| Stress from recent events has been building inside Luke, and it has finally come to a low boil. |
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| He had planned the visit to China as a relaxing escape from his troubles, and he is still bitter about having to cut the visit short after only one night. But Mark’s ghost was right. Wandering so far away from the estate was not only unsafe, it was foolish. It’s sad that the only bright spot in his personal life comes from the memory of a sim he met in during the short holiday. And as it turns out, she was only just a figment of his imagination. Surely, the realistic quality of the fantasy was only a product of his subconscious “feeling its oats” after years of sleeplessness (and dreamlessness). |
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| Luke knows better than to dwell on the contents of dreams. Even now, Luke finds his memory of Ying fading as the days progress. If anything, Ying was a representation of Sandi in his mind, and it has made one thing perfectly clear. His love for Sandi is stronger now than it was when she stormed out on his birthday. He just has to find a way of expressing this without driving her further away. |
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| Employment at Fort Gnome provides enough distraction over the next week, to keep Luke’s mind from fixating on the problem. As a kid, he would spend his long and sleepless nights pretending that he was wearing a military uniform, doing all the G.I. Joe stuff he imagined them doing inside the secretive walls of the military base. |
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| But in real life, it is nothing at all like those childhood fables. Cleaning latrines, peeling potatoes, and washing mountains of dishes was not exactly what he had in mind. These must have been the parts his father left out when he told his stories. |
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| Peak physical conditioning and limitless stamina work together to set Luke apart as something special, however. His uncanny preparation, made possible by the long hours he spends studying while his co-workers sleep, has paid off. The promotions have come quickly. But he senses the weary, side-eyed glances he gets from his superiors. At first, Luke imagined this was due to his status as a Barimen. |
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| The family is now one of the most wealthy in the world, and some level of notoriety will always accompany any Barimen. Luke is no different, although he hardly commands the level of attention his celebrity grandparents have continued to enjoy. No Landgraab or Alto would ever consider subjecting themselves to the kind of manual labor Luke gladly accepts. But the Barimens are different, and this is the message he communicates to his peers. |
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| Luke continues working himself ragged. He’s not sure why he does it, exactly. He certainly does not need the money, and the stress he’s been exerting on himself isn’t worth the pitiful compensation. But the same urgent sense he’d had as a child, still drives him to this day. Something is going to happen here, and he needs to be present when it does. Just recently, it has became evident to Luke that his superiors are not only hiding something, but they also fear giving him too much access to the base. |
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| But why? When his promotion to officer was declined by the base commander, Luke was unceremoniously dumped into the motor pool to grease axles, spit-shine fenders, and reticulate splines. The move was unpopular with his co-workers. But this is the military and not a popularity contest. Luke took the rebuke in stride and tripled his efforts, excelling at every task thrown at him. |
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| Just as it was in school, Luke finds that he has made more friends than he’s able to keep up with. Not wanting to come across as rude or snobbish, he commonly finds the time to hang out with them at the Train-wreck Tavern. Honestly, the discomfort he feels from being around so many people is a lot better than sitting alone at home thinking about Sandi. |
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| He’s had plenty of time to consider the situation, but he remains uncertain of what he should do. The monstrosity that has been posing as her father, still retains his stranglehold. And he is more dangerous now than he was before Luke discovered his true nature. |
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| Spinning his cell phone on the tabletop, Luke flirts with the idea of calling her. He had called a number of times right after his birthday, but his calls just went to voice mail. She knew it was him calling, and she knew why he was calling, so Luke never saw the point in leaving any message. Luke sits up straight when he hears a raspy voice from his past, speaking over noise of music and patrons inside the tavern. The voice is slightly deeper now, and colored with an odd mix of sarcasm and sensuality. |
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| There is no doubting that it is Anna. She was one of his earliest friends from childhood, but she had moved away when her parents were redepolyed to another city. |
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| Still wearing her uniform, Anna boldly takes the seat next to him and announces that she’d always known he’d eventually find his way into Fort Gnome. But with all his money, she didn’t think it would be working as a scrub. Luke smiles, buys her a drink, and they spend the next hour or so catching up with each other. After a short pause in the conversation, Anna asks him what “her” name is. After Luke musters nothing more than a confused, blank stare, Anna cocks her eyebrow and observes how he’s been sitting alone and messing with his phone for more than an hour, now. Luke chuckles, then smirks. |
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| Leaving out most of the details, Luke tells her about Sandi, and the fight on his birthday. Anna sits back and nods, then asks if it is the same dopey blonde who always had a major crush on him. Luke complements her memory, but feels somewhat odd about the derogatory slight. He drains the dregs of another draft, then makes an off-hand comment about Sandi’s father being a real monster. |
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| Anna perks herself up, exhales loudly, and informs him that she did not come over to listen to him whine about his wrenched love life. In fact, she came to ask him for a dance. If Anna had given him time to answer, he’d have said no. But she grabs his arm, nearly yanking him out of his chair, and onto the dance floor. |
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| Oddly enough, he actually has a good time. The night melts away, along with his stress, while he mingles with Anna and his other co-workers. When the lights in the tavern finally cut off, it is very, very late. The small group of enlisted-sims still remaining in the tavern, drag themselves out to the parking lot. Most of them have to work in just a few hours, including Anna. But unlike Luke, they all require sleep. |
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| Anna leans heavily on Luke and breathes a tired sigh. She really does not want to report for duty tomorrow. She giggles and gives Luke a hungry, seductive look. She perks up again, then urges him that it would be best to just go ahead and call Sandi. Luke frowns, asking what would cause her to think about something like that. |
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| Luke nearly falls over when Anna moves in quickly, then leans aggressively into him; her lips barely an inch away from brushing against his. Her breath, which has suddenly become rapid with excitement, is warm on his face while she suggestively rubs her body against him. |
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| She flashes a wicked smile, then backs slowly away after noticing the physical response she had been going for. Spinning on her heal, she struts to her car then tells him that she doesn’t expect to be going home alone after dancing again next week. |
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| Besides that, he’s going to have a good bit of steam to blow off after being dumped by Sandi; and seeing how intense he is already, it promises to be a ride worth waiting for. |
Stories by Zoxell 
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Yeah, it’s the same sim. I’ve been working her and Luke out on the treadmill and weight machines to give them that “fresh out of Marine boot camp” look. I did change the hair color, too. The red was definitely unique, but didn’t work well for her as an adult.
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Hmmm. Interesting. Looking forward to seeing if lust overrules his “love” for Sandi. Also wonder how long he will allow his career to stay idle.
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I have a few monkey wrenches to throw in, yet- Darned monkey wrenches…
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Not a huge fan of Sandi, I don’t think Luke should dwell on her….but I don’t know if this girl is much better. She is aggressive, isn’t she?
Poor Luke. Seems he gets this unlucky in love nature from his mother.
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Anna’s definitely got the Marine enthusiasm, I’ll give her that. 😉
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I am finally completely caught up on your amazing story, that I have been reading in all of my spare time. I love your writing style, and the way you write is captivating, and draws the reader in. I absolutely LOVE your legacy, and I’m sorta sad that I’m now caught up because it means I have to wait for a new chapter…
Now onto my comment:
I don’t really think that either Anna or Sandi are right for Luke, and I hope he finds somebody out there that is absolutely perfect for him.
Again, I love your writing, and I can’t wait to find out what happens next!!
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Thank you for the great compliment! I’m glad you enjoyed reading. It has been quite a bit of fun to write, too.
As for Luke… being both unflirty and a loner kinda stacks the odds against him, heh.
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I know I tend to fall off the radar at times but I always remember this story and come back to it and all I have to say is hot dayum your writing is amazing! Your story still captivates me as much as it did the first day I read it~ And as I went back and re-read the whole thing over the past few days, I’m really really excited to see where everything is headed.
Luke, hang in there buddy! We girls can be really weird creatures but I’m sure he’ll figure it out 😉
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I can completely understand about falling off the radar. Lately, it’s all I can do to find time to keep up with my own game.
And as always, thank you for the encouragement! I’m sure some folks have already sort of figured out where I’m going with this. And if not, I hope it’s an ejoyable conclusion!
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