4.1 The End or the Beginning

Though Luke thought it was disappointing that they did not have violet graduation robes, he was still excited to finally get his diploma. Perhaps even more so because he knows what is waiting for him when he gets home. His speech for valedictorian was filled with motivations for his classmates to fulfill their wishes, but when he got voted to Most Likely to Offend Others he figured his speech might not have been the right one.

When he told his parents about his wish to become a stylist, they were very glad that he found a direction in life. As a combined present for his birthday and graduation they ordered the workman to make him a studio in their yard. That way he could work whenever he wanted to, and he could make it look as good as he wanted to!

When his father threw a party to get together with all his siblings, Luke couldn't resist to offer his uncle Axel his first make-over ever. "Are you sure that this is why I can't seem to keep a women by my side?" Luke rolled his eyes at his uncle, "yes, you looked like this ever since I can remember! You need new hair and new clothes uncle Axel." Axel was a bit hesitant to let his nephew style him, but he could not refuse his nephew, it was his first job and Axel thought it would be best if he could practice a bit. If it didn't suite him he could always go down to the salon at the other side of the town. "Alright then, give it go."

"So what do you say uncle? This is sure to get you someone to stay with you!" Axel looked at his reflection in the mirror, not sure how to respond to the changes his nephew made, "I like what you did with my hair, and the clothes...well...they are very purple, even the shoelaces..." Luke decides to forgive his uncle for not knowing the difference between purple and violet, mostly so because he is not sure himself anymore if this is more purple then violet. It doesn't matter to him, he likes the way his uncle looks and can't wait for everybody to see life the way he does.

Sometimes the salon would ask Luke to come over and do some jobs for them when they were short on stylists, though after his first few make-overs, the emphasis remained on the sometimes. Because with most customers that come in unhappy with their style...

They leave not as happy as Luke had hoped for. Even six months after graduation Luke still couldn't understand why people would burst out in tears when he was finished with them, violet is such a happy color, so why did nobody understand what he was trying to do. It made Luke feel very awkward.

When Luke finished his day putting together a funeral suite for this man, he was no longer surprised to notice the grim look on his customers face. As he went to clean up his workplace the manager of the salon came by and asked Luke if he could have a word with him. Dragging his feet while following the manager to his office, the bad feeling in his stomach grew worse with every step. When they finally sat down Luke could hardly look up to ask the man what he wanted to talk about. Fiddling with his fingers he let the man stare at him for a while without looking back. Eventually the manager sighed and started his little speech, "Luke, look, I know for a fact that you are a great guy, you have your heart in the right place, and I am so sorry that I have to do this, but you are making me loose my clientele. Not everybody wants to be dressed in violet." Feeling the lump in his throat grow Luke still refused to look up, he knew what was coming and he did his best to keep himself from crying out of dissapointment, "Luke, look at me," the manager continued, but when Luke only bowed his head down deeper, his hair covering his face the manager knew he could not make this easier, "I'm so sorry boy, I wish I could make this easier, but I won't be calling on your services anymore..." Without saying a word Luke got up, took his things and went home.

At home Luke sat down on his drawing board, not sure what to do with his life now that it was out in the open that his ideas were not for this time. Perhaps if he had only been born in a different time period, perhaps then would the world have been more perceptible to his ideas. Refusing to talk to his parents, Luke locked himself away in his bedroom for days while working on this drawing of the one women that has always inspired him. When he finally sat up straight, looking at the finished portrait of his mother, Luke knew he had to talk to them and confess to them about his failure.

When Luke finally emerged from his self-imposed seclusion and walked to his father, both Madeline and Ryan knew this was no whim that made Luke hide from the world. Whatever had happened, had hit him hard. Looking at his son, Ryan just wishes he could make life easier for him, but the world is not easy for a man who is highly intelligent, but lacks the ability to do something with it. The weird point of views Luke has on the world has done him harm more often then good.

Luke tried to explain to his father what his mission had been, he had set out to dress the entire world in violet. He could not explain why, but he just knew, felt that violet was a color that gave people a warm and caring feeling. He was sure that if everybody was surrounded in violet there would be no arguments, nor wars or other harmful incidents. Ryan exchanged looks with Madeline, knowing her heart was breaking into even more pieces then his when he heard his son explain what his obsession with the violet had been all about. It was hard to tell Luke that his view of the world was not commonly accepted and that most people would not understand what he was talking about.

Instead Ryan pulled Luke in his arms and held him real tight, "it's okay son, don't worry about it, even without a job we still love you, take your time to figure out what you want to do with your life. We will always be here for you." And with that Luke felt calm enough to put the last six months behind him.

Over the year following his dismissal at the salon Luke teared down his own salon. After that he spend a lot of time outside wondering about what he should do with his life. He knew ordinary people would just see the colors, he could feel their essence, and he just knew that violet was the color to solve this worlds issues. He could not let that go, not that he was an idiot, he knew that his point of view was not "normal", but who were they deciding that their point of view was the right one. "You are right about that, who are they to decide that." Luke threw another pebble across the lake, he had gotten quite good at it.

Luke felt something brush up against his legs and noticed a cat trying to get his attention. Looking down he stretched out his hand to pet the cat only to watch the cat withdraw as fast as it had appeared. At a safe distance the cat sat down and stared at him. When Luke continued throwing his pebbles, the cat lay down and pretended to be asleep while keeping a close eye at Luke.

--------------------------------------Notes--------------------------------------------

I am sorry for the amount of time between those updates, but as people on the MTS forum know, I've been hunted by error 12's since I started with Luke on the stylist career. Opening up the stylist menu a lot is a know cause for the error 12 to show up. The only solution left for me was rerolling his career, and with that, my idea for awesome was gone as well.
As someone already guessed previous chapter ;) I was going to dress the entire town in purple, not one single person left that wasn't dressed in purple...I would have loved to see that tbh! So I was a bit down and totally not able to think up an Awesome that would be able to beat the fun of my previous idea. So eventually I rerolled Awesome as well...
This means I'm back :D Though I don't think I will be updating every week day again, because RL has become busy as well :).
So...I'm not spoiling what I rerolled :P that will be the subject of next chapter :)