Looking for family (Tag Luke)

[Thomas Scarlett]

Thomas wandered aimlessly about the square, hoping to find his youngest nephew, Luke. He was walking at a rather slow pace, in the hope that some girl would notice him and prevent him from facing up to his responsibilites as an Uncle. In some ways, though, Thomas knew that he had to have this meeting with his nephew. He had ignored him and his brother for the past nine years after all and he hoped that they would both, or at least Luke anyway, would remember him.

It was about half an hour since he started, but there was no sign of Luke yet. He had looked in Locksley but had found out that Luke had moved away for some reason. He knew he was here somewhere then, but the question was where. What did 16 year old kids get up to these days? Did they go drinking or something? Mind you,Tom thought to himself, the pubs do look rather dire with their broken and bashed wooden signs and windows plastered with dirt. They looked like the kind of places where you could get into a fight without so much as saying a word. Being as Tom loathed fighting so much due to the fear that he would mark his, self proclaimed, first class face, he decided that it would be best to leave them for the time being.

Giving a long sigh, Tom kicked the dirt of the road and had a quick glance around. Someone caught his eye. There was a lone, slightly tall boy standing against a fence at the edge of the square. Tom knew that it was Luke. No one other than a Scarlett could look that sulky and yet still pretty handsome. Tom saw that he had inherited the looks from him then and smirked. Giving a brief jog up to the boy, he called out ''Luke?Is that you?'' already knowing the answer.

[Luke Scarlett]

Luke had got off work early, mainly thanks to Jake saying he'd finish up with the cows and let him head back to Knighton. Things were better between the two of them, he'd never really understood how getting into a fight could really improve a situation, but it seemed that throwing punches at each other had been just what they needed. He stuck out his tongue, running it over his lower lip and wincing as it caught on the scab that had formed across the split. It still hadn’t completely healed even though it had been days since. Apart from that he come out of the other side of the fight relatively unscathed, a few bumps and a bruised ego because Jake had seemed even more unharmed.

Just because he’d finished early didn’t mean he was rushing back to Kate’s house. While Luke enjoyed Kate’s company he didn’t really want to spend an extended amount of time with her father. The man still scared him, even though he’d recently been appeased by Luke handing over practically all the money Jake had paid him with. It seemed he just couldn’t please Peter no matter how hard he tried. He hadn’t put a toe out of line since he became the unwelcome guest in the Miller household and yet Kate’s father hadn’t warmed to him at all.

So Luke was loitering around Knighton square, avoiding eye contact with the other residents and generally trying to keep out of the way. He’d considered going to buy a loaf of bread from one of the stalls, his stomach rumbling morosely with hunger, but the few coins in his pocket seemed too important to spend on food. He probably wouldn’t get another chance to set any money aside for a while. With a small huffing sigh, Luke leant up against the fence of a house near the edge of the square and cast his gaze sullenly about, his brow set in a defiant frown and his injured lip pushed out in an almost pout. He was getting far to good at standing around feeling sorry for himself.

What he needed was a distraction and no sooner had he thought it did Luke hear somebody calling his name. He spun on his heal, turning in time to see a man jogging over, smirk fixed firmly on his handsome face. He looked vaguely familiar to Luke, the posture, easy grin and features all conjuring up hazy memories from his childhood. ”Yeah.” Luke said slowly, voice wary, he should probably be a little more worried that this man seemed to know him; he needed to protect Will by not getting caught. Finally he remembered and a smile spread across his face, hampered only by the scab pulling painfully tight. ”Uncle Tom!”

[Thomas Scarlett]

Tom was very pleased that Luke seemed to recognise him almost straight away, although the greeting of Uncle was pretty weird to hear. It had been a while since they had seen each other and Tom was pretty startled by how much the boy had grew up. He was far taller than he had been at his age and had almost gotten to be as tall as his Uncle was now. Tom hoped that he wouldn't get any taller for a 16 year old boy should not be taller than a 29 year old man. Tom thought that most people would find that particular thought a little bit petty and ridiculous but it made perfect sense to him. Who wouldn't want to remain the best looking person in their family? After all, that was the only thing Tom really had along with his good mind for numbers and without them, then he didn't know how he would cope.

Looking over Luke somemore, Tom noticed that the kid was in a pretty bad state. His top was marked and stained with various pieces of dirt and his trousers weren't much cleaner either. Luke's boots, whilst they did look like they were expensive a long time ago, were also in a poor state. They were scuffed, with their brown colour starting to fade. Moreover, there was a small split in them near the toe area which looked a tiny bit uncomfortable if Tom was honest. He wondered why he was so, well, poor looking. Dan had always been fairly succesful, so surely there must have been a tiny bit of inheritance to be left for Luke. Tom looked at the boy's boots one more time and sighed. He felt a little sorry for him really as he didn't seem to have much. There was also the tiny bit of guilt that Tom hadn't been around to help him out. ''It looks like you need some more boots Luke.'' Remebering that his best pair of boots was in his bag, Tom decided to do a generous thing and offer the boots to his nephew. This was pretty unusual for him to be so kind but he had missed out on lots of Luke's birthdays and he also wanted to try and get him to be friends with him again. ''You can have my spare pair if you want them.''

On Luke's lips, there was a scab, Tom observed. It wasn't too noticeable but if you looked then it stood out. In a way, it made Luke look a little more threatening as opposed to just a kid who wouldn't dare to have a fight. Tom did want to ask about it but he thought that this was a bit too early on to be asking about such personal matters in his Nephew's life. Besides, he was rather satisified that Luke got into fights. He remembered Dan going on about how the boys would become drunken thugs if he had stayed around and set them an example. However, it looked like Luke was more than capable of getting into fights with his own father's influence. The man grinned in his usual cocky way . Instead of asking about the fight, though, Tom decided that he would ask a much more simple question. ''So, how have you been lately?''

[Luke Scarlett]

Seeing his uncle again was all a little surreal for Luke. Tom had been the last person he’d expected to see today; in fact he hadn’t spared the man a thought in years. His uncle had left them when Luke was only seven and at such a young age the youngest Scarlett had been oblivious to the tension between his father and his uncle. Tom had always been the fun one, with an interesting story to tell who never made go the bed early or be polite to his elders. Luke had been rather crushed when one morning Tom just wasn’t around anymore.

He’d tried asking about it, but Will had quickly hushed him to silence and any further questions had been met with equal avoidance. So Uncle Tom had become a taboo subject in the Scarlett household. Luke stopped asking where he had gone and eventually stopped wondering about it too. Other, more pressing, issues came up that pushed all thoughts of his missing Uncle from his mind until he’d been all but forgotten. Luke was so shocked to see him that he remained silent as his uncle seemed to give him a look over, eyes taking in his grubby appearance and worn clothing.

Usually he wore his downtrodden appearance with defiance, feeling as though he was a better man than any of the nobility could ever be even in all their finery. Today he felt as though he was letting the family down, that by looking so unkempt he was betraying his father somehow. His jaw dropped as Tom offered him his spare pair of boots. ”But, I!” He blurted, starting to protest and going a little red in the face. ”They’re yours, won’t you need them?” Luke asked, suddenly grinning at the thought of new boots. His one and only pair were old and pretty much falling apart, he’d had them so long he’d practically outgrown them.

It didn’t occur to Luke that the gesture might be some kind of bribe, or way to appease the guilt of his uncle not being around for all these years. Luke had always seen Tom as a bit of a hero and as far as he was concerned if the man could have been here to help them he would have been. ”I’ve been... Coping.” He answered honestly enough, pulling a bit of a face as he thought about the current situation in Nottingham. ”The Sheriff isn’t making it easy for any of us.” More interesting to Luke than his own situation was what had happened to Tom. ”What about you?” He asked curiously. ”Where have you been? And why did you leave?”

(OOC: Sorry it took so long, I'll try to be faster next time ^_^;; )

[Thomas Scarlett]

Luke's reaction to the offer of the boots was both strange and a little cute to Tom. Strange because if he were to be offered a spare pair of boots then he would hastily accept them without trying to suggest to the other person that they may need them more. Cute because it was nice to see the boy happy to be honest. He seemed a bit miserable so it was pleasing for Tom to see him lighten up a bit. Not just so that it showed he wasn't annoyed at him, which was the main reason, but also, as an uncle, Tom was genuinely glad to see him happy. '' A spare of boots do come in handy, but I think you need them a bit more than me at the moment''. He said reassuringly. Tom reached down into his brown leather bag, and pulled out a nice new and expensive looking pair of black boots. '' They were pretty expensive so you will have to take care of them. If you do want them that is''.

'' That's good that you have been coping'' Tom said with a smile to Luke. '' It must be hard with this new Sheriff, I've been hearing lots of bad things about him. Don't worry, though, I'll be here for a while to help you out''. Okay, so maybe the last bit was just made up on the spot but he didn't see any harm in staying to help out his youngest nephew. Anyway, Tom was sure that there would be more than enough to keep him entertained besides Luke like gambling perhaps. He had to find a way of getting a spare of boots somehow.

The next question caught Tom completely off guard. What was he going to say? I was kicked out of the house because your Dad thought that I was a stupid, lazy drunk. He couldn't say that so it would have to be some kind of lie. '' Well, I've been pretty good really. I've managed to get together some money since I've left and I've had it pretty easy as well. It's an ideal life''. Tom said ,grinning, quite happy with how things had been so far. '' I've been all over the place. Name a place and I've probably been there. I left because I had to. I got an offer to go help some man out with a bit of work. It was good money and I thought it would help a lot. I was really sad to have to go but it was for the best''. That was easier than he thought it would be, so he just hoped that Luke believed him now. He would tell him eventually why he had to leave but now wasn't the time. '' How has Will been doing lately?''