Marvin met an old friend at the library, one who strangely detested most of Marvin's roommates. After complimenting his intelligence for an hour, the friendship was rekindled.
“You know, I could use a favor,” Marvin said to his friend, “I know you don't want to settle down, but I need you to live with me. I can give you a slightly happier life. Just do this for me.”
“Alright, you win this time.”
There was just one thing Marvin had to do before telling him to pack his bags and find his house on Puddlewick Drive. He took a special elixir out of his pocket.
“I'd rather not have your fur on the carpet,” said Marvin with a sneer. The glass broke at his friend's feet. The fur was shed, his handsomely-rounded features returned, and his eyes were a dark green again.
Marc Brandt shook off the new feeling. “Puddlewick Drive, right?”
It felt nice to have his humanity back, and even becoming an elder before reaching the porch didn't bother Marc too much.
“Dang, Marvin has a good taste in women. I'd love to get to know you better.”
Meanwhile, Matilde wanted to get some new clothes and a haircut, but she first tried to burn off the baby fat. “You're fine the way you are,” said Marvin, but Matilde had different plans. She was inspired by Officer Goode's recruiting work for the public service, and wanted to be a firefighter. And the town of Twinbrook didn't want chubby firefighters.
After a bit, she let her hair go feral and got some clothes that were a little more fashionable (weight loss was too slow). Outside of the Bull house, Matilde was unusually captivated by the snow.
Thomas Bull just wanted to go inside.
“Come on Rachael, we're going to Performance Park,” she said as her friend answered the door.
“Oh my god, is that snow?”
Matilde quickly got to business. Prom was that weekend, and the only boys in school were Guy Knack and a paper boy. “Girl, you better go to prom with me. I'll have uncle Justin lecture you if you don't,” said Matilde, closely watched by proprietor Doug Downey and a Reaper snowman.
“Deal.”
Since the age difference between Rachael and Matilde was a little less apparent, they finally talked as equals about the one thing they agreed on: art. “You bet I want a pottery wheel. Maybe I can be like dad, or paint like Justin?”
The two spent the day together, mostly goofing off. Conversation devolved into a snowball fight.
“I bet you hit like a girl, Rachael,” taunted Matilde, “and a weak one at that!”
“You don't know anythin' yet.”
By the end of the day, the two felt closer than ever. “BFFs? Please?” asked Matilde.
“I'm just so honored!”
For poor Rachael, there were drawbacks to standing outside during a Twinbrook winter without outerwear. Lincoln the chaperone stepped in to thaw her out. As Rachael got back up again, Matilde was more spellbound than ever over something completely different.
“Is this what dad was hinting at?” she whispered. The magic finally could be released.
---
Oh Marc. I was targeting him as a backup dynasty painter in the event that I couldn't find someone else to do the job, but I noticed that he became a werewolf after the first day and I thought "well, I can keep him around for generations if I must!" Then my plans ended up requiring some Marc much sooner. So here he is today, living with the Claviculas and still in need of an elder makeover. I'll get him to populating the town too.
Yeah, he's old and saggy now, but Marc's at the beginning of his elder stage now. Without supernatural intervention, he'd be as old as Charmaine and therefore days away from death.
I'm trying to squeeze as much time in with Matilde and Rachael as teens as I can into this story. Readers of the Graves might remember an odd bug where the game basically skipped Gwen's teen stage, which meant that I could move her in sooner to paint, but she never got some nice teen bonding with Willow that she would have had without the bug. I wanted Willow to have a nice teen friend, darn it.
