Times change.
Sims who don’t change with them, risk becoming forgotten relics; tossed aside to make way for those who are more accommodating toward the evolving sociosexual landscape. Cole Donblas takes pride at keeping himself at the bleeding-edge of change and progress. Gratefully, the rewards of maintaining such an open mind are as varied as they are frequent.
This morning, being a typical sampling of Cole’s lifestyle, finds him greeted with a rousing kiss, initiated by his overnight companion. She does not hide her intention of making this a morning to remember. But a quick time-check interrupts the mood.
Unfortunately, he’ll have to postpone this intersession, for now. He rolls out of bed, quickly dresses, then invites his young guest to help herself to breakfast while he’s gone; adding that she should leave through the back door, which he leaves unlocked.
Cole hefts his backpack, grabs an apple from the refrigerator, then races out the same back door. He could have really used another four hours of sleep. But the energetic coed, whom he had left purring in his bed, was in no frame of mind for sleep last night. Cole smirks as he rides to class. It was a really good night. Morning calisthenics would have been mind-blowing.
For the time being, the immediate, bigger picture must take precedence over his libido. He has already missed too many classes this semester and risks earning unwanted attention from university officials. They tend to frown upon guys like Cole, for a variety of reasons. He suspects there would be some very uncomfortable questions originating from a number of sources, if it became common knowledge that he’d spent the last twenty-five years on campus without earning a degree.
A quarter century is a long time to be doing any one thing, but the time has passed quickly for Cole. He has excelled at socially integrating (much of the time intimately) with sims who have barely emerged from their teens. To put this all into in perspective, Cole’s companion from last night hasn’t even been alive twenty-five years. In all likelihood, her mother was still in high school when Cole attended his first college course. Thankfully, the university administration is completely unaware of Cole’s tenure.
At some point, Cole had figured out how to game the system well enough to stay inconspicuous. The trick is keeping things simple and not attracting attention. He asks the right questions, befriends the right sims, and says the right things at the right times. He does a favor here, and gets a favor there. Lost paperwork or an opportunistic computer “glitch”, and a few simoleons slipped under the door, goes a long way to create a situation where the university suddenly “forgets” that he’s been enrolled for the same class at least ten times.
His lack of a degree does not translate to any lack of trying. On the contrary, Cole is getting exactly the results he is seeking. The vast majority of men his age (many of whom would likely disapprove of Cole’s lifestyle) are weighted down by their miserable status-quo lives. Where is the freedom in merely subsisting while anchored to a wife, kids (if not grandchildren), and a smothering blanket of debt? These so-called “men” work all day and well into the night, just to stay alive. Meanwhile, the profit from of their hard work goes toward making filthy-rich sims more filthy, and more rich. The difference between Cole and his counterparts is easily illustrated. They slave to pay for their daughters’ tuition; while Cole relaxes in the company of those same daughters during an erotic rendezvous or two. He laughs out loud while wondering to himself who, exactly, is more fulfilled in the arrangement.
His only real threat of exposure exists within the pool of professors working at the school. This is where Cole’s mastery of the situation really shines. Rather than making himself invisible to them, Cole has entrenched himself within the academia. He willingly personifies their ideal of the quintessential, modern man. He is passive and passionate, sensitive, open-minded, and forward-thinking. At the same time, he is tenacious, pretentious, and cavalier when engaging his idealogical opponents. More importantly, he openly embraces the culture of enlightenment that higher education has fought tirelessly to establish. Stale professors are clueless about what it takes to completely connect with the youth. Cole, however, has been very effective at modeling the message that university is not just about education, but about leading simkind forward into a new age of freethinking.
And yet, despite these basic truths, there are sims who still resist reality. They cling to useless rituals and superstitions responsible for creating unwanted obstacles. They threaten to become charismatic leaders who command too much influence in opposition. Cole has had much success showing these deceived sims how their beliefs amount to nothing more than irrational fears and learned, bigoted hatred. For many sims, the damage can be undone.
Others are much more difficult to reach. These sims are lost, and generally beyond Cole’s ability to help. They will take jobs earning unfair, corporate wages or aspire to political careers that stand in the way of necessary social progress. Failing to crush these sims now, leaves open the possibility that they will ascend to power and exploit their simple-minded constituents.
Cole’s current project is a sim who has already succeeded at forcing her ideas through politics. She had, almost single-handedly, shut down the planned “Woohoo Week” festival on campus with a letter to the mayor. Thankfully, the offending correspondence had been leaked by somebody inside city hall, for all to see. It was a pathetic play on throwback customs, to a pathetic politician who agreed with her misguided ideology. Cole has since engaged her a number of times on campus with very little success. She’d even had the audacity, at one point, to evangelize to him about her superstitions.
The exchange ended with Cole suffering a slap in the face after suggesting that “woohoo week” would do her a world of good. Cole knows which battles to fight, and which battles are not worth the effort. The young woman had been disliked already, but she is now reviled. Given the fallout from her leaked letter to the mayor, her fate on campus is sealed. She will likely not last another semester here.
But Cole isn’t willing to let this one go just yet. He’d done some digging and learned that she spends quite a bit of time at her “church”. Cole has had great success separating sims from these kinds of disingenuous fear-mongers; who seem bent on indoctrinating gullible, young sims, and cheating them out of the fruits of their youth.
He owes society one, final effort to show this lost, little doe the light of day from inside the walls of her stone-aged monastery. Ironically, the church itself will provide the opportunity he will use to succeed.
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. – Galatians 5:13
The Donblas Lineage 