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 Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 7:14 pm
Classes were over for the day, they had been for nearly forty minutes now, but that didn’t mean Kinsey was home or even on his way home. He liked to avoid that place as much as he could; because it was not home for him. He stayed behind whenever he could, locked up in various rooms, working on things. Clubs were running still and students still wandered the halls, going from one place to another. It's what happened when there were dorms here and students lived on campus.
It was all good with him though, even if he sadly didn’t get to live on campus, because he still got to spend more time here working on things which he could never do at home. Right now he was seated in the back of a tech classroom soldering some wires together so the lights he was setting up would work. He’d been working on something for months now, on and off, as he looked up youtube videos and other things for help with the personal project.
Ever since the gift he’d gotten from a classmate, his history teacher had decided they should have a secret santa, he’d gotten the idea to build a scaled down Hogwarts castle. But seeing as he couldn’t build this at home he’d had to convince one of his teachers to let him work on this after school, thankfully his teachers liked him, and he’d been working on it since.
He’d used all manner of things in order to build the castle, from stone to foam and wood, resin and more. He’d made the castle big enough that the towers reached his waist when he was standing next to it, hence why it had taken him months to get this done. But he’d put a lot of time into it - a passion project. Nothing had been painted, yet, but the details were all there. He was working on the wires for lighting as he’d decided to light up the whole damn place, and then set up a board so he could pick and choose which lights would be on and when. He didn’t want it to always be the same lights…that would be simple and boring.
That’s what he was working on now as he soldered wires as he sat on the floor with wires about him all going from himself, and the control set up he had, to the castle and its various rooms. He was going to do his best to hide the wires, even running them under the resin black lake he’s made. While he worked on that he wondered just what else he could animate or give life to in some manner, because he wanted it dynamic and animated, he didn’t want it to come off as too simple and boring.
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Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 7:17 pm
Cooper often stayed late at school. Dad didn’t get home from work until almost seven, and it was much more comfortable at Azure than in their small trailer. But, he had been watching this…thing that Kinsey was building, and had been watching for quite some time. Honestly, it had turned into a hobby, if you could call watching someone build a full castle a hobby…but.
But that’s what this was. Of course, it was a little bit creepy, just…watching, But it was so fun to see how Kinsey had decided to do this after Cooper had saved so much for the silly Slytherein jersey. But…clearly he had liked it.
Finally, he stepped into the room, clearing his throat and nodding to Kinsey. “This…is impressive. Hogwarts?”
Obviously it was Hogwarts but. This was Cooper talking...not just watching.
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Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 7:19 pm
Surprised etched its way across the brunette's face as he turned and stared with wide eyes. Blinking slowly he gave a nod of his head, a very slight gesture, before responding. “Yes…and no. I took inspiration from the books, not the movie, and added a bit here and there.” So it was very similar, those who read the books would see that, but he’d added some things here and there. The books never gave away how many towers were a part of the structure. It also didn’t mention how many, if there were multiple, courtyards or anything detailed like that. So he’d gone about adding whatever he pleased in that regard as well. He’d done a lot of things simply because he wanted to - movies be damned. The movies were not the end all be all, it had to look like that. He was, in fact, fairly certain the movies had it wrong as well.
So he was more than pleased to make his own judgment calls on things and make something which he found appealing as well. Now as he stood there, with it very nearly done, he was considering adding some more things. He could add lighting to the inside and set things up on a timer so some lights would flicker at various times of the day. He was certain he could give it an internal clock so it would know when to turn various lights on and off, when to perhaps flicker certain lights, he could do things but it would take time…and he’d honestly thought he’d finish it today. But it seemed there was, to his mind anyway, more to be done. He could also change some windows…so they weren’t so boring. Hmm…
“I didn’t think anyone was really paying attention to what I’ve been doing.” He knew it stayed here, in the back of the classroom due to its size, and people were bound to see it. But he’d not heard anyone talking about it, though people certainly had, the whispers and awe at the creation went right over his head and had since day one when he’d started in on this endeavor of his. People had been whispering about this self appointed project when Kinsey wasn’t around, behind his back, so he wasn’t aware of these things.
“I think I always would have done this…it was simply a matter of time…” Yes, he was fairly certain of it. But the knit from the other had pushed him further down the path to this build. It also gave him something to draw inspiration on and focus on, while still putting his own ideas into it. He could have grabbed from other books, or even movies, had he wanted to but he’d not done so this time like he did with other things.
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Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 7:21 pm
“It’s impressive, Kins. Seriously. I read about this kid who built a huge scale model of the Titanic and now it’s on display in some museum for the ship? Who knows, maybe this could end up going to some fancy exhibit too.”
Cooper moved closer to Kinsey, keeping back a few feet, still not wanting to startle the other boy, but honestly, wanting to take a closer look at what he was doing. “Do you need any help? Want any help? I’m not sure I can get as technical as you are, because, it’s amazing, but…I can keep things clean and tidy? And keep you company.”
He hesitated and then gave a somewhat self deprecating grin. “If you want company, that is! I can go if you don’t. I won’t be offended.”
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Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 7:22 pm
“I doubt this would ever get such attention, it’s not that good.” It was certainly good, he had confidence in what he was working on, but for someone to want it in a museum or in some exhibit? He was realistic enough to know that would never happen. He was just a kid in a small city who attended a small high school, he was an unknown, and he wasn’t upset with this - it was just reality.
Tilting his head, pale eyes moving over what he had and then moving to Cooper slowly. “You can stay…I don’t mind.” He wasn’t much for having an opinion on what people did, or didn’t do, so long as it didn’t harm him in some manner. Who was he to go telling people what to do or not to do? “I’m just working on the wiring.” Slowly the soft spoken words passed his lips as he looked over his creation, stepping back to seat himself on the floor by it. Which windows did he want to have lights and which ones would flicker and where would they be steady? Starting to look over it all, fingers ghosting here and there over things, thinking and pondering which windows to do what with. Perhaps the ones he imagined to be bedroom windows he should give a stained glass look? He had some already wired but there were so many windows still to decide the fate of.
He could do that, it would take more time, but he could do tiny little stained glass windows. It was more work, more time, but it would add to the whole. The idea was pleasing, a bit of more personal touch, he’d just need to figure out what designs for the resin windows. Glancing about, wondering where his sketchbook was, he stood slowly and shuffled over to a work table where he had a sketch book. He'd been using a sketchbook to get his ideas onto paper for this project before he’d started and during this process of building and creating. He knew this was an idea he got from the Harry Potter books but slowly, especially now, it was wandering away from that idea. Stain glass windows were not a Harry Potter thing and he was more than ok with that, and the lake could simply be a lake.
“Maybe a person passing by a window…” Whispered words spoken in a rather off handed manner to himself, as he considered if he could make a small moving track where a figure would move past a window, back and forth, from time to time. It would need to also turn so it wouldn’t look awkward moving backward. It would need to turn so it would walk forward. “Mmmm.” Tapping a finger tip to his bottom lip as he pondered it, he could do it, it would take a bit more work but he could make it work.
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Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 7:24 pm
Cooper hid his grin and came further into the room, perching himself on top of a desk and simply watching Kinsey for a few moments. He was…really into this, and honestly, Cooper wasn’t sure what he should offer…if he should offer anything but…
He withdrew two small bags of chips, he had forgotten to eat the one yesterday, and it was nearly snack time so. “Are you going to use resin for the lake? Did you think of maybe adding some glitter to imitate the sun shining on it? Or…the moon, rather, I guess…also, are you hungry? I have some extra chips here!”
Holding out the second bag, Cooper grinned once again. “I know it’s small but. It’s from one of those big multipacks, so they’re kind of tiny. Still good though!”
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Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2024 7:24 pm
“Yes, I was going to do resin, yes. I had not considered it, the glitter. I was going to do a small detail at the edges, to show where it hits the shore and breaks.” He wasn’t aiming for it to be exact from the books, or the movies, it was becoming his own as it went. He didn’t want to keep it to the books or the movies anyway, he’d rather it resemble something from his own imagination. It was slowly forming and changing into that.
“I’ll use resin in a few places.” He was going to do windows using resin so they would shine just right when he put in lighting, like a real window would. He might buff a few, or even buff here and there on some of them, in order to add some more effect to things, so any lighting might seem blurry due to a damaged or aged window. He was determined to make this project as detailed as he could.
Looking up, from where he’d been inspecting things, so see a bag of chips being offered he was surprised. He didn’t have friends in school, though he did on rare occasions talk to people, so for someone to just offering him something. “Thank you.” Reaching for the bag he opened it and took a chip, nibbling on it slowly.
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Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2024 8:20 pm
“I bet it’s going to be real pretty when you’re done.” Glitter or not, he hoped that Kinsey would let him keep peeking on his progress.
Slowly, he began to eat his own chips, body going loose and relaxed as he did so, eyes on the other boy.
“What made you want to start this project? Is it like, something you just had in your mind and you had to get it out? Or was there something that sparked the need to do this specifically?” Cooper tried to be quiet as he ate his chips, allowing them to all but dissolve on his tongue so as not to annoy Kinsey.
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Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2024 11:07 pm
"Both." It had been both, this project would have happened no matter what, it was simply a matter of time before this castle was built. He'd build plenty of things, small things and some slightly larger projects, it was about time he built something bigger. It just so happen he was a Harry Potter, and magic in general, fan and getting the sweater from the other last Christmas had kicked off the idea for Kinsey. What had been a thought had became a real thing, just slowly. It was taking longer than he'd thought it would, in part due to summer vacation, but it was well worth it.
"It is the gradual escalation of the projectgs I've been doing, in terms of size and skills needed." It would allow for him to use skills he either hadn't used yet really, or he didn't feel like he'd used enough, or he'd be using new skills like the wiring and timers he was programming for this. Because he would be setting things on timers for certain, it would allow for a more magical and real feel to things, and he'd not yet done something like that.
Going back to what he was doing, nibbling on the chip all the while, Kinsey went back to looking over things as he planned on. The sketchbook was flipped through till he found a blank page, now to find a pencil, and then he was sketching out a few ideas for windows...various things. He wasn't sure exactly what look he wanted for them, what sorts of designs, did he go different for each tower or did they have something all in common - all flower sor all stars? There were so many options and he was sketching out various ideas, he supposed he'd figure out a theme or a lack of a theme soon enough. At least he'd have ideas for what windows would look like though. He had resin and colors he could add to it somewhere, he had a whole lot of things stored here and not all of it for this project.
"What brought you here?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2024 4:57 pm
“To…school? Or to here watching you?” Cooper gave a sheepish smile and tucked some hair behind his ear. “I was just waiting around, my father doesn’t get home until pretty late, and I saw that the light in here was on, and I was curious, nothing big. Nothing too fancy.”
He shrugged and watched, head tilted slightly as Kinsey poked around his book. “It gets lonely at home, and I like finishing my homework here. Then I just don’t have to worry.”
Not to mention the fact that he didn’t have very good wifi at home, and the school did so…it just made sense to stay here longer or head to the library until dark.
“How come you’re doing this here and not at home? A project like this…wouldn’t you want more time? You can’t be at school twenty four seven…so…?”
He hoped it wasn’t a rude question…but it was one that was making him quite curious.
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Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2024 5:51 pm
"So you wait for him to pick you up? Or you don't go home until he is due home?" But why? Personally Kinsey would be more than happy to be home when no one else was home in his family. If he could have a few hours, even an hour, without anyone else inthe house he'd treasure it...he wouldn't be here working on his project - much as he loved it.
Ah, so it was not wanting to be alone. He couldn't relate but he did understand the idea, some people needed or at least wanted for others to be around them. Kinsey wasn't like that, he would prefer being alone, but everyone had their reasons behind certain likes and wants and he knew this. "At least you're using the time well."
Looking up from the sketch he was working on, a cresent moon and roses around the boarder, and answered the others question rather quickly. "I can't fit this at home." It was simple, and it made sense, but it wasn't the truth but it was something which most would accept. There was no way he could bring something like this back and forth either. "I can't fit it and the tools aren't at home." And he couldn't bring tools from here to home either. It was safe here though, safe from his step siblings and their mother, it wouldn't be destroyed by them here and he could work in peace. He didn't like the idea of bringing something like this, something he enjoyed and cared about, home to a place that just didn't feel like home to him. That place, with those people living there, didn't feel like home and never would - it couldn't. So why fill a place like that with things which he cared for? Why bring anything of his, anything that was good, into such a place?
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