these days have opened up my eyes; [Open Post]

[miseris_socios]

Who: Ken and whomever wants to encounter him.
Where: Kitchen, training gym, games car. (And wildcard option.)
When: Between February platform and the healing/time reversal plot.
What: Ken's getting used to train life... and also makes A Mistake.
Warnings: Training prompt has suicidal imagery (thanks Persona 3) and the closed prompt has severe depression warnings.


[Kitchen Duty]

Ken is on red team, despite the orange hoodie he's wearing, and that means apparently one of his chores is to make food for other people. It might not be the prettiest, but he'll do what he can. He doesn't bother much with the avocado though, instead serving up a couple of plates of omurice to set out for whoever drifts past. It takes him a little bit to start working on some of the other things - the pasta is boiling away and he's wandering around trying to familiarize himself with where everything is.

Sometimes he's poking around looking for storage containers or having to climb up onto the counter to reach things, but he's always careful to clean off the counter afterwards.


[Training] (cw: suicidal imagery)

Ken is no slouch when it comes to training, and he's found the climbing ropes. He scales the large structure easily, rolling off of it onto a mat and springing up, miming stabbing a spear into something. He can easily be found doing handstands or practicing rolling or doing all manner of gymnastic-like exercises.

When no one's looking, he takes out his Evoker and presses it to his head, pulling the trigger and letting Nemesis take some shots at a training dummy with lightning. He presses a hand to his chest when she manifests a spear and stabs the dummy herself. It hurts, but it's the only spear he has right now.


[Games]

He can't practice forever. Once he settles down a little bit he heads into the game car on occasion. He's not all that hard to find - occasionally he's on one of the VR games, but more often he's playing solitaire or looking at the Duel Monster cards. He's studied the notes left nearby carefully, so all that remains is to try to build a deck.

... Somehow.


[Wildcard]

While he's found a few cars to frequent, he's still exploring. It's easy to find him in practically any car.


[Field Trip to the Darkness] (closed to Vexen) (cw: severe depression)

Vexen is not a hard person to find. He's very tall and the black cloak makes it easy to pick him out, even from behind. He's about to call out to the man to say hello, but suddenly a dark-colored portal opens up and the man disappears into it. Frowning, Ken runs in after him.

That was a mistake.

It's dark, so dark, everything is dark. He can feel something cold gripping onto him, Nemesis' whirring getting louder and louder, somehow sinister. What is he doing here? What is he trying to prove? There's nothing he can do to make anything right. There's no point in him continuing to pretend like he's innocent at all - he hasn't been for a long time. He can't rely on anyone here.

Better to just be alone, or just be nothing at all.

He suddenly stumbles out into brightness, a black-coated individual in front of him, but he's not really seeing Vexen. He's trembling, suddenly freezing and pale. His knees hit the floor, followed by his arms and head right after.

Comments

Re: Library.

[guru_clef]

"Not much as of yet, but several of us are working on correcting that as best we can, through use of our points. If you spend any points to add educational books to the library, I would be pleased to transcribe additional copies so that you may keep the one you purchased while there will still remain at least one copy for public consumption." He would of course make a copy for himself as well.

[miseris_socios]

"Oh, that's... helpful. Uh. I can't really think of any books I want to buy just yet, but I've only been here a few days... I might have to see if I can get the textbooks I'm missing from school, if that's something I can do." He was so behind... two years, with probably another one or two on the way before he had to make a decision as to what to do on his own.

[guru_clef]

He nodded. "Text books are a good place to start. There are no official schools here as such, but teaching is one of the things I have been entrusted to do. If you can fill me in on where you left off, we can see if they are subjects that I can take over teaching."

[miseris_socios]

"Uh. ... Well I left off about two years ago in grade 3. My school books could explain better than I could... I've missed a lot." He was aware it was going to take some serious study to catch up, but he'd have to eventually if he ever did want to go back to school.

[guru_clef]

"What that would mean varies from world to world," he said, gently. "In one world where I taught, for example that would make you about ten years old. And even if that is correct, that does not mean you would have had the same lessons. But I can perform an assessment if you would like."

[miseris_socios]

"I'm eleven, I'm on the younger end of my grade. And... I guess? I've probably lost some of it. I was on my own for about a year and a half of that. A little more." He can do math, but trying to pinpoint exact dates wasn't going to be helpful anyway.

[guru_clef]

It was like Link or Sora all over again. More Sora since they just met and the kid seemed okay with learning, at least. But he missed his found family.

"I see. Well, we can start with some basics and go from there, alright? We can start slow, a short lesson each day while we gauge your progress."

[miseris_socios]

"I guess. I'm not like... stupid. I read books on my own, I've just been on my own for a while. School kind of wants to keep regular contact with your parent or guardian and I didn't have one and didn't want one."

[guru_clef]

Whelp, there it was. "If you want one now, consider the offer on the table. And even if not, I am happy to teach. More than happy. And I never considered you stupid. I never consider anyone stupid unless they prove to be so. And even then I would not give up on teaching you," he assured him.

[miseris_socios]

"... I'm used to people thinking I'm just some stupid kid just because I'm young. They don't take me seriously." He was defensive for a reason.

[guru_clef]

He gave a softer, warm smile. That he understood. "Since leaving my world... no, in truth, since just before then, people have presumed that I am a child, and thus stupid and powerless." his lips twitched lightly with gentle humour. "LEt's prove them all wrong, shall we?"

[miseris_socios]

"I've been doing that for two years, so yes. I'm just as strong of a fighter as some of the other members of my group, for example, even though I've been doing it for way less time than them." And also was mostly responsible for their canine team member, so not someone to slack on responsibility either.

[guru_clef]

He gave him a smile. "Let us focus on your academics first, then we can look into fighting training to help you continue to improve? Alright?" Using a power called Bending, a pair of ceramic cups appeared, one by him, one by Ken. Each was filled wit juice that tasted fresh squeezed. A mix that went well together, but wasn't the sort of thing you'd generally see in a supermarket. "Shall we begin with science?" he asked as he sipped his juice.

[miseris_socios]

"I can train fine on my own. I'm just saying, I can keep up." He eyed the juice suspiciously, giving it an experimental sniff before taking a small sip. "... Sure." Better than history, at least - not like they'd be able to do it, since they had different worlds.

[guru_clef]

"Alright then," he said, agreeing. He gestured with his free hand and his books and pen vanished into the gem on his forehead. A bubble formed around him, scooping out part of his rock, and he floated in his bubble down to the table, gesturing for Ken to take a seat, still sipping his juice as if traveling by magical bubble was about as taxing as nodding his head.

[miseris_socios]

... You know what, not the weirdest thing he'd ever seen. He sat down at the table, pulling the notepad and pencils out of his bag. Even if they didn't get into much, it'd be good to take notes.

[guru_clef]

Kidf, you just made Clef's week. He wished Link could see what a kid who WANTED to learn looked like. In hopes it would inspire him. Clef floated beside the chair and nodded. A fresh notebook appeared in his hands and the now empty cup vanished, and the hand carved wooden pen his son made him came out of his gem.

"A good way to know where to begin with science lessons is by getting a baseline on your world first, then you specifically. What is the highest and most complicated level of technology that you are aware of in your world?"

[miseris_socios]

"... Um. It depends what kind of technology. We've got computers and the internet to move information around the world really fast. Some countries have gone to space, there's been some people on the moon, and there's space probes out exploring the solar system and beyond. Medicine is advanced enough to cure a lot of things and to keep a lot of the other things manageable. I know scientists are trying to break apart atoms and stuff to figure out what everything is made of... we have planes and boats that can go across the world, and cars and trains for more local travel."

So a big variety. He'd never been super into science but that was partly because his teachers gave them more boring assignments and didn't talk about the really cool stuff.

[guru_clef]

He could near about hug this kid. Instead he made notes as he listened and nodded. "That sounds about the level of one of the Earths I have memory of. Alright, now that I have that baseline, let's get a read on you, as an individual, differently. In all of science that you are aware of, what question do you most want answered?"

[miseris_socios]

"Um." He scribbled small circles on his notepad, trying to think. "I... don't know. I mean I... there's a sort of personal one I want answered, but it's not like a 'why does this happen'. I have friends who have to take medicine to keep some of their powers under control, but it's hurting them. So I guess 'how to fix that'."

[guru_clef]

"I see. Unfortunately for that I'd need access to your friends and their medicine in order to examine both. Short of that I could give you some theories based on generic situations, but I suspect that would be unsatisfying, as it would be of little help. Because without more knowledge, acting upon any of my theories could do more harm than good."

[miseris_socios]

"Yeah, I don't think it's something that can really be... looked at without a lot of other information. And anywhere we could go for medical help is run by the people who messed them up in the first place, so that's not going to be something we can turn to."

[guru_clef]

"I take that to mean that none of them are here, then?"

[miseris_socios]

"No, they're not." He couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. "... But I mean... I don't really know what else... I can think of that I'd want answered. Not specific questions, anyway."

[guru_clef]

"Alright then, what about this: is there any specific aspect or branch of science that interests you? Chemistry, physics, biology, astronomy, technology?