Fare Thee Well

Before he could fulfill any more of my plans for him, including his Lifetime Wish (grrrrr), Martin died.

Lil, who had recently become an Elder, was understandably heartbroken at the loss of his spouse.

Death arrived in his big scary cloak to roar and gesture.

Like the wise old man he'd become, Martin did not put a fight. Instead, as Lil sobbed inconsolably, Martin shook Death's hand and agreed that his time had come.

All alone in the apartment, Lil wept.

Farewell, Martin.

Housewarming

Martin and Lil moved into a bigger, nicer apartment on the other side of town. I had some hopes of adopting a child for them, so I made sure the apartment had at least two bedrooms.

Shortly after they moved in, Martin wanted to throw a party. He decked the house out party-style, complete with a bubble machine.

The party, thrown as it was by a very famous man, came with its share of crashers. All of the invited guests showed up and then some. One rabid fan of Martin's kept chasing him around trying to get an autograph. When she found that he wasn't in the mood for autograph signing, she jumped up on the kitchen counter and started to dance.

Martin thought that was a great idea, so he shooed her away and got up himself to shake his moneymaker.

Everyone had a great time at the party. When all the guests were gone, Martin and Lil had a private celebration.

The One

At the Plasma 401 lounge one night, Martin met someone he found interesting.

Since Romeo's death a little while back, Martin has been taking a break from dating. He missed Romeo, but surprisingly enough he wasn't entirely heartbroken. They hadn't seen each other in a few days when Romeo passed away, and they'd never really moved past the Boyfriend stage. Neither of them had been particularly interested in anything more, and I suspect that Romeo wasn't entirely faithful to Martin.

Be that as it may, after a few conversations with aspiring musician Lil Bling, Martin decided to make his move. Was he single? He sure was, and open to Martin's advances, too.

They hung out a lot, and seemed to have quite a bit in common. Their personalities were different, but complementary.

One night, after a few weeks of going steady, Martin proposed a date to the butterfly atrium. I'd never seen it before, but it sounded lovely. Lil met him there, and they went inside to admire the butterflies.

Lil was shocked when Martin suddenly dropped to one knee.

Amidst the butterflies and the flowers, Martin and Lil had a private wedding, free of the flash of paparazzi cameras and screams for autographs.

In the Spotlight

Now that Martin is a four-star celebrity, people recognize him everywhere he goes. On this night, he was just trying to go to the Prosper Room for a drink when he was suddenly mobbed by three people wanting autographs and pictures.

But they had to wait a few minutes because, suddenly, it was Martin's birthday. When he was finished whooping and celebrating all by himself, he granted a few requests for autographs.

Well, it was obvious he wasn't going to actually get into the Prosper Room that night, so Martin left and tried to find someplace that wasn't swarming with fans. He went to Waylon's Haunt, a dive bar near the coast. Unfortunately, even there he couldn't escape the pictures.

Don't feel too sorry for Martin, though. Sims love to be recognized as a Celebrity. It gives them a very powerful moodlet and they look pretty smug afterwards. Martin was so pleased with his fans that he bought them a round of drinks.

And everyone has a good thought for Martin.

Celebrity Perks

Martin is a four-star Celebrity now, and is discovering that there are lots of advantages to being famous. For one thing, he almost never pays full price for anything: restaurant food, groceries, drinks, you name it, he can get it discounted or free. It's really pretty awesome. When he's not getting discounts, he's getting random gifts sent to him. Among other things, admirers have sent him a high-end refrigerator, a gigantic bookcase, a fancy loveseat, and an area rug. (Some of those things aren't in these pictures.)

As a well-known artist, furthermore, he sometimes gets requests for portraits. Here's an example of a very creepy vampire who commissioned a portrait.

Also, when Martin called at Romeo's house for some lovin', I finally found out what this is:

That, my friends, is called the Stride of Pride. It is what Sims do when they've WooHooed somewhere that is not their house. I think that if they get rejected for WooHoo they will do the Walk of Shame, but Martin hasn't been turned down yet.

In the last bit of news, Martin finally reached the top of his career: Master of the Brush. His paintings fetch a pretty penny now, and the mayor wanted to reward him for his contributions to the art world. Congratulations, Martin!

'Till the Sun Comes Up

Not having a regular job does wonders for Martin's social life. Some nights, he will throw everything aside, grab the newspaper to catch up on the latest hotspots, and around 4:00 pm, he will head out to paint the town red. Sometimes Romeo goes with him, but most often he goes alone.

Martin had the urge to befriend this minor celebrity, so he tracked her down at The Grind and got her to dance with him.

Romeo tried to meet up with Martin at the next venue, but poor Romeo isn't enough a celebrity to get into the higher-class clubs and lounges.

Martin wondered where Romeo was, but apparently wasn't about to let it ruin his night. He headed first to the hot tub for a dunk - sans clothing!

Sitting naked in the hot tub was exciting for Martin - he carried a positive moodlet around for the rest of the night. No one else joined him, though. Next, Martin headed to the bubble bar. You read that right: the Sims get giggly when they blow these flavored bubbles, and Martin wanted to try it out.

It was quite a night for our favorite ginger-haired painter. By the time he stumbled home to bed, the sun was beginning to rise.

Movin' On Up

Having worked almost non-stop for a week, and celebrating his birthday alone, Martin was able to submit 15 paintings to the City Hall and earn a lot of money. He also attended a gallery opening at the Business Office, driving up his painting skill.

Once the lecture was over, he headed outside for some drinks and saw several higher level celebrities. Minor celebrity Aria Trill was suitably impressed by Martin's painting skill, cooking skill, and profession as a self-employed painter.

This four-star celebrity was harder to impress, and Martin just ended up asking for an autograph. He was pretty excited.

Aria was actually impressed enough to stop by Martin's house and hang out for a little while. Before the night was out, they had become friends, which will definitely gain Martin some celebrity points!

Later, Martin hit another milestone in his career: he painted his first masterpiece! He was thrilled, though it looked less impressive to me than some of his other paintings.

The step that propelled Martin to two-star celebrity status was working out. I guess celebrities do have to keep fit, after all.

Martin Gets a Boyfriend

Romeo stopped by randomly one day. Thrilled, Martin ran around cleaning his filthy apartment in order to impress his romantic interest, then chopped up some apples and lettuce to serve up an autumn salad. Romeo and Martin shared a friendly dinner, and then Martin suggested that Romeo might like to spend the night.

Unfortunately for Martin's libido, Romeo was so exhausted that he went to sleep immediately while Martin was showering. They cuddled very cutely till the morning, though.

In the morning, Martin began the day by asking Romeo if he would like to go steady. Romeo agreed, and they are now officially boyfriends. Yay!

Celebration Time!

Romeo is quite clearly a snob, since he seems to spend half of his time staring in the mirror. He was engaged in this activity while Martin made waffles for breakfast.

The post-celebration strut.

After breakfast, Romeo tried to brush his teeth, but managed to break the sink. "Looks like it's time to leave!" he shouted, and ran out of the apartment. Poor Martin.