Immortal Beloved Gen. 2: Chapter 1 (Part One)
"Grunter!"
A shriek echoed through the Terrano residence. It was Marina, who always answered a phone call, expecting it was for her every time. There was no reply. It figures, there never was.
"HEY GRUNTER, YOUR BOYFRIEND'S ON THE PHONE!"
Still no answer. It wasn't that Bunker didn't hear his sister, it was the fact that she insisted on using his childhood nickname that made him decide to ignore her. Keeping in shape was more important than a stupid phone call anyway. He had only two more points of body skill before being able to snag that Hogan Athletics Award he's had his eyes on since he transitioned.
Marina hung up the phone and went upstairs to see what her OCD brother was doing this time.
"Shit Bunker, why do you have to be such a Grunt? No wonder why the old General likes you so much."
Bunker stared at his sister. He saw lips moving but couldn't hear the sound coming out. He got off the treadmill.
"Grunter, this is the second time today he has called you. I don't know what the hell the kid sees in you because you are clearly not a good lover if you keep ignoring him all the time like this."
Bunker burst out laughing. "Lovers? Maxis and I?! Come on Marina Trench, you know we don't swing that way."
"Sometimes I wonder, little bro."
He gave her a big noogie in reply.
"Now listen-" Bunker started tickling her before she could get the rest of the sentence out.
"Okay okay, quit it!" Marina said, gasping for breath, "I am serious about calling him, Bunker. If I was him, I would have been fed up with you already. You are lucky that he is so nice."
Admitting defeat, Bunker reluctantly went down the stairs and dialed his best friends phone number. He knew what the phone call was about and had been putting it off for quite some time.
"Hey Max."
"No, sorry bro. I have lots of homework... I'll go see you next weekend, okay?"
Marina appeared behind him, looking rather disappointed. Why did her brother not want to hang out with his friend so much? Having a natural desire to know just about anything, she decided that it was up to her to investigate the issue.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There was a new DJ in the nightclub appropriately titled Party Until Really Early.
This fresh faced alien was so cool and he knew just the right tunes to play. The chicks were sure to go wild on the dance floor when he was spinning their favorite music.
"Shit shit shit!"
Okay, so maybe he needed a little practice.
"Don't worry 'bout that Maximus, you're doing great!" His uncle said. Luckily, he was the only one who saw him make the mistake.
After a while, it was time for his uncle to have a turn at the tables. He relished every moment he spent with the guy, hoping that he could learn from the master.
One day, they were going to own that club- and they would be famous and get shitloads of money from it. It was their ultimate dream.
Quinten McCarthy, his uncle's rival, appeared behind him purposely dancing badly to make him lose concentration. Of course it didn't work.
Eventually it was time to go home. Being still a teenager, Maxis Curious needed to prepare for school. "Thank you and goodnight!" His uncle said to the crowd.
Quinten laughed. "Curious, don't you see that there's nobody there? I'll show you how a real DJ does the job." He pushed the other guy out of the way, took a record out and set it on the turntable.
Always easygoing, Lazlo just let him take over and stepped to the side so Quinten could make a fool of himself.
"I don't care what Quinten says, Laz. In my eyes you're the greatest DJ in all of Sim City."
"You're just saying that 'cuz I'm your uncle."
Maxis shrugged. "So what if I am? When are we going to actually own this place anyway?"
"Have patience, grasshopper. You know being a field researcher doesn't pay a hell of a lot." He laughed, "I'm surprised they haven't fired me yet with all the times I've taken off and all that."
"Well... I've been thinking. Don't you think PURE is a terrible name for a nightclub? We so need to change that. But for now, it kinda fits doesn't it?"
"Hey, I don't go around saying that to you now do I? And it's not like I don't have anybody. I'm getting there, don't you worry."
"Ha, worry about you? Nah. It's dad that desperately needs the action. I can't stand how uptight he's been lately. I don't recall him ever being with anybody, come to think of it. Makes me wonder if his abduction sucked the libido out of him."
"Well I don't know what was taken OUT of him, but I do know what was put IN him!" Lazlo tickled his nephew. The kid was so casual about being the product of an alien abduction that it creeped out some people.
Not his family of course. There were a total of three alien hybrids at the Curious household alone. According to Lazlo though, they were just cute little pickles. Especially Dill and Gherkin. It amused him that his brother Vidcund actually used the names he suggested as a joke.
"Sucks that your friend couldn't come tonight. That Grunt kid, what's his name again?"
"Actually, Bunker's a Terrano. Strange, huh? Don't know what the last name thing is about. I've gotta ask Marina about that sometime, she would know... Well, he said he had "homework" today. Lame excuse. What a shitty pleasure Sim he is, that's for sure.
If only I could make him less shy. He really does want to have fun like the rest of us, I could tell. Maybe I'm being a bit too forceful about it. Last time we actually went anywhere, I made him sing karaoke with me and I could see his aspiration level slipping into the red zone the second we started that machine up."
"Have you tried ordering him a few drinks?"
"Not yet, but I guess it's worth a try."
"Listen Max, as much as you'd like to stay here I have to take you home or Pascal's going to be worried sick. I have a late day at work tomorrow anyway."
"Late day? I never thought I'd hear that out of you, Laz."
"Well, I'm actually not staying late for work purposes. The twins have been begging Vid to look into his telescope but he hasn't been letting them because he's afraid they'll get abducted or something. I was gonna go pick up an older model from the lab and bring it for them to play around with."
Maxis hugged his uncle. "Aww, that's so sweet!"
"Actually... I'm kinda doing it for myself too. You're not getting any ass babies out of me! Could you imagine how huge I'll get? Especially since I already have this gut."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Hey Moonshine!" Tank Terrano said when he picked up the fat, old house cat and threw it up in the air. It was a little ritual he had whenever he came home his job as a Dread Pirate.
He set the now dizzy Moonshine on the floor and noticed Bunker doing his homework.
He was about to say something to his son, but Marina showed up behind him.
"Dad, could we talk?"
He hesitated for a second, he never did know how to communicate with girls. Especially if that specific girl happened to be his daughter. "Sure Marina, what is it? How are things with Julia?" Crap, that was her name, right?
Marina just laughed, she was used to him messing up the Mace sisters' names. "It's Olivia, and we're fine. I was actually going to say something about Bunker."
"Oh, fire away then."
"Not with him right there, silly! Let's go somewhere else."
They made their way to her brother's bedroom. Before having kids, Tank never imagined that anyone would call somebody like him silly. The whole family thing was still so weird to him even if he had been married to Stella for more than thirteen years. If it were up to his father, he would have been in the Military career and probably wouldn't have settled down until he made his way to general.
"He's been rather anti-social lately." Marina continued, "I was thinking that it has something to do with Grandpa. I mean, he's been refusing to go anywhere with Maxis and I was wondering you know anything about what he might be telling him about the aliens."
All of the sudden, Tank went into defensive mode. He barely talked to General Buzz for obvious reasons, but he still felt compelled to stand up for him whenever necessary. "Why do you think that? Your grandfather loves you guys, you know that."
"I don't know, dad. I've been hearing some bad things coming from uncle Ripp about how he was in the past."
Tank wasn't so surprised when she said that. With her taking guitar lessons from his younger brother, the topic about his relationship with his father would come up sooner or later.
There was a long pause as he tried to figure out what to say.
To be continued...