Chapter 6: An age of brothers

When last we left our growing family, Martin (3.2) had just turned into a good-looking teenager. Well, good-looking by Maxis standards. Little did he know the complications love can bring to a young life.

But let us first introduce more family members. Mathias (3.3) had grown into a schoolboy. Not exactly beautiful - or even ruggedly handsome - and his conversational skills still need some work.

Here comes grandmother Margaret with baby 3.4, a boy named Malvin. Yes, I've started to skip the pregnancy pictures. You will thank me in a few more babies' time.

Maritza is Mathias' idol and role model. "When I grow up I will be popular just like her!" Good luck with that, kiddo. "Hey, I can already balance a single empty thought bubble on top of my head just like her! Is that cool or what?"

At first, nobody noticed that Martin spent more time on the phone than usual. After all, his sister had also constantly chatted with her many friends. And everyone had their own things to think about.

Nor was it unusual to bring a friend home from school. After all, their house was open all day for anyone who wanted to stop by, and Marsha had come here on and off since she began school, more or less.

But to Martin, it was something much more. It was his first love. What was he to do now?

The others did not notice anything, except that Martin suddenly seemed a lot more family-oriented. Baby-oriented, to be more exact. And as the saying goes, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth. (Well, unless it is big and made of wood, I guess.)

Of course, the more obvious explanation for his new behavior was that Martin was now the oldest of the "children" at home, since Maritza had gone to the university. There she was no doubt working hard... at making even more friends.
(This is the only time I remember seeing a dorm cook sit down with the students. It seemed vaguely in character for Maritza to cause that to happen somehow... She certainly looks smug enough.)

Soon Malvin grew into a toddler. Not that anyone had expected anything else. I mean, what else would he become, a bat?

Before long he had learned to talk and could converse with guests about his favorite topics. Oh please, not yet another popularity Sim!

Grandfather Magnus taught him to walk, since Marius (2.1) was often at work now. He had finally found a career where he felt he fit in, as paranormal investigator.

And then one day Maritza returned from STFU with her diploma. In private she admitted that being best friends with the professors probably counted for quite a bit of it... And of course the first thing that happened when she came home was a party. Because of the great occasion, everyone was wearing their best clothes.

Well, almost everyone.

And then it was Malvin's turn to celebrate, in this case his birthday. This didn't seem to make him any happier about wearing formalwear, though. "Hey, can I take this OFF now?"

And on the floor above...