Round One: Namakura

Nobuo Nakamura hadn't imagined that living with his mother again after so many years of freedom would be easy, and Hanako didn't disappoint. She was worried that he was spending too much on extending the house and redecorating, but he laughed it off. What was the use of money if you didn't spend it?


It didn't help matters that Hanako still didn't really approve of Sachiko. Nobuo was her little darling angel and she wasn't sure that a woman who wandered around in a tiny slip of a nightdress at all hours was right for him. Still, she made him happy, and that had to count for something.


Despite Hanako's reservations Nobuo and Sachiko still got on as well as the day they met when they were teenagers. They were an openly affectionate pair, always kissing and cuddling and playing silly games.


Sachiko wanted to make friends with all her neighbours, but it was difficult. Sabrina Davies was such a prude! The only thing they seemed to have in common was motherhood. Sachiko assumed her bad attitude was probably down to pregnancy hormones, though, and resolved to keep in touch and build up a friendship.


Her connection with Lisa Mackenzie was much more immediate - she most definitely wasn't prudish! Sachiko was glad; they could be all Sex-and-the-City and talk about men. Lisa was having some romantic troubles and Sachiko vowed to find someone to set her up with.


Hanako and her granddaughter Shiina were completely different in most ways - Hanako was traditional, Shiina was a free spirit - but they shared one passion: art. Hanako gave her plenty of tips and even promised to teach her how to sew. Shiina wasn't all that keen on work, but she supposed if she HAD to have a career then it wouldn't be too bad to be a world-famous designer and make darkly glamourous clothes. Just thinking about all the post-show parties made her head spin!


Sachiko really didn't get the appeal of all this creative stuff. "Stop talking about art all the time! It's driving me crazy!"

"Art is LIFE, mom!" exclaimed Shiina, and stomped off to her room in a spectacular goth tantrum.


Life carried on at a steady pace, although Nobuo's cooking skills left a lot to be desired. He left the stove for a moment to talk to his mother and his pan full of soup caught on fire!


When Shiina brought her friend Emma home from school she was immediately ambushed by Hiro. He was at the age where he reckoned all girls had cooties, and Emma was an easy target for some tormenting. Nobuo hoped his skills with the ladies would improve by the time he hit his teens. Emma didn't mind though, she just said he was "cute" and ruffled his hair.


The only girl Hiro would talk to was his sister but as far as he was concerned she wasn't a REAL girl and therefore didn't have cooties. They got on quite well for such different siblings. Shiina was arty while Hiro was more concerned with fitness and sports.


Soon after the renovations were all finished, Sachiko began feeling sick and had to make frequent dashes for the bathroom. The pregnancy test confirmed her suspicions.


When she told Nobuo he was much more pleased by the news than she was.

"Thats amazing!" He'd always wanted a big family, and he knew his mother would be pleased at the prospect of another grandchild.

"But how are we going to afford it? The house is barely big enough for all of us as it is, and we haven't got enough money to build even more extensions!"

Nobuo smiled. "We'll get by, we always will."


Meanwhile, Shiina wanted a boyfriend. Not a steady one, although she wasn't promiscuous and dreamed of someday finding a guy who would buy her presents and party with her until they were both old and grey. But for now she was young and free, and right now ANYONE would do. Well, almost anyone. She'd gotten chatting to various guys on the internet, but they were all a bit too old for her. Ew!


Her heart leapt when she found out there was a goth club in down town Virtue Falls. Their ID policy was apparently really lax and she got in without any trouble, but their clientele wasn't particularly alternative after all. She got wrecked on cocktails before hitting the dance-floor and "freaking out the Mundanes."


She didn't find any boys, but she did meet one person who looked like she fit in at the club and might be fun to hang around with, even if her whole creature-of-the-night vibe was kind of corny. The vampire thing? SO 1994.


Sachiko didn't let the news of her pregnancy get in the way of socialising. She was on the phone more often than her teenage daughter, chatting away to Lisa and Sabrina. She'd have to organise an outing to one of the cafés down town for the three of them soon, all girls together.


It didn't take long before Sachiko was showing, and she used her pregnancy to her advantage as much as possible. If anyone gave her trouble about eating the whole bag of cookies she could always tell them she was eating for two.


In fact, she was eating for three. Her first ultrasound revealed she was carrying twins. Nobuo promptly got a job as a security guard. Their savings were running out and if they wanted to furnish a nursery they'd have to bring in a bit more money. Pregnancy didn't put a damper on their amorousness, though - especially as it turned out that Sachiko really couldn't resist a man in uniform!

Round One: Mackenzie

Lisa Mackenzie wasn't exactly happy with her life. She adored her son Ewan, but raising him alone was difficult and she still harboured a grudge against his father for running off. They'd lost contact and he didn't even pay child support.


She didn't find a job straight away so she could concentrate on Ewan, and tried to find ways to lift her mood. It had been a long time since she'd picked up a paintbrush and she was a little rusty but she felt a familiar thrill as she stood at the canvas. Maybe life wouldn't be so bad after all.


Some of her neighbours dropped round for a visit. She was glad for some adult company but she was too busy to really connect with them so they talked among themselves while watching TV.


She was shocked to see the very married James Davies flirting with Linda Barthelet, but she held her tongue while making a mental note to drop a few hints to his wife if she happened to bump into her.


The equally very married Nobuo Nakamura had no such designs, however, and instead teased Linda mercilessly. She wasn't impressed.


Lisa tried to keep it all together but sometimes she was completely wiped out with the stress of raising a toddler alone. She lost her concentration and ended up burning her dinner more than once.


Eventually her savings ran out so Lisa got a job on a construction site while she studied Architecture. She had decided she wanted to use her artistic skills for a good cause and reach the great heights of City Planner.


Unfortunately this meant she had to leave Ewan in the care of a particularly sour-faced nanny. She was apprehensive; she'd never left Ewan alone before and wondered if being without her love and attention might scar him for life. If that didn't, then that woman's face would!


Thankfully Lisa's worries were unfounded as the nanny was nowhere near as grumpy as she looked. Ewan was well cared for while Lisa was at work; this nanny was worth her weight in gold!
(seriously, this is the first nanny I've ever had in the Sims who hasn't SET FIRE TO EVERYTHING.)

Everything was going well, but a woman has needs, and Lisa found herself calling up Will Knox for a little fun. He was precisely the kind of guy she shouldn't go for but he was so fun and creative she couldn't resist.


But in the cold light of day it seemed like a very big mistake. She thought about it as she sipped her morning espresso. Yes, it had been good, but not good enough to let another playboy break her heart. She wanted something real and if she had to wait then that's what she'd do.


Meanwhile, Ewan was growing like a weed. He was a pleasant, playful kid who was a joy to be around, and he'd begun to find a love of cooking; the house was full of the smell of burning EZ-Bake Oven cakes.

Author's Note: Lisa span up the want to fall in love and I locked it. The easiest solution would be for her to fall in love with Will but I'm not that cruel, they barely have 2 bolts and it would end in tears considering his LTW! So I'm waiting for a suitable specimen to appear, and until then it's just Lisa and Ewan.

Round One: Knox

(The pictures look best if you click on them, blogger's being silly...)

Will Knox wasn't what you'd call a modest man. His brother Jasper was, more concerned with his two children and trying to make plenty of money than with his looks. All Will wanted from life was girls, and lots of them.

His other passion, apart from pulling, was music and dance. It was freeing, plus it helped him keep in shape. He was a self-respecting Casanova; there was no way he was going to "let himself go"!


Will didn't tend to go for married women, but Sachiko Nakamura was something else. She seemed to appreciate his enthusiastic air-guitar moves while talking about the last gig he went to. Nearby, teaching Destiny her ABCs, Jasper sighed inwardly. Hopefully she wouldn't fall for the charms of someone like her uncle.


Meanwhile, Will and Jasper's father Cassius was making his own impression on the ladies of Virtue Falls. He cut a dapper figure in his hat and suit. Recently widowed Hanako Nakamura was definitely impressed, and despite her youth even Lisa Mackenzie thought he was quite interesting.


After discovering Lisa was single, Will wasted no time swooping in and asking her on a date. Flattered, she said yes. She'd always had a taste for the bad boys... which was why her son Ewan existed.


His charms were a little rusty, but Lisa responded more than favourably.


Of course, the moment she left Will started working his magic on yet another lady. He wasn't about to tie himself down, especially not to some arty hippy-chick single mum he'd just met. Playing the field is what Will Knox is all about!


Will wasn't a bad guy really, not at all. He helped look after Destiny, and tossed the ol' pigskin around with Danny when Jasper was too busy. Danny quickly discovered a love of sport. It was difficult to deflect questions about whether he was going to marry Lisa, though. Kids get funny ideas sometimes.


For the first time in his life, Will got a paying job. He wouldn't have bothered but his father and brother were getting on his nerves, and when he looked in the paper there was an advert for a job in dance. He leapt at the chance. He hoped he'd get a slightly snazzier ride as he moved up in the world, though; it's hard to impress the ladies in an old banger!


Jasper definitely wasn't slacking off, either. He'd recently won a position in a local business and was moving up the corporate ladder quickly, and he needed to work on his people skills if he wanted to reach the top.


Now both Will and Jasper were working, a lot of the childcare duties fell to Cassius. He helped Danny with his studies. Danny complained the whole time, but Cassius knew he'd be grateful once he got to High School and the REAL work started. But it was a lonely life sometimes. His wife had died a long time ago and Cassius missed having that sort of companionship.


Then he met Kaylynn. He'd gone out to pay the bills and literally bumped into her, and they got talking. Cassius was worried that a pretty young thing like her wouldn't be interested in an old grandpa, but she didn't seem to care at all. Some guys might have been scared off by how up-front she was, but Cassius appreciated it. It was sensible of her to say straight off that she wanted love, a serious relationship. Presumably she was trying to ward off ne'er-do-wells like Will.


When Will got home he was shocked and surprised to see what was going on. He held Destiny tightly and tried not to think about it. He knew it was selfish and just plain silly coming from a grown adult, but he'd gotten used to having his dad around and now he was getting his own life just when Will needed him most; Destiny was definitely in the Terrible Twos.


Cassius knew that him dating again made Will uncomfortable, but he couldn't get Kaylynn off his mind. He thought about her all the time, no matter what he was doing or who he was talking to. Trying to chat with Hanako Nakamura made it worse; she seemed to think they had some sort of Golden Years deal going on. He told her to find a toyboy, then called Kaylynn and asked her out on a date. Will would just have to deal with it.

They went to a cosy little cafe down town. They'd had to wait until Kaylynn got off from work so it was very late and Cassius was worried he'd fall asleep at the dining table, but as the night wore on he felt rejuvenated. She was fun to be around, light-hearted but not ditzy.


The night ended extremely well. He gave her a debonair kiss on the hand in farewell and she seemed delighted. Things were definitely looking up.


Will was upset, but he knew he couldn't dwell on it. His father deserved to be happy, and anyway, Destiny would be starting school soon. Maybe he needed to start dating again now too. It would be good for Destiny to have a mother-figure around.

Round One: Davies

(apologies for the poor picture quality; I'm new to this so I'm having to work out settings etc. I may start sending the pictures to my Macbook upstairs so I can clean them up a bit! Plus our house PC has really low resolution, sad times.)

James and Sabrina were lucky in that their family was just the right size for the little pre-fab houses here in Virtue Falls, but while James thought it was excellent and a definite step up from their dingy apartmment Sabrina wasn't so impressed. How on earth was she going to raise Jacinta well enough in a little shack like this?


She had to admit that some of their money problems were her own fault; she wanted to be a stay-at-home mother and wasn't about to leave her baby with some underqualified nanny! She redecorated the spare bedroom as a nursery straight away and began teaching a grouchy and tired toddler her skills.


This left job-seeking to James, who wasn't particularly motivated. Work just wasn't his thing; he'd rather sit around listening to music or go out clubbing...


...so it didn't take long for him to get bored of jobseeking and make the newspaper into a paper aeroplane. Still, he did manage to find an entry-level job in the Slacker career; from Sabrina's point of view it was better than nothing, and it suited James very well indeed.


It didn't take long for their neighbours to start visiting. Sabrina found that she got on rather well with Jasper Knox; they were both Type A personalities who needed everything just right, and they found common ground complaining about James and Jasper's brother Will.


Sabrina's less-than-kind words left an impression on Jasper, although Will was too busy eating sandwiches to socialise. Married women weren't his thing, especially dowdy ones like Sabrina who couldn't be bothered to wear makeup.


Meanwhile, James was making new friends of his own. A strange old woman turned up outside their house and told James about the matchmaking service she offered, but when James asked about the prices he was extremely disappointed and decided to stick to just seeing what life threw at him.


As luck would have it, their postman was in fact a postWOMAN, and a pretty one at that. James was very impressed...


...and she seemed keen on him, too. He didn't get her number but hey, she'd be back. He could wait.


Their life in Virtue Falls was becoming increasingly like the one they'd just left. Sabrina did the housework, the childrearing, made sure the bills were paid...


...while James browsed the web and went on chatrooms.


Despite James's problems with commitment and his lousy work ethic, he still managed to be a good father to Jacinta. Sabrina monopolised most of the childcare but James made sure he got to put his little girl to bed and kiss her goodnight.


One of the reasons the Davies family had moved was so that James and Sabrina could work on their marriage, and they really did work at it. There wasn't much of a spark there and there never had been, but they made the most of Jacinta's nap-times anyway.


Sabrina knew James wasn't exactly her one true love, but Jacinta was the light of her life and she was going to make it work for her sake, no question. She was beginning to wonder whether another baby would be a good idea; maybe it would help them all stick together and make them a better family?


She didn't have to wonder for long. Soon she started feeling the familiar nausea of morning sickness - apparently their efforts to keep their marriage going had been a little TOO successful! She was beginning to have second thoughts, though. James certainly wasn't going to welcome the patter of yet more tiny feet! And how was she going to give Jacinta all the attention she needed with a new baby in the house?


James didn't pay Sabrina very much attention during the first trimester of her pregnancy. He wasn't UNhappy about the prospect of another kid, but it was daunting, and he spent a lot of time on the phone to girls he'd met online.


Jacinta managed to make it through toddlerhood unscathed and ready for school. She was already worried that being kept up all night by a screaming little brother or sister would play havoc with her grades.


Author's Note: This is the first time in my Sim-playing career I've blogged! Hopefully the entries will get better as I get more sure of the Sims I'm playing :) Poor Sabrina. Even though I tailored her and James's turn-ons to match each other they have ZERO chemistry, and I think if they weren't married they'd actually have negative chemistry. Not good.