2.4 Please release me

The family decided to throw a pool party to celebrate Christopher’s growing up.  However, Rhiannon and Amanda wanted to wait until they’d finished their homework before joining in.  Alli couldn’t believe how different their relationship was to hers and Lola’s when they were growing up.

The girls’ cousin, Chastity Ursine, was becoming a firm friend and a regular visitor.  She also has something of Jared’s look about her.  Nobody knew who her father was though, Alison was resolutely single – or at least that’s the impression that she gave.

Miranda, still a family friend, turned up – and had gotten OLD.  No wonder there didn’t seem to be anything happening with her and Alli any longer.

Christopher was very excited about his birthday – mainly because now he’d be closer in age to his cousins and would be able to pay them back for all the times they put him in dresses and drew felt-tip hair on his bald head.

He grew up looking somewhat solemn – but inherited Lianndra’s hair, with the blue and yellow tips.  He may not be an official heir, but he was now a carrier of her legacy at least in his genetics.

Of course, a Kyoti party can never pass without incident…

Everyone at the party was shocked when Stacey went into labour!  Not least Stacey herself, who hadn’t expected this.  She thought they’d been careful, but then she’d always been convinced Kali was super-fertile.

Baby Carmel arrived and was immediately dumped in the cot in the back room out of the way.  Stacey didn’t even want to acknowledge this birth had happened.

Elias snuck out of the party to play with his new niece.  He knew that even if Stacey rejected the girl, he, Lola and Kali would make sure she was loved.  Elias longed for a second child, and was just pleased to have another baby in the household.

After everyone had retired to bed, Lianndra popped in to see her new granddaughter.  She took the opportunity to work out.  Even after death, she was concerned about keeping in top shape.

The next day, newly grown-up Christopher went to school with his cousins for the first time.  Rather sweetly, they offered to look out for him and protect him from any nasty bigger kids.  They also agreed they’d do their homework together so that they could all get good grades.

Stacey had some maternity leave to take, so she left Kali to deal with the baby and took herself off to the beach.  Whilst she was there, she bumped into Jamar again.

Stacey and Jamar chatted all night, ate hot dogs together and danced.  Being with him made her feel young again.  It reminded her of a time when she was carefree and childless.  If she’d had her time again, she’d have lived a little before marrying and having children.  If only for tonight, maybe she could pretend that she wasn’t Stacey Kyoti, married mum of three, but Stacey Steel again, young, free, single and going places.

As promised, the girls helped Christopher with his homework.  Amanda was a genius, though, and quickly got fed up of waiting for the other two to catch up with her.  She could be playing chess instead of waiting for them, after all.

After they’d finished their homework, their cousin Chastity came over.  Rhiannon started talking to her about weddings.  It was Rhiannon’s dream to have a wedding and a lovely marriage, just like her mum and dad and aunt and uncle.  Chastity felt sad.  Her mummy wasn’t married, she didn’t know her daddy, and her grandad, apparently, had been a selfish git – at least according to her late granny.

With Christopher now at school, Lola was able to focus on developing her writing skills.  Not only was she growing in success as a journalist, she was now putting the finishing touches to her first novel.  Elias continued to develop his career and his musicianship.  They both wanted a second child but were aware of the tensions between Kali and Stacey and didn’t want to aggravate things.

Kali focussed his energies on Carmel, the little baby he’d been wanting for ages.  She was the apple of his eye, and he devoted all of his time to her development.

At the beach, the drinks were flowing and Stacey was getting emotional.  She leapt into Jamar’s arms and begged him to take her away from the hell that was her life.

Jamar responded that he should probably get going, as it was pretty late.  Fuming and humiliated, Stacey stormed off home and arrived back long after everyone else had gone to bed.

Kali was worried about his wife.  She’d been so distant with him and had refused to bond with Carmel at all.  He sought solace, as ever, in his music.  In order to help provide for his girls, he would play for tips in the park and by the shops, and was becoming a popular local busker.  Sometimes he took Elias along and they’d play as a double act.

Rhiannon wasn’t really aware of the problems in her parents’ marriage.  She’d grown up remarkably secure in herself, and always loved to be the centre of attention.  At her and Amanda’s birthday party, she made sure she was the first to age up.

She grew up into an impeccably gorgeous teen.

Amanda was also pretty gorgeous, although her dress sense wasn’t so crash hot.

She certainly turned Jamar’s head.  Stacey felt sick at the thought of her daughters attracting the men she wanted for herself.  Kali stared daggers at Jamar.  He might be part of the ‘family’ but that didn’t mean they would ever become friends.

Speaking of the family, this was quite a gathering.

Kali, Jamar, Roberta, Alli, Alison and Chastity were all in attendance, along with a few family friends.  Even Stacey was prepared to play ‘happy families’ for a bit.

Carmel also aged up, but Kali let this happen quietly, out of view of everyone else.  He was glad, as he didn’t think Stacey would fall in love with their youngest daughter’s bald head and scary eyebrows.  To him, though, she was perfect.

Christopher worried that he would be neglected, what with the girls growing into teens and Carmel needing lots of attention in her toddler years.  Lola reassured him that he would always be loved, and she encouraged him to develop his own skills and personality.  He couldn’t play the guitar yet (although he was a virtuoso and couldn’t wait until he was old enough), but he tried his hand at painting and insect collecting, and Amanda took him to the park to play chess and do his homework on a regular basis.

Stacey returned to work after her maternity leave was over, and she was given the opportunity to take a client out for a meal.  She went to visit his house.

It wasn’t the most attractive place she’d ever seen, but she sensed in him a desperation for love that might mean he could be her escape…

2.2 Here we go again

As Lola was putting Rhiannon to bed one evening, she told her a secret: another baby Kyoti was on the way: a cousin for Amanda and Rhiannon.  Lola and Elias were so excited about their new arrival but hadn’t told the others yet.  They weren’t sure how they’d all react.  Kali would be pleased, but they knew he wanted more children and Stacey didn’t, so it might also upset him.  Stacey would surely not be happy that there were yet more sleepless nights on the way.  As for Alli, they hoped she would be happy, but they knew things weren’t going too well for her with Miranda, and they didn’t want to rub her face in things.

It soon became difficult to hide the news though, particularly when the rest of the town got to hear about it.  Lola was a journalist, trying to become a Star News Anchor, so her face was pretty familar with the locals whom she interviewed on a regular basis.  She personally took to going round telling people she was going on maternity leave, but would be back with them soon.

With eight people living in the house, birthdays were a frequent occurence and there was nearly always cake in the house.  Kali’s cooking skills hadn’t advanced much recently.  Elias took advantage of this lull to grab a plate of cake and ask Kali about parenting books… whilst playing footsie with him…

Even though they thought they were prepared, when Lola’s waters broke and she got up to go to the hospital, Elias started to panic.

Baby Christopher arrived with very little fuss, though, and the rest of the family soon took to him as they had to the girls.

Kali was besotted with his new nephew, although it didn’t take away his desire to have more children.  Stacey, though, was adamant she didn’t want any more babies around.  She’d been very busy at work lately and hadn’t been coming home until very late.  The girls were starting to notice, and beginning to miss their mum.  Kali tried to comfort them as best as he could.

Stacey had troubles the rest of the family weren’t aware of, though.  She would leave work and her old friend the Grim Reaper would turn up to see her, killing off her colleagues in the process.

To add to this, her sister Roberta was causing all kinds of trouble, getting into fights and becoming someone the rest of the neighbourhood were slightly afraid of.

She did try to fit in with family life, though, even agreeing to have a joint birthday party with Christopher.

Christopher turned out to be a bald toddler, but no-one seemed to mind too much, not least his Aunt Alison, who went straight for the cake.

Party fever gripped Miranda and Alli.  Miranda finally agreed to stay the night, but explained she didn’t usually want to because she didn’t like the noise of all the children.

She did, however, finally woo-hoo with Alli…

…but left before Alli awoke.

As if sensing something was wrong, Lianndra visited the house for the first time after her death.  She met her grandson, who seemed remarkably unfazed.  She urged Alli not to waste her life waiting for someone who wouldn’t commit to her.  Alli needed to stand on her own two feet now.

Alli knew her mother was right.  Miranda had been flirting with her for a long time yet had never committed to being her girlfriend.  She would be waiting the rest of her life if she waited for Miranda to ask her to move in.  The house was becoming crowded, and she knew Kali was desperate for more children, and she suspected Lola and Elias would want more soon, as well.

It wasn’t an easy decision to leave her nieces and nephew, her brother and sister, especially as she and Lola were closer now than they were growing up.  But it was time for Alli to go and make a life for herself…

1.6 Everything changes

Kali (lucky, bookworm, friendly, clumsy, ambitious – with the wish to live in the lap of luxury) and his new wife Stacey (good, hot-headed, can’t stand art, ambitious, friendly – wishes to be the leader of the free world) discussed Kali’s role as the heir to the Kyoti legacy.  They hoped their child would continue this legacy, but not feel it to be a heavy burden.

All and Lola were pleased to have a new sister-in-law and both were doing well at school – but they wanted to develop their own friendships and relationships.  They hoped, like Kali, they’d be able to meet someone to love whilst they were still young.

Both girls attracted a far it of attention, but Alli wasn’t too impressed at being hit on by a boy who looked just like her big brother.

Lola started to date Molly’s grandson, Elias French.  She knew Molly and Jared would love the idea of their families connecting.

The children endeavoured to honour their parents by developing skills.  Kali took to cooking, fishing and gardening; Alli to fishing and handiness, and Lola to cooking and painting.

Lianndra, meanwhile, was a little down.  She missed Jared, missed her sporting career, and had seen several of her friends pass away lately.  Stacey decided to cheer her up by announcing the news that she and Kali were going to become parents – Lianndra’s legacy was assured for a third generation.

The twins soon became young adults, and although Lola had found love with Elias, romance still eluded Alli.  She did have a very good friend in Miranda Chamberlain though.  Miranda came to all their parties, and when Alli aged up, Miranda was the first to celebrate.

Alli blew out the candles and secretly wished that this time she’d be the more attractive twin.

Neither girl was amused to grow up looking the same and wearing the world’s ugliest dresses.  The rest of the party, however, were.

Of course, the twins’ birthdays had always been characterised by one element, and this one was no exception…

As the girls blew out the candles, Lianndra’s friend Martha passed away.

Stacey got chatting to the Grim Reaper.  She figured that he was going to be a regular guest at family gatherings, so they might as well become friendly.

The next day, Elias popped round to visit Lola.  She made sure she’d changed out of that dreadful dress and sorted out her hair.  She was pleased to see he’d aged up as well overnight.  He told her she was the prettier twin, which she was also very pleased to hear.

Alli, meanwhile, invited Miranda over all the time.  She was growing increasingly fond of her friend… in fact, she thought she might be falling a little in love with her.  Miranda would always stay and chat for a while, but then run off.  Alli didn’t understand it.

Lola was desperate to outshine her sister, so she proposed to Elias.

He accepted and was bowled over by the rock she’d bought him.

Stacey wasn’t enjoying maternity leave very much.  All this time away from work was making her a bit stir crazy, so she spent most of it upgrading objects around the home.

The next day, the whole family went to the beach for the wedding.  It was the first public wedding any of them had attended so they were all very excited.  They wished Jared could come, but they invited his daughter Alison along with all of their friends from the town.

Alli bitched about being there.  Although deep down she did love Lola, she was so frustrated at being second best that it was making her bitter.

Lianndra lost patience with her daughter.  She told Alli she should be happy that her twin had found someone to share her life with and to grow up and stop comparing herself to Lola.

Everyone dressed up for the occasion – except Elias, who seemed to own nothing apart from those scruffy dungarees and that grotty grey sweatshirt.

As the couple exchanged vows, Miranda decided to go and cheer Alli up….but one family member had disappeared…

Yes, the Kyoti family rule of never having one big life event when two will do was coming into effect.  Stacey ran home to give birth.

1.5: When You’re Gone

Jared’s death left a cloud over the family.  Lianndra slept alone for the first time in years.  Theirs hadn’t been a great romance, perhaps, but it had been a solid partnership.  The years they’d spent gardening, fishing, changing nappies and encouraging each other in their respective careers were over.  What was she to do now with the time she had left?  How would she help her children cope with the loss of their father?

In the days that followed Jared’s death, the family grew a stronger bond than ever.  Lianndra would often tuck her teenage daughters in at night, and she encouraged all of them to make friends, have fun, and live their lives to the fullest.

Lianndra filled out her days by painting masterpieces and gardening, maxing out her skills as she did so.  Kali, too, decided to take up gardening, in order to tend his father’s prize vegetables and somehow keep Jared’s memory alive.

Kali was becoming very much aware of his duty.  As the eldest child of the Kyoti family, he was the heir and responsible for keeping the legacy going.  He wanted to do this for his mother, but just as much to keep his father’s memory alive.  He also began spending a lot of time with his uncle Connor and cousin Colleen.  He knew Jared and Connor hasn’t spent as much time together as they’d wanted, and Kali wanted to make sure that Jared’s relatives weren’t left out of the family.

Lianndra encouraged the children to have friends over and host parties.  Guests became a regular feature in the Kyoti household, including Jared’s other daughter, Alison Ursine, who became a good friend of all three of her half-siblings.  Her  bright red hair was an even stronger marker of Jared’s genetics than Alli and Lola’s more muted tones.

Kali was becoming somewhat withdrawn, spending more and more time playing on his guitar.  His mother and sisters were concerned about his well-being (not to mention the future of their legacy).  They encouraged his friend Stacey to come over and visit him, and she began to be a regular visitor.

Even though Stacey’s visits were becoming more frequent, nothing much was happening with her and Kali.  Alli decided to force the issue and ask Stacey when she was going to realise that Kali was in love with her.  Meanwhile, Lola worked on her big brother, gently suggesting that he might want to act upon his obvious feelings for Stacey.  After this prompting, Stacey and Kali had a heart to heart.

Kali proposed and Stacey accepted immediately.  They decided it wouldn’t be appropriate to have a big flashy wedding with the house still in mourning.  However, there was something that Kali was keen to get on with that evening…

… and that was ensuring the legacy continued…