All of You;Report to the Library; Small People

[bandit]

Caynce tapped the pencil lightly against the opened book, pale gray eyes slowly traveling around the room as he examined the people and things that moved and spoke around him. Quickly he averted his eyes, letting them fall back down to the book, and the paper next to it. He was trying to do his Social Studies homework, but so far had answered only the first two questions, not knowing if they were right or not. Unfortunately, he had been letting his mind wander a little too much, and had sat there for about an hour and a half, doing nothing but tapping his pencil and looking around.

As a matter of fact, instead of remembering when the American Revolution began, he was focusing on how many people had entered the library so far, and had realized a majority of the students were male. This was unusual, because it was mostly girls that came to the library, but today was different. He also realized few had blonde hair, alot had brown or black hair, and there were some redheads he had seen. The girls had mostly green or light brown eyes, and only three had been African Americans. Five of the boys had freckles, and two of the girls had very pale skin. One of them was obese, while another seemed anorexic.

This is what he had been doing the whole time, and he had so much more information, but to think of it all at once was too much work for one day. Caynce bit his lip, ceasing the pencil tapping for a few seconds while he glanced at the paper, seeing he was on the third question. He had expected to have had done more, but then he remembered his daydreaming and people-watching, and then this bought him back to more day dreaming and people watching, which really wasn't helping at the moment. He slowly shook his head, mumbled something to himself, and then put the paper away, deciding he would be a procrastinator and put it off until tomorrow.

Caynce dug into his folder and pulled out a half-completed math sheet, something you could call an accomplishment with all the daydreaming he does. Pale gray orbs scanned the paper, and found the problem he was up to, which read: d = 64 km per second, t = 8 sec, r = {?} km per hr. He had to find what the rate was, and gave it a dissatisfied look. Feeling almost upset, Caynce took out a piece of looseleaf and a pencil, and then wrote down the work. He multiplied sixty-four by eight, and received five hundred twelve. Not bothering to check it, Caynce scribbled down the answer and let his gaze wander again.

At this rate, he'd get nothing done.

[Krispey]

Maya rounded the corner of the towering bookshelf, face bleached with red as she could very well feel the eyes that were casted upon her as she traveled throught the quite full library. It may not have been quite as bad if one, she was not the new girl on the block, and two, the inhabitants weren't for the most part of the male gender. Thier whispers were quite audible, perverted and juvinille remarks such as "Ooh baby she's got some nice legs" slipping pass the lips of the unknown guys.

But then, Maya began to second- guess her attire today, because maybe it was a little too revealing than what those immature jerks could handle. A denim mini-skirt that rose no higher than mid-thigh; oh yes, Maya was reconsidering her entire wardrobe. Her mind was all over the place, from here to there, that it became quite annoying how she would think about home on second, and then how to dodge the perverted gazes of the boys inhabiting the library the next.

Only when Maya was a few feet away from her original secluded corner of the library did she realize that some people had decided to make it thier own little private area. "Ugh..." Was all Maya could manage to say without blowing the situation over the top, which would onl draw more attention to herself. Instead, a slight shrug of her shoulders were made, and she pivoted on her heels, off in search of a new table to sit.

Then, not too long after walking around, not too long after being highly embarrassed, looking like a confused duck walking in circles, Maya spotted a table that was only home to one. With a hasty stride, she made her way over to the table, slowly easing her way down into the chair. "Uhm..Uh. I hope you don't mind if I sit here because i can move if-" She inturrupted herself, "I'm Mayanalea...Maya for short.."

[bandit]

Caynce turned back to his paper, reading over the next question and holding back a groan when it turned out he needed to find what the time in the d= t x r was. He figured it wouldn't be so hard, but when he had to remember what to do, he decided it was too challenging. Rubbing his eyes as though he hadn't slept in ages, which was probably true, the pale boy slowly closed the folder after putting the sheet inside, and reluctantly took out a Science paper. He began to wonder why he had this much work to do, and he was only sixteen, soon to be seventeen. Once again, his eyes darted around, this time overlooking most people in the room. Turning his attention to his sheet, Caynce faced the fact he would have to get the work done sooner or later, and as much as he wished it was later, he knew he couldn't put it off any longer or he'd have a huge pile of work by the end of the year that needed to be done.

As his mind began to slowly drift away like before, the sounds of not-so-secret whispered comments reached his ears, and he wondered what they were talking about. Curiously, he gave a look around, and then noticed, for the first time, Maya. One thing he didn't wonder about, however, was why they were commenting on her legs, when she was wearing a very short skirt. A shudder ran down his spine as he remembered how some of the girls where he used to live wore skirts so short their rear ends shone for the world to see. They were prostitutes of course, so they had to look like practically naked or they'd never get paid. But he wasn't freaked out by Maya, seeing as she wasn't seeming to enjoy the perverted comments like the revealing girls around his home did. The only time they ever got upset was when they were being stared at by a little kid, because they knew they couldn't have sex with him or her for money.

His eyes locked onto her and he watched as she made her way over to a somewhat crowded corner. He frowned, now believing she was like all of the nasty girls, and he turned to look down at his Science homework. Okay, something about brain cells and spinal cords and how the brain and spinal cord are related, which held his interest for maybe three seconds before he looked up to see the girl walking away from the area and searching again. His opinion of her changed once again, and when she began to walk in his direction, Caynce quickly looked down at his Science paper, tapping the pencil against the book, which had nothing to do with Science at the moment, and pretended to look busy. Now, he figured, she'd be like all the rest. She'd comment on how he looked and how he acted, and he knew he should have given her more credit than that, but he couldn't help himself.

As she sat down in a chair across from him and spoke, Caynce didn't respond. He remained silent, biting his lip and setting his pencil down before making an attempt to speak. "Um...uhh.." he tried, his mind blank. Starting over again, he was able to get a few words out, "You can...stay..." he said, almost choking on his words. Looking down at his work, he once again began tapping his pencil on the desk before remembering she had told him her name. It would make sense to tell her his name in return. "I'm, uh, Caynce T. Marce, you can call me Caynce...or whatever...you want." the boy added, bracing himself for her to throw an insult his way, still staring down at the sheet as though it might not hurt as much if he wasn't looking at her.

[Krispey]

Maya quirked a brow as the boy...Seemingly..Struggled to speak.. Well, relief was there, as she realized that he wasn't staring at her foolishly and pervertedly as the others had been, and probably still were. Maya then realized that the boy hadn't been struggling to speak, he simply was shy!

Well, it was nice to no that she wasn't sitting with someone with a disability (from what she could tell), that way she wouldn't have to walk on egg shells, hoping not to make that disabled person feel uncomfortable and inferior to the lets say, "normal" people.

But as much as it was a relief that he was only shy, it was also quite annoying. It wasn't like she was going to hurt him, and yet, there he was, sitting there, as nervous as a little puppy about to be beaten. Maya sighed, placing her hand gently over his own, the one holding the pencil. Her violet gaze was soft, caressing his features. "Don't worry, I'm not going to diss you or beat you up or anything." Her tones were soft and soothing, and she hesitantly pulled back, not knowing whether her gestures were too forward than he could handle.

[bandit]

Caynce read over the question for about the fifth time, taking in every word and running their meanings over in his mind several times before moving onto the next word. The question was: What could happen if you break your spine? The only thing he came up with was that it would probably hurt alot, but he knew it wasn't the right answer, though it was probably true. Closing his eyes for a quick second and then reopening them, though this didn't seem to have any real purpose or effect, he tapped the pencil faster against the desk, making a soft and slightly annoying noise with it. It was a habit of his when he was either thinking very hard or day dreaming, and right now it was kind of a mixture of both, though he was 'thinking hard' about what was happening in his 'day dream' instead of thinking hard about the question.

Caynce suddenly snapped out of LaLa Land and stopped himself from tapping the pencil anymore, setting it between the two pages in the Social Studies book he had been reading from before. He stole a glance at Maya, just to look at her for no real reason and then put down the only answer he had come up with, which was the one that said if you broke your spine, it would hurt alot. He tried not to think about how pissed the teacher would be the next day, thinking he was trying to be a smartass when he really didn't know the asnwer. But, such was life, and good karma never seemed to hang around him. So, let whatever's going to happen, happen. If he would get detention, again, then so be it. Detention wasn't so bad anyway, and he could get his homework doen there because everyone in the room was too scary to look at.

Caynce's head shot up when Maya spoke, and he stared at her as though he couldn't understand the words, though he knew perfectly what she was saying. Because he didn't have the pencil, his fingers drummed lightly against the desk, making almost no sound because he had a habit of biting his nails from nervousness. When she placed her hand on his, he immediatly took it away, almost flinching from her touch. He, in truth, had never really been touched except for being beat up, which meant pain, pain, and more pain. Not even his mother did that to him. She never hugged him or kissed him, and even his adopted parents didn't touch him that much because he wasn't used to it. After she spoke, her just continued staring, eyes growing wider by the second before he realized he should say something in reply. Backtracking their conversation, he listened again to what she said, and slowly nodded, deciding not to embarrass himself like he did before.

"O-okay." he said, his throat dry as though he hadn't drinken water in days. Once again, he probably hadn't. He didn't eat, he didn't sleep, he didn't drink anything. It was amazing he was still alive to be completely honest. Thinking he should say more, he opened his mouth, but no words came out except for 'uhhh', though he doubted she could even hear him. Swallowing painfully, he kept his hands on his lap, afraid she might try to grab his hand again. Just the feeling of being touched freaked him out, and Caynce kept his attention on her, watching carefully, almost nervously.

[Krispey]

Really now, Maya was becoming quite agitated. She hated when there was alot a person could do or say, and they didn't have the guts to. With herself being so outspoken, and Caynce being so...Un-spoken at all, irritation levels were rising.

But what would that make her look like? Some bully? She wasn't that at all. But she wasn't about to allow the skiddish nature of someone else take away from who and how she really was. So how should she say it? Okay no, not in a harsh manner, no. In a polite yet firm tone. Yes! That was it! And no, she did not expect her words to make a huge impact, if any, on this stranger. But they would indeed have some effect.

All this thinking about how to say something to him made Maya chuckle on the inside. Here she was, acting as though she were the president about to speak to the nation, when her words would probably be discarded from the other person's thoughts just as fast as she spoke them.

"You know...If someone or many have hurt you, you should...Ya know...Not dwell on it so much, because it really effects how you react to certian things...And you reactions..Well, you barely react, but when you do, are so skiddish and distant that it allows people to make snoody comments about you, and probably take advantage of your shy personality...Just a word of advice.." Maya ment no harm what - so - ever, but she figured that he wouldn't look at it as she did, and probably would take it in the worse way possible.

[bandit]

Caynce stared down into his lap, lifting a hand and touching the bandages on his neck gingerly, as though it were broken. Once again biting his lip, his hand migrated from his neck to the table, followed by the other hand so that they werent on his lap anymore. Averting his gaze, he snatched the pencil from the book, like he was scared to look into Maya's eyes in fear of turning to stone. With that task completed, he looked down at the sheet to the next question, which asked how many bones were in your spine. Instead of thinking about the answer, he just looked at the question, his mind completely blank of anything pertaining to Science, particularly the spine. Nothing was running through his head at the moment.

As he did this, he allowed himself to hear everyone and everything. Caynce could still hear the comments some of te boys were making, though they seemed less perverted. They seemed to be curious as to why Maya was talking to him instead of talking to them, and he couldn't blame the boys. He wasn't exactly a very noticeable person, since he was so small and easily forgotten or put off just like that, without even having to think about it. Not only that, but because he was quiet and sometimes even a little sensitive, not to mention the main target for any and every kind of abuse, he felt like Maya shouldn't even be talking to him. He felt more like he was annoying her by just being at the table, and if he had enough courage to say so he'd offer to leave her be, but he was too tentative and shy.

Because his mind was so open at the moment, when Maya began to speak he tuned out everyone else's voices and listened to hers, raising his head slightly so he wouldn't seem disrespectful because he wasn't looking at her completely. Listening carefully to her words, his fingers once again began drumming against the desk, barely making any sound. When she finished her words, he thought about them, picked out the important parts and key words like a machine and bit his lip even harder. He really would have loved to forget, but it was pretty much impossible, seeing as he spent about eight years in a terrible enviroment.
He realized she had finsihed, and that he hadn't said anything for a few minutes.

"T-thanks..." he said, his voice shaking slightly. Those words did kind of hurt, but nothing he couldn't handle, right? He daydreamed about false truths all the time, not caring about the planets of dinosaurs or decimals, and once in a while he had to face the facts and come to a realization that he needed to stop the way he was acting. It would be hard, but he'd have to get better eventually. Except, he had thought about all of this before, and felt that just like he dreamed of false truths, he had false hope of getting better. Absent-mindly, the color slowly drained from the wooden table, the brown and dark brown markings sliding off the surface towards him, leaving it a pale gray color, much like his eyes.

Caynce didn't notice it, and continued to watch Maya, eyes shaking slightly.

[Krispey]

"Thanks" was all he had said, and Maya simply nodded as to say "you're welcome." Her mind had been directly on Caynce, for she wondered what had happened to him to make him so fearful. Not only was it annoying that he was this way, but also quite saddening, for Maya knew that there were great things that someone like Caynce could do if only they weren't so shy and skiddish. Maya was on the fence as to whether she would try and convince him to be more outgoin, or just let him stay as is....Thinking of this quickly became challenging when suddenly, the color began to soak away from the wooden table. "Uhm...Caynce..." was all Maya could manage to say. It was as though the tablke was now missing life, all vitality beeing drained. Was this one of Caynce's gifts? Wow. Maya had never witnessed anything like this before. There Maya sat, a look of not horror, but amazment, and disbelief. "Nice.."

[bandit]

The last of the color slipped away and the table was now the color of his eyes. Hearing Maya's voice again, he looked up at her and watched her face, not really paying attention to the words. He guessed he should be able to tell what she was thinking, or what she was saying, by just looking at her face and lipreading the words or being able to sort out her message doing the same thing. But, of course, he had a horrible ability to focus on one thing and he began to daydream again. That he was home with his real mother, but they lived in a nice house and his father, whom he had never met, was there at the table reading a book, while his mother was washing dishes and staring out the window.

Of course, this was only a dream, because he knew it would never happen. His mother was poor, he'd never see her again, and he didn't know his father, much less if he was alive or not. Not only that, but he doubted the woman and her husband he was living with now would even let him go back to that place, all because they didn't want to lose him to someone else. Not that he would flip out if he saw his mother again, he would most likely just say 'hello', if she would listen to him that is, and then leave. But, he'd never have to worry about such things, knowing he was right and that he'd never be able to go there again. Slowly his dream slipped away until it just wasn't there and he blinked.

Maya had said something. What did she say? He continued looking at her face, and caught the expression of disbelief and amazement, and in return she recieved a bemused look from Caynce, who didn't know what was going on at the moment because he hadn't been all there himself and because he had just looked at her face. Slowly his gaze traveled down to the table, and he rubbed his eyes, swearing that before the table was made out of wood. He tapped the surface lightly, and decided it sounded like wood, but it looked like metal. Glancing up at Maya, he spoke unsurely, "What happened to the table?" he asked, thinking maybe she knew the answer.

Then he remembered draining the color out of things was his power. Caynce looked at his hands, as though the evidence might be there, and realized it was him who did that. Hastily he set his hands on the table and it quickly regained it's previous color. Rubbing his head, he blinked drowsily. "Sorry...."

[Krispey]

Maya so the bewildered look upon Caynce's face. But it was only when he asked "What happened to the table?" that she realized he hadn't heard a single word she had said. Maya shook her head slightly. What on earth could he be thinking about that spaced him out so much? Ha, who was she to talk? She was always being yelled at--back at home that is, for spacing out.

It was almost as though her mind was its own virtual planet located far far from planet Earth. But who could blame her? Being away from your pain or hurt, lost in the gapping whirlpools of your mind was almost better than food. Anything could occur in your mind. No one would ever know, except for mind-readers of course. But there she was, dazing off, thinking about this and that and what not. So thinking back on this, what made her any better than Caynce himself? Nothing that she could point out.

Maya watched as he slowly returned color onto the table. Maya felt the corners of her mouth curl up towards the heavens. "That is some power you've got there."

[bandit]

Caynce rubbed the back of his neck, not knowing what else to do. He didn't want to space out again while she was talking, then she'd think something was wrong with him. Okay, something was wrong with him, but he didn't want her to know it was true, even though she most likely knew this by now. So, in a different way, he didn't want to make himself look worse than he probably already did, and as a result listened carefully to what she had to say, once again picking out the important words, running their meanings over in his head until it hurt, and then moving on. And he was able to piece together an answer, how genius. Probably the most intelligent thing he's done today.

"Oh, t-thank you." he said, the corners of his mouth lifting up slightly, though it was hardly noticeable. Caynce was happy and thankful for the fact she didn't make fun of his power, and that she wasn't scared and called him a demin like his mother, though it made sense because they were in a gifted school. However, people made fun of his ability all the time, saying it served no real purpose, and he, in truth, agreed, but didn't mind because it wasn't like he couldn't protect himself from being killed if needed, seeing as he could draw things out of thin air and make them come to life.

"People ridicule me for it, t-though." Caynce said, closing the Social Studies book and taking the pencil from between the two pages before doing so. That must have been the longest sentence he had spoken to Maya so far, and the longest period of time in which he hadn't allowed his mind to be free and go to an entirely different land that pertained to nothing he was doing at that moment. He looked down at his Science sheet, realizing he was still on the 'How many bones does your spine have?' question and decided to skip it, moving onto the next one. It wasn't any easier, asking how many bones were in your body. The first number that popped into his mind was 365, but that was supposed to be the number of days in a year.

Even so, he put in the answer and drummed his fingers quickly against the wooden surface, reading the next question but listening for Maya's voice at the same time.

[Krispey]

With the slightest sign of happiness from Caynce, Maya smiled gleefully. But why? Why hadn't making someone smile felt THIS good before? Maybe becaus the others she had tried to please before already had things to be happy for, but they chose to be ungreatful little maggots. Caynce, from what she could tell, hadn't much to be gleeful about. Perhaps he did, but if so, he hid it well.

As Caynce spoke, Maya's brows furrowed. Her violet orbs diverted to the side, her head shaking, dissapointed that people wuld be so ignorant as to make fun of someone's powers. "That's so not cool. I mean, for all they know, you could very well suck their favorite color right up from the stitching of their clothes...." Why was Maya so defensive over someone she had just met?

Normaly, she would have srugged it off with a simple " They're wrong" and let it be. But not with this, no. It was just in her nature to defend the ones who don't defend themselves. "Color means alot ya know...But maybe more would come from this world was in black and white. Because afterall, money is green, and green is envy." Her gaze diverted up to Caynce who had been looking down at the paper for the longest time. "Is there anything I could help you with?"

[bandit]

Caynce bit his lip slightly, feeling slightly embarrassed from all the praise he was getting, though he was able to keep from adopting the slightest blush. After all, it would show through his incredibly pale skin and he'd have no way to hide it, though he was able to hide the embarrassment pretty well, seeing as it seemed nothing about him had changed on the outside. All because it was true, since he was still the same as he was before when it came to what mattered on the outside, but on the inside he felt a tiny bit happier and grateful for the fact he didn't just die a little inside.

"I guess they...don't see it like....that..." he murmured in a voice so soft it was almost surprising. He didn't drink and he hardly ate, buying food only to look at it and then throw it away so people would think he actually ate something. He didn't have an eating disorder, he just wasn't hungry. It might be due to the fact that when he was young, he never got a sufficent amount of food and eventually got used to not eating enough, to the point where being halfway full made him feel like a pig. As she offered her help, he shook his head, realizing he hadn't even read the next question yet. Blinking, his eyes flew over the words and he put down an immediate answer he knew was entirely wrong, all because he couldn't focus on Science right now.

As for anyone being envious of him, the idea was simly not possible to Caynce, not even on one of his lovely little outing in LaLa Land. Besides, they had nothing to be jealous of him for. He was sickeningly pale, short, and seemed like a cutout from a black and white movie, since his skin was basically white, his hair gray along with his eyes, and the erst of his body covered in black, except his jeans which were supposed to be blue, though the color faded from being washed so many times, so it was now matching the color of his eyes. But that was it, nothing too bright, colorful, and obnoxious. He didn't wear rainbow things like vibrant red and blues, just anything ranging from white, to gray, to black, and if he wore anything else besides those colors, something was definetly up.

Deciding he was bored of Science, he put the sheet away and dug into his bag for ELA, hating the fact he had so much work to do.

[Krispey]

Took in his words, finding herself almost overwhelmingly excited that he was speaking in complete sentences, well, longer ones that is. How could they not see it like she did? I mean, maybe it wasn't the strongest power there was, but hey, it could make a difference. Color was important afterall. Maya took note of his blush, allowing her to blush even more than she had previously been doing, walking around the library in almost repetative circles.

"Sorry if I'm embarrassing you...I just think that yourpower should be taken more seriously than what it is." A slight shrug of her shoulders were made as she spoke. A light chuckle escaped her lips as to say what was I thinking?. I mean, she was clearly blowing his powers way out of proportion. But was she? Or were they just that great? Perhaps they were, and Maya was on the verge of becoming the one to show that they were. "Well, I guess I'll get going...Of to the- somewhere." She stood calmly, and strode over and exited from the library. But before she left the table, she left a simple, "See ya around sometime?" But gave no time for rebuttal or agreement for she had swiftly slipped out the door of the building.