Matters of the Hartman: Part I

Greetings, everyone! Hope that everyone had a nice Thanksgiving, and that you got some sort of time off for it as well (I know it's pretty standard, but I've worked at places before that didn't give time off - heck, I was working at a gas station on the New Year countdown for the year 2000 when every other place was closed). Mine was great. It seemed to go on forever, which sometimes is a bad thing, but not this time. It was the kind of forever where I felt like I spent plenty of time doing what I do best - nothing at all! It was lovely… :-)

So as of this moment, there are 24 entries lined up for this page just waiting to be posted. Kind of gives you a nice warm feeling, doesn’t it? It's a little odd at times too because certain things change quite a bit for some of the families down the road, and posting events prior to the big changes is a little strange some times. Speaking of big changes, there's a pretty big one coming up in our post today. Actually, there are quite a few eventful ones on the way (imho), so hold on to your hats.

Looking in on the Hartmans, you'll remember that last time Leon found a new love interest, Claire Redmond. Things were going pretty well with the pair, and he even hung a picture of her on his wall…which sort of says something. Rinoa and Tommy had gotten back together for the zillionth time it seems, and hadn't had any trouble to speak of thus far (unless you count Tommy catching fire a problem). If you recall, Rinoa and Leon were designed with the intention of them being nothing more than housemates in the beginning, and they seemed forever destined to try to change that however they could. The trouble really began when Leon kissed Rinoa as a favor before she was dating anyone so she could get aspiration points for kissing someone. Well, the two of them never really forgot that moment. One day, Leon was minding his own business in his room when Rinoa walked in in her bikini to borrow some moisturizer...


Leon: "I've got a girlfriend…I've got a girlfriend…Claire…Claire..."
Well, whatever common sense and mental defenses Leon might still have had at work, they broke down pretty quickly when faced once more with the object of his desire (that's Rinoa, in case there's any confusion). Not surprisingly, despite the ups and downs the pair have faced since Leon destroyed Rinoa's relationship the first time, they still had feelings enough for one another to start making out without any warm-up interactions beforehand. Wow, that comes as a huge surprise…Leon did such a great job of hiding his feelings all this time…not…


Leon: "Eh, just one little smooch can't hurt..."
Leon initially considered making his play to be Rinoa's guy full time, but he recalled she was back together with Tommy, and that Tommy could beat the snot out of him with one hand while eating a sandwich with the other (hopefully not getting any snot on the sandwich). The idea of spending endless hours on the bench press for any reason just plain didn't appeal to Leon since it still wasn't a guarantee he'd be able to beat up Tommy if the need arose. Thus, Leon decided to try once more to bury his feelings for Rinoa and content himself with his current girl, Claire (if that's not romance, I don't know what is).


Leon: "Hey, babe…how about a little tonsil hockey?"
Well, women aren't stupid, and although Claire never saw Leon kiss Rinoa, Claire and Rinoa developed a strong dislike for one another. To be honest, I was a little confused as to why Rinoa decided she didn't like Claire, since they started out as friends initially. Heck, Claire coming to visit Rinoa was the whole reason Claire and Leon hooked up in the first place. Maybe that's it there…it's not cool to make out with your friend's roommate. Especially if the friend has a secret crush on the roommate they refuse to let go of.


Rinoa: "Nuh uh…I hate you more!"
Well, we all know that when it comes to matters of the heart and romance and secret crushes, the best thing to do is just ignore such things and wait till they boil over into a great big mess. Thus, Rinoa decided it would be a good time to ignore the whole Leon/Claire/Tommy mess and spend some time with her plant daughter, Iris. After all, the two hadn't seen each other at all since Iris moved out to spawn a family of plant sims and start her produce empire. By now, I'm well accustomed to the idea of sims spawning plant babies who grow up almost overnight into full grown sims, but that still doesn't make it any less weird that Rinoa is now a great-grandmother to some of the plant folk. She doesn't look it…


Iris: "Eggplants? Sorry, no. I'm fresh out!"
Actually, not to give anything away, but far off in the future, another of the well known sims regularly featured in this blog catches "plantsimism" and spawns a child, so Rinoa won't always be the only oddball who does so. I just have to constantly remind myself that these are SIMS and not people, even if their world may bear a lot of resemblance to ours (what with all the werewolves and vampires hanging around). One thing there never seems to be enough of when raising a plant baby though is time to build a great long term relationship. Rinoa decided to make up for that with a little water balloon fighting (which incidentally, is also a great pseudo-combat exercise, which is good for her career).


Rinoa: "You looked like you could use a little watering..."
Well, all this distraction stuff was working out pretty well, because even I managed to forget about Rinoa and Leon's kiss when our story began. Rinoa decided an even better way to keep herself honest would be to invite a bunch of people over. One of the guests of honor was Leon Jackson, which just seems to be asking for trouble to me, but he managed to behave himself during the visit (possibly due to his new relationship with his maid, Debbie). But wait, someone seems to be missing from the scene below…


Leon: "I have no best friends…does this surprise you?"
If you guessed "Leon and Rinoa", you'd be correct. Yes, despite their efforts at distraction, the magnetism between the two was irresistible, and with everyone else occupying one another, there was nobody around to spray them down with a hose when they could have used it most. Even to this point, nobody but Leon and Rinoa were aware of what was going on between them, and it's conceivable that with a little monitoring, I might have been able to help them keep it a secret from Tommy, but in my opinion, Tommy deserves better than to be kept in the dark while Rinoa showers her affection on Leon.


Leon: "I thought I'd come back for seconds..."
Now, I feel a little responsible for the series of events taking place here, and while I always wanted to see Tommy and Rinoa together happily in the beginning, clearly Leon and Rinoa have something special going on between them, so I figured it was time to help them close the deal (after all, those silly sims will stand around smooching each other all day long, but it doesn't become a "relationship" without a little outside help). At any rate, Leon began to realize that it was inevitable that he would have to confront Tommy sooner or later, but that seemed to be the last thing on his mind…


The love tub works it's magic once again...
Yes, from this point, there's no going back. Like it or not, Leon and Rinoa are now an official "item". Suddenly, the newness and excitement of his relationship with Rinoa began to wear off (that didn't take long), and it was replaced by the terror of having to face a thrice shunned werewolf who was going to be finding out about the whole thing sooner or later and looking for someone to take it out on. Suddenly, the bench press seemed like less of a chore and more of a necessity for survival, especially for a 90lb weakling like Leon.


Leon: "Why do they have to make these weights so…ugh…heavy..?"
Working out is all good and fine, and Leon was glad to do it, but not for any real length of time. With the one body point he gained from the process, Leon decided he'd built himself up enough for the time being, and went back to doing what he does best - painting (you thought I was going to say "hitting on chicks", didn't you?) Now, if you thought that it was going to be one of those paintings Leon keeps promising to do to make some money for the family, you'd of course be wrong. Leon only paints one thing - women.


Leon: "I shall call it, 'That Rinoa is One Hot Babe in a Non-Platonic Way'..."
Well, Leon and Rinoa started living on edge a little bit wondering when the confrontation with Tommy was going to come about. She could have just called him and broken things off politely, except those sadists at EA Games opted not to put such an option in the game. Being a best friend of the family, Tommy had a habit of coming to the house and letting himself in and doing as he pleased, and he eventually decided to drop by and pay a visit and figure out why Rinoa hadn't called him in close to a week. Leon was scared enough to begin with, but when Tommy told him about his new hobby, sumo wrestling, he was absolutely horrified…


Tommy: "All we need is some rice and a chalk circle…whadaya' say?"
Oh, poor Leon…he's only gained one body point since he and Rinoa's relationship began, and it seems the time has come to stand up for his girl if he wants her to stay his girl (he knows better than anyone just how flighty Rinoa can be). At the moment, though, any "standing up" Leon does to Tommy it seems will result in him "sitting down" on a really sore kiester. What a mess. You ain't seen nothing yet, though, because it just gets messier in our next post, "Matters of the Hartman: Part II".

Dates gone sour, tiki loving elves, super heroes, old friends, multiple fatalities, and a race for mayor…it's all coming up in the weeks to come, and that doesn't even touch on all the weirdness in store. Hope to see you there through the good, the bad, and the ugly!