The Townie Project
Part 39: Peace again

That little hitch aside, Joe's negotiations were a success.


"You're right, Joe, we shouldn't be in love anymore. You're sort of a jerk."


"Bye bye, ex-lover! See you around!"

So Joe and Mackenzie can now express their feelings without penalty.


Domestic harmony.
Mitch and the twins (and for that matter Sally off in the Love Nest) all still dislike both Joe and Mackenzie, but at least it's not constantly getting worse anymore.

And in other news, Dawn is working on her second love affair.


"Mmm, nice vest."
These Romance Sims are so insatiable.

More from Casa Townie in further episodes (coming up: will Mitch finally get over Sally?).

The Townie Project
Part 40: Ally Pederson

Mitch Lawson (Captain Fireman) is a Family Sim. He loves his four daughters very much, but he's recently reconciled himself to the fact that their mother is never going to settle down and be his life's companion.

(In fact he fell out of love with Sally the other day on a downtown lot, when he and Sally and a few of her other lovers were all hanging autonomously about, and Sally flirted with one of them right out in public. Lots of slapping ensued!)

Although he gets along well enough with his female housemates, they're no more than friends. Even though Christy Stratton (yet another of Sally's lovers) is also Family and you'd think they'd be compatible, there's just never been a spark.


Despite a certain amount of amicable porch-sitting and all.
Neither Christy nor the delivery girl there seem to interest him romantically.

Then the other day Ally Pedersen from downtown called up out of the blue and asked him on a date. (I can't recall how they met in the first place; it may have been autonomously on that same community lot. His daily with her was up in the sixties somewhere when she called.)

"Well, I don't know Ally. I mean I'd love to but -- oh sure, what the heck! But you don't mind -- I mean -- you know I have a fami -- my daughters...?"

"Oh sure, Mitch, everyone knows about that!"

"They do?"

"Yeah, you're like one of the Founding Fathers of the neighborhood!"

"Um, wow, okay. Can we meet downtown? I don't want to upset the twins."


"Yeah, people can be so jealous..."
The twins would probably have objected because their mother Sally's still in love with Mitch. Very similar to Joe's problem in our last update, in fact.


Ally is very taken with Mitch.
Studly superhero costume and all, narf narf narf!

And although it was odd being with a woman other than Sally, and he took things very slowly (no romantic interactions at all), by the end of the date he and Ally were Best Friends.


Coochy coochy!
On the other hand as soon as the date ended they had mutual crushes; maybe just going on a date counts as a romantic interaction, or something.

The Townie Project
Part 41: Someone for Mitch

Not long after, Mitch called Ally and invited her downtown.


This time, he didn't move so slowly.
Right out there on the sidewalk and everything.


A racier set of snapshots.
I do like Ally's outfit.


Mitch is inspired.
The date went very well.


Back to the photo booth.
But not for pictures this time.


The mysterious noises from inside attracted a small crowd.
Ally's overheated, Mitch is in love.

The Townie Project
Part 42: Interlude with Mr. Big and the Diva

When the happy couple emerged temporarily sated from the booth, I noticed that once again both Mr. Big and The Diva were on the lot. Continuing our previous theme, Mitch pointed them out to each other.


With immediate results.

For most of the rest of Mitch's visit to the lot, the two were all over each other.


Although I haven't noticed red floating hearts yet.
Mitch and Ally dancing innocently in the background.

Too bad there isn't an "Influence to... woohoo..." verb. *8)

The Townie Project
Part 43: Mitch is Impulsive

The date with Ally was going marvelously. A wild notion came into Mitch's head, and before he could have any sane second thoughts, he acted.


"Ally, I know this is sudden, but will you..."
Hey, he spun up the Want, and I thought why not? In retrospect it was probably sort of risky, but...


"Oh, Mitch!"
"Me, Mrs. Captain Fireman!"


Engaged
I like this picture for the comical Smustling going on in the background.

The onlookers were impressed.


"Did you see the size of that rock?"
I don't suppose there's an "Influence to... propose... engagement" verb, for that matter?

The Townie Project
Part 44: Mitch and Ally and Sally

Now of course, as we noted before, Mitch and Ally have the same problem that Joe and Mackenzie did in a previous episode: Sally still loves Mitch, so Sally's relatives (including Mitch's daughters) will be enraged if they see Mitch being romantic with his new love.

Fortunately, on their next date, Sally herself happened to walk past at an opportune moment.


Booooiiiinnggg!
Why do my Romance sims get aspiration points when they catch someone cheating? I don't get it. (Oh, wait! Ha ha ha. I'll bet Sally had a "meet someone new" want, and her instant intense dislike for Ally satisfied it. That's funny!)


Sally confronts Mitch.

"How dare you!"

"Oh come on, Sally, get a grip. Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander, ya know?"

Sally went away furious, but no longer jealous.


"So how's work?"
Talking calmly to Ben while Mitch and Ally kiss in the background.


"Forgive me for upsetting you! But you see how it is."
This odd elder lady is scaring me here. *8)

So that, I hope, took care of that.

The Townie Project
Part 45: Mitch and Ally

Mitch drove Ally back to the Casa (or maybe this was their next date; I don't actually remember).


"Kisses sweeter than wine!"
This was autonomous; I hardly ever tell Sims to do the Serenade thing, because it's so embarassing.


Now that's more like it.
But shouldn't she take off her hat?

Later, with Mitch peacefully snoring away, Miss Pedersen went out and played some contemplative chess on the front porch.


...in her undies.
"Mrs. Ally Lawson" "Mrs. Mitch Lawson" "Mrs. Captain Fireman"...

She eventually left, and came back later to leave the inevitable bouquet of roses.

The Townie Project
Part 46: Friends again

So Mitch is nicely established with Ally (although we can't move her in until the twins go off to college or something, because the Casa is full), but we can hardly leave him and the mother of his children at odds. So Sally invited him over to talk.


"I just lost my head."
Or other cliches to that effect.

And after a nice long soak in the tub...


Friends again.
She's still furious at him, but they're friends anyway.

So Casa Townie is all paired up (Joe and Mackenzie, Arcadia and Melissa, Mitch and Ally, Rose and Aaron, Dawn and various), except for Christy Stratton. Hm, maybe we should actually try out the Gypsy Matchmaker sometime...

Ohhh... I think I missed something important!

This picture...



... indicates that Sally and Mitch were married at the time Mitch proposed to Ally. Can he do that?

I thought that married sims had to get divorced before they could propose marriage to someone else.
Well, at least in any sane person's game.

I've had that symbol appear when two sims were just in love and one of them flirted with another sim in the same room. I don't think it's possible to propose marriage to another sim when you're already married, or even engaged.

Greg wrote:

Ohhh... I think I missed something important! This picture... ... indicates that Sally and Mitch were married at the time Mitch proposed to Ally. Can he do that? I thought that married sims had to get divorced before they could propose marriage to someone else. Well, at least in any sane person's game.

That's the Hawaiian symbol for "caught cheating."

Greg wrote:

This picture... ... indicates that Sally and Mitch were married at the time Mitch proposed to Ally. Can he do that?

In fact it just means that they were in love (or I think, to be maximally accurate, that Sally was in love with Mitch). Mitch and Sally have never been married (either to each other or to anyone else, although hopefully that'll change for Mitch soon!).

As far as I know (although I've never tested it!) married Sims can't propose without unmarrying first. (And I'd guess that engaged Sims can't either. Hm, in real life is it a crime to be engaged to two people at once? Not nice, presumably, but not bigamy either?)

I doubt it. One of my nieces has just announced her engagement (to a guy that's slightly older than her father!). The man in question is still technically married. Louisiana has a required six-month separation before a divorce can be final, so he's just now starting the separation period and the divorce process. He's living with my niece now and they've gotten the ring and everything. Our family seems to be frowning upon it for the most part, but I don't think it's illegal or anything, at least not in this state. My opinion is, as long as she's happy and he's treating her right!

As far as I know, there's no legal status to engagement in any state the United States, though of course it could be the focus of a civil suit. So it's not illegal to be engaged to everybody else in the county.

Of course, what's legal or not in the real world has bearing on your Sims universe only if you say it does. If you want to have a sim married to the refrigerator, and can figure out a way to do it, then you can define it as a legal marriage!




I'm particularly concerned about the relationship between one of my Ecological Guru sims and an elm tree in her back yard. They might be able to make the marriage work, but how will they raise the children?



Edit: Fixed a typo.

Greg wrote:

As far as I know, there's no legal status to engagement in any state the United States, though of course it could be the focus of a civit. So it's not illegal to be engaged to everybody else in the county.

Or parish! *being nitpicky today*

Quote:

I'm particularly concerned about the relationship between one of my Ecological Guru sims and an elm tree in her back yard. They might be able to make the marriage work, but how will they raise the children?

This is why we keep you around, Greg...I'm crying over here!