Nicola tries to find a boyfriend using a gypsy matchmaker but ends up with a date who is gay. Meanwhile, Marina and Nery commit to marriage despite uncertainties about their living situation. The chapter also shows interactions between various family members as Terry celebrates becoming a teenager and Kimmy remains antagonistic.

1. CarlaBirchThe Ryman LegacyChapter 4B – Still with the Normal MarinaYeah, you probably can call it that.TerryBy Mzyra

2. The very night that Sean went to university (and it was probably just as well he had; his little fortune sim heart wouldn’t have handled this well), somebody was out and about, doing damage to the reputations of Jessicas everywhere…

3. Especially doing damage to their intelligence.“Oh come on! How am I supposed to be a burglar if every freaking house has an alarm in it?!”To be honest, nobody else much cared about her worries, especially not Officer Ramin Centowski who quickly charged in to do Jessica Ebadi some real damage.

4. Appreciate his intervention though the Rymans did, the nicer sims of the family couldn’t handle watching a fight. Of course, it then quickly turned out that Terry couldn’t handle the dark either, but luckily Nicky was there to make him feel better.

5. You might have expected Kimmy to be there, taking in every move with joy, but she was too busy being annoyed at whoever left plates out overnight.“Honestly, think of the bacteria! What is with all the consistent idiocy?! Am I really the only person with a brain, ever?”

6. R: “Yes! I have thoroughly beaten up a woman!”J: “Yeah, well done, you must be so proud…”R: “I wonder if Demi will be impressed when I tell her about this…”J: “Let it go, Ramin, she’s never going to go out with you. Frankly, I think she’d more interested in me…”R: “What do you mean? You don’t think- She’s not- She just needs to meet the right man, that’s all. And I could definitely be that man.”J: “Yeah, keep dreaming mate…”

7. Meanwhile some people were actually successful in their love lives. Thanks to way too much schoolwork and Nery’s after-school job, Marina hadn’t seen her boyfriend outside school (where there were strict rules on PDAs) since before the family went on holiday. She communicated how well she had missed him pretty efficiently.Ne: “Hey Mar- Mmph!”

8. Their relationship was strong and comfortable enough by this point that they didn’t have to spend all their time making out and being physical; they could spend hours just talking to each other, playing catch or hanging out generally.Nery was a good listener, letting Marina vent her frustrations about some members of her family and the responsibilities she had over them, while Marina was always willing to lend an ear if Nery wanted to talk about life at the townie orphanage, though he rarely did.

9. Largely the Ryman family wasn’t that dysfunctional; they were even bordering on normal some of the time, which Marina was glad of so Nery wouldn’t be scared off. The parents and children were close and most of the siblings got along great, especially Nicola and Terry.

10. There was no relationship breakdown romantically either. Carla and Birch set a good example of how a couple could go on loving each other faithfully for decades on end, which Marina seemed to take heart from.These frequent public displays of love and affection, could be a little difficult on unattached members of the family though…

11. Well, maybe not so much on Kimmy, who seemed entirely happy and comfortable on her own, without some lame boy trailing after her, cramping her style.**If you’re wondering, this was autonomous, as are about 97% of the other things I show Kimmy doing.

12. Nicola, on the other hand, was bothered. She didn’t have half so many friends at school as Marina did, so she didn’t even have someone for boyfriend potential there. Enough was enough – having said goodbye to Terry and made sure he wasn’t about to run out into the dark and have another panic attack – she set off downtown to meet a nice young man of her own.

13. She started off at The Hub, where her parents had gotten engaged – she thought it might be romantic, but was a little disappointed.Bartender: “Look, if you’re going to order a drink, I’m going to have to see some ID.”N: “What? No, I don’t drink. I just thought this was where you sat to meet people.”B: “Aren’t you a little young for that kind of thing?N: “I just want to meet some people, that’s all…”

14. But Nicola didn’t even get that: apparently The Hub wasn’t really a teen hang-out, but she managed to make it worth it a little by getting some dancing in – though she had to close her eyes while doing so, so she wouldn’t be completely embarrassed by anybody watching.

15. After The Hub she stopped by Red’s 50s Diner, where there were less embarrassing things to do, like pool. Hopefully with red being her favourite colour, it would prove to be lucky…

16. It did seem to be more appealing to teenagers, especially teenage boys, but Nicola had yet to factor in that a lot of teenagers looked worryingly like members of her family, something Kimmy could have told her, had Kimmy thought or cared about anybody but herself.

17. There were a few boys that were less unnerving in appearance, such as Randy London, who she vaguely recognised from around school…

18. But they didn’t exactly hit it off, as he appeared to quickly become bored with her attempts at conversation.Why did this have to be so difficult? Why couldn’t Nicola get her knight in shining armour like Marina had done?

19. Count: “Excuse me miss? I realise that it’s really none of my business, but having had a lot of experience with life I really just wanted to impart some advice: you’re young, you’re pretty and you’ve got your whole life ahead of you – don’t be so anxious to settle your whole life so early, you have plenty of time to find somebody worth you.”N: “Oh, thank you. But… a family’s all I want to do with my life, if I can’t work towards that now and find my perfect man, what am I supposed to do?”C: “Well… I suppose if you’re really that determined and you’re willing to spend money, there’s always the gypsy matchmaker, but you really shouldn’t feel that you need to…”N: “Well there’s no harm in trying, is there? Thank you very much for your advice!”

20. M: “No luck, huh? Sorry Nicky.”N: “No, but I have a plan… We’re doing a lot better financially, aren’t we?”M: “Um, yeah, I think so. It’s not like we constantly have to renovate anymore…”T: Dear diary, Mrs School-counsellor woman told me that it’d be a good idea to start writing in you and express my feelings and stuff. I don’t really want to, though. Daddy and Sean never kept diaries, I think it’s meant to be something girls do. And I don’t have any problems when it’s day time or people are around. And I’ll be a teenager soon and teenagers aren’t scared of anything.

21. By ‘soon’ Terry meant that very night. Birch threw him a party, inviting his own college friends since Terry didn’t have many friends of his own outside the family. Terry didn’t mind, just so long as there were people around.

22. Some people weren’t interested though…“Tch, I can’t get this freaking crease out of my sheet… Does nobody do any ironing around here?!”

23. Terry may have had some issues, but his sense for fashion was working a lot better than most of his siblings’ and all of a sudden he was much bigger – the wolves and stuff would have a much harder time eating him now…

24. His hair back to its normal messiness, Terry’s adorable looks had transformed into attractive, if unusual, ones.Terry had decided that he wanted to surround himself with people– and not just ‘friends’ who you might not be able to trust, but real, solid family members who he could depend on and could depend on him.

25. K: DIARIES ARE FOR GIRLS, YOU LOSER!“Ehehehe… Who leaves their diary all over the place anyway? And thinks about emotions and stuff?”

26. The next day, Nicola decided to put her plan into action and called up the gypsy matchmaker. She felt bad about spending the family’s money, but if it got her the perfect husband… And her parents wanted her to be happy, didn’t they? Surely they’d pay any amount of money they could afford for that, right?She’d just have to take the chance…

27. N: “I need a boyfriend. The perfect guy for me! And preferably won’t look like either of my brothers. Or sisters…”Gypsy: “I am contacting the mystic forces to find the man you will be most attracted to…”

28. G: “Here we go. Nicola, meet Connor Dawn, dropped all the way here from Three Lakes!”N: “Huh, I thought he looked vaguely familiar. Thank you, he looks amazing already.”C: “Ahhh, my head…”

29. N: “H- Hi Connor… I’m Nicola, some of my family call me Nicky, so you can if you want…”C: “Well hi. This is a bit… weird, but I’ve never been abroad before, so why not?”N: “S- sorry about that, I figured I’d just get somebody from school or something…”

30. N: “And it seems like you’re everything I’d been hoping for…”C: “Hang on, what do you mean?”N: “Well… That gypsy’s a matchmaker, this is a date…”C: “Ooh, ah, um…. Look, you seem really nice and all, but, uh, I’ve got to tell you – even though I haven’t really told anybody else… I’m not really into girls in that way, if you know what I’m saying.”N: “You mean, you’re gay?”C: “Yeah, but would you mind not telling everyone? I haven’t even told my parents yet…”

31. N: “Um, excuse me, Miss Gypsy woman? My ‘perfect’ date is… gay- and there’s nothing wrong with that or anything, but that kind of stops him being perfect for me, me being female and everything…”G: “The mystic forces don’t lie and that was the best man for you. Sorry, kid.”N: “So I can’t even get a refund?”G: “Nope, sorry!”**This was not made up – Nicola’s perfect $5000 date had randomised gay through ACR… Poor girl.

32. Luckily for Nicola her parents were once again very distracted and didn’t notice the sudden disappearance of $5000. They were particularly distracted that day since…

33. They were rapidly losing the remainder of their youth. They weren’t devastated as they knew they’d still have each other, but Carla was disappointed to know that she’d no longer be able to wear her beautiful, flattering dress and would have to stick to the elder clothes… At least Birch wouldn’t mind.

34. Sean had even come home for the party, as well as Birch’s college friends, who were revelling in their seemingly eternal youth. And accidentally hitting Nicola in the face, on top of her already bad day.

35. Birch kept most of his good looks, even if he lost the cheese-ish yellow of his dreadlocks, but the clothes he got on the other hand…It was just lucky that they’d prepared for this while on vacation…

36. Very lucky they prepared for it – Carla wasn’t much better off in her clothes either. The children determinedly found other things around the room to look at that wasn’t their parents’ bare legs or chests… But the new elders were happy and that was what mattered.

37. A swift change of clothes later and Birch looked much the same as he always had. The change was more marked on Carla, but given that Birch couldn’t believe his luck when he first met her, there was nothing that could happen to her that would have put him off now.

38. After some time, Jane had finally reappeared for the party. Terry couldn’t remember having met her before, but thought she was very, very pretty. Possibly too pretty for him to talk to really, but he thought he might as well try.Jane seemed a little preoccupied, however…

39. And rather quickly she was very preoccupied. K: “So, be attractive to my little brother will you? Well I suppose that since you’re both losers and idiots you’re probably perfectly suited, but if you make him happy I’ll make you miserable. And if you make him miserable I’ll also make you miserable.”J: “What am I supposed to do to not be miserable then?!”K: “… Go away, stay in your stupid townie orphanage and make yourself miserable so I don’t have to!”J: “Uggghh….”

40. Other people were more successful and now too big to be noogied by their twin sister…**ZOMG spoiler alert!

41. And still others decided to try to make all the male friends they could, in the hopes that one of them might eventually pay off. Given that Zion Louie had been checking out Carla (like almost all male dormies…), it was safe to assume that he was straight and at least partially interested in family sims, so, creepy as it was, Nicola spent the evening chatting to him anyway. While Kimmy made snide comments at both of them from behind her.

42. M: *Grumble* “I don’t see why you should get the desk Kimmy, I’m the eldest and this is my room.”K: “Because I’m the only one willing to fight for it. If you wish to challenge me physically for the desk, I’d be perfectly happy to help settle the matter…”T: “Don’t fight…”N: “Or argue – we can rotate who has the desk.”K: “Ha, like that’s ever going to happen…”N: “Do you have to be mean, Kimmy?”K: “Yes. Yes I do. Accept it.”

43. T: “’Rina, do you think Mum’s going senile?”M: “No, she’s just being a regular, embarrassing parent…”T: “But if Mum and Dad were to go senile, what would we do?”M: “Don’t worry about that, Terr – it’s my birthday tonight!”T: “But – aren’t you moving out? Or is Nery moving in?”M: “Oh. Um. I’m not certain. I haven’t talked to Mum and Dad about that yet…”T: “Please stay! Don’t leave us alone with Kimmy again…”Marina felt the guilt burn inside about the holiday again, but wasn’t sure what she could do – could she be staying at home forever and having her family there?

44. She didn’t have the time to figure it out, it was time to become a proper woman. And Nery would become her proper man… And they’d have their family wherever they had to.

45. “Uh, mum? Would you mind stepping back a bit?”Marina looked a little odd at first sight, but after a moment’s thought her look was perfect – she already had her wedding veil, and her outfit – while not entirely appropriate for the Winter snow they had – matched her eyes and the furniture. If it hadn’t been spontaneous, it could have been a good choice.

46. Nery, meanwhile, had a few issues and decided to hide outside. He didn’t want to leave in case he hurt Marina’s feelings, but was worried what her reaction would be…

47. He needn’t have worried; she quickly forced him back inside and showed that she couldn’t care less what was going on with his hair – he could have had a multi-coloured afro for all she cared – all she wanted was him, regardless.**Autonomous matching outfits! It must be fate!

48. In fact, Marina showed her commitment right then and there, even though she wasn’t sure what their future held.

49. Nery was never about to refuse her, so Marina and Nery were soon to be wed, as soon as they’d established the debate over where they were going to live and who would be taking whose last name…

50. ~~~End of Chapter 4~~~Aw. Who will be heiress?Due to predetermined numbers of children, only Marina and Nicola are sensible candidates for heirship. So will it be responsible Marina and Nery, trying to have children while waiting for her younger siblings to vacate the nest, or will it be quiet but caring Nicola and whichever man she eventually finds to be her husband?You decide!