Magic in the air

Round 27: Spring 2026

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Finn and Victoria Romilly are both 25, Declan is 5 and Caitlin is 3.
(Tatiana is 43 and Brendan is 3 and Jacob and Amar are both 25)

Narrated by Finn Romilly

It's hard to believe Victoria and I have been married almost a year now! We've been living together since before Declan was born, so our day to day lives haven't changed but somehow, it still feels a little different to us.

We're like a real little nuclear family now. We just need a dog and a white picket fence.

Declan has been asking us for another little brother or sister since he started pre-school last year. Seeing that's not on the cards just yet, we bought a cat in an effort to appease him. It's really Caitlin who's taken a shine to Ida though.

Even if she does look like she's going to strangle the poor thing half the time. For some reason, Ida still seems to like Caitlin.

Declan likes Ida too but what he really loves is his ant farm. He kind of reminds me of myself when I was little. I've always been into anything to do with science as well.

My parents were pretty poor when I was Declan's age so I had to wait a long while before we had enough money to spend on anything besides the bare necessities. I would have loved an ant farm!

Declan loves school about as much as I did too. He gets off the school bus with the biggest grin on his face and can't wait to tell us about his day.

He's made so many friends at school too. I've ducked my head into his classroom a few times and noticed that he generally sits on his own in class but I think he just likes to concentrate.

He's definitely got no problems with the other kids.

Sometimes I wonder if he prefers the company of adults though. No one seems to like our landlord but Declan adores him. They play chess together on the little set outside the elevators.

And ever since the wedding, Declan has been pestering me and Victoria to have Amar over to visit.

Amar was pretty well-behaved at the wedding and did a great job with the photos but he's still not exactly someone I want to have over for dinner, so we go to him.

It gives me a chance to catch up with Jacob anyway.


I leave Amar to Declan. Amar is actually pretty good with Declan, I'll give him that.

Exeter Aquarium just opened a few blocks away from us and it's been so great for Victoria.

She's not always working at the aquarium, as there's plenty of field work she has to do as well, but the days when she is, she can actually walk to work.

Victoria does still work weekends though. I hate that she can't sleep in on a Saturday.

She says she doesn't mind, because Declan usually gets up early anyway. That kid never sleeps in.


So on weekends, it's just me and the kids at home together.

Caitlin is due to start pre-school next year so Tatiana and I sometimes have little play dates for her and Brendan on Saturday mornings.

Caitlin is such a little extrovert that we're not really worried about her making friends at school. Brendan, however, is so shy so Tatiana thought it might help if there was a familiar face (besides her) when he starts school.

It's not going so well. Caitlin really wants to make friends but Brendan's so shy and I think Caitlin's getting a little put out about it. Hopefully, he'll get used to her eventually.

After the play date and a bit of lunch, I usually take both kids down to the aquarium.

Victoria doesn't get off until 4pm, so we usually have a few hours to wander around and look at everything.

I don't know when Declan and Caitlin are going to get sick of it but they haven't yet. I'm not sure Declan ever will - it's science, so he's in his element.

By the time we're done, Victoria is finished with work and we all meet up in the aquarium restaurant for an early dinner.

Caitlin usually gets a bit restless when we go out to eat but she likes the aquarium. You can watch all the marine life while you eat, so it keeps her entertained.

The kids are usually pretty worn out once we get home, which doesn't stop Caitlin from insisting she's not and trying to stay up longer so she can play.

Declan's usually pretty good about going to bed, as long as he gets a story first. We do story time in our bedroom, so as not to wake Caitlin. Which is one of the multiple reasons we really need to find a new place.

There's a little playground just outside, which Caitlin loves but a backyard would be even better. Anyone can just wander in, so we don't like the kids playing there unless we're right there to watch them.

I was going to wait another few years before starting my Master's but after talking with Victoria, I've decided to start it now.

There are other things we want to do with our money - buying a house is number one but we also want to have another baby and maybe even go on a honeymoon. But without a Master's, I can only go so far. My pay prospects are much better if I have my Master's.

So once I finish, I should be able to make some more money and then we can get started on all of our other plans. I'm hopeful that I can finish the program within two years. There's a practical component of the course, which I'm already fulfilling at work, so that's that taken care of.

The harder part is all the reading and writing that's required. It seems like there's more work to do every day. I restrict myself to only working on university stuff on weeknights and I save weekends for family.

I'm actually enjoying the work but I am just so tired! I really appreciate my down time even more than usual now.

Extras:
Jacob just happened to wander by the apartments while Finn and Victoria were at work and he invited himself in to play with Caitlin. They made pretty fast friends too! He's probably going to end up her uncle one day, so they might as well get to know each other!

And did you guys know adults and kids would chat if they were both relaxing on the bed? It's so cute!

And just a random one of Caitlin, because it's probably the last one you'll see of her as a toddler. She won't have any reason to visit the Novaks, the last family of Round 27.

Notes:

• Title is from Magic in the Air by Badly Drawn Boy.
• Finn and Victoria paid $8000 up front for Finn's Master's. Finn has been promoted to High School Teacher (he's still going to work at the primary school for story purposes though), so he's gone as far as he can in the career track. They've now got about $12,000 to do whatever they want with. Their next goal is a house. It'd be nice if I could find another super-bargain like Lia and Gordon's house.
• Finn and Victoria are much better off than Henry and Araminta were when they first got married. Poor Finn - I don't think he got that ant farm until he was 10 or 11. The family was in so much debt! They used to end every session with under $1000 in their funds and I wondered if they'd ever get themselves out of it!
• Declan's rolled the want for a new family member, so I guess he wants another brother or sister. He must be a glutton for punishment, because he's already got quite a little firecracker of a sister at home!
• More on Declan: he rolled up a ton of wants for Amar at the beginning of the session, which was kind of cute. Claudia probably wouldn't be too impressed with her nephew's taste in friends though!
• Those of you who don't post at N99 (or don't check the Architect's Annex there) probably haven't seen my aquarium before, so here it is! You can see a bit more of it here - you'll need to be a member to view the thread though. Anyway, I want to eventually have a lot for every career and I was inspired by the aquarium the writer of The McTavishams built, so I decided to try my hand at a lot for Oceanography Sims. It was a bit of a pain to decorate (every single piece of decor in the aquarium tank had to go on its own OMSP) but I'm very happy with how it turned out.