a round of cheesy compliments, "I could've sworn I knew you from somewhere... do you know Rafael or Jessica?" 

William shrugs, "My boss told me to come here. Some relations thing with the military I guess. Since I just got promoted a few days ago, I was invited to rub shoulders with our buddies in the army." 

"A promotion? Congratulations! I'd love to help you celebrate." 

Jessica grins at Beau. 

"Told you she was good, didn't I? To believe you described Fangmann as 'an anti-social recluse' who was 'impossible to befriend'. Your old boss should be pleased." 

Beau pins Jessica with a face that would make almost anyone else shiver with fear. 

"Yes. Your friend is quite talented, and she seems interested in the job. And you really don't think she'll have any...moral complications?" 

"I highly doubt it. But your colleagues would be a better judge of that than me." 

Beau shrugs. That'll be up to them, not him. 

For the time being, Tula has passed her test with flying colours. 

"That dress looks amazing on you," William compliments her. 

"And I'm loving the sleeveless look," Tula returns, running a hand slowly up William's side and then languidly down his muscular arm. 

"I have to go soon," Tula lies, "But we should see each other again sometime. Can I have your number before I go?" The truth is she's physically exhausted, but she doesn't want to offend him by suddenly leaving. 

William attempts to hide his shock. Unlucky William, no more! He tries and fails to suppress his smile as he enters his number into Tula's phone. 

"I'll call you sometime," Tula promises. She kisses his cheek before they part ways. 

"Are you ready to go?" Jessica shouts over the music, noticing Tula hovering near her. 

"Yes." 

"Did you have fun?" 

A grin spreads slowly across her face, "Definitely." 

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AN: Staging that party was so hard. I had it 3 different times at 3 different clubs. Trying to get multiple sims to the correct floor of the club was impossible. Finally I just had it at the Grind which only has 1 floor. All the guests (except Marina, who left early, and the Cooks, who divorced during the party- ouch) had a good time. 

Fun fact- according to the Sims Wiki, William Fangmann is one of the only vampires in all of Bridgeport to not have the evil trait. He does have; 

-Unlucky

-Loner

-Innappropriate

-Athletic

-Brave 

He's currently a patrol officer. 

Beau Merrick is; 

-Loner

-Evil

-Genius

-Frugal

-Hates the outdoors 

In game Beau is now going steady with Marina, but is still seeing Lilly-Bo Chique and Bianca Rubble as romantic interests.