Round One - King

The King family seem to be settling in to Serenity Hills very well, but it's early days. Will Adrian and Noriko manage to conceive their long-awaited second child? And will Duncan successfully woo Alima Bhalli and get the hell out of his big brother's house?

(sorry this update is so late - I've been busy lately. I'll try and keep up from now on!)


"So what's all this talk about you and Alima Bhalli?" Nathaniel asked his uncle. "Do you like her?"

"Loose lips sink ships, kid," laughed Duncan. "But between you and me, yeah, I do. Don't tell your dad though or he'll start pestering me about when I'm going to propose or something so he can get rid of me."

"No fear. Dad's crazy."

"You're a teenage boy, you've got to say that. But thanks."


It hadn't taken long for Noriko to conceive at all - apparently the fresh air of the suburbs worked wonders! She brushed up on all the latest ideas in parenting... she'd done it all before, of course, but that had been a long time ago.


Duncan may have been keeping his relationship with Alima quiet but it seemed to be working out really well. They'd rocked the nearby karaoke joint like pros - she shared his all-consuming love of music and they were both naturals! Or they were too smitten with each other to notice that they sounded more like cats in heat than pop-stars. Either way...


"Thanks for taking me out," said Alima, giving him a goodbye hug that was considerably less platonic than he'd feared. "It's great to finally be getting out of the house and having fun again!"

"It was my pleasure."


Nathaniel was doing well at school - of course, with his drive and academic dedication it would have been more of a surprise if he wasn't getting top grades. Of course, Noriko pressuring him probably had something to do with it... but getting her children (both already present and merely prospective) into college was extremely important to her. A life ambition, in fact.


It wasn't all hard work though. Nathaniel had befriended Jace Bhalli and met his sister Petal. They were his uncle's romantic interest's kids, which made things a little awkward, but they had similar goals and interests. Nathanial couldn't help notice that Petal was beautiful... intelligent, too. Wow.


Unfortunately his skills with girls didn't quite match up to his skills in the classroom or on the soccer pitch, and he managed to gross Petal out more than impress her.


Noriko's due-date was getting closer and closer, and she'd progressed from reading pregnancy books to obsessively joining parenting forums on the web. Adrian had jumped straight into the workplace, earning money so they could afford to build a little nursery, and even Duncan was chipping in with a job in dance, so she didn't mind that she was alone a lot of the time.


Of course, not all of Duncan's wages went to preparing the house for his newest niece or nephew. He'd put a bit aside so he could take Alima out on a really great date to the fanciest restaurant in the area. She seemed very impressed.

"Wow! No-one's treated me this well since... forever, actually."

"You deserve it. You're a beautiful lady and you should be treated like a queen."

"Don't go TOO overboard," laughed Alima.


The meal went perfectly. In fact, everything between them was going well, and even though they'd only been dating a few months Duncan was pretty sure he was in love. He'd been taking things slow, sticking to kissing her on the hand or polite romantic kisses, but he decided to move a little quicker. Hey, making out in a restaurant after a romantic date wasn't TOO weird, right?


Unfortunately for him, Alima did NOT agree.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I... I just thought..."

"Yeah, well don't. I'm not that sort of girl."

"I was just kissing you!"

"I don't care! Call me a cab."


Thankfully by the time the cab arrived Alima had calmed down. "I'm so sorry... I don't know what came over me. It's just been so long and things are moving so fast... I've got the kids to think about. I don't want to let a guy into my life unless he can make friends with them and they approve of him."

"I understand." Duncan may not have managed to get a family of his own yet, but underneath his pleasure-seeking it was becoming a bit of a priority. Plus, he'd been an uncle long enough to pick up SOME idea. They shared a goodnight kiss, and Alima got in her cab. Duncan waited a little longer before he headed home himself. When did this get so serious?

Gameplay note: Thanks to NoInstantLove, Duncan has the love flag with Alima but she's still only on crush level - in fact, he'd rolled up the want to propose to her WHEN I STARTED PLAYING THIS LOT. Wtf, Duncan, your family secondary is showing a bit strong...

Round One - Darwin

Harvey and Adele Darwin, never the most stable couple, were not expecting a new baby, but they ended up with little Sam anyway. Their teenage son Tom has inherited his father's gift for art but is steadily going off the rails, and they've brought in Harvey's widowed mother Verity to try and supply some stability in their new home in Serenity Hills.


Sam may have been a bit of a surprise for the Darwin family but that didn't make them love him any less. Adele may have been very driven but a cute little toddler always made an excellent addition to her mind.


Still, given both his parents' obsessions with work, most of the job of actually raising him fell to his grandmother Verity. She didn't mind one bit; in fact, she rather hoped there would be one or two more "happy accidents" for her to take care of in her old age.


Adele threw herself into working out and it wasn't long before she got her lithe, toned pre-pregnancy body back. She felt great.


Unlike some people Adele got on very well with her mother-in-law - possibly better than her own son did. Verity was always there to cheer Adele on through her many promotions ever since she and Harvey had started dating and this hadn't changed with the move to the 'burbs.


Harvey, on the other hand, had yet to get a new job. He was fortune orientated, sure, but he had no desire to be a corporate drone. He wanted to be his own boss, and his first step was making friends around the neighbourhood so his first business venture would be a success.


Unfortunately his talents didn't yet live up to his dreams. He'd gotten very rusty at painting over the years and he was determined to be good enough to make a living selling his art through his own shop, even if he had to ignore everyone else to do it.


Tom was settling in well. He'd already made friends at school - all very pretty and slightly easy girls.


It wasn't long before he got his very first kiss. His schoolwork was suffering considering his lothario ways and the fact that he, like his father, preferred painting to almost everything else, but he was sure he could coast through college.


It wasn't long before Sam was old enough to start school. Unlike his big brother, he was very hardworking and was dedicated to pleasing his mother and grandmother by getting good grades!

Round One - Bhalli

Alima Bhalli and her twin children Jace and Petal have just moved in to a little house in Serenity Hills. Will they manage to make friends, and will the drastic change effect Jace and Petal's chances of getting good grades and scholarships to Serenity State University?

"I don't know, it's not all that impressive," said Jace sceptically as Petal investigated the front yard.

"I know, it's just a starter home. As soon as I get a job we can start making improvements. Now get to school, you don't want to be late on your first day!"

"You don't need to tell us twice!" said Petal, and they ran for the bus. Alima sighed. She'd never been all that academic and neither had the twins' father - where did all this passion for school come from? Not that she was complaining. It was great that they wanted to get ahead in life.


The twins were strange in some ways. Partying and slacking off with the other kids at school held no interest for them; they were perfectly content to spend their afternoons doing their homework.


They also had a shared interest in tinkering and wasted no time in buying an old junk car to restore together. It was their way of bonding, each working silently on different bits of the engine or the bodywork.


Alima discovered she hadn't lost her gift for making friends easily; she was soon chatting away happily to one of the other newcomers, Adele Darwin, bonding over trying to parent teenagers. Personally Alima thought Adele's son Tom sounded like a bad lot - much too like her ex-boyfriend. Hopefully Petal would be bright enough to stay away from him.


Alima had also met the King family and discovered very quickly that she had a kindred spirit in Duncan King. They got on swimmingly, and soon chatting and joking turned to flirting. She worried he was more into her than she was into him - he was perma-single, childless and a free spirit, whereas she had to take the kids into consideration. What would their reaction be to a new dad? But she couldn't deny that there was chemistry between them.


They ended up taking a trip to the next town to hang out at a club; Alima had expected that they'd strut their stuff on the dancefloor then he'd get distracted by some other girl, but much to her happy surprise nothing of the kind occurred. He was completely enraptured and they spent most of the night talking to each other. Maybe this COULD work out.


Still, it was a bit of a surprise when he dropped by unnanounced while the twins were at school. Alima still hadn't managed to find a steady job and was lazing around the house when he rang the doorbell. One thing lead to another... and she found out first hand that Duncan was a really amazing kisser.