It was 6am when they finally rolled into Lucky Palms, and the sun was already blazing overhead. The house was tiny, the roads were sand, but they were safe; that was the main thing.
It took about five minutes before Lynette started panicking.
‘We have four cots, two beds, a changing table, a fridge, and a stove. That’s it; we have no money for actual food – what are we going to do?! We’re fifteen, Garth, we can’t just drop school, someone’ll start asking questions!’
‘You know what we’re going to do.’
‘I’m not sponging off our relatives – ‘
‘He’s our brother, Lynette, and he’ll help us. Deci’s a good guy.’
‘We barely remember him!’
‘Yeah, but he’s family. He’ll help us, I know he will.’
And with that, the phonecall was made. A desperate, slightly teary phone call. And it worked. 
December “Deci,” Mallon knew what it was like to have kids far too young; he’d barely been out of secondary school when his son had been born. To be honest, he’d fitted in perfectly in Midnight Hollow, so why he’d left was a mystery. 
Garth had been right about one thing – Deci and his wife, Mariah, were genuinely good people. They’d done the exact same thing; flee Midnight Hollow with nothing but a baby and the clothes on their backs, and they’d made it work, even if Mariah’s idea of entertainment was a little… unusual, though at least it was quiet. 
Their son, Andre, was eight, and although he wasn’t much help with childcare or with setting up furniture, he was a sweet kid.
Though as good as their intentions were, December’s family had their own life, too, and it fell to more immediate family to step up to the plate. Four babies, little money, and a full time education were taking their toll.
And since jobs were scarce for teenagers with no qualifications, no documents, and no parents, their bank account often ended up supplemented via rather unorthodox means.
After all, childcare wasn’t cheap, even if the babysitters were useless.
And as for maids, well… it was definitely more than a part time job could pay for.
The real problems began when the toddler years hit; four identical girls with very different personalities. From left to right – Marigold (Neurotic, Good, Yellow), Nana (Adventurous, Insane, Black), Persephone (Clumsy, Virtuoso, Green), and Ottoline (Over Emotional, Loner, Purple).
It might have been a more hands off parenting style, but four children with two sets of hands just wasn’t enough.
December took over when he could (even though his parenting was more “Eh. what’s the worst that can happen, let ’em explore,”), the quads were mostly left to themselves.
As children, they were a little easier to manage, though the cramped house certainly wasn’t helping.
Money was tight, and thus entertainment was scarce; library books were about the only things kept in the house.
Or, of course, assist with the mounds of chores that were always steadily piling up.
Alternatively, you had good old fashioned games of tag, because athletic training wasn’t expensive when you had acres of desert to run around in.
Or playing king of the castle – at all hours of the day.
The newly built community centre was definitely one of the biggest assets Lucky Palms had to offer for underprivileged kids; free skilling items, 24 hours a day.
Now the girls were older, more of their personalities were shining through; Persephone seemed to be perpetually teased by her peers; a loser, in other words. Ottoline seemed to spend most of her time in the great outdoors, and Marigold seemed to be developing a bit of a temper.
Nana, on the other hand, kept to herself, devouring skill books; Lynette suspected they might have a prodigy on their hands.
Ottoline’s fish were small, but they made for tasty dinners, and sold paintings and book royalties were small, but useful contributions.
And the paintings were cute, if not a little abstract.
The food was free, and it wasn’t as if the quads had a whole lot of friends, so they mostly kept to themselves. A healthy imagination between four sisters was definitely enough for fun and games.
But a secondary school career and a part time job at a sleazy spa were taking their toll; particularly on Garth’s hair.
But young as they were, the girls were quick to notice the strangers gathering outside their house, and Lynette’s reaction to their appearance.
While at school, they had flown under the radar, the mysterious strangers were soon tracking the Mallon children even there.
And the fear and anxiety it was causing wasn’t exactly easy to miss.
‘They’ve been following us. Garth – one of them even tried to get into the school’s office, yesterday, until one of the teachers caught them – ‘
‘Maybe if we told the headmaster – ‘
‘Told them what, that we’re being stalked by a bunch of crazy lunatics who want to sell a group of ten year old girls, because their father was – ‘
‘Shh! They’ll hear!’
‘Look, they might not have meant us!’ was Persephone’s attempt at consolation, even if her sister was too hysterical to listen. ‘Maybe they meant a TV show or something!’
‘Yeah,’ Nana insisted. ‘Mummy died ages ago, and we didn’t have a dad; he left before we were born, everyone knows that!’
‘Oh, really?’ Ottoline accused. ‘You mean the dad that no one will talk about, the dad Lynette won’t talk about?! That dad? Someone’s not telling the truth.’
But maybe, the mysterious strangers would.
Birthdays came, in a rather unspectacular fashion.
The only trouble was, it seemed the house was getting smaller by the day, especially as adults.
Marigold’s fourth trait was Friendly – not the most interesting.
Nana, ever the sweet girl, gained Green Thumb.
Ottoline, who for some reason, wanted to join the military and become an astronaut, was now Dramatic.
And Persephone was now a Hopeless Romantic.
So since this is now technically Gen 2, I’m going to have an heir poll. This is mostly allow me to plan a little for storylines, and to also keep people tided over for July, because I’ll be on hiatus for a month due to NaNoWriMo.
The other reason is because my computer is dying a slow death and will be replaced, and this the game will have to be reinstalled etc, and I need time to do that.
Voting will be open for a week or so, and can be done on the poll here, on the reddit thread in r/TheSims, on the WordPress comments, or on the boolprop thread. FYI the storylines will differ later in the second gen, provided who you pick.
With that in mind, please let me know what you think!
~ Viki
Notes from Project Dawn 