gingerbread men /open/

[Kinkade Cymir Malixi]

KINKADE
_{how's my dust taste in your mouth?
come on smokey, it's time to race.
let's have us a high speed chase!}

Aspirin regiment. That's what his father had insisted- he had to keep up on that Aspirin regiment. Kinkade had insisted that they should advertise youthful people on the commercials if they wanted someone like him to partake in a heart healthy regiment of drugs. It didn't do much good. It also didn't do a lot of good to insist that cheerios, however good they were, did not have to be his breakfast and were not the answer to all his problems. Now, running around the track at full speed until he felt tired enough to collapse to the grass, that helped things.

"Run, run, fast as you can,"Kins laughed aloud,"Can't catch me.

[/color]" Oh, if only Shi could see him now. The older man would be so anxious to see Kins exerting himself, but all Kins could do was laugh as he caught his breath. As he slowly came off the natural high of running, he found himself staring up at the sky. It was nice to lay here, his hands resting against his chest as relative silence surrounded him. It was a rare event for things to be this calm with Kins involved. His calm mood wasn't likely to last.[/center][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[River Tam]

**the world keeps turning**

“The Gingerbread man got caught in the end. The wolf ate him.”

River stands against the fence, bare arms propped up on the cool metal. Her bare toes press into the soft, green grass, reminding her of a thick shag carpet, but better. A soft breeze pulls the skirt of her sleeveless black summer-dress away from her legs, her wavy brown hair sweeping across her face. She reaches up with one hand and ties it up with a bright orange rubber band.

An odd thought comes into her mind-- with all the black, she looks as if she is in mourning. River almost laughs as another thought, just as strange as the first, follows in its tracks-- she’s mourning herself. But then it makes sense. Her lost childhood, her lost family. Her lost mind. As quickly as she thinks it, she pushes it away, not wanting to go back into that spiral, not wanting to lose herself to depression. Not again. Never again.

She loves the peace and tranquility of this school. So different from the hustle-bustle, dog-eat-dog world of New York City. There, no one stopped to smell the hypothetical flowers, just rushed past, minds set on one thing and one thing only. Here, you can smell flowers all you want. Real flowers. Or ride horses for hours. Or do as Kinkade is doing, and just lie in the grass. It’s a nice life for River at Alexandria Academy, almost like being back at home. Except for, you know, without the hominess. And here, there are a lot more people she doesn’t know. That frightens her, more than a bit. She doesn’t know why though.

“I don’t think I ever caught your name.”

[Kinkade Cymir Malixi]

KINKADE
_{there's something in your voice
makes my heart beat fast
hope this feeling lasts
the rest of my life}

"Aww, I'm not afraid of a big bad wolf," Kins joked, rolling over onto his stomach so he was more capable of seeing the girl who approached. She was familiar, and that meant he needed to apologize about before. Lily had a way of captivating his attention. Now his mind was completely set on River. Enough so that he caught the near laughter. He could also tell it was her own thoughts that amused her, which made him wonder. Kins chuckled to himself, placing his elbows against the ground and setting his hands to rest his chin.

"Right. Sorry about that. I mean, about before- with Lily. I'll make it up to you. Or, try to.

[/color]"Kinkade smiled warmly. Oh, yeah- he was supposed to tell her his name. "I'm Kinkade. And you are?[/color]" Just Kinkade. He wasn't going to offer his last name or point out his relation to one of the teachers at the school. His father and he shared an accent, but that was it, as far as Kins would admit, so he wasn't going to draw that line in her mind. [/center][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[River Tam]

**the world keeps turning**

“Eh, that’s nothing.” she says with a smile, vaulting over the low fence and padding over to him. River drops onto the ground, crossing her legs Indian style underneath herself, dress fanning out around her like a demonic halo. It really was nothing. She’d endured much worse, even before her mind was played with. But the scalpels cutting into her brain takes the cake, hands down.

Kinkade. An odd name, but it has a way of rolling pleasantly off the tongue.

“River. What’s your power?”

For once, the girl is the one asking questions, not answering them with glib sound bites, grunting noncommittally, or flat out ignoring. It’s odd, to say the least, but what about River isn’t? Certainly nothing she can think of. There’s plenty to stick out though-- her love of random facts, which she spews like a fountain; her omnilinguism, never allowing secrets to be kept from her (she even knows Binary, for crying out loud); the fact that she’s been alone, almost single-handedly supporting herself, since she was thirteen. And now she goes to this school for freaks, for lack of a better word, and she’s still a major freak, at least in her own mind.

[Kinkade Cymir Malixi]

KINKADE
_{not the snow nor the rain
can change my mind
the sun will come out,
wait and see}

When River said that the wolf was nothing, Kinkade chuckled as though it were nothing more than a clever joke on her part. But he knew fully well that there was more to it than that. It was just, he shouldn't know. At times, he wished he didn't know. But he did, so whatever she wasn't saying bothered him. A secret that she shouldn't be holding so closely, in Kinkade's opinion. But whatever. He smiled his carefree smile as she sat down near him. That was better.

"Well. It's a pleasure to meet you, River."Kinkade offered politely. But as with most things, he'd bothered to say it so his tone was nothing but genuine.

"My power,

[/color]"Kins echoed, almost curious, before answering,"I'm an empath. What about yourself?[/color]" [/center][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[River Tam]

**the world keeps turning**

“Empath, coming from the Greek pathos, meaning feeling or suffering.” she says, before she can stop herself. Her eyes dart downward, embarrassed, and she mutters a quick, “Sorry.” It was reflexive, really. She can’t help it. It got her so much grief back in London. Her father hated it the most. Simon would roll his eyes and laugh. Best brother a girl could ask for.

“Onmilinguism.” Give her a code, and it’s cracked before you can bat an eye. Talk near her, even in another language, and she’ll know everything you say, whether you want to or not. Once, two imbecile girls were talking about the way she dressed in what was most definitely a made-up language, one of those things giggling girls with too much time on their hands bother to make up. Anyway, she turned to them, before she could think, and snarled back in the same language. They were shocked, turned white as a sheet. It gave her a small bit of pleasure, but later on, she realized what she had done.

[Kinkade Cymir Malixi]

KINKADE
_{and your words are like weapons
but you'll keep them inside
they cut like a knife
and you keep it together}

Really now? Like ethos, pathos, and logos. Well, at least what she said was logical, albeit a tad textbook-ish. How she could have made it less so given the shortness of her explanation was beyond him, though, so he wouldn't complain.

""Aw, don't be sorry. Never sorry."Kins insisted. The simple fact that she felt compelled to apologize for something she said sort of bothered him, if only because that meant she had a reason to. Past experiences that told her just being herself wasn't okay. Damn, he really was like his father, wasn't he?

"Omniliguism."Kinkade repeated. He had yet to meet another student with that ability, so this was sorta cool. Normally he probably woulda broken that up, pointed out that 'omni' was like all seeing, and linguism, was, well obviously languages. But she knew that because A, it was her power, and B, she knew what his was. Obviously he wasn't going to impress her easily. Well, not in the usual way.

"Do you know a lot about empaths, then?"Kins questioned curiously, finding himself fascinated by the prospect of learning something new about the ability that defined so much of his life. It didn't seem to occur to him that perhaps her ability only provided her a linguistic analysis of a word, though. Not at all.

[River Tam]

**the world keeps turning**

She hesitates. She knows a bit about empaths, more than a normal not-empath should. Her sponge-like mind sucks up information like, well, a sponge. It’s always been that way, as long as she can remember. A string of numbers, however long, will be memorized fairly quickly. She used to know pi to three hundred and ninety eight digits, just because she got bored one day.

To tell or not to tell… That is the question… she thinks, trying to hide her puzzling dilemma from Kinkade’s empathy. It’s probably a lost cause, but still. No harm in trying, right?

She decides. “No, I don’t.” she says apologetically. Her whole inner conflict took only a couple of seconds, and she hopes it’s not enough to tip Kinkade off to her glaringly obvious lie. She hasn’t had much practice lying, be it is it is. Only when she escaped the School, and her heart was hammering in her chest the whole time. She had been sure someone would hear it, but no. She had got off without a hitch. Almost.

[Kinkade Cymir Malixi]

KINKADE
_{now i wanna coax you from your hell
into an alley, the hidden valley
where the truth can surely spill}

"Okay,

[/color]"Kinkade shrugged passively in response. He'd caught on to her hesitation, and to a sort of silent question she was asking herself (not that he knew what question that was) until finally, definitive assurance. Oddly, apologetic. This girl made him sad, and he wasn't even sure he'd be able to explain why. It wasn't a negative thing, and it wasn't that she was sad, but he wanted nothing more than to reach out and help her in a way that was completely unusual to him. To make things okay for her, because clearly they weren't now.

"We're a bit boring, anyway. Empaths, I mean. 'Bout as useful as a mood ring.[/color]"Kinkade kidded. He was trying to make light of the situation and to transition away from it. "Those rings never did work quite right for me. Never seemed to do much beyond turn green once or twice, then fade to black. I still thought they were magic.[/color]" Kinkade chuckled to himself, thinking back to the fascinating rings. He even looked to his hand as though he'd find one there now- there wasn't one. Ah well.

"So. We should do something entertaining.[/color]"Kins suggested."Not that this isn't- if you'd prefer to stay here and talk, I have no complaints. But I think we should do something very fun. What do you like to do? Perhaps cooking? Or some type of art? Painting's just the right level of messy to be amazing. Almost like sport.[/color]" Kinkade chuckled again, as though finding himself funny. In all honesty, sitting here, talking to her made him a bit sad. It was hard knowing something was the matter, but knowing you couldn't ask what. The only thing he could think of to fix the situation was to distract her, to make her smile, and to prove to himself, and perhaps to her, that there were enjoyable things in life still.[/center][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[River Tam]

**the world keeps turning**

“They were always purple for me.” she says, the bridge of her nose wrinkling. She remembers the first one she ever got, and how it didn’t fit on any of her fingers. She had put it on her big toe, and watched it turn an odd purple-ish green-ish blue-ish color.. She almost adds that all mood rings do is measure body temperature, but doesn’t. Why? Who knows. “You’re much more useful than a mood ring. More fun to have around, too.” She smiles for a second, hoping that she didn’t sound odd, which she almost always did.

A different activity. That could be fun. Kinkade must know more about this place than she does, seeing that she’d only been here a couple of days, and he’d obviously been here much longer. “Whatever you want. I’m not sure what all’s here, really. Haven’t been here that long.”

[Kinkade Cymir Malixi]

KINKADE
_{now i wanna coax you from your hell
into an alley, the hidden valley
where the truth can surely spill}

It was somewhat relieving knowing that he wasn't the only one incapable of working a mood ring. When she said he was more useful than one, he smiled with pride perhaps undue.

"It's good to have your vote of confidence,

[/color]"Kins smiled. The topic was effectively changed and he got a compliment out of it. Mission accomplished.

"Ohh, there are wonders beyond your wildest imagination here.[/color]"Kinkade's voice became secretive, as though what he was saying was top secret; it wasn't."But the truly remarkable part of this school isn't inside the building- it's that beach, and the sand, and the setting sun. Without all the people in the world beyond this island...[/color]" Kinkade shook his head. Well. Staring at the setting sun and the light it cast over the pink sand and the waves was not his definition of fun. But it was amazing in it's own right. Not that it mattered now. He smiled, reminding himself to focus on the task at hand.

"Fresh eyes. What do you think of the school so far?[/color]"Kinkade questioned curiously. He'd been here longer than most would be, seconded only by Lily, because of Shiloh. He spent nearly every summer on the island, and now he was going to spend three full years.[/center][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[River Tam]

**the world keeps turning**

“It sounds beautiful.” she says, and means it. She’d never been able to watch a proper sunset. Too much air pollution, both in London and New York. A fiery orange sun winking out of existence over gently rippling waves, pink sand highlighted by the red in the clouds… “Bit early for a sunset, though.” River remarks, gesturing to the sun smiling down from above.

“The school. Alexandria Academy. It’s… interesting, to say the least. I like it. Better by far than the last ‘school’ I went to.” A wave of fear and dread washes over her. No. Not now. Not ever. Never again. They aren’t going to find her, aren’t going to send her back. They might break her mind, but they can’t break her spirit. Or something like that.

She pushes the feeling away, into a dark, dusty corner of her mind, not wanting to think about anything remotely related to sadness, fear, etcetera. It’s a beautiful day, the sun is shining, and for once in River’s short life, she almost fits in.

“And you? You’ve been her far longer than I. How do you like it here?”

[Kinkade Cymir Malixi]

KINKADE
_{and you've waved goodbye
and held more tears in
than anyone ever should
and all my sorrows pale to insignificance
that's why i love you.}

"It is! You must see it. One of the greatest parts of the island, I think.

[/color]"Kinkade smiled, again taken back to memories of the beauty of that moment. He hated to miss it. To spend each day, at that specific moment of beauty, biding ado to the day... He laughed aloud when River said it was a bit too early for the sun to be setting. Yes, yes it was. "It is, indeed. That just means we gotta think of a good way to pass the time.[/color]" Kinkade wouldn't mind watching the sunset with her, but he was hardly one to intrude on a moment that could very well be better appreciated alone. Well, better appreciated by some; he enjoyed the company.

That emotion! That was it. It took his breath away, literally. It was almost like he was there, watching a movie unfold. But instead of crying out to provide insight that only the audience could, he had to keep it inside. The words overtook him, threatening his very breath as ransom if he didn't speak the words he was compelled to share. Unfortunately, at least for Kinkade, he truly didn't know what words were meant to be said or how to say them. But, given time, he'd figure it out for River's sake. Or, he'd try to.

"I've been here longer than anyone should,[/color]"Kinkade replied. He was trying to be funny, trying to be carefree, but the emotions she'd just experienced lingered with him. Kinkade closed his eyes- a simple blink, but it lasted a few seconds too long. Then he smiled and answered her question in a cheerful tone. "I miss Scotland and my mother terribly, but when you've known a place since childhood, there's a place for it to stay even when there's somewhere else to be. I like it, and the kids are kind. Even my father's not so bad. Plus, I can get away with murder.[/color]" He chuckled, rather proud of his influence among the inhabitants of the school. Or, well, what he imagined to be his influence.[/center][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[River Tam]

**the world keeps turning**

She winces as she realizes what her brief flash of home had done to Kinkade. She has to learn how to keep her emotions hidden. Or else she will drive some people very, very mad. Maybe even as insane as her. But River doubts it.

“Your father is here?” she asks, eyebrows shooting up her face. He hadn’t mentioned that before. She wonders which one of the teachers he is. She’d find out sooner or later. Hopefully sooner. She’s a dreadfully impatient child.

Plus I can get away with murder. “Murder, huh? Ever tried it? It’s harder than it seems.” she says, for once not linking back to her past. One corner of her mouth curls into a smile. A sarcastic smile, maybe, but a smile none the less.

[Kinkade Cymir Malixi]

KINKADE
_{little boy blue
and the man on the moon
dad, when you comin' home?
son, i don't know when,
but we'll get together then.}

The way she got so excited to hear that his father was here made Kinkade blush. Oops.

"Uhm, yes. He is.

[/color]"Kinkade moved his hand to the back of his head, ruffling his hair nervously. "He's from Scotland, too. Hasn't picked up an American accent yet, though he's been here quite a few years now.[/color]" Eleven. Eleven years now, and he knew it. But he didn't add that or correct himself. What did she care, anyway?

"His name's Shiloh,[/color]"Kinkade added, dropping the hand he'd placed against his head. "And he's a little bit odd, but he means well... I think.[/color]"

"Haha,[/color]"Kinkade chuckled, finally rising from his laying position so he was sitting across from her, "Haven't had a reason to try it yet, but if I ever had a reason to... I'll consult you first- don't worry. And provide a fee for your advice, of course.[/color]" Okay, this was just silly. Kinkade was not going to murder anyone. Not even the most obnoxious of peers. But hey, she was amused and he wanted nothing more than to keep it that way.[/center][/blockquote][/blockquote]