Home is where the heart isn't <3 (OPEN)

[Ryan Alexander]

After a few days of adventure, Ryan reached the address that Kara had scribbled onto the napkin. As he entered the main gates his eyes opened wide. It was the most beautiful place he had ever seen; it seemed to stretch out forever. There were trees hundreds of feet tall, and flowers of various colors planted all over.
As he walked forward he saw a huge lake; the sun reflected upon it's surface making the water sparkle like liquid diamond.

"It's amazing..." he thought to himself.
Ryan continued walking and saw students walking casually to their destinations. He ignored them, too scared to approach them. Distantly he remembered how badly he was tortured and bullied at school; he was wary of kids his age now because of it.

"I wonder where I'm supposed to go now...who am I supposed to see?"

[Ithica Pettineo]

In all technicalities, Ithica really shouldn't be on the Academy grounds. He found them more exciting. Ithica didn't really enjoy being on the University grounds mainly because who was there except overworked, grumpy, stressed adults? Yes, he liked the Academy better - the kids weren't as jaded, stressed, or grumpy. He wasn't going as far to say that they weren't, but it wasn't nearly as bad.

Ithica was in his usual perch on the tree, a porcelain doll by his side. The doll, dressed in pink frills with her golden hair neatly brushed, observed the newcomer with cynical glassy eyes. "I haven't seen him before," she pointed the teenager out. "Think he'll be worth a chance?" Rosie inquired, messing with the stitches and dried glue on her neck.

The demon made an odd huffing noise, glaring at her from the sides of his eyes. "WORTH a look? Who isn't worth a look?" He demanded, crossing his arms. Unfortunately the man had forgotten the laws of gravity, and fell out of the tree. He got up, rubbing the dirt off of him. "I always do that," he muttered darkly. He caught Rosie as she fell through the air. "Anyway, seeing as I'm an extrovert," he was quite pleased to use the term he'd just acquired reading from psychology books, "I like to talk to new people and draw my energy from them.." He paused. "I guess since..I'm a demon...erm... ah, technicalities."

With that, Ithica walked up to the unfamiliar boy. "Hi! I'm Ithica." He held Rosie up, who stared at the boy without moving at all. Ithica looked at her, then back at the boy. Now he probably just looked weird for carrying a doll around with him. He hated when she got shy. Or maybe she always meant to make him look insane. Probably that. He put her on the ground and offered the boy his hand for a handshake. "Pleased to meet you."

Rosie huffed, patting out her dress. "I'm Rosie," she said darkly, glaring up at the demon for just dropping her on the ground.

(ooc; You don't mind me, do you? ><)

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan stopped walking and watched the guy walk up to him; holding a doll. Distantly he thought it was weird; having never seen a guy playing with dolls before. "Uh hey..." he said shyly. Watching the guy and not the doll, he gasped in shock as she spoke.

"Sorry.." he said apologetically, not wanting to offend anybody. Especially not somebody that he was meeting for the first time. "Dolls don't usually talk, you understand..." he said, taking a moment to regain his composure.

"Hey Ithica, hey Rosie!" he said, more enthusiastically then before. "How are you?
Taking a second to rethink his manners he gave an assuring smile before adding; "My name is Ryan"

[Ithica Pettineo]

It was the reaction that Rosie was used to. She shrugged and waved it off. "I'm sure you'll see stranger things." Rosie didn't like to think about anything being stranger than her, but she was willing to admit that there were odd people here. Perhaps even odder dolls. Maybe.

Ithica laughed at his apology. It was better than his reaction the first time he discovered his Trait. He had thrown Rosie across the room, screamed (not unlike a little girl), and hid under his bed, stammering lamely about dolls. To this day, he was slightly wary about Rosie going killer psychotic Chuckie-esque.

"Hello, Ryan." Ithica dropped his hand awkwardly, rubbing it on the side of his pants. "Are you new here? Rosie and I didn't recognize you. Not that we usually stalk..but...I guess..." The demon trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Rosie pointed you out." He pointed to the doll, who, in return, glared up at him and put her hands on her sides. "It's true. She said to me, she said, 'that boy looks unfamiliar!' and I said, 'you're right' and then I fell from the tree and I came over here...and...introduced myself.."

Rosie rolled her eyes. "Sorry about him. He rambles too much."

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan's eyes widened at the prospect of him seeing stranger things. In the back of his mind he noted that the strangest thing he would ever have thought not to see, was a doll acting of it's own accord; he could not picture something more out of the ordinary.
"Sorry for being rude" he said hurriedly, as he offered the boy his hand. "Yes, I believe I'm new here..I mean I belong here I guess" he said thoughtfully, as he remembered his meeting with Kara.

Ryan smiled as he watched Rosie and Ithica's antics; it was slightly refreshing to see people laughing and joking around instead of being violent and cruel. "Well glad Rosie spot me out then; seeing as how nice you both are"

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithica draped his arm around his new friend - well, actually he wasn't sure if Ryan considered him a friend, but those were minor technicalities that could sort themselves out. "Of course you belong here," he assured him. "Well, actually there's a fifty percent chance of you belonging you. But since you knew about us in the first place I'm guessing that you do." Ithica let his arm fall of Ryan.

Rosie crossed her arms again, shooting Ithica an exasperated glare. "Nice isn't the word for this demon. He's..." The porcelain girl shook her head. "Annoying."

Ithica poked her, turning her back into a normal porcelain doll. Annoying. He had been hoping for an "Amazing" or a "super" or an "awesomelicious". He put Rosie in his bag and smiled once more at Ryan. He pulled out a jelly bean package his book bag and offered jelly bean to Ryan. "Candy? I mean, I guess it's not the best idea to take candy from strangers. But I'm Ithica and you're Ryan, so we're not really strangers.." He trailed off.

"Anyway, would you like me to show you around?" Ithica was assuming Ryan would go to the Academy instead of the university. He still got lost wandering around the University and, as such, missed more than half of his classes. The Academy on the other hand, he was pretty fluent with the campus. Well.. not exactly fluent. All right, so Ithica wasn't the best with directions. Ryan didn't have to know that, did he?

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan shuddered a bit as the guy placed his arm on him. He didn't do it because he didn't like the touch, but because the only touch fresh in his mind was one that was abusive. He blushed hoping that his new "friend" didn't notice the slight fear in his face.
"I do hope that I belong here; thanks for being so reassuring. I haven't found a place yet where I belong.."

Glancing at Rosie he smiled. "I don't think he's too annoying, he seems really kind" he said happily. He looked shocked as Rosie turned back into a normal doll, and was stuffed in the bag. "Is she going to be alright?!" he wondered to himself, as the guy pulled out a bag of jelly beans. When offered a jelly bean, Ryan thought carefully for a second. Nobody had ever done anything nice for him ever, not without hurting him in some way. This made him cautious, however he didn't want to insult his new friend.

Looking at the jelly beans; he casually picked out a green one and popped it into his mouth. "Thank you"

[Ithica Pettineo]

Maybe it was the way Ryan had shuddered, or said he didn't belong, or the slightly cynical expression that had passed briefly over his face when presented with the candy, or all of those combined that made Ithica troubled. He knew that not everybody had his life - he had known that he wasn't 'normal' since he was eight, and his parents had known (duh - his mother was a demon and his father was Gifted) it was bound to happen. He was aware of parents not knowing, and hating their child. Maybe Ryan's parents hadn't loved him, or perhaps he was just scared of the overly nice stranger.

One of the two.

He lifted up his bag briefly, having seen the shocked expression. "She'll be fine. She's just a doll most of the time. Well, not most of the time. Originally she was just a doll, until I brought her back to life." Ithica shrugged. "What can you do? I mean.. you know, what makes you not like the rest of the world?" There really wasn't a way of saying, 'yo dude, what's your powers?' without sounding.. weird.

(ooc; Sorry about the really lame post. :/)

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan breathed a sigh of relief when the guy told him the doll would be alright. He still had kind of a hard time picturing her just as a doll, expecially when she had the potential to be alive. "Oh. Well that's good"

He swallowed as the guy asked him about what he could do; that he actually cared. It made his mood slightly better, he exhaled and with his breath, the tension followed. "Well...I can make things move without touching them" he said, then paused thinking carefully.
"Sometimes..I can really feel what others feel, and experience their pain.."


(OOC: It's quite alright, I'm having fun )

[Ithica Pettineo]

He could feel their pain? Talk about getting the short of the gift stick. Ithica sat on the ground, patting the area next to him for the boy to sit down. Ryan had telekinesis and was an empath. Telekinesis sounded cool - Ithica would give his eidetic memory happily if he could make candy come to him. But he wasn't sure about the empath part. He honestly couldn't deal with the stress, anger, bitterness, and other negatron emotions that people harbored.

Ithica idly played with a piece of grass. "I'm sorry, Ryan. It must get exhausting having to feel other's pain, and all the while you still have your own to deal with." He scraped the blade of grass, getting green on his thumb. Ithica looked at him, a lazy smile spreading across his face. "At least you can also feel the happiness from others, right?" Of course, it seemed rare to come across genuinely happy people these days. Ithica was proud to be of a dying breed.

"If you ever feel sad you can take some of my happy." Ithica volunteered. "Because I have a lot of happy, and... well, you look like you have a lot of sad." He shrugged again. It was only a guess, it's not like he could tell the life story within ten minutes of meeting Ryan, but he just had a hunch - normally Ithica hated going on those because he was generally wrong - that he wasn't the happiest person. And Ithica could understand that, he honestly could, because how happy could an empath be in a world of sadness?

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan followed Ithica, and sat on the ground next to him. It seemed weird he thought; that he felt comfortable. Normally he was iffy around new people, because he expected them to reject him somehow. He smiled at Ithica's apology, cause he knew that it was true. It wasn't fun. "Thanks...It's not your fault. It sucks having to feel the pain of others; and it's almost always bad pain..." he said, his mind flashing back to earlier; how he felt that man's pain...the torturous pain.

He smiled again; having lost it from the memories at Ithica's proposal. "Thanks, but I could never take something so precious from someone...it just wouldn't be right.."
Ryan didn't say anything to Ithica, he seemed to drift away.

"I have a lot of happy, and... well, you look like you have a lot of sad"
Ithica's words echoed in his mind; and he flashed back like some old black/white film.

He remembered coming home with the absolute perfect grade on a test, he woke his mother up happily to show her. Bad move. She woke up, ripped the paper, and then proceeded to beat him non-stop for two whole hours.
He remembered when he was nine, getting a burn from the oven cooking himself dinner. He went to his mother for a kiss to make the pain go away... he was rewarded with a slap across the face.
He flashed to his thirteenth birthday. How happy he was to finally be a teenager. His mother forgot his birthday; no cake, no happy birthday, Ryan. He spent the entire day in his room crying, the only words his mother had for him were:

"stop crying, you pussy"

As he sat there with the guy, Ithica, who seemed to generally care about him, he couldn't help it. His mask was breaking. The mask that he kept up to hide how broken he really was. As the mask cracked, so did he. Tears slowly started streaming down his face, and he began to shake with the pain of an entire life showing through.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithica frowned a little when he said he couldn't take something precious. Happiness? He knew that it was special to him, but it came so naturally to the demon he didn't think of it as precious. Maybe he was just taking it for granted. He would have insisted, but then he saw the far away gaze in Ryan's eyes, and shut his mouth. If Ithica couldn't offer his happiness, what could he offer?

He wasn't great when people started crying. He bit his lip, feeling awkward. Ithica knew that Ryan had shuddered when he had casually put his arm around him, so.. how could he comfort the boy now? Ithica felt his own tears coming, a reaction that happened to Ithi when he saw other people crying. He hugged Ryan, rubbing his arm as comfortingly as Ithica could. He really did want to tell Ryan that things would get better, but the demon had trouble promising things he didn't know. He opted instead to wipe the tears from Ryan's cheeks.

"I'm sorry," he murmured awkwardly, unsure how to handle this. He had people cry before, but their cries were startled, or mildly hurt. Ryan had been deeply hurt, and Ithica couldn't do anything.

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan seized up as Ithica hugged him, it having been the first hug he had ever had in life. But he didn't pull away. Instead he returned the hug tighter. "He must think bad of me...he must think that I'm weak, stupid, and just..." he was lost in thought, he couldn't think straight. The sorrow overwhelmed him, he knew nothing except being held and the strange bitter warmth of the tears that fell from his eyes.

He felt Ithica wipe the tears off of his eyes, and felt bad because the small kind gesture had been in vain; as more quickly followed.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithica was startled by the tightened hug, having expected Ryan to be uncomfortable and shrink away. The demon shrugged off these doubts and rubbed Ryan's back, trying to make him feel at least a little better. "Come on, Ryan. I know your life will get better. I promise." Ithica pulled back from the hug so that he could make eye contact. He wiped some more tears off, smiling as confidently as he could. "I don't break my promises."

With that, he sat closer to Ryan. "You really are allowed to have some of my happiness. You've been through enough pain." Ithica nodded. "If you don't mind me asking.. what exactly.. why.." He paused, knowing that this question was too forward to ask someone he met half an hour ago. "Why are you sad?" If Ithica was honest with himself, something he didn't quite like to be, he'd find that he was sort of worried that he had caused Ryan to cry by doing something.

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan's crying got lighter, as Ithica made his promise. He nodded slowly, as the tears were wiped off his face; this time the gesture not in vain. "I still cannot take your happiness..it wouldn't be right" he said softly, his voice getting a bit stronger.

Ryan thought about it. "Why are you sad?"
It seemed like such a simple question, yet one that he was not used to hearing, nor ever heard in his life. He never knew it, because nobody ever cared to ask. Ryan looked at him.

"My mom...was an alcoholic. She drank a lot, and was abusive. She hit me so much, all I knew growing up was pain. Do you know she never even told me that she loved me? All I heard from her was how much I wasn't wanted or needed" he said, pausing for a second.
"Her abuse got worse till last year, then..." he said, his voice trailing off. His was hesitant to say the final part.