Hindsight

[ken]

--open

In hindsight, Kennedy probably shouldn't have gotten involved. It was probably a bad idea to get between two older students when they were arguing about something. Even if Kennedy did have an impressive Gift, it didn't make him invisible. In some ways it actually made him more vulnerable.

This time he'd tried to do his duty as a tutor, intervening and attempting to stop a fight between the two. It had worked for a while, but the result had been that both had turned on Kennedy, and he hadn't quite expected that.

Now he was stuck on a wall.

A piece of the wall had been pulled out, wrapped around him, then melted into place. There was no way he could get out without using superstrength, which he currently didn't have. Mostly because he kept picking up the Gifts of whoever happened to be walking underneath him at the time.

Yes, underneath him. Because he'd been stuck above one of the entrances to the Training Center. Each time someone walked in, he got a new ability. But he was finding that his current offering couldn't do much:
Technomancy
Eidetic Memory
Melting.

Now, he might be able to use the last to melt the bindings, but that could actually hurt, not to mention getting metal stuck to his skin. so for now Kennedy just struggled, and tried to think of a way of getting out. Or at least contacting someone who could help..

[Locke F. Herald]

Well, Locke always had bad luck, but it would look like Kennedy had worse. He decided to go do a little observing of people today, might help him on his little 'adventure' he was planning since it gave him new ideas. However, something happened as he entered the training room, he heard a small sigh*.

Looking around to see who it was, why were they sighing at him? he'd just entered to go looking at people, had he interrupted someones training. But he saw nobody around him, and then he looked up.

Now that was amusing. Kennedy Caven, stuck to the wall with a slab of the wall shoddily melted into place. He wondered who would have done it, but then supposed he should have rescued him. "Hold on I'll-"

Wait, wait a minute. Kennedy, he'd been the one to upset Kiri. Upset her to the point of tears. It was because he meddled that she was sad, and granted it was because of that she was like she was now, but that wasn't the issue. He turned back to him and just stared at him, not sure if he should help him or not.

"Hello Tutor Caven, nice day isn't it?"

[ken]

Kennedy heard someone approach, but hadn't felt his Gifts shift any. Which had narrowed the possibilities of whomever had found him, but didn't really indicate a certain person. The voice certainly did though.

"Locke!" Kennedy exclaimed. He wiggled so he could look down at the young Edengrowth. Locke and he had always gotten along well, and Kennedy was fairly certain that Kiri and Locke had finally hooked up. Which could only be a good thing.

"It's not a bad day," Kennedy suggested. He smiled down at Locke. "Weather's pretty good. Oh, I heard you and Kiri hooked up. Congrats man, she's great."

You could hear the sincerity in Kennedy's voice. After all, he'd long since adopted Kiri and really did love the little Faerie like a sister, even if she had grown to be a bit of a flirt. At least she had someone specific to flirt at, and Locke certainly wasn't an a** or something.

"Hey, Locke, I'd love to talk to you about stuff, but, umm," Kennedy nodded down at the metal constraint. "Could you give me a hand here? Or at least find someone who could? I'm starting to lose feeling in my arms..."

[Locke F. Herald]

So he'd heard had he? Locke's face went a little red at the thought of it. But there was time for that later.

"I suppose thanks to the wildfire gossip network in this school you would have heard about that, wouldn't you. But there is more about that I need to talk to you about." He couldn't remove the threatening tone from his voice, even if he tried. "But I suppose I can get you down first, it'll make it easier to hear."

He looked up at the wall, mumbling.

"Hmmm, it's welded fairly sloppily, the connections are shaky and brittle. Well what do you have at your disposal? I know you can copy gifts, and if you had something like super strength you'd have broken out by now. So with the exception of my memorization, what can you do right now?"

Locke was certain he could figure out a way to get Kennedy off the wall, it just required a little bit of focus and ingenuity. Then again, he might need to recruit other gifted if Kennedy really had nothing of use.

[ken]

"Actually, I know because Kiri told me," Kennedy offered. He distinctly recalled getting glomped by his "sister" as the words shot from her mouth. It had taken three times to fully understand the message, but Kennedy was thrilled that things had turned out well for her. In fact, it had made him wonder about his own circumstances.

"The person who welded it wasn't exactly a master welder," drawled Kennedy. He blew out his lips. "I've got a bunch of useless Gifts right now. I can talk to machines, memorize stuff, and melt stuff."

Kennedy chuckled, "I could melt the metal, but I really don't want to have liquid steel stuck to my tender skin. I thought about melting just a section and then landing hard..."

Kennedy looked down now, judging the difference. He could probably get away with minor injuries at worst. It wasn't that far, and Kennedy was fairly hardy.

"Could be worse," he admitted, trying to shrug, "at least the melting thing could be useful. If you could get something for me to land on, we'd be in business."

[Locke F. Herald]

"Melting and Technomancy eh?" Locke said pondering. "Ok, I think I have an idea here." he continued, ignoring the fact that Kiri had told him. If she'd forgiven him...no, he still had to know, because Kiri wouldn't have told him that.

"Well, I have a plan here, but if it works or not, we'll just have to find out. You are in the wall, which means you are pretty close to the academy's power wires. Now, those connections of the wall, the welding, are pretty shoddy...and current flows on the path of least resistance...Kennedy, try exposing the circuit you are in to the power flow, no it won't kill you. The systems safeguards will sense something living in the connection and shut it down, but we will see sparks by the weakest parts in the connection, where the welding is weakest. Memorize those places with your memory, and then focus the melting on the ones that are furthest from you, and above you. Get a few and the slab should start to unfold like a piece of peeling wallpaper. With any luck you'll be able to get a bit closer before jumping out."

He smirked. "Or fall half a story encased in a concrete slab, which you'd live through. But that's only if you don't follow my instructions, which you should have no problem remembering now."

This was going to prove to be entertaining.

[ken]

"Alright, I think I follow," Kennedy admitted. Kind of hard not to, with the Eidetic memory and all. "But won't that cause a lot of damage to the school? Not to mention the fact that I'm not really comfortable with playing amateur electrician, even if you are giving me instructions."

And it unnerved Kennedy slightly that Locke knew so much about the way the Academy's power system worked. How did a student find out something like that? Did he tear apart the walls in his spare time?

"And telling me I could very well be encased in a concrete slab isn't exactly comforting," Kennedy pointed out. He glanced down at the constraints again, looking for weak points. "I don't suppose you've got an idea that doesn't involve peeling away a section of wall?"

[Locke F. Herald]

"I would think ripping the wall about and welding you into it caused plenty of damage to the academy already. Besides, that is what this room is for. But I suppose I could go to find another staff member and get them to let you down, maybe I could find that Wingrose girl, is she around here?" He asked coyly. Nothing a courageous man likes worse then being made a fool of in front of his lady. "You'd think the most recent staff member could handle something small like a..a...what happened in here anyway? You get jumped?"

He just stared at Kennedy, this was proving more and more humerus as time went on. He'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it.

"In any event, if Kennedy wants a safer way to get down, might take a bit more working." He said looking about the room. "Machines, memory, and melting...hmmmm. Wait! Duh! Why didn't I think of it before! Melting is basically heating things, so if you heat the area around you, only a LITTLE amount, then it will expand naturally. Which will allow you to fall out, I'll see if I can find something around here to lessen the fall." He said, and began to scurry around the room.

Something to land on, something to land on. Now what could he use?

Then he spied it, one of the pads used for the Gravity Rejection testing areas. Designed in case someone screwed up. That area was empty now, so Locke figured they wouldn't mind it.

It was no small feet to drag it over to Kennedy, but he managed. Kiri would be cross with him if he left Kennedy up on the wall, so he'd help him.

Reluctantly.

[ken]

Really? Just heat it a little and then drop to the floor? No, that wasn't anywhere near what Kennedy had been thinking at all. That certainly hadn't been something eerily similar to what he'd been suggesting all along.

Kennedy wasn't about to say that to the one person who was helping him right now. Though, truthfully, he had a suspicion that Locke was a little off on the whole melting thing. That wasn't exactly how the melting power worked. Still, it looked like Locke was more or less doing what Kennedy wanted all along.

He refrained from answering Locke's questions at the moment, instead wiggling slightly, trying to give himself some space. Once Locke got the pad in place, Kennedy started focusing on one of the poorly welded sections.

Kennedy had to stare at the joint for several seconds, before the metal suddenly puddled, releasing Kennedy. The tutor's body was still cramped and sore from his imprisonment, so he landed harder than normal, rolling onto the pad awkwardly. A small puddle of melted metal lay on the floor nearby, and a bit of it had seared onto Kennedy's arm. Much less damage than Kennedy had originally expected.

"Thanks for that," grunted Kennedy. He rose to his feet and tried to knock some of the melted metal off his skin. It didn't work so well, and Kennedy sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I got in the middle of a fight between two students who were probably as old if not older than me. At least I got them to quit fighting each other."

Kennedy smiled ruefully at Locke, shrugging. "Hey, did you want to talk about something? I'm pretty good right now."

Kennedy did look up at the metal joint, frowning.

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke looked at the melted metal and frowned. "Well, considering you got into a fight with two older students, the damage could have been a lot worse." He said, observing Kennedy.

Talk about something? But which something? There were a lot of somethings to talk about. He figured he should get his anger out of the way first.

"If Kiri told you...about what happened the other day, I'll bet she neglected to mention how it all started didn't she? She was upset that day, she was pissed, and apparently you were to blame for it. Apparently something you said 'confused' her and made her very angry. Now..."

Locke looked away, going a little red. "I don't mind the end result of your meddling, it might have had some good effects anyway...but don't make her cry again. She may forgive you instantly, but I'm not as perky a person as she is."

Locke wanted to glare at Kennedy, but he found he couldn't even be angry at him. He indirectly had set the wheels into motion, and what could Locke say about that? It had worked beautifully.

But it might not have...and that was a gamble Locke didn't feel right knowing someone had taken.

[ken]

Was Locke threatening Kennedy?

It took Kennedy a few seconds to try and get over that rather unusual thought. He hadn't expected that from Locke, that was for certain. Apparently Kennedy needed to widen his views on people.

"Look, we just had a conversation about relationships," Kennedy offered, spreading his hands and fingers wide, "and it got us both good and confused. Hell, I'm thinking about asking my... nevermind that."

Kennedy shook his head, pausing a bit before continuing, "Look, I know how you feel, trust me. It sucks to see the girl you like crying about something. But you can't protect them from everything, trust me. And I didn't go out of my way to make her cry. I wouldn't do that to Kiri. But I also can't promise you that I'll never make her cry again, any more then you could."

Kennedy again spread his arms, "I didn't meant to make her sad or angry, but all I really did was give her something to think about, same way she did. That's it. I'm sorry it saddened her, but it does look like the results were good."

Kennedy shrugged, "Sometimes you have to get through the hard, awful parts to get to the good ones."

It had certainly been that way for Kennedy and Angela...

[Locke F. Herald]

Kennedy finished and Locke felt thoroughly ashamed, and bothered at the same time.

"I know! And that's what makes it so hard to do this! I know you didn't mean to hurt her, and I knew it from the moment she told me you had said something to her, but I still had to check, I had to know. And I know I can't keep her protected from everything, I know that too."

He recalled that stupid oafs face and his fists clenched. "I understand how helpless I am in all of this, but I have to do whatever I can. And right now confronting you was one of the only things I actually was capable of."

He wanted to punch a wall again, but he restrained himself this time. "And what makes it all worse, the icing on the damn cake!" Locke nearly shouted, odd for the boy to curse.

"Is that I'm not even sure if I meant what I said to her..."

His face fell, he'd been thinking about it since it had happened. Did he love her? Did he really? There were doubts, but lately they had just been getting stronger and stronger. He shut his eyes as if to block out the world around him. Why couldn't anything ever be simple?

[ken]

Locke's dilemma was something that Kennedy understood full well. It sounded eerily similar to what Kennedy himself had faced only a few short months ago. When he'd had to stand between Angela and the maleficent rumors that darted at her. You had to do what you could, and it never felt like enough.

"I getcha," Kennedy said, nodding. "It's cool. I'll behave myself around Kiri, and if you want, I'll even tell her you told me off."

Kennedy had no problem with promoting Locke to his "sister." After all, it was part of the Cavan makeup to want to gently nudge people together. Especially when they seemed to work, or were just plain interesting together.

"Okay, Locke," Kennedy raised his brows, smiling, "I don't know what you said to her, so I really could only guess. If you want to fill me in, that's fine. If not, well."

Kennedy shrugged, "It's hard to say what you feel, you just have to put it into words and hope it works well enough. Just keep trying, doing as well as saying."

He chuckled, shaking his head, "Don't know if that makes any sense, but it's what I've got."

[Locke F. Herald]

Locke sighed. He hadn't yet got the ability to say that word to her, even now. He just couldn't make himself speak it.

"Words are...powerful. I've always believed this. To me words are far more powerful then any action could be, because once the scars are gone, the feeling fades, or the old wounds heal, the words still remain, as fresh and potent as the moment they were invoked. People say 'Actions speak louder then words', I disagree, words speak louder, you just need to listen harder to hear them."

He said this, as if giving a lecture, though not looking at Kennedy. "My world is all words, written, spoken, thought, it matters not. Words are treasured to me, and I put great value in them. There are some words I believe should never be carelessly invoked, that people in this day and age throw around without pause. These special words...love, hate, absolute, they are words that should only be used when the time is perfect, because they suggest a kind of perfection of their own."

"I lost my head due to the emotion of the moment...and I foolishly said something I may not have meant. I don't know if I have the certainty about her that I show her. And if I am wrong, and I didn't mean what I said...could she ever forgive me?"

He sighed again. It hurt.

"It isn't that I don't know what to say, it's that I don't know what I want to say."

[ken]

Things were beginning to make sense now. "Love" had been uttered, and now someone was beginning to rethink that decision. Again, something that Kennedy could understand, even if he himself had no such compunctions. He'd known where he stood when he uttered that word, and wouldn't take it back.

"See, here's the real question: would you have said it if you didn't mean it?" Kennedy asked. He crossed his arms over his chest and didn't look at Locke, even as he continued to address him. "Even if you had said it in the spur of emotion, thinking less with your head at that moment than you ever had, did you mean it? Mean it then, I mean."

he sighed, palming his face, "Emotions and relationships are complicated, Locke. They're not something you can really put under a microscope and analyze. You kinda just have to go with it, you know? Feel your way through it. Especially first love."

Kennedy's first love had certainly been a crash course. Also great for "what not to do."

"The right words will probably come to you at the right time," Kennedy offered, shrugging, "like I said, there's no real handbook to this."