Still writing random things, until I got ideas. I have like two other ideas, but I know they will kill my mood, but at the same time, I want to write them, cause I had planned to.
Originally posted in A03 at 21.03.2013
By the craters of a foreign planet outer the solar system, years ago a spaceship had stranded there leaving a couple of humans helpless. Upon the incident, most of the passengers assumed they would have died, but it turned out, that the planet they had landed in actually could offer them a chance to live due to it Earth-like atmosphere. Live was possible there for the humans, so now thanks to the Ingenieur and rocket science expert Anthony Cross, the pilot of the spaceship, all the humans worked together to create their new place to live. With the days passing by, all managed to build up their new town, mainly with advanced tech, which during the years out and inside the planet progressed. Almost 100 years later, Lunar Lakes was now fully-developed and accepted as the people's new home. The older generation, which was present since its birth have watched the place grow and got used to it slowly, that Lunar Lakes wasn't what Earth used to be for them. The newer generation knew about the story, but were quite used to the different forms of life. The human body as well got accustomed to the new zone, which is quite positive for many of them. Even for those who suffered from allergies towards pollen or any sort of flowers, which grew during spring on earth. Funny you really believe people can't have any allergies on Lunar Lakes, right? You're wrong. Actually, at the moment, two humans are known to have allergies towards the dust around the planet. Louisa Louie and Arthur Langerak. Both happen to be work pals and Louisa was new in the office and under Arthur's lead, she had to learn how things are done in the NCH.
"Oh Arthur, I'm so sorry I messed up the order of last week's transactions. I have really no idea, what made me mess this up. I had sorted all the sheets in order, there is no way I could have failed this," The raven-haired woman apologized slightly nervously from walking besides her work pal, which had a neutral face.
"Mistakes can always happen, Louisa. It's just you know…..Damien and I aren't quite in a good relationship, so he kind of abuses his power a little on me," The blonde commented making the woman nod. "I don't know, I've been here for four years, we're a little opposed from each other and this has been stretching out quite a while,"
"Sometimes I have the feeling, he's trying to find reasons to fire you," Stated Louisa making Arthur nod.
"Well I have had this in mind too," Admitted Arthur walking along with the woman into a small cabin, then pressed a button to activate a blue light, which sent them away to an empty, black room with a large arc in front of them with a blue light forming a portal, where both persons passed through to leave the place to the outside of the warp gate. Arthur's nose began to tickle, then he sneezed out loud shrieking Louisa, which looked at him, afterward she took from her hand purse out an orange bottle with pills in it and handed it out to the friend, which moved his hand up.
"I got mines here, don't worry," Commented Arthur taking out from his dress shirt a portable magic pocket, which he opened and shove his hand in there to look for his pills and took them out impressing the woman.
"Wow, that must be practical," Commented Louisa making Arthur nod. "How much did it cost?"
"Oh I won it last year, when I attended the competition at the local theatre and I was third place," Explained Arthur.
"Wow, what did you play? The guitar?" Questioned the woman watching Arthur swallow the pill, then both walked together on the sidewalk.
"Yes," Responded the blonde. "If I was lucky enough to get to first place I would have the chance to practice with the jury and become a member of their band someday. All I can do now is just keep practicing and hope for one day to get that chance,"
"Have you ever tried to record yourself playing and put them on the internet to gain views?" Questioned Louisa. "I'm pretty sure, you would gain people's interest that way,"
"I haven't thought about it," Confessed Arthur. "Usually, that's a lot of work to record and cut the videos. I rather just take the guitar and pull the strings," Mentioned Arthur making the woman nod. Arthur took a look into the box of his pills again, then added the box back into the dimensional pocket and stored it back in his pocket. "They will reach for this month….You know the good thing about this pocket, I have my guitar in there as well," Stated Arthur making the woman nod.
"That's a really great device for a third-place prize. That usually costs around 13'000 simoleons," Mentioned the woman making Arthur nod.
"Yes. It's currently not as special for most of us, as almost everyone has one. At least the ones I know,"
"My husband planned to buy me and himself one at some point, but after he got fired, we're trying to keep ourselves up in our new jobs and sustain our family. When we're good we will see about it,"
Beside them on the road passed a hover car, which had over its head its destination, which was the Gym. It gave out a modernized honk earning the duo's attention and it opened its back door.
"The 28.5 hour gym, right?" Asked Louisa making Arthur nod. "I think I could use a little workout. Are you interested in coming?" Questioned the woman watching Arthur shake his head.
"No, I'm fine. I might go to the library," Responded Arthur. "Sort out my life together,"
"Don't you really think it would be a better idea to get out of that job and start somewhere else?" Questioned the woman watching Arthur shrug his shoulders.
"I actually want that, I just, it's not easy to find a job at the moment, where I can be indoors," Stated Arthur making the woman nod.
"Screw that, Arthur! You can have other ways to gain money. Fred Seamus started out on the roots and now he's the band's lead singer," Commented the woman making Arthur chuckle and see the woman enter into the vehicle.
"I might think about it," Mentioned Arthur watching the door get closed, then the woman waved at him. "Perhaps, when I have a burnout or something….which doesn't seem to be that far thought…..," Arthur commented glimpsing above the town at the perigee, which was the spaceship, which got renovated and it stood on top of the science center.
In front of the Paper n' Space library, a hover cab had arrived and a platinum-blonde woman stepped out followed by a Greyish-brown-haired man, which closed the door behind him.
"The theatre is still closed for renovation today, so I can only go to work tomorrow. I didn't expect to catch you leaving work today," Mentioned the man, which listened to the name Stefan Bayless.
"This week has been pretty quiet at the hospital. Otherwise in the afternoon it's when we receive more patients to get treated," Mentioned the platinum blonde woman, which was known as Gloria Goode.
"How have you been doing lately? I haven't seen you since…..during your studies your father found his creator…." Stefan asked the woman.
"Well, I was used to having him around, whenever I had something to talk about. After Petre and I had broke up, my dad was a good listener on that time. He had always been busy with work, but he made sure to be there for me, even when I was older. He kept viewing me as a child. He practically only had me after my mother died," Explained Gloria making the man nod and walk into the library to see two women in front of the first bookshelf admiring the choices. Stefan admired one of the women, he seemed to know and Gloria walked away to enter the hall to get to see other bookshelves. Stefan shook his head, then looked aside to see his friend was gone.
"Where did she go?" Asked Stefan, then looked at the stairs leading to the second floor and he went there to go upw while Gloria continued to walk along the hall to spot a few townies using the computer to work on something there. Gloria looked at a large bookshelf, then passed her finger gently through the books to read all the available titles on there.
On the outside, Arthur came in a hover car along with another human, which walked along with him into the library. Arthur stood back watching the man walk upstairs, then Arthur walked into the hall to see most of the computers were occupied. Arthur sighed, then walked towards the bookshelves coming across Gloria among another woman, then he looked at the available books.
"I could use some other books to read too," Murmured Arthur to himself, then noticed one shelf had a yellow stripe announcing, which books, that had a yellow tag on them, where considered to be new additions. "I wonder, what sort of books they are," Arthur said passing his finger under the books to read the titles. "Huh…...the introverted musician?" Questioned Arthur taking out the book to see an image of a brunette man and down under the title was written the name Stiles McGraw. Arthur turned around to read the book's summary. "Get to know how Sunset Valley's most quiet citizen got to be the town's greatest success since Jill Simon…..This guy is from Sunset Valley?" Questioned Arthur curious, then kept the book in his hand and searched for more books.
Stefan Bayless had returned, then smiled as he spotted Gloria, which had found a book as well, then she glimpsed at Stefan and showed him a book.
"Hey this book is, what I have been talking about," Gloria said showing it to the friend to see the title to have the name of their former city of origin Twinbrook. Stefan gave her a thumb up, then noticed Arthur Langerak stay by the other shelf taking out a book about music genres.
"Arthur, what a coincidence to see you here!" Stefan announced loud making a foreign woman shush at the man, which walked towards the blonde, that stared surprised at his friend and smiled.
"Hey Stefan, what brings you here?" Asked Arthur sharing a hug with his friend.
"I was actually walking across Lunar Lakes to see what I could do today. I was meant to go to work, but the theatre was still closed. On my way I happened to encounter Gloria, which had left work. You do know her, right?" Asked Stefan watching Arthur shake his head, then Gloria looked at the two men as well, tilting her head not recognizing the man at all. "Really? Oh right, both of you grew in different parts of town," Commented Stefan walking towards Gloria taking her hand to introduce her to his friend. "Gloria, that's my friend Arthur Langerak. He grew up in the same center as Paige and Carlos," Explained Stefan, then looked at Arthur, which was gazing at the woman surprised. "This is Gloria Goode. Her father and my father's family knew each other from Twinbrook and we got friends at some point of our lives through that knowledge," Stefan explained watching Gloria smile at the new person she met and held out her hand.
"Nice to meet you," Said Gloria watching Arthur shake his head to stop staring and gave out his hand.
"I'm Arthur Langerak," Said the blonde. "My ancestors are descendants from Sunset Valley,"
"I heard a lot about it. It had a quite turbulent issue with its change of government," Commented Gloria watching Arthur shrug his shoulder.
"Actually I don't know a lot about Sunset Valley, to be honest," Confessed Arthur making Gloria giggle.
"Really? Perhaps you need to check one of the books the library has got here. It has almost all from the towns most of our colonies have come from," Mentioned Gloria. "This is how I figured out my great-grandfather was a firefighter,"
"That's great," Commented Arthur making Gloria nod. "I actually wonder about my side,"
"It's great. All books have all the details about the citizens there. You read their origins, their life, their hobbies, quite interesting," Commented Gloria making Arthur nod. "If you want to check it out, the book was in that shelf there," Gloria pointed watching the woman walk to the bookshelf to look for the book, while Arthur stood beside her. Stefan approached Arthur, then placed his hand on the blonde's shoulder and whispered into his ear.
"Her boyfriend dumped her a few months ago. This is your chance,"
"Hey, we just met," Noticed Arthur with a frown about his friend mixing himself into their private life.
"You two got a lot in common. I know you two don't know it yet, but I know you two. You both are a good fit," Confessed Stefan watching Arthur roll his eyes annoyed about his friend. Stefan observed a man leave a computer free, then Stefan clapped on Arthur's shoulder.
"Don't worry, you got this," Whispered Stefan watching Arthur shake his head. "Gloria, Arthur, I'll be at the computer checking my emails!" Announced Stefan leaving the two alone, followed by a person shushing the man again. Arthur shook his head about his friend's idea, then walked towards the woman and watched Gloria take out a book, then watch an envelope fall out of the book. Arthur got down followed by Gloria, then both bumped their head on each other.
"I'm sorry," Apologized both at the same time, then looked at each other surprised at their timing. Gloria chuckled, then observed Arthur take the envelope up to show it to Gloria.
"It slipped out of that book," Commented Arthur making Gloria nod and show him the book, which was about Sunset Valley. "Does it belong there?" Questioned Arthur watching the woman shrug her shoulders.
"We can figure it out, by opening it?" Suggested Gloria watching Arthur shrug his shoulders, then watch Gloria use the nail of her index finger to open it up.
"Are you sure, we should open that? It could be someone's doctor's exams or something,
"I'm pretty sure it's nothing that bad. Like this we can now, who forgot it," Commented Gloria watching Arthur think about it and shrug his shoulders.
"When giving it to scan, the librarian could figure out, who borrowed the book," Commented Arthur.
"Or the last person, who took the book read it here and daily people come here," Stated Gloria watching Arthur opening his mouth to speak, then realized, that theory worked too.
"Okay, that's a good point," Commented Arthur watching Gloria take out the sheet and open it up. "And?" Questioned the man watching Gloria follow the sentences with her eyes quick.
"That's…..a resume of the book Barnacle Bay," Commented Gloria looking at Arthur, which shrugged his shoulders.
"Perhaps, it's meant for someone else besides us to take it?" Guessed Arthur watching Gloria get up and put the envelope on the shelf.
"Over there, there's a free couch for us two. What do you think? We could share it," Suggested Gloria making Arthur nod, which followed her to the couch, then both sat down on the couch and Arthur glimpsed at his book he had about the famous Irishman, then watched Gloria show him the book about Sunset Valley.
"Are you interested in it?" Questioned Gloria watching Arthur look at the book, then nod.
"Yes. I can read this one at home," Commented Arthur, then Gloria opened the book. "What exactly does it have in it,"
"Well, the book has a sitemap. Here we got the town's past as it got built, the people who were there at that time, then here we got incidents, that happened during the time there. Here the last one here is, when the townies figured out their mayor Vita Alto was involved with her husband in illegal schemes and they overthrew her away from there,"
"Wow, and she was the mayor before Gunther Goth?" Questioned Arthur making Gloria nod.
"Yes and somewhere along the time, he got rid of the law of being mayor for a lifetime and people can vote every six years. As far as I can remember, the latest one was called Caspian Hatch,"
"Okay," Arthur commented looking at the number of incidents, that happened in the town. "Oh a heist at the school?" Asked Arthur curious, making Gloria chuckle.
"I had the exact same interest as you as I saw that title," Mentioned Gloria." But the true story behind that, a gang of criminals used the school during prom night to perform their heist, but they were spotted by students, which alarmed their principal," Explained Gloria making the man nod.
"That was actually a smart move," Confessed Arthur, then Gloria moved to the next page to show the continuation of the sitemap.
"Here is your family," Stated Gloria making Arthur smile, then look at Gloria, which smiled as well and she moved towards the mentioned page to show the beginning of the hierachy of the Langerak family and the Mae family. The Langerak family consisted of a man and a woman, which had a son, while the Mae consisted of a couple with two daughters, one of them being connected with the son of the Langeraks. "Here you see, your great-grandfather or farther up was called Dustin Langerak and left Sweden to live in Sunset Valley. His parents Olga and Anders Langerak stood back as their son had followed out of love the Mae's oldest daughter Iliana Mae to Sunset Valley, so she could pursue her career. The Mae's are descendants of Portugal and they stood there among Iliana's youngest sister Zelda. From here on you now know you've got Swedish and Portuguese blood if you didn't know that before,"
"I actually assumed I was American. I mean I never asked my parents about my heritage, I just knew we were from Sunset Valley. I grew up my entire life here," Explained Arthur making Gloria nod. "From whom did my DNA come exactly? As I see Dustin and Iliana had two children," Commented Arthur making Gloria nod, which held the book closer to the man, so he could read as well and Gloria followed down the line of the pedigree to see they had two children, then noticed both children had a strange, hatched color around their icon.
"On the other page, there's more information about, why their icon is like this and how the family tree continues," Mentioned Gloria making Arthur tilt his head, then look at the tree to see the offsprings Parker Langerak and Kaylynn Langerak had a longer bio of themselves compared to their ancestors.
"Wow, those two must have something important," Commented Arthur making Gloria nod, then look at the other family members and noticed the name of Dustin's sister-in-law was mentioned in his biography.
"I think I figured out something," Commented Gloria showing Arthur Dustin's biography. "Look…...During the absence of Iliana Langerak during the business conferences, Dustin got wrapped up with Zelda and the kids had witnessed them several times, but couldn't tell exactly, what was going on. Up when Zelda got pregnant and the tension in the family grew Iliana figured out what happened, then grew hatred towards both her favorite persons. Despite their reasons of unfaithfulness, it was considered still a bad deed towards Iliana and the children from negligence from her side due to her work-life balance. Despite Parker and Kaylynn being aware, that what happened was bad, that had somehow engraved in their heads as an emergency solution,"
"What?" Asked Arthur surpised, then moved to the next page to see the continuation of the hatched icons to see Dustin had two more children with Zelda. Kaylynn had shown to be in an on-and-off relationship with three different men, with who she had have at least one child. Two of the kids had the legacy continue and Arthur pointed at one man on the list, which he recognized.
"That's my grandfather," Pointed Arthur out. "I heard from my parents he never met his father and as I see this is the reason, Kaylynn was wrapped up with three different men!" Commented Arthur shocked. "Daniel Pleasant, Don Lothario and Rolland Söderlund,"
"Okay, that's quite a shocking revelation. That I have to admit," Commented Gloria, then looked at the biography of the girl. "Oh did you read that? One of the maids, that cleaned her parents house was known as a maneater and Kaylynn got inspired by her to follow her kink of cleaning," Explained the medical woman. "Well, this is what can happen, when divorcee kids seek idols from anywhere else, besides their parents,"
"Or their own idols weren't that good," Added Arthur making Gloria nod. "Actually I even feel bad for her. Her parents grew apart from each other, her father sought for attention from another woman and the girl saw all that. Hearing from another person as well, that all is okay, isn't quite a good thing," Commented the blonde making Gloria nod, then look at the part of the older brother.
"What is funny about the brother, he actually was married for 12 years," Mentioned Gloria showing the book to the man. "Look, Parker Langerak was married to the daughter of the journalist Fiona McIrish and her late husband Shane. Father of two children, he actually had formed the life his father had have before with the exception, the wife was more focused on being around the family, unlike Iliana Langerak. The other two kids Parker got later on outside of his own family were from two different women. It's not known, what exactly led him to deceive his wife two or more times. A divorce followed afterward and Parker was free and did have a third child with another woman. It's been theorized, that the midlife crisis might have hit him or something in his subconscious had led him to take a new route. Parker left his children's life, when he figured out, they grew up without him and his hope to reconcile with their mother again fell into the water as she had found comfort in the arms of another man. Many people find various things in life, that hurt them. It doesn't even need to be materialistic. Parker saw, that he had everything in life before, but only later he realized when he ruined his life and changed everyone around him, that he had lost it all," The woman finished looking at Arthur, which was a little hurt from the messed up past of his ancestors.
"This is horrendous," Commented Arthur disappointed about his past family members, then looked at Gloria, which sympathized with the man's sensation and placed her hand behind his back to caress him.
"You can talk with me about it. If it bothers you the best thing is to talk about it," Suggested Gloria. "I might just be a medical intern, but our knowledge is just as good as from general doctors,"
"I appreciate your offer. I'm more shocked, that it's…..not, what I expected to hear. I thought it could be something like, I don't know…..maybe someone up there could have been musically gifted,"
"Well, the only musical gifted persons here were Zelda Mae and River McIrish by looking at the bios…..oh Zelda was a musician and River was a violinist in the local theatre. They're not directly related to you, but the only ones listed in the Langerak clan," Mentioned the woman, then Arthur took the book to himself to move to the next page to read about the successors of Kaylynn Langerak. "Hey, I think the one called Rolland was an instrument vendor and knew how to play instruments very well," Mentioned Arthur with a smile. "He played Indie. That's the same genre I play,"
"You play an instrument?" Questioned Gloria curious making Arthur nod. "What kind of instrument?"
"I play the guitar," Introduced the blonde with a proud smile.
"Really? That's fantastic," Confessed Gloria. "You must work at the theatre with my friend Stefan then?"
"Eh no. Actually, I'm a…..filing clerk. I've been there at the Nebula Headquarters for a few years and I had gotten the job there because I have a little…..allergy problem with the dust of the craters here," Mentioned Arthur a little embarrassed of revealing that information.
"Oh you're one of the two with the dust allergy?" Asked Gloria making Arthur nod. "You've heard of the Mooncrater pills?"
"Yes, I've got them. It's just the issue, I can't be out of the house for more hours, otherwise my allergies kick in," Explained Arthur making Gloria nod.
"Never met any of you two with that issue. I'd like to get more about you and how you deal with that," Announced Gloria making Arthur furrow his eyes curious at her question.
"Really?" Asked the man earning a smile from the woman. "Sure, I tell you, what you need to know,"
"Great, how long have you been dealing with that issue? What did you do, before the medicine was allowed to be sold?" Questioned the woman looking at the man.
"I went several times to a doctor for him to make analyzes. They looked for ways to fix the issue by editing the DNA. As it didn't work out, they looked for other solutions….",
The relationship between Arthur and Gloria evolved rapidly over the upcoming weeks. Arthur gained a new meaning in life and hoped with her by his side, he could continue to fight in his job to be able to bring every day his salary back home. His interest in leaving the office to become a musician on his own has slipped back to second place as now, what only mattered to him was his future with Gloria, which he proposed quite early than anyone would have expected. Others would call this crazy, it's for most people unusual to propose to someone very soon. Arthur didn't quite count the weeks, that passed but he had to admit, he did quite come out early with the question. Gloria on the other hand, was really caught off-guard by his question, but accepted immediately. After all, the two had quite a few things in common, mostly, when it came to reading and music. Both could easily together sit the whole day together in the inside reading a book while listening together to indie music. They do have several different songs, they like more than the other does, but this doesn't let them get bothered with. Arthur feels safe knowing his allergies won't bother anyone, mostly Gloria, since her medical history allows her to understand several health issues on people today and in the future. Both their friends are aware of their engagement and are cool with it, despite the time of knowledge the two lovebirds had. The one thing about the engagement between Arthur and Gloria now is, that both are taking their time until they decide together to find a date for their official reunion. It gives them time as well to learn to live together in their first house, discuss each other wishes for the common future they want to build together. One thing Arthur was for sure, he wanted to do his best to provide his future wife a good life, the question is, if currently his job at the NHQ is the most adequate choice for him…..