Eleanor and Kennedy
A partnership of convenience
Last time we saw Eleanor Raptor and Kennedy Cox, they had just left the Love Nest, and were hanging out at the bus stop on the way to a place of their own. The next forty or so snapshots from their album bring us up to date on this pragmatic pair.
Eleanor liked the new house very much.
And liking the new house makes her want to kiss Kennedy's arm. It's a good solid brick house, set sideways to the street (the main entrance is around the corner to the left), with a cunning little side door (on the right).
They quickly began improving the grounds.
Note the fancy front walk. Eleanor was still a
tycoon at this point, and Kennedy a rising young doctor;
their combined incomes made it easy to gussy up the place, and fulfill Kennedy's Fortune wants.
The improvements included, of course, a Love Tub.
The Romance Sim's favorite accessory.
The tub was soon moved onto a nice back deck.
The tiny figures are Melissa Fancey and Eleanor.
Buying new stuff, though, wasn't Eleanor's main interest.
Her LTW is to Woohoo twenty different sims, and she's only up to like ten at this point.
She intends Melissa to be the next notch on her headboard. So to speak.
(Calvin and Hobbes wall art by me. Well, and that Watterson guy.)
As long as Eleanor wasn't too blatant, Kennedy was content.
"Sure there's a strange woman in her undies coming out of the bathroom, but I'm becoming very wealthy! We should buy some more expensive art for those bare walls."
This sometimes required careful timing.
One leaves, one arrives.
So far (and I hope I'm not jinxing myself
here), Kennedy has never actually become jealous over Eleanor.
(Melissa and Joe here are the two Sims that Eleanor moved in later,
as part of the Townie Project.)
Eleanor did very much like the new garden.
A fine place to meet and greet, and
be admired.
I think that's Melissa in cooking gear (during her time as a resident of the house),
and of course Goopy Gilscarbo
vamping it up in his usual atrocious casualwear. Note also the tree
and the new statuary in the background.
Then there was the day Kennedy lost his job.
I tried two chance cards in one day; one came up heads, one tails. "I'm so depressed, Eleanor. It's the end of the world." "Relax, lover; I just got a huge bonus. You know you'll feel better if you buy some new stuff ."
"Ah yes, looks very... expensive!"
"Those fireplace installers work fast."
So Kennedy was quickly out of the red, and in fact nicely up in the gold. When you're a Fortune Sim, it's helpful to be rich (and to have a rich paramour).
Eleanor throws frequent parties.
Let's see, that's Eleanor of course, and her dad Mitch for some reason intimidating Peran Nolstovski, and in the tub Kennedy is looking at Georgia Bendett Danvers and talking to townie Jan Tellerman. Everyone enjoys Eleanor's parties; jealousy incidents are surprisingly rare.
She also likes trying out new looks.
She didn't keep the glasses for long, although I thought they were sort of cute.
And new friends.
In this case Dr. "Goopy" Gilscarbo. I think.
Kennedy's ambitions are less photogenic.
Another new look
She's kept this one longer. (I post this only because it's such a good close-up.)
Eleanor, Melissa, and Kennedy
In another deeply symbolic shot, Kennedy maxes his logic skill on the porch (professional advancement requires skill), while Eleanor makes out with Melissa inside.
Then there was the time Kennedy saved Eleanor's life.
I was afraid we were actually going to lose her, and then I would have had to decide whether to wimp out and exit without saving.
With some help from the local fire squad.
She was eventually extinguished without losing anything but a bunch of hygiene points.
Kennedy was grateful.
Eleanor heads for the shower while Kennedy
gives the firefighter a big tip (you can tell he's fond of Eleanor by the fact
that he's actually giving up money here). The salmon continues to smoke.
Aftermath
The fire glitched the stove, and we had to buy another one. That stove is still sitting off on a corner of the lot in fact, still smoking, with flies buzzing around it. The only available action is "resume cooking", but as soon as it hits the bottom of a sim's action queue it just fades out. I should moveObjects delete it, but it's an interesting conversation piece.
Kennedy's firing wasn't actually much of a setback; as soon as the media attention died down the hospital took him back, and he started up the ladder again.
Kennedy fulfilled.
Newly-appointed Chief of the Pityriasis Staff at Sim City General Hospital, Dr. Kennedy Cox! Yay! He brought home Marylena Hamilton that day; Eleanor was happy to meet her.
"Lovely day for a soak."
(This is a day or two later; not even Eleanor
moves that fast.)
(Random domestic-bliss snapshot)
About this time Eleanor quit her job, on the grounds that Kennedy doesn't need her help keeping his aspiration up anymore, they're pretty rich anyway, and that way she'll have more time to work on her own LTW.
Relaxing in the afternoon.
That's Damion Cormier, of Sleeping Through College. His LTW is to be a Hall of Famer, but he's still Romance.
(One should not conclude from this that she's lost interest in Kennedy, or vice-versa.)
More relaxing.
The next fire was less stressful.
No one ignited.
And Eleanor made a new friend.
A family gathering.
Kennedy, Eleanor (behind the plant), Eleanor's mom Sally
(left) and younger sister Gina (right). The Red-headed League.
Then there was the time Eleanor put a bed into the parlor.
She and Tiffany really wanted to lie down, but Kennedy was asleep in the only bed. Luckily the Acme Express Bed Rental Service came through!
"Remind me why I put up with this sort of thing?"
"Ah, now I remember."
Just one of those days.
Does a Sim wake up if someone they don't know well lies down next to them? (I love Eleanor's yawn into the camera here.)
Then there was the burglary:
A nighttime visitor.
Kennedy just happened to be napping nearby.
The alarm worked, the blonde policeman prevailed, and the burglar was caught.
But not before he stole the painting that used to be on the far wall there. (Eleanor really wanted to thank the police officer, but that doesn't seem to be possible anymore.)
Kennedy pounds on the piano to console himeslf.
Eleanor, more pragmatically, considers what to replace it with.
But it's too much for him.
Even with the very nice and expensive replacement.
"There, there. Look, now we have even more very expensive stuff!"
(Thomas Cole and Brian Eno wall art by me, via Wizards of SimPE.)
Although in private, Eleanor was also upset.
More about the home invasion than the theft, we suspect. And perhaps about not getting the pretty cop's phone number.
And there's also the more routine tumult now and then.
Marylena slaps Eleanor
I had no idea she was out in the hot tub; I don't think anyone invited her.
But in general life is good for our protagonists.
Eleanor and Kennedy
Not exactly a match made in heaven, but at least they have someone to hold now and then. What more could any of us ask for?