The Dreamer Family

Okay so I played the Pleasant Family and the Broke Family so far. Now it's time to play the Dreamer Family. This means Lilith's boyfriend Dirk and his father, Darren. Because Lilith, Angela and Dustin are all young adults, Dirk needs to be too or he will get left behind. 

It starts with some pictures already found in the family photo album. Darren and his wife, Darleen.This family all have names with the initials D. D. Darren and Darleen seem to be enjoying a picnic together while Darleen dreams of marrying her boyfriend. They have some salad, a nice plate of jelly, and some cookies or chips, while Darren grills them up some hot dogs to go with it. Maybe this was in the park somewhere in Pleasantview. 

 Darren Dreamer is an aspiring artist. He's a creative person who is always dreaming about things, and that might be why Darleen was interested in him. Darren has been painting for a while now but he's always trying to improve. He's not a recognised artist yet and his paintings don't sell for much. But he enjoys painting and takes art classes.

 Darren and Darleen did get married and welcomed baby Dirk into the household. They were now a family. They enjoyed raising their son together, and Darleen was a wonderful wife and mother.

 Until Darleen was in a terrible fire accident and passed away from her injuries when Dirk was a teen. They had her buried in the back yard of their home, so they would always be together. Darren has never said anything but Dirk sometimes feels like Darleen is still there sometimes, watching over them both. He talks to her sometimes, in the quiet moments he sneaks out to visit her grave.

Darren on the other hand, as much as he misses his wife, has started to notice Cassandra Goth ever since one day at the supermarket where they bumped into each other. At first he didn't have feelings for her, but they grew slowly, over time and now he's in love with her. Cassandra seems to return those feelings. But she also has feelings for someone else Darren knows about; the town Casanova, Don Lothario. With Don standing in his way, will Darren be able to win Cassandra's hand in marriage? He really hopes so. He thinks he's a more decent and reliable partner for her other than that smarmy medical practitioner. Everyone knows he's the town womanizer. Does Cassandra really think she could tame him and stop his romancing ways? Even though Darren doesn't earn much money, he knows he could give Cassandra all the love and devotion Don probably wouldn't. How can she even fall for that guy, honestly? 

Darren and Dirk start at home on a usual day. Dirk has school and Darren has work and lots of bills to pay. And by work, that means Darren has to get painting and sell some art. We paid all the bills but that left the family woefully short of funds for decent living. Even though they have a nice house and all they could need, they would still have to buy groceries and pay bills. You can't live on just air after all.

So I sent Dirk off to school on the first day. He's a good boy. Since Darleen died, he's done his best to make sure he achieves the best he can in all areas of his life. He hopes this would make his mother proud. Darren meanwhile gets to work with his easel and paints and starts working on a still life of a basket of wax fruit. It takes him several hours.  

He finally produces a nice painting, but that's mostly what it is. Nice. It doesn't sell for much money at all and the bills are going to start coming again soon. 

 Not only that, but since they can't afford a gardener, the plants have been getting overgrown and weeds have sprung up. Darren has to use some of his precious time to take care of the garden that Darleen had originally planted. He had to throw out the flowers on the front garden beds of the house after lots of heavy rain killed them all. Hopefully Darleen wouldn't be too upset. Maybe when he earns some decent money, he will replace them.

 Dirk came home from school, had some fun on his game station and then did his homework. He knew it wasn't good to fall behind. He had to remain on top of his game. He made sure to get good grades so it wouldn't worry his father, and so that his mum could see he was doing well. Not only that, but he wanted to be able to pay the bills somehow. Just to help his dad out until his art started to get famous. Of course, he knew his father was in love with Cassandra Goth. If he married her, they would never have to worry about money again. But that wasn't set in stone. If it didn't work out, Dirk had to make sure they had a backup plan. He wasn't too upset about his father finding love again. He did want him to be happy. But Dirk always hoped he could inherit their family home, and stay here where his mother's spirit lingered.

 Darren wasn't the only one who had a love interest, either. Dirk invited Lilith over as much as he could. Lilith had aged up sooner than him and Dirk promised he would catch up to her as soon as he could. She often came over and ate dinner with them, and chatted to him and his father. Darren didn't seem to mind her. He had a sort of quiet disapproval about her attire and the way she talked, but he never said anything or shooed her out of the house. He was respectful of his son's feelings towards the Pleasant girl. After Dirk told him some of what happened in her family.

 Last time Lilith was over, she left a jar of butterflies on the kitchen table. And that made Darren inspired to do a painting of them. Dirk just smiled as he let them go again. Lilith may be rough around the edges but she wasn't all bad. 

He liked how playful and childish she could be at times and they spent a lot of afternoons playing games together on his game station and talking about different things. His father's love of art was displayed through the house with paintings and sculptures of different kinds. 

 The father and son often ate meals together, taking turns at cooking things that were normally somewhat edible. When Darren wasn't painting in his art studio, he always made time to sit and eat, and talk with Dirk. He knew that if he didn't, their relationship would suffer and he loved his son dearly. They were both so busy with work and school, just trying to survive, mealtimes were really the only times they took a break and sat down to talk to each other. Darren had told Dirk about Cassandra, asked him what he thought. Dirk wasn't against their relationship like Darren expected he would be. For how much Dirk loved his mother, Darren thought he would have been upset about him finding someone new or trying to replace her. But Dirk wasn't like most people his age, he seemed to be more grown up and level headed. He said he didn't mind and that he was sure Darleen would want Darren to be happy. He also said, "You never give me any trouble for loving and going after Lilith. So I guess just think of it as kind of, returning the favor" He was such a good kid. He made Darren smile. "Okay son. I can do that" the man chuckled.

After dinner, Dirk went to his bedroom, contemplating things. He looked at the toy plane that hung from his ceiling and thought about the holidays they were going to go on before Darleen died. Maybe he'd be able to do that with Lilith. He would come back and tell Darleen all the places they have been and what they've seen. When his dad was famous, either because of his paintings or because he married Cassandra Goth, he might forget about Darleen or not have time for her any more. But Dirk would make sure never to forget about her. "I'll be here for you mum. While you're watching over me and dad" he promised.

So saying, Dirk got into bed and had an early night's sleep. He would need to be ready for school tomorrow. And for any challenges life might throw him.

The next day after school, Dirk invited a friend over and they played on his gaming station for a while. His friend went home eventually and Dirk went to work. That's right, he got a job. He wanted to bring in some extra income so they didn't have to struggle to pay bills and afford stuff. Dirk was creative just like his father, only he was more musically inclined. He got a job working in a coffee shop, making the music for the shop. It didn't pay much but it was part time which let him do his homework and hang out with friends. It was better than sitting at home doing nothing. It usually took Darren all day to create an artwork to sell and Dirk just thought they could make money faster if he helped out a bit.

Darren attempted to cook dinner while his son was at work. This wouldn't be the first time someone set the kitchen ablaze, but it still sucked. Darleen used to cook meals for them and they kind of took it for granted up until now. Darren cursed "Should have ordered take out" he grumbled as the fire alarm blared.

The fireman arrived quickly and helped put the flames out. Phew! If there was one thing the Dreamers knew, it was that Pleasantview's fire department were very reliable. The oven was saved. Alas the same could not be said for Darren's spaghetti.

The next day was a weekend. Darren worked on paintings in the morning, then invited Cassandra Goth over in the afternoon. He could use a bit of fun after painting feverishly all week. They greeted with a kiss and Darren smiled, hopeful. Maybe he could win her over after all. "Nice to see you again, Darren. How are things going? I heard there was a fire at your place last night" Cassandra laughed. Darren invited her inside. 

They played some games and chatted, laughing as they played a game of Red Hands. It was silly, but lighthearted fun. For some reason, Sims seem to love it.

Then there was a bit of flirting and hand holding, all of which were well received  by the Goth girl. Darren chuckled to himself as he realised he and his son had similar tastes in women.  Cassandra noticed "What are you laughing at, now?" she inquired. "Oh nothing" Darren said.

The two were getting along great and even hugged and kissed. One thing was clear. Cassandra loved Darren Dreamer just as much as she loved Don Lothario. Each man had an equal chance with her. But who would she be better off with? Darren would benefit from being with her, and so would Don, but Darren felt sure he was the only man that would make sure Cassandra benefited from the relationship too. Surely Don would just get bored and start chasing other women again. Darren swore to himself he would never do that to her.

They laughed as Darren prepared them some sandwiches for dinner, saying something about not wanting to burn the house down two nights in a row. Cassandra was used to fancier fare but she was good natured about it. She tucked into her commoner food quite happily and chatted along with her love interest. They talked about stars and star gazing and what might be out there, and Cassandra told Darren she had a telescope on the roof of her home. "Actually it's my brother's but I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I let you try it out sometime" she smiled.

Dirk came home from work another night and cooked burnt macaroni cheese for dinner. Cassandra took him by surprise when she sat down at the table with him and talked and even ate the burnt food! "This isn't chilli con carne, just so you know" Dirk joked, warning her it might taste different than it looked. "That's okay, it matches my dress" Cassandra laughed. "Say, you seem to be pretty good with me and your dad dating. So does that mean you and I can be friends?" Dirk shrugged "Well...I don't see why not" he said eventually. "If things go the way my dad hopes, we can be pretty good friends, yeah". That gave Cassandra something to think about. 

Darren meanwhile, worked harder than ever on his paintings. They were getting better and better, and he was starting to earn good money from selling them. If things didn't work out with the woman of his dreams, he knew he had to be able to support himself and Dirk somehow. But he let himself day dream anyway, thinking of decorating the Goth mansion with his works of art and portraits. Maybe someday years later, he'd be a famous artist that people would talk about and his works would sell for thousands. And people would look at his paintings of Cassandra on the wall and admire them for their beauty. 'That's a Darren Dreamer original' they'd say!

"Yes, Darren. You have got this" he told himself as he finalized the work on some sunflowers. "Just keep painting and making art and dreaming of all the good things that could happen"

He was in such a good mood after selling the painting, he even managed to make a whole family size serving of spaghetti without burning it. Good job, Darren.

Just in time for Dirk to age up! Dirk is now an adult. Whatever happens between Darren and Cassandra will change his future. But hopefully he will inherit the family home. What kind of life lies ahead of him? More adventures in Pleasantview are sure to tell.