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 Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:10 pm
Kinsey was ducked down, peering into the castle he was working on, as he glued in the gear set up he had. It would trigger lights to go on, and off, as the gears moved. It was all the inside workings of a watch without the pretty case and all. He just needed the gears and timing set up to trigger the lights he had set up throughout the castle. Due to his height it wasn’t so easy to crouch down and peer into the castle, and work on things, so Kinsey was laid out on his stomach on the classroom floor.
The room he was in was one of many tech classrooms in the Azure high, the school was big on its tech classes, this room was one of the bigger classrooms and his professor allowed him to work in here on this project of his. It was coming together, nearly done, it only took so long because there was no way to get it from here to his home and his home wasn’t safe for it. His home wasn’t even safe for himself at the best of times, at the worst of times he left the house for his own well being. Since Christmas break things at home had gotten worse, he wasn’t even entirely sure why, his step mother had even hit him with the frying pan on Christmas morning. He had apparently not been quick enough in getting downstairs to make breakfast, because she didn’t want to make breakfast on a holiday morning.
Sitting up he wiped at his forehead, he was too warm in the room, unknowingly removing some of the make up he’d been wearing to cover the marks on his cheek from his step brother. He had to figure out this whole space teleporting thing so he could just escape, but there had to be a limit on it…it was too good to be true. He knew there would be a catch to it, he couldn’t just escape and live far away from everyone down here.
Huffing as he shifted, folding his legs, he sat there for a moment considering if he wanted to add in the other gear sets. He was tired, he’d had a rough sleep the evening before, and he’d dragged himself through classes. Going to Luciana’s would be good, more time away from home, but the idea of skipping that and leaving here early also sounded good right now. Damn it.
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:11 pm
He promised Julian he would wait for him before heading home. Right now, Julian was getting some extra help with a class project he’d been working on, and it was taking longer than he thought. Riker promised him that it was okay and to take his time. It wasn’t like he was in any rush to get home. Maybe he would just go with Julian to Evan’s house instead.
He had been aimlessly wandering the halls of the school, but the sound of huffing and the sight of movement from inside a classroom caught his eye. It was getting close to the time where most of the kids would be kicked out, unless they had a specific club or activity with supervision.
What Riker hadn’t expected was to see some kid looking at the big castle that he’d seen. Some project, probably. Hopefully the guy wasn’t doing anything to damage it.
“You’re not messing with that, are you?” he asked, already stepping into the classroom and ready to fight someone who might be messing up the project that someone had worked really hard to make.
His hands had mostly healed by now, so he only had one band aid instead of the several, and the cut on his lip was mostly a faint line. Thankfully, most of the bruises on his face had faded by now, and long sleeves were a staple in his wardrobe, even outside of uniform.
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:15 pm
He hadn’t noticed someone walk into the classroom, busy with his own thoughts, it took him a moment to respond to the voice which spoke up. “I’m adding to it, it’s my project.” Finally he looked up, and stared at the other with those pale eyes of his. A hand raised and brushed a wispy half curl out of his face, tucking it out of the way, as he watched them silently.
Were they looking for something? He didn’t know them, they weren’t in any of his classes, so likely an upperclassman? They didn’t look younger than he did, though due to his height people did at times mistake his age. “Did you need something?” Shifting he stood slowly, making sure he didn’t knock into anything, and suited off the seat of his uniform pants while glancing about himself to make sure he wasn’t close to stepping on anything. Finally he looked back up at the other, his hands finding their way into the pockets of his pants.
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:15 pm
Riker felt irritated that the guy didn’t immediately respond. Maybe he was trying to cover up the fact that he was ruining someone else’s project except--
Oh. The guy said it was his project.
Riker felt the tension in his shoulders subside a little, but he took a moment to glance over the kid as he stood up. Probably in one of the younger classes since he hadn’t really seen him before. But he had seen the project.
“No, I’m waiting for a friend. Didn’t want anyone messing with--” he made a vague gesture to the castle.
“What are you working on, anyway? Is it a school project or just for fun and they let you keep it here?” he asked, looking the other kid over to see if he recognized him. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to look familiar. Which meant he likely hadn’t been mean to him during the roughest part of Riker’s life.
Except the more he looked at him, the more he frowned. Not in anger or disgust, but thoughtful. Sad. He hadn’t missed the way it looked like his makeup had smudged. It had been about a week since he’d stopped putting on the makeup Evan let him borrow.
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:16 pm
“For fun…I can’t fit it at home, it’s too large.” And the idea of transporting it anywhere else made him nervous, given how large and tall it was, the weight alone would make transporting it anywhere near impossible. He wasn’t sure about this whole magic and space thing, he’d only just heard about it recently, but if he could bring things with him then it would be a good place to bring it once it was done. He’d just need to find a way to make that happen.
“I’m using gears and a timing set up like a clock would have in order to have lighting turn on and off and move things.” So there would be things moving behind the ‘stained glass’ windows he’d made of resin and painted to look as realistic as possible. He had put a lot of fine detail in it, which took time and work. The fact he was taking the harder route to run things inside was proof of the time put into this, it was also a whole new skill set for him to learn, he liked to work with his hands - he was good at it. He just didn’t like doing it when he had to…when it was to fix things he never broke, and certainly didn’t build.
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:17 pm
Riker listened quietly, looking over the castle now that he was closer, although a couple times he paused to look up and make sure he didn’t miss Julian walking passed. He shoved his hands into his pockets and tilted his head from one way to the other and took a few steps around it to look at the details.
“Yeah, I’ll bet. About not being able to fit it at home. Uh, but do you have plans for when they want you to take it out of the school? Like… I don’t know, get a storage unit somewhere for cheap? Or leave it at a friend’s house?”
He knew he might have been paranoid about leaving things where he couldn’t get them, but since he had a whole drawer of clothes and essentials left in his friend’s room for when he couldn’t, or didn’t want to, go home, being mobile was important. To him, at least.
“Have you thought about, I don’t know, breaking it up into sections? For transportation, I mean. You could split the wires with connectors too, so you don’t have to unwire the whole thing,” he suggested with a shrug. It was a neat project, but he also didn’t trust leaving something important for other people to mess with.
“Uh, and there’s, like… this clear spray you can put on when you finish getting ready,” he mumbled awkwardly, staring hard at the castle for a while, but lifted his hand to gesture to his own cheek. “Stops it from getting rubbed off as easy.”
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:17 pm
“I do, I have plans.” Plans which he hadn’t had till recently, very recently, but they were there now. He wasn’t sure they’d work but the fact he had a plan was good, that he potentially had a safe place for this castle of his. If he could he’d make his wonder into a safe place for himself and all his projects…a place to build more projects. It would be his little workshop.
“I have, I don’t think I’ll need to break it up into sections.” Glancing at his castle, at how detailed it was, he didn’t like the idea of breaking it apart though the ideas had been there on and off for a while now. He knew he’d need to move it at some point, and until recently he’d not had any idea how to even move it. He couldn’t drive, too young, and he had no one he could ask either. He wasn’t about to go to a professor and ask them…that would raise questions he wasn’t about to answer, and he didn’t want anyone poking about into his life. It wouldn’t end well for him.
Turning his attention to the other, wondering what they were talking about, it wasn’t until they reached up for their own face that he understood. Rather than say anything, and admit to anything, he settled for silence though he did file that information away. He was not good with makeup but if it would help then he would take the offered advice, though he did wonder how the other knew. He was going to assume it might be a similar reason…that or a girlfriend and knowing what they used?
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:18 pm
“Oh, okay. That’s good,” he mumbled somewhat awkwardly. He should have figured that the guy would have already had plans for it. It just seemed like… a lot. And if he needed help--
Why would he want help from someone he’d never met before? Especially one who was being nosey and prying into things that didn’t concern him.
That was what Riker would have said, anyway. If anyone had commented about his bruises or absences from school, he had plenty of excuses he could use lined up.
He hadn’t missed the fact that there was nothing said in response to his comment.
“Riker,” he said after another moment, and then nodded towards the door. “I’m waiting for my friend, Julian. So, I mean. If you need anything, feel free to ask,” he shrugged. “Uh… there’s also Elliot Reid. He’s got a lot of connections. His dads are the two Mr. Reids who teach here. And, uh… Elliot’s boyfriend. Atticus. His dad is Mr. Gallo. Just… you know.”
Did he know? Did he understand that if there was anything he needed help with, or escape, that there were people around who could help? People who understood--
Ah, well… he supposed he was just making assumptions, but it wasn’t like it was difficult to reach that conclusion.
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:18 pm
“Kinsey.” They had given him their name so he’d return the gesture, he did have manners even if he didn’t always have them on display. He showed them whenever he was home, he had no choice there, but elsewhere he kept to himself enough that he didn’t need to be polite and well behaved.
Listening to the other as they listed information Kinsey did for a moment wonder about the reason for all this, useful as it might be for some, but he was certain he had an idea about it all. Did he respond though? They obviously had a clue what was going on, from the way they were talking, they weren’t saying anything out right or calling him out for what he was covering up. But it was obvious they knew, or at least heavily suspected, so did he respond? No, he didn’t but he did give a shrug of his shoulders.
“I do hope you liked this project of mine. You should check in with your friend, assuming they don’t know you’re here.” Nodding once towards his castle, perhaps he should get a plan in place to move it soon. Maybe he’d start on something else and keep this in space where he could finish it, even if he couldn’t devote as much time to it as he did now.
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Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:18 pm
“Yeah, I’ll go do that. I might bring him by to check out your work, though. He’ll probably be really impressed. I mean, it is impressive. You’ve obviously done a lot of work,” he said, although felt a little weird about it. He wasn’t trying to sound like he was sucking up, but he figured that might be the case if he wasn’t careful.
“So, uh… see you around, I guess,” he lifted a hand to wave and then took a step towards the door. It was a weird interaction, but not bad. He would have to send Atticus or Julian or Elliot to check in on the guy. They had a much softer touch than he did.
Fin!
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