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Myshuno: The life and careers of Komei Tellerman
Prompt: How Komei Tellerman got into his current line of work (by esmeiolanthe)
Words: 4134
Universe: I suppose this could be canon Alphabetia, I'm not sure about the details but along these lines
Warnings: an occasional bad word, perhaps a cliché here and there, super long
Okay, so I guess I got inspired. What was supposed to be just a drabble, became a kind of a longer story. I'm not entirely happy with it, it's a little rough around the edges and could use some cutting probably, but I fear that if I edit it more, I'll end up writing more, and I already needed several days to write this so... Here goes:
Young Komei Tellerman was from a wealthy family, the only son of William and Carita Tellerman. William was a very successful lawyer, and Carita was his secretary, until she had Komei and became a stay-at-home Mom. Ever since Komei was a little boy, he was quite the idealist. His first dream job as a boy was to become a doctor, to save people's lives, and surprisingly enough, that dream stayed when Komei became a young man.
William and Carita were very proud of their son. Becoming a medical doctor was a highly esteemed profession, one that would suit their precious son perfectly, and look good in the eyes of the people that mattered, of course. Both parents were supportive of Komei, but especially William also had quite high expectations. When Komei went to school, William was keeping a close eye on his grades. If Komei came home with a top achievement, he'd be proud and happy, beaming, but if not, his disappointment was evident. He never punished Komei for "bad" grades (even when he didn't quite make it to his best, Komei was still a decent student), but he had other ways of showing his disapproval. He would make remarks on how Komei should pay more careful attention, or how William himself had always "made the little extra bit of effort".
William might have meant well, but what he, or his wife, didn't know, was that his remarks were making young Komei fearful and anxious. He was eager to please the people he loved most, and he had the ambition of becoming a doctor one day. The older Komei got, the more stressed he was. On top of his father's expectations, he had to deal with the problems that came along with being a studious, quiet boy in high school. (His slight acne did not make the situation better.) Let's say that he had to watch his back on breaks and on the way to school and back. He could never know who might be lurking behind the boy's room door or when a banana peel (really, once it was an actual banana peel) would be lying conveniently "forgotten" on the floor. He knew whom those pieces of paper circling in class were about, and that it was not a good idea to go too close to the "secret" cigarette spot in the far corner of the school yard.
Komei was determined to endure. After all, high school was just a phase, and no matter what, in a couple of more years he'd be getting the hell out of there. Hopefully to med school, where people would be more intelligent, accepting, focused, mature, anything. Whatever these idiots thought of him didn't matter.
But then, one beautiful spring day in May, towards the end of Komei's third year in high school, something happened that changed everything. Komei was spending the remainder of his lunch break out in the sunshine, reading an anatomics book. He'd carefully chosen a spot away from the cigarette spot, a little bit hidden from view, behind a corner. Unfortunately, he had gotten so engaged in his reading that he'd forgotten to keep an eye out for certain people, as he usually always did. That was a big mistake, one he hadn't made for a long time.
Komei was brought back to reality by a familiar voice: "Enjoying cramming, are we nerd boy?" He was so startled that he nearly dropped his book. Shit. He should have expected this. He was always expecting this. Komei instinctively looked up and closed his book. He was looking at three boys, all his year and athletic, much bigger than him. He knew them all too well. Tommy, the middle one and the leader of a small, pathetic gang, was grinning malevolently at him, and Komei knew what was coming. "What do you want?" he asked, getting up. He was trying to play time and gather his courage, but really, he knew that once again he'd have to somehow lie to his parents and cover up his bruises. "Oh, nothing much really", replied Tommy casually, enjoying every word. "Me and the boys were just bored and thought..." he paused. "We thought we could as well have some fun." Tommy's grin widened, and the three boys circled Komei.
Komei tried to look for help out of the corners of his eyes, but he'd been too careful in his seek for solitude. This side of the yard was empty. Komei clenched his fists and braced himself. He wasn't much of a fighter, but this time he'd had enough. This time he would at least try, for better or worse. This time, something clicked in him, and he felt a surge of rage shooting through his veins. He hissed at Tommy through his gritted teeth: "bring it on" and prepared for the first punch. Only it wasn't him who received it.
It was Tommy. He yelped out of surprise and pain, and when he bent over holding his side and looking wildly around, Komei could see a boy roughly his age, who'd clearly delivered the punch. "Not so fast, Madison", said the boy and grabbed Tommy's arm, twisting it. "We don't like people who corner others three to one, do we?" he asked someone to his left, and to his surprise, Komei saw that the boy was accompanied by a girl, who was looking at least as angry as he was, and he was taking on one of Tommy's sidekicks. Suddenly Komei realized they were now evenly matched, and without thinking he turned to the third boy, and delivered a surprise punch to his gut.
It didn't take long for the three of them to send the three bullies running on their way, as the two others seemed to be quite more physically capable than Komei, and were able to help him quite a lot. Komei wasn't surprised that Tommy and his crew fled, he'd always suspected that they'd only been targeting him because he was skinny and mostly alone. "Thanks", he said to his rescuers, slightly panting. "No problem", said the boy, who seemed to mostly do the talking. "Those guys have been onto unsuspecting kids for long enough, and never less than three to one. Anyway, I don't believe we've met", he continued, holding out his hand. "I'm Russ, Russ Bear. And this is Jessica Ebadi."
After that, school became a lot more enjoyable to Komei. He, Russ and Jessica became inseparable, and Tommy's crew and other bullies steered clear from them. Word spread that no one messed around Komei Tellerman, Russ Bear and Jessica Ebadi, after a couple of similar situations where they stepped in to a fight, and won. That may have been more thanks to Russ and Jessica than Komei, but he was learning quickly. In addition to his studying, Komei had taken up gym excercise, and Russ had shown him a couple of neat tricks that had helped in a few situations. Besides, after a few occasions they weren't really confronted either.
From those events Komei learned the importance of keeping appearences. If you wanted life to be tolerable, you had to seem tough, and having a couple of tough buddies helped with that. There seemed to be a small crowd that gathered around Russ and Jessica, one that others feared and perhaps with reason, but once Komei had been around for a while, he seemed to notice that most of the others weren't actually very tough when not around the two central figures.
He quite liked Russ and Jessica. They were loyal to him and each other, or anyone they considered friends. And they had a sense of justice that kids like Tommy and his crew seemed to be lacking. But there was also something about them that made Komei not talk about them to his parents. When he was going out with them, he just referenced them as "some friends". If he was asked more, he'd make it sound like he was talking about different people every time, and he made damn sure he didn't mention some of the things they did in the evening. Like the drinking, or the smoking. Or the occasional pickpocketing and shoplifting, which Komei considered a necessary part of keeping a tough image. How that went together with the sense of justice Komei so appreciated about the two of them, he didn't quite know, but at least they never attacked anyone, but rather did it the sneaky way; one person created a distraction, maybe by chatting the victim or by "accidentally" dropping something, and someone else went for the wallet while the victim didn't notice a thing. Komei himself didn't frequent at the pickpocket thing, but he tried it a time or two, and to his surprise found that he was kind of good at it. Russ and Jessica, of course, were almost professionals.
Komei's final year at high school rolled in. He studied harder than ever. He wanted to make med school, and he wanted to please his father, who was drowning him in brochures and suggestions on what the best schools were. Komei's time was spent between cramming, sending college applications and more cramming. It wasn't often that he'd have time to sneak out with Russ and Jessica anymore. He was sorry about that, but in the back of his mind he felt that his parents wouldn't be – if they knew about his friends in the first place.
At first, Komei's studying was going well. He found the books exciting, and could read them just for his personal pleasure as well as for the benefit of getting into med school. He could stay awake until the wee hours of the night studying about molecules, or maths, or anatomy. And the next morning he'd get up a couple of hours earlier so he could study a bit extra before going to school. But then came the winter, and the last spring of high school, the most important one of all.
The first thing Komei noticed was that he was starting to forget things. He'd find himself locked outside of his parents' house, even though he was sure he'd had the keys just a minute ago. He'd go to school and find out he didn't have his homework with him, despite being sure about having packed it. When he went home he found his homework on the desk where he'd left it. Then he started having headaches. In the morning he'd wake up with his muscles stiff and his head aching, and no amount of stretching or excercise would help. Sometimes it lasted for days, so bad that he was unable to get out of bed. If he tried, a wave of nausea would stop him in his tracks. His eyes started bothering him. When he tried to read, the text would go fuzzy in his eyes, and he had to squint them to be able to read at all. When flu season kicked in, he caught the bug three times.
Komei tried seeing the school nurse, and she sent him over to the local hospital, to have all kinds of tests taken. They all came back negative. There was seemingly nothing wrong with him. He went back to the nurse with the test results, and she was puzzled. She started asking about his living habits, and Komei gave some vague, avoidant answers. He had the feeling that if the nurse knew how much he was studying in reality, she might get a heart attack, the little old lady she was. And after that she'd probably lock him in a hospital and forbid him his books. But he couldn't not study. He had to get into med school.
Even with Komei's avoidant answers, the old nurse guessed somewhat what was wrong, if not the extent of it. If she had, Komei's guess on what she'd do about it would probably not have been all that exaggerated. She ordered him vitamins and tried to tell him to work less hard. Komei took the vitamins, but didn't lessen his workload. Nothing changed.
In the end, the spring went by. Afterwards, Komei didn't remember much of it, except there were a lot of exams and that he probably was in a fever on some of them. But what he did remember for the rest of his life was when the results of college admittances came. He had been accepted into Sim State University – to study Philosphy.
What happened between Komei and his father that evening, not many people knew. All they could tell was that it wasn't pretty. And as a result, Komei decided to take the offer for a Philosophy study place. His dreams of becoming a doctor might be crushed, but as it was, he couldn't stay at his parents' place anymore, not any longer than it was necessary. He took contact with the university, and the dorm assigning lady was able to get him a room three weeks early. So early that autumn Komei packed his bags and moved into Sim State University.
Komei was actually having quite a nice time at Sim State University, after he'd gotten over his initial disappointment. Philosophy wasn't too bad, plus Russ and Jessica had also both made it to college, which would have made even a lot less interesting studies tolerable. Komei realized his mistake and took the time to hang out with his friends, ate, excercised and slept properly, and life was smiling at him. In fact, after a year in Sim State, Komei tried the med school entrance exam again, and without the extraneous stress, this time he made it in. William Tellerman had apparently heard of his son's success, as he'd tried to call Komei's cellphone, for the first time in a year. Komei didn't return the call.
In time, Komei graduated, with very good grades no less. He soon got an entry position at the Sim City hospital, and was quickly moving up the career ladder. In fact, his superiors and workmates alike said that not many young doctors had ever moved up so quickly. Along the promotions he was being transferred from one city to another, which was a bit of a nuisance, but Komei didn't complain. He was young and successful. Nothing could stop him from finally getting what he wanted, from becoming the Chief of Staff he had always wanted to be.
Along the years, Komei had, besides his efforts on his career ambitions, made quite a few friends in college and at work. He'd also had a few romantic interests, but none of them had worked out, for one reason or another. There was, however, a pattern that he'd noticed in all of his relationships. In each of the towns he'd lived, he had honest, good friendship with the townies, and if a romantic relationship failed, it was due to honest, good reasons. But in all towns, there was one group of sims that he after a while avoided: so called "Legacy families".
Komei found out that these families were involved in some kind of a challenge, where each generation one child would inherit the family, and it was usually considered a great honor. In fact, already being a member of such a family was generally considered a great honor. Well, that was all well and good, even though Komei didn't see what exactly was the "honor" in happening to be born to a certain family, but he supposed it was in some way similar to how he had been born to wealth himself. But what he didn't like about these families, was the way they often treated other sims, himself included.
There were apparently different kind of Legacy families, Komei found. Some of them married in townies, some, which he occasionally heard referenced to as "using old rules", whatever that meant, generally strongly preferred service sims. Again, marrying into these families was in many towns seen as a great honor of some kind. Some families even had criteria on the genetics of sims who were allowed to marry into them.
Komei had met Legacy sims that were perfectly nice, too, it wasn't that, but... Sometimes he felt a little bit used. On several occasions, someone from a local Legacy family would be very interested in him, being nice and friendly, calling frequently... Until they safely considered themselves friends. After that, the Legacy sim would lose interest, and Komei would never hear from them again. Rumor among townies was that this was quite common, friends like Komei were so called "promotion friends", who were made solely for the purposes of getting a promotion at work, and afterwards promptly forgotten. Once or twice Komei got involved with someone romantically, only to never hear from them after falling in love, or possibly the first woohoo. "Impossible wants" whispered voices around town about that. Sometimes when meeting someone new, he even got quite critically viewed by this new sim. He soon learned to connect this to especially those families that had genetic requirements on marrying in. On these occasions the sim in question often lost interest quite fast, and once Komei could even hear them mutter something that sounded a lot like: "Komei Tellerman, seriously? What does he think this is, an Uglacy?"
Komei saw this kind of reckless using of townies around him regularly, and what he didn't understand was that many townies still looked up to Legacy sims. He even knew a lady, whose boyfriend (or so she'd thought) had used her for an "impossible want" an then abandoned her, and she would say over and over again, through her tears, was that he "didn't have choice, poor boy, he was the heir after all". Komei was of the opinion that they, himself and the other townies, should not just sit around and let these jerks use them as they wished, but rather do something about it. In his time, he'd experienced enough of mistreatment, enough of reckless using. But oddly enough, everyone else seemed to be perfectly okay with this kind of behaviour.
Despite his unfortunate episodes with Legacy families, Komei's life was going rather well otherwise. He was now only one step away from his final promotion before becoming Chief of Staff, and he had already fulfilled all the criteria for it, too. It was only a matter of time before his superiors would promote him. Then late one evening, before an early morning, he received a phonecall. Old William Tellerman was dead.
It wasn't really a huge surprise. From what his mother had said, Komei knew that William had been having some health problems, and he wasn't exactly young anymore. They weren't close, hadn't been since the stormy episode all those years ago, but perhaps exactly that was part of the shock; perhaps it was the guilt that whispered into Komei's ear: "You should have made peace when you had the chance."
The next morning, Komei had a very vague recollection that he had spent some time on the phone with his mother, trying to comfort her. She lived on the other side of the country currently, so it wasn't feasible to drive over right now, even though in Komei's state of mind, he wouldn't have been surprised had he suddenly realized he was in his car half way there, with no idea how he got there. But against all odds, he woke up in his bed. His muscles were stiff, and he had a headache he remembered too vaguely to recognize. Twelve hours ago he'd been just fine, and now he suspected he might be catching the flu.
In any case, he couldn't miss work, Komei decided. There were several important surgeries, and then the board meeting. No, today was absolutely a no-go on feeling ill. And so he got into his car and went to work.
That was the one mistake he shouldn't have made. In his distracted state, Komei went into his first surgery, and halfway through, he was so distracted by his thoughts and by the thumping pain behind his temples, that he didn't see the measures written on the injection needle properly, and gave the patient a very strong medicine overdose. When the seizuring began, it was only the vigilance of Komei's colleagues that saved the patient. It was therefore not a surprise that before the end of the day, Komei had no choice but to hang his white coat on the coat rack for the last time.
After that, no career felt comfortable. Komei tried Science, Natural Science, even Athletic out of desperation. He did reasonably well, but his heart wasn't in it. He tried looking for a new opening in Medical, to turn a page and start over, but with no luck. He suspected that the word was going around and no one wanted him in their prestigious hospital. There was apparently no way he could feel fulfilled at a job anymore. So he drowned his sorrows in juice.
And once more, everything would change for Komei. One night, when he was sitting in a bar once again, only not the one he usually went to, because it was closed due to a renovation. It was perhaps his second or third drink, when he heard the door close behind him and someone enter the bar. He didn't bother to look, because well, who cared about anything else than the drink in front of him anyway? But the newcomer apparently did care, because suddenly Komei heard a voice he had not heard in several years.
"Komei! Is that really you? Wow, you you look... dreadful, to be honest."
Komei turned to look, and he couldn't believe his eyes. In front of him was standing, albeit many years older that Komei'd last seen him, but still unmistakably, his old friend, Russ Bear.
After both men had gotten over their surprise, and Komei had asked Russ to sit down, they went on to the "how have you been"s and "oh, not too bad"s. Only it didn't take Russ long to find that Komei wasn't entirely truthful with the latter.
"Come on, man. I see you for the first time in years and all you tell me about your life is 'it's not too bad', all the while you've clearly had several juices" he checked his watch "before seven pm, and you look like you haven't slept for a couple of nights at least. Something's wrong, Komei, I can tell", said Russ. Then, feeling that maybe he shouldn't be so pushy after such a long time, he added: "I mean, is there anything I could do to help?"
"No, I don't think you can", said Komei and tried to smile, "but thanks anyway." He paused. What the heck. This was Russ he was talking to, wasn't it? "Oh well... If you really want to know..." And with that, Komei found himself telling Russ the whole story, the whole bitterness of it. Once he'd gotten started, he couldn't have stopped had he wanted to. It just finally needed to get out.
"... and so I've been unemployed for the past... don't know, lost track, maybe a couple of months now. Nothing I've tried has really inspired me, and in those jobs I've had, I'd bet someone leaked the information about what happened at the hospital, since I've been stuck in basically entry level positions." He shrugged. "Or maybe it's exactly because I'm not inspired, as I said. So the last thing I tried was another Science position, but I don't know it just wasn't the same, even if I got to do field research and everything. It's just not the same, so... so I quit. And here I am", he gestured around, "sitting here, spending my life, the juice as my companion."
Russ nodded. "I see. You're in a pretty tough place right now. I'm really sorry to hear that." He was genuinely sympaethic. Both men fell into silence, Komei sipping his drink and examining his fingers in deep thoughts, Russ tapping his chin, equally thoughtful. Finally, Russ spoke up.
"How would you feel like trying one more line of work, Komei? It's something that you've never done, for real, I believe, but something I think you've shown a talent for already a long time ago."
Komei didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything, just kept looking at Russ, mildly interested. Russ looked back intently, his eyes sparkling with contained enthusiasm.
"I mean, me and Jessica are... let's say we're having a small-scale business going on these days. It's nothing too fancy, but so far it seems to be paying off. I think we might be onto something here. So I was thinking... " he asked, pondering aloud, "maybe you'd be interested?"
Words: 4134
Universe: I suppose this could be canon Alphabetia, I'm not sure about the details but along these lines
Warnings: an occasional bad word, perhaps a cliché here and there, super long
Okay, so I guess I got inspired. What was supposed to be just a drabble, became a kind of a longer story. I'm not entirely happy with it, it's a little rough around the edges and could use some cutting probably, but I fear that if I edit it more, I'll end up writing more, and I already needed several days to write this so... Here goes:
Young Komei Tellerman was from a wealthy family, the only son of William and Carita Tellerman. William was a very successful lawyer, and Carita was his secretary, until she had Komei and became a stay-at-home Mom. Ever since Komei was a little boy, he was quite the idealist. His first dream job as a boy was to become a doctor, to save people's lives, and surprisingly enough, that dream stayed when Komei became a young man.
William and Carita were very proud of their son. Becoming a medical doctor was a highly esteemed profession, one that would suit their precious son perfectly, and look good in the eyes of the people that mattered, of course. Both parents were supportive of Komei, but especially William also had quite high expectations. When Komei went to school, William was keeping a close eye on his grades. If Komei came home with a top achievement, he'd be proud and happy, beaming, but if not, his disappointment was evident. He never punished Komei for "bad" grades (even when he didn't quite make it to his best, Komei was still a decent student), but he had other ways of showing his disapproval. He would make remarks on how Komei should pay more careful attention, or how William himself had always "made the little extra bit of effort".
William might have meant well, but what he, or his wife, didn't know, was that his remarks were making young Komei fearful and anxious. He was eager to please the people he loved most, and he had the ambition of becoming a doctor one day. The older Komei got, the more stressed he was. On top of his father's expectations, he had to deal with the problems that came along with being a studious, quiet boy in high school. (His slight acne did not make the situation better.) Let's say that he had to watch his back on breaks and on the way to school and back. He could never know who might be lurking behind the boy's room door or when a banana peel (really, once it was an actual banana peel) would be lying conveniently "forgotten" on the floor. He knew whom those pieces of paper circling in class were about, and that it was not a good idea to go too close to the "secret" cigarette spot in the far corner of the school yard.
Komei was determined to endure. After all, high school was just a phase, and no matter what, in a couple of more years he'd be getting the hell out of there. Hopefully to med school, where people would be more intelligent, accepting, focused, mature, anything. Whatever these idiots thought of him didn't matter.
But then, one beautiful spring day in May, towards the end of Komei's third year in high school, something happened that changed everything. Komei was spending the remainder of his lunch break out in the sunshine, reading an anatomics book. He'd carefully chosen a spot away from the cigarette spot, a little bit hidden from view, behind a corner. Unfortunately, he had gotten so engaged in his reading that he'd forgotten to keep an eye out for certain people, as he usually always did. That was a big mistake, one he hadn't made for a long time.
Komei was brought back to reality by a familiar voice: "Enjoying cramming, are we nerd boy?" He was so startled that he nearly dropped his book. Shit. He should have expected this. He was always expecting this. Komei instinctively looked up and closed his book. He was looking at three boys, all his year and athletic, much bigger than him. He knew them all too well. Tommy, the middle one and the leader of a small, pathetic gang, was grinning malevolently at him, and Komei knew what was coming. "What do you want?" he asked, getting up. He was trying to play time and gather his courage, but really, he knew that once again he'd have to somehow lie to his parents and cover up his bruises. "Oh, nothing much really", replied Tommy casually, enjoying every word. "Me and the boys were just bored and thought..." he paused. "We thought we could as well have some fun." Tommy's grin widened, and the three boys circled Komei.
Komei tried to look for help out of the corners of his eyes, but he'd been too careful in his seek for solitude. This side of the yard was empty. Komei clenched his fists and braced himself. He wasn't much of a fighter, but this time he'd had enough. This time he would at least try, for better or worse. This time, something clicked in him, and he felt a surge of rage shooting through his veins. He hissed at Tommy through his gritted teeth: "bring it on" and prepared for the first punch. Only it wasn't him who received it.
It was Tommy. He yelped out of surprise and pain, and when he bent over holding his side and looking wildly around, Komei could see a boy roughly his age, who'd clearly delivered the punch. "Not so fast, Madison", said the boy and grabbed Tommy's arm, twisting it. "We don't like people who corner others three to one, do we?" he asked someone to his left, and to his surprise, Komei saw that the boy was accompanied by a girl, who was looking at least as angry as he was, and he was taking on one of Tommy's sidekicks. Suddenly Komei realized they were now evenly matched, and without thinking he turned to the third boy, and delivered a surprise punch to his gut.
It didn't take long for the three of them to send the three bullies running on their way, as the two others seemed to be quite more physically capable than Komei, and were able to help him quite a lot. Komei wasn't surprised that Tommy and his crew fled, he'd always suspected that they'd only been targeting him because he was skinny and mostly alone. "Thanks", he said to his rescuers, slightly panting. "No problem", said the boy, who seemed to mostly do the talking. "Those guys have been onto unsuspecting kids for long enough, and never less than three to one. Anyway, I don't believe we've met", he continued, holding out his hand. "I'm Russ, Russ Bear. And this is Jessica Ebadi."
After that, school became a lot more enjoyable to Komei. He, Russ and Jessica became inseparable, and Tommy's crew and other bullies steered clear from them. Word spread that no one messed around Komei Tellerman, Russ Bear and Jessica Ebadi, after a couple of similar situations where they stepped in to a fight, and won. That may have been more thanks to Russ and Jessica than Komei, but he was learning quickly. In addition to his studying, Komei had taken up gym excercise, and Russ had shown him a couple of neat tricks that had helped in a few situations. Besides, after a few occasions they weren't really confronted either.
From those events Komei learned the importance of keeping appearences. If you wanted life to be tolerable, you had to seem tough, and having a couple of tough buddies helped with that. There seemed to be a small crowd that gathered around Russ and Jessica, one that others feared and perhaps with reason, but once Komei had been around for a while, he seemed to notice that most of the others weren't actually very tough when not around the two central figures.
He quite liked Russ and Jessica. They were loyal to him and each other, or anyone they considered friends. And they had a sense of justice that kids like Tommy and his crew seemed to be lacking. But there was also something about them that made Komei not talk about them to his parents. When he was going out with them, he just referenced them as "some friends". If he was asked more, he'd make it sound like he was talking about different people every time, and he made damn sure he didn't mention some of the things they did in the evening. Like the drinking, or the smoking. Or the occasional pickpocketing and shoplifting, which Komei considered a necessary part of keeping a tough image. How that went together with the sense of justice Komei so appreciated about the two of them, he didn't quite know, but at least they never attacked anyone, but rather did it the sneaky way; one person created a distraction, maybe by chatting the victim or by "accidentally" dropping something, and someone else went for the wallet while the victim didn't notice a thing. Komei himself didn't frequent at the pickpocket thing, but he tried it a time or two, and to his surprise found that he was kind of good at it. Russ and Jessica, of course, were almost professionals.
Komei's final year at high school rolled in. He studied harder than ever. He wanted to make med school, and he wanted to please his father, who was drowning him in brochures and suggestions on what the best schools were. Komei's time was spent between cramming, sending college applications and more cramming. It wasn't often that he'd have time to sneak out with Russ and Jessica anymore. He was sorry about that, but in the back of his mind he felt that his parents wouldn't be – if they knew about his friends in the first place.
At first, Komei's studying was going well. He found the books exciting, and could read them just for his personal pleasure as well as for the benefit of getting into med school. He could stay awake until the wee hours of the night studying about molecules, or maths, or anatomy. And the next morning he'd get up a couple of hours earlier so he could study a bit extra before going to school. But then came the winter, and the last spring of high school, the most important one of all.
The first thing Komei noticed was that he was starting to forget things. He'd find himself locked outside of his parents' house, even though he was sure he'd had the keys just a minute ago. He'd go to school and find out he didn't have his homework with him, despite being sure about having packed it. When he went home he found his homework on the desk where he'd left it. Then he started having headaches. In the morning he'd wake up with his muscles stiff and his head aching, and no amount of stretching or excercise would help. Sometimes it lasted for days, so bad that he was unable to get out of bed. If he tried, a wave of nausea would stop him in his tracks. His eyes started bothering him. When he tried to read, the text would go fuzzy in his eyes, and he had to squint them to be able to read at all. When flu season kicked in, he caught the bug three times.
Komei tried seeing the school nurse, and she sent him over to the local hospital, to have all kinds of tests taken. They all came back negative. There was seemingly nothing wrong with him. He went back to the nurse with the test results, and she was puzzled. She started asking about his living habits, and Komei gave some vague, avoidant answers. He had the feeling that if the nurse knew how much he was studying in reality, she might get a heart attack, the little old lady she was. And after that she'd probably lock him in a hospital and forbid him his books. But he couldn't not study. He had to get into med school.
Even with Komei's avoidant answers, the old nurse guessed somewhat what was wrong, if not the extent of it. If she had, Komei's guess on what she'd do about it would probably not have been all that exaggerated. She ordered him vitamins and tried to tell him to work less hard. Komei took the vitamins, but didn't lessen his workload. Nothing changed.
In the end, the spring went by. Afterwards, Komei didn't remember much of it, except there were a lot of exams and that he probably was in a fever on some of them. But what he did remember for the rest of his life was when the results of college admittances came. He had been accepted into Sim State University – to study Philosphy.
What happened between Komei and his father that evening, not many people knew. All they could tell was that it wasn't pretty. And as a result, Komei decided to take the offer for a Philosophy study place. His dreams of becoming a doctor might be crushed, but as it was, he couldn't stay at his parents' place anymore, not any longer than it was necessary. He took contact with the university, and the dorm assigning lady was able to get him a room three weeks early. So early that autumn Komei packed his bags and moved into Sim State University.
Komei was actually having quite a nice time at Sim State University, after he'd gotten over his initial disappointment. Philosophy wasn't too bad, plus Russ and Jessica had also both made it to college, which would have made even a lot less interesting studies tolerable. Komei realized his mistake and took the time to hang out with his friends, ate, excercised and slept properly, and life was smiling at him. In fact, after a year in Sim State, Komei tried the med school entrance exam again, and without the extraneous stress, this time he made it in. William Tellerman had apparently heard of his son's success, as he'd tried to call Komei's cellphone, for the first time in a year. Komei didn't return the call.
In time, Komei graduated, with very good grades no less. He soon got an entry position at the Sim City hospital, and was quickly moving up the career ladder. In fact, his superiors and workmates alike said that not many young doctors had ever moved up so quickly. Along the promotions he was being transferred from one city to another, which was a bit of a nuisance, but Komei didn't complain. He was young and successful. Nothing could stop him from finally getting what he wanted, from becoming the Chief of Staff he had always wanted to be.
Along the years, Komei had, besides his efforts on his career ambitions, made quite a few friends in college and at work. He'd also had a few romantic interests, but none of them had worked out, for one reason or another. There was, however, a pattern that he'd noticed in all of his relationships. In each of the towns he'd lived, he had honest, good friendship with the townies, and if a romantic relationship failed, it was due to honest, good reasons. But in all towns, there was one group of sims that he after a while avoided: so called "Legacy families".
Komei found out that these families were involved in some kind of a challenge, where each generation one child would inherit the family, and it was usually considered a great honor. In fact, already being a member of such a family was generally considered a great honor. Well, that was all well and good, even though Komei didn't see what exactly was the "honor" in happening to be born to a certain family, but he supposed it was in some way similar to how he had been born to wealth himself. But what he didn't like about these families, was the way they often treated other sims, himself included.
There were apparently different kind of Legacy families, Komei found. Some of them married in townies, some, which he occasionally heard referenced to as "using old rules", whatever that meant, generally strongly preferred service sims. Again, marrying into these families was in many towns seen as a great honor of some kind. Some families even had criteria on the genetics of sims who were allowed to marry into them.
Komei had met Legacy sims that were perfectly nice, too, it wasn't that, but... Sometimes he felt a little bit used. On several occasions, someone from a local Legacy family would be very interested in him, being nice and friendly, calling frequently... Until they safely considered themselves friends. After that, the Legacy sim would lose interest, and Komei would never hear from them again. Rumor among townies was that this was quite common, friends like Komei were so called "promotion friends", who were made solely for the purposes of getting a promotion at work, and afterwards promptly forgotten. Once or twice Komei got involved with someone romantically, only to never hear from them after falling in love, or possibly the first woohoo. "Impossible wants" whispered voices around town about that. Sometimes when meeting someone new, he even got quite critically viewed by this new sim. He soon learned to connect this to especially those families that had genetic requirements on marrying in. On these occasions the sim in question often lost interest quite fast, and once Komei could even hear them mutter something that sounded a lot like: "Komei Tellerman, seriously? What does he think this is, an Uglacy?"
Komei saw this kind of reckless using of townies around him regularly, and what he didn't understand was that many townies still looked up to Legacy sims. He even knew a lady, whose boyfriend (or so she'd thought) had used her for an "impossible want" an then abandoned her, and she would say over and over again, through her tears, was that he "didn't have choice, poor boy, he was the heir after all". Komei was of the opinion that they, himself and the other townies, should not just sit around and let these jerks use them as they wished, but rather do something about it. In his time, he'd experienced enough of mistreatment, enough of reckless using. But oddly enough, everyone else seemed to be perfectly okay with this kind of behaviour.
Despite his unfortunate episodes with Legacy families, Komei's life was going rather well otherwise. He was now only one step away from his final promotion before becoming Chief of Staff, and he had already fulfilled all the criteria for it, too. It was only a matter of time before his superiors would promote him. Then late one evening, before an early morning, he received a phonecall. Old William Tellerman was dead.
It wasn't really a huge surprise. From what his mother had said, Komei knew that William had been having some health problems, and he wasn't exactly young anymore. They weren't close, hadn't been since the stormy episode all those years ago, but perhaps exactly that was part of the shock; perhaps it was the guilt that whispered into Komei's ear: "You should have made peace when you had the chance."
The next morning, Komei had a very vague recollection that he had spent some time on the phone with his mother, trying to comfort her. She lived on the other side of the country currently, so it wasn't feasible to drive over right now, even though in Komei's state of mind, he wouldn't have been surprised had he suddenly realized he was in his car half way there, with no idea how he got there. But against all odds, he woke up in his bed. His muscles were stiff, and he had a headache he remembered too vaguely to recognize. Twelve hours ago he'd been just fine, and now he suspected he might be catching the flu.
In any case, he couldn't miss work, Komei decided. There were several important surgeries, and then the board meeting. No, today was absolutely a no-go on feeling ill. And so he got into his car and went to work.
That was the one mistake he shouldn't have made. In his distracted state, Komei went into his first surgery, and halfway through, he was so distracted by his thoughts and by the thumping pain behind his temples, that he didn't see the measures written on the injection needle properly, and gave the patient a very strong medicine overdose. When the seizuring began, it was only the vigilance of Komei's colleagues that saved the patient. It was therefore not a surprise that before the end of the day, Komei had no choice but to hang his white coat on the coat rack for the last time.
After that, no career felt comfortable. Komei tried Science, Natural Science, even Athletic out of desperation. He did reasonably well, but his heart wasn't in it. He tried looking for a new opening in Medical, to turn a page and start over, but with no luck. He suspected that the word was going around and no one wanted him in their prestigious hospital. There was apparently no way he could feel fulfilled at a job anymore. So he drowned his sorrows in juice.
And once more, everything would change for Komei. One night, when he was sitting in a bar once again, only not the one he usually went to, because it was closed due to a renovation. It was perhaps his second or third drink, when he heard the door close behind him and someone enter the bar. He didn't bother to look, because well, who cared about anything else than the drink in front of him anyway? But the newcomer apparently did care, because suddenly Komei heard a voice he had not heard in several years.
"Komei! Is that really you? Wow, you you look... dreadful, to be honest."
Komei turned to look, and he couldn't believe his eyes. In front of him was standing, albeit many years older that Komei'd last seen him, but still unmistakably, his old friend, Russ Bear.
After both men had gotten over their surprise, and Komei had asked Russ to sit down, they went on to the "how have you been"s and "oh, not too bad"s. Only it didn't take Russ long to find that Komei wasn't entirely truthful with the latter.
"Come on, man. I see you for the first time in years and all you tell me about your life is 'it's not too bad', all the while you've clearly had several juices" he checked his watch "before seven pm, and you look like you haven't slept for a couple of nights at least. Something's wrong, Komei, I can tell", said Russ. Then, feeling that maybe he shouldn't be so pushy after such a long time, he added: "I mean, is there anything I could do to help?"
"No, I don't think you can", said Komei and tried to smile, "but thanks anyway." He paused. What the heck. This was Russ he was talking to, wasn't it? "Oh well... If you really want to know..." And with that, Komei found himself telling Russ the whole story, the whole bitterness of it. Once he'd gotten started, he couldn't have stopped had he wanted to. It just finally needed to get out.
"... and so I've been unemployed for the past... don't know, lost track, maybe a couple of months now. Nothing I've tried has really inspired me, and in those jobs I've had, I'd bet someone leaked the information about what happened at the hospital, since I've been stuck in basically entry level positions." He shrugged. "Or maybe it's exactly because I'm not inspired, as I said. So the last thing I tried was another Science position, but I don't know it just wasn't the same, even if I got to do field research and everything. It's just not the same, so... so I quit. And here I am", he gestured around, "sitting here, spending my life, the juice as my companion."
Russ nodded. "I see. You're in a pretty tough place right now. I'm really sorry to hear that." He was genuinely sympaethic. Both men fell into silence, Komei sipping his drink and examining his fingers in deep thoughts, Russ tapping his chin, equally thoughtful. Finally, Russ spoke up.
"How would you feel like trying one more line of work, Komei? It's something that you've never done, for real, I believe, but something I think you've shown a talent for already a long time ago."
Komei didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything, just kept looking at Russ, mildly interested. Russ looked back intently, his eyes sparkling with contained enthusiasm.
"I mean, me and Jessica are... let's say we're having a small-scale business going on these days. It's nothing too fancy, but so far it seems to be paying off. I think we might be onto something here. So I was thinking... " he asked, pondering aloud, "maybe you'd be interested?"
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Poor Komei! I know what it's like when expectations are high, and it's never fun. *hugs Komei* Now I actually think that being in the Criminal career track is the best thing that could have happened to him. :)
And I really, really liked your take on how townies/dormies/downtownies view Legacy or other challenge Sims. Well thought out and just amazing! I felt so sorry for that poor woman whose "boyfriend" left her. :(
EXCELLENT job!
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Indeed, poor Komei, that level of expectations is never nice. In his case, it was even unhealthy. Well, I suppose the Criminal career was in a way very good for him, as in the Alphabetia universe it's kind of a job like any other. And well, it was through Science that he originally met Sal, so the Criminal track can't be blamed on that either. ;)
Thank you! Komei's view on Legacy sims was almost the only thing I knew about him before this, as that I wrote into a chapter. For Komei, that's a big part of why he's been helping Sal, to him Sal's situation is a prime example how Legacy sims mistreat townies and other playables. Komei's seen a lot of Legacy families, and to him they're practically all the same at this point. It's long been in the back of my head that with how these challenges go, not all townies etc. can possibly like Legacy sims... And I can't completely disagree with them, really. *ponders*
Thank you! *blushes*